Regional News of Wednesday, 18 February 2004

Source: GNA

Moderator of EP Church dedicates chapel

Suhum, Feb. 18, GNA - The Moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, Rt. Rev. Dr Livingstone Komla Buama, on Sunday dedicated a 500-million-cedi chapel of the Church at Suhum.

The Moderator also laid the foundation stone for a 200-million-cedi Mission House on the occasion, which also formed part of the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the Church.

In a sermon based on the theme of the celebration, "Our Trust in the Lord", Rev. Dr. Buama paid tribute to the founders of the church for their foresight and dedication and urged the present leadership to emulate their example.

He said the E. P. Church, which was founded in 1847 continued to grow because of faith and therefore asked the members to have faith in whatever they did.

The Moderator said many people called themselves Christians but lost faith whenever they fell into temptations and indulged in social evils. He advised them to have faith in God to enable them to shine in their lives, adding, "no amount of deliverance and healing without faith can cure your ailment."

He called on the Church to be part of the implementation of government policies especially those on the HIV/AIDS campaign to enable them to avoid the dangers of the disease.

Mr P.M.K. Atakey, Presbyter Executive of the Church said language should not be a barrier to worship hence the EP church had opened various branches in non-Ewe speaking communities to enable the people to worship in other languages.

He said the 25th anniversary celebration of the Church had set another journey of evangelisation to unite and fight any evil that would disrupt the Church.

The Suhum Sub-District Pastor, Rev. Pat Bertha Ofori, who gave the history of the Church, said it was established with five people but now had 1,500 members and had established a day nursery with 140 children. She said 22 members of the Church had undergone training on the HIV/AIDS who went from house to house to educate the members on the dangers in contracting the disease.