Anglican Church prepares youth to fight corruption

The Anglican Church has declared preparedness of the Church to play a front line role to nurture moral leadership among the youth to stem corruption among public office holders in the country.

Archbishop and Primate, Church Province of West Africa (CPWA), and Bishop of Kumasi, Most Reverend Dr Daniel Yinkah Sarfo who made the declaration said as potential leaders, it behoved on the church to train the youth to be people with integrity and proven leadership skills grounded on the word of God.

Most Rev. Sarfo made the declaration when he delivered an address to mark the 3rd Anglican National Youth camp at Takoradi in the Western Region.

The five-day event, which is on the theme, “Igniting the Spirit of Love, Unity and Service”, is being attended by about 700 young men and women from seven Dioceses in the country.

The purpose of the annual meeting, is to among other things, bring all the youth of the church in the country together to share their love, lives in unity and offer dedicated and untainted services to God and country.

Most Rev Sarfo admitted that the upsurge in moral decadence was having a turning effect on the rapid socio-economic development of the nation.

The Anglican Church had therefore positioned itself to inculcate sound moral values into the youth and look out for leaders who would not loot national coffers and impoverish the ordinary Ghanaian.

The Anglican Bishop observed that most public office holders notably those who attend churches, were not Christ-liked hence, compromise their Christian doctrines and misconduct themselves, which as a result, the youth must be guided by the clergy to tread on the path of righteousness to transform the nation.

Bishop Sarfo said at a time the nation was beset with immoral practices and anti-social forms of behaviour such as lesbianism, homosexuality, it was incumbent upon Christendom to step in and stem the tide.

He therefore appealed to parents to lead the crusade by playing the supervisory role of their children to utilize their time on profitable ventures which would inure to their growth and development.

The Country Manager of ILF Consulting Engineers, Rev Akua Buabeng Ofori Boateng, who was the Guest Speaker, said the youth have been sidelined for some time now and urged them to make their voices heard.

Speaking on the topic, "The Youth and Large Amount of Untapped Power", she said more than half of the world's population was made up of the youth adding that, in a fast changing world, the youth should be on the forefront of change and innovation.

Rev Boateng realised that unemployment was the biggest challenge confronting the youth and charged them to be imbued with entrepreneurial skills to meet the ever-growing demand of labour in the 21st century.

While admonishing the Anglican Church to tap into the expertise of the youth, Rev. Boateng urged the youth to keep the banner of Anglicanism aloft and make it more appealing to the world.

Ehunabobrim Prah Agyensaim V1, Omanhene of Assin Owirenkyi and a former member of the Council of State, who chaired the function, advised the youth to be patriotic enough and take its destiny into their own hands.

He condemned the seemingly disunity among religious folks especially Christians, which did not augur well for the body of Jesus Christ.

"Some pastors are not in good terms with some members of their congregation; likewise the youth and their family and friends yet, they claim they are in constant touch with God".

Ehunabobrim Agyensaim said the youth required knowledge to serve the nation better and entreated the older generation to lead lives worthy of emulation.