Accra, May 1, GNA - Christians should pursue peace, justice, love and transparency in the daily social and economic dealings because to change Ghana into a developed state requires selflessness and devotion to hard work, a senior pastor of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, said on Friday. The Reverend Joyce Kodade, Chairman of the West Volta Presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, speaking at the opening of the 35th Presbytery Conference in Accra, said leaders, including religious, political and social leaders, should always remember that positions were not possessions.

"The old order will always change, giving place to the new. It is only in the 'newness of Christ' that we can find a positive growth spiritually, socially and materially for ever," he said. The theme for the three-day conference is "Newness in Christ." Rev. Kodade prayed that the power of the risen Christ would continually renew the lives of Christians in the Church and in the Ghanaian society.

He said the country was expecting President John Evans Atta Mills, as the appointed servant of Ghana at this time of the history of Ghana, to democratically lead the nation to social, economic and moral advancement.

"We pray that God grants him the grace and wisdom to serve honestly, selflessly and humbly as Christ Jesus."

To President Mills' team, Rev, Kodade said: "It is our plea that they always recall the prayers of all Ghanaians to give us a president, vice president and MPs of His choice, hence they must selflessly serve in humility."

He urged MPs to focus on laws that would enhance the unity and socio-economic development of all citizens regardless of their ethnic, religious or political dispensations. The immediate past Moderator of the EP Church, the Very Reverend Livingston Komla Buama, delivering the keynote address on the theme, said the essence of the Christian life and Christian hope was newness of being and newness of things. Quoting from the Bible, he said the bearer and bringer of the new state of being and the new state of things was Jesus Christ.

"This is why the fact cannot be denied that if one is in Christ, one is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come." He said the Christ-event was the supreme Exodus-event or the supreme act of liberation in the world and for the world.

"It ushers in and inaugurates the Kingdom of God. Our task is to watch, pray and work for its full realisation in the comprehensive sense of the word." Very Reverend Buama said the Lord God was the ever-creating God.

"He created the past. He is creating the present and He will create the future. He is continually making new beginnings, opening up new possibilities and initiating new events."

Very Reverend Buama said the Christian life was not nostalgia or living in the past or sentimentalising about "the good old days" He noted that we live in a broken world with broken lives. "We live in a world held bondage by ignorance, poverty, hunger, disease, self-reference, avarices, violence, corruption and filth. Even though God, in many ways is doing something about it, we refuse to see it. Even where we see it we kill it," Very Reverend Buama said.