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Diasporia News of Sunday, 24 February 2008

Source: Martin Kwakwa, Sydney - Australia

Presbyterian Moderator inaugurates church in Australia

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, the Rt Rev Dr Yaw Frimpong-Manso, has formally inaugurated a branch of the church in Sydney, Australia.

Assisted by the Rev Dr Isaac Fokuoh of the Ramseyer Chapel in Kumasi, the two church leaders entreated members of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Sydney, Australia, to be worthy ambassadors of Jesus, even in a land far away from their birthplaces.

"You did not come to live in Australia by accident. It is the good Lord who uprooted you all from Ghana to this place, so in all things that you do in this land, make sure they go to lift your God, your country and yourselves", Rev Frimpong-Manso said.

He urged members of the church and guests at the ceremony on Sunday 24 February to seriously examine their lives and ensure that negative things that hinder them from receiving God's grace in abundance were uprooted from minds and hearts.

"Replenish your spiritual lives with waters that will keep you bound to your God. Just as a person will die within weeks if they do not consume any water to replenish their physical bodies, so too will they die a spiritual death if they fail to hunger and thirst for God's word", the Moderator added.

He urged God's people to stand united and work very hard to uphold the Gospel and to draw souls to Jesus.

He said the Presbyterian Church of Ghana had decided to "bring back home all its members overseas who worship in other churches because there are no Presbyterian congregations in their local communities"

The Sydney church's interim leader or caretaker is Mr Isaac Osei-Kumah, and he will be assisted by Mr Bobo Acheampong, The two men will run the church until a resident minister is posted to the Australian congregation by the end of this year.

The church has 44 overseas congregations outside Ghana, and Rt Rev Frimpong-Manso said the parent church in Ghana was determined to build stronger relations with them all, no matter which corner of the world they were located.

The Moderator and Rev Dr Fokuoh are on a one-month official visit to Australia and New Zealand. They are due to depart for Ghana in early March.