EP Church to consult house of chiefs on burial of Christian chiefs

Ho, Aug. 28 GNA - The Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), Ghana says henceforth it would consult the Volta Regional House of Chiefs on burial arrangements of chiefs who are members of the church in order to avoid running into conflict with tradition.

Reverend Frank Kwame Anku, Synod Clerk, who announced this at a thanksgiving service on Sunday, said it was one of the major decisions taken by the just ended 65th Synod of the Church.

The synod was on the theme: "Focus and commitment". Rev. Anku told the Ghana News Agency in a telephone interview that it was important to dialogue with the chiefs in order to find a common ground to meet the traditional authorities in the quest to give a befitting burial to chiefs who remained Christians before passing away. He said the Church believed that chiefs who were Christians prior to their enstoolment and had remained Christians until their death should not lose their religious identity because of their new status as traditional rulers.

Rev. Anku said it was the wish of such chiefs that traditional funeral rites should not become obstacles to their Christian burial arrangements.

He said, for example in many cases, burial services for such chiefs were held up for unduly long periods only for empty caskets to be brought to church while their bodies were kept elsewhere. The defunct E.P. Press in Ho would also be revamped to operate as a publishing house while the church's financial policy drafted at the 64th Synod would be implemented for another year before being subjected to any review by the next Synod.

Rev. Anku said the Synod decided that a proposed E.P, University in Ho should take-off in October, this year. The synod elected Mrs. Lydia Akua Adajawah, project Officer, Marriage and Christian Life Desk of the Christian Council of Ghana, as the Church's first Woman Presbyter Executive. She succeeds Mr. P.M.K. Atakey, who served in that office for eight years.