The Most Reverend Professor Emmanuel Kwaku Asante, Presiding Bishop of The Methodist Church, has urged people who occupy leadership positions in the country to display love, respect and self-control, to ensure national development.

He said leadership means love one another, discipline, it does not mean selfish, greed and corruption.

The Most Rev. Prof. Asante made the call at the opening of this year’s Pastors Under Forty Conference in Accra on Thursday.

About two thousand delegates drawn from Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Burkina Faso are attending the two-day conference.

The conference, being organized by Pastors Mentoring Pastors, on the theme: “”The Pastor Leader, ”” is aimed at empowering the pastors both physically and spiritually, to enable them face the challenges in the course of their duties.

The Most Rev. Prof. Asante, who is also the Chairman of the National Peace Council said a true leader influenced, fostered unity, and he was not only a visionary but also a missionary and above all, an agent of peace.

He said as a leader you have to work hard for your subordinates also to emulate your shining example, adding that if you were a lazy leader, those who worked under you became lazy as well.

The Presiding Bishop urged them to desist from negative tendencies that may bring the reputation of the clergy into disrepute,

The Most Rev. Prof. Asante expressed the hope that the participants would impart the knowledge they would acquire to other members of society.

Bishop Gideon Titi-Ofei, General Overseer of Pleasant Place, said the church had launched the Rural Pastors Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme which would offer financial assistance to pastors in deprived areas.

Dr Michael Agyekum Addo, Chief Executive Officer of KAMA Group of Companies, one of the sponsors of the conference, said his company would continue to offer assistance to promote the work of God in the ensuing years.