The situation on the ground at a Ghanaian orthodox church in Toronto-Canada, Etobicoke city to be precise can be best described as a shaken can of coke charged with the gas inside it waiting to explode.
As it has been described, the situation in the church is so charged that a little touch to press the knob will bring out the sound, ”GBRAN” as a result of the explosion that it will cause to draw the attention of it head at the head quarters in Accra, Ghana.
Are you the moderator of the church or the presiding bishop or the apostle or provost or archbishop or founder or overseer of this church? Please ask yourself because very soon your office desk is going to be filled with letters full of complaints trying to give you insight about the charged situation at your mission church waiting to explode.
If you are a leader of this church which we are keeping the name secret for now as our sources are watching the situation carefully, please get ready to see a lot of gray hair on your head because the charged situation on the ground if exploded will give you a lot of sleepless nights as to what to do to unite members who seem divided already by the situation in your church.
This once united Orthodox Church was doing well in terms of bringing Ghanaians who were Christian immigrants in Canada together when all of a sudden misunderstanding broke out which resulted in separation.
After the separation, it came out of the woods to re-establish the mission church with few members who are dye in the wool faithful members of this Orthodox Church where several ministers were posted to head the mission and gone back. Just about ten months ago, a reverend finished his service and honorably handed over to the church for the incoming reverend minister to take over from him where both the send off and welcoming services were held successfully for both of them.
After he has taken office as in charge of the church, a couple of members drew his attention to an impending election of members to take various offices in managing the church which he pleaded for time to study the grounds. The reverend was allowed until recently when he decided to throw out the already existing system or procedure that the church has been using in electing leaders peaceful and gone for nominations and an appointment insisting that is what the constitution says.
But members stressed on the point that the constitution was talking about nominations and appointments but since the election of leaders by the entire members has never created any problem for the church it would be better to follow that cause to maintain the peace and order in the church.
Not listening or taking the inputs made by members, this reverend went ahead to nominate and appoint leaders whom some members have sworn to block the induction into office of these leaders in a week or two.
Worse of all, this Orthodox Church struggling to catch up with other Ghanaian churches in terms of membership rate faces the possibility of crumbling as this reverend insist of establishing a branch in another city not far from Etobicoke where members there have reduced from eight to five.
What is seriously making some members panic is the possibility of some aggrieved members going to seek court injunction and slam it on the church where it would be put under lock and key and no church activity would be held until the matter is solved later.
So if you are the leader of this Orthodox Church, prepare to receive report of your members stopping your reverend from either preaching, stepping foot at the church premises as they did one time to an administrative bishop who came from Ghana and pressed for the need to remove him from Toronto mission.
Already, some members have started soliciting signatories to its ten page petition to be submitted to the church headquarters and a lot of members are showing signs of appending their signatures to the draft petition to be filed at the church’s headquarters.
Our sources are on the ground to feed us on whatever happens.