The Western West Africa Episcopal District Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Seth .O. Lartey has declared a two-day fast for members to pray for a peaceful, fair and transparent elections in Ghana on December 7th.

Speaking in Accra on Saturday, he said, the Church with thousands of members from Ghana, Togo, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire, would fast and pray on December 6th and 7th for Ghana, which now has become a beacon of hope for democratic advancement in Africa and the world at large.

He said the call for peace, non-violence, civility and human rights, should be heeded by Ghanaians because the world was looking at Ghana once again to demonstrate its democratic prowess. “The truth is that the world sees Ghana as a leader in the area of peace, non-violence, civility and good human rights country“, he said.

Bishop S.O Lartey was speaking at the Church’s maiden business forum, which he initiated for business people in the Western West Africa District, who will meet occasionally to develop strategic business development plans for the Church.

He said, when elections were peaceful, “it makes it possible for investors to come, and when we have investors, it means we have more jobs, and more jobs means our people will not become liability for government”.

Bishop Lartey, who was recently appointed, is the 100th bishop in the line of succession of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and has numerous honours and awards from across the globe in various fields of discipline and sectors.

A special Church service will be organised on Sunday November 25th in Accra to welcome Bishop Lartey and his wife Mrs Jacqueline Williams-Lartey to resume his official duties as the leader in the Western West Africa District office in Ghana. Explaining further the rational for the business forum, Bishop Lartey said it was intended to help business people in the church to understand the value and importance of the work of the Church.

“The work of the Church is not only on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening. When you look at the Ministry of Jesus Christ, he did not only teach the people the word of God, but he also fed them, he healed them, he provided for them. So what we intended to do, as the newly assigned Bishop, is to transform our work in that direction.” “We will emphasize evangelism - we want to reach a million persons for Jesus Christ.

This is because we believe that once the heart of the person is changed, then he will not want to do armed robbery, gang work and destroy people – he will want to build a community,” Bishop Lartey noted.

“We have a template, wherever we have a church, we want to have a worship centre, a clinic, a farm and some type economic empowerment,” he added. The government in every nation, he said, could not do the work alone.

“All over the world in the advanced countries, it is the private sector that supports government and in most cases that drives growth. Economic empowerment will be the engine to help us make money in Zion Church and encourage the people to honour their tithing.” Caption Bishop Seth Lartey