Pastors advised to use pulpit judiciously

The Right Reverend Dr Set Senyo Agidi, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian (E.P) Church of Ghana, has advised pastors and other men of God to use the pulpit judiciously to win more souls for Christ.

He said some pastors and men of God were using the pulpit and the church as entertainment centres with the aim of attracting more people, to the neglect of effective preaching of the sermon to change lives.

Rt. Rev Dr Agidi gave the advice in Tamale during a special service in honour of the standing committee of the church and a team to the Upper Northern Presbytery, to reflect on the progress of the church, and to see how best they could come together to win more souls.

He said churches existed to evangelize and win more souls for Christ, and that many people attended church services only on Sundays saying, “If you mess up with Sunday Service and you become complacent with the work of God you risk losing some of your members”.

He explained that the judicious use of the pulpit to preach peace, unity and togetherness would bring unity, which would ensure effective development of the country to remain a haven of habitation for the citizenry.

According to him, many people were hopping from church to church, looking for miracles and that pastors must not pretend to possess such miracles just for winning souls since there was no blessing for pretentious acts.

Rt. Rev Dr Agidi expressed regret that the E.P church had existed for over one and a half centuries in Ghana yet its membership was still hovering around 150,000 and stressed the need for sober reflection to see how to address the dwindling numbers.

He said the church should embark on a membership drive and pledged that the General Assembly of the church was aiming at increasing its membership from the current 150,000 to over 300,000 before the end of its tenure.

He said the church had seen many challenges over the years including defections, and stressed the need to work hard to maintain the current membership.