The General Council of the Assemblies of God, led by its General Superintendent, Rev. Dr. Stephen Wengam, has called for collaboration between the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the government for national development.
The Council proposed the collaboration when it paid a courtesy call on the GJA at its headquarters, the International Press Centre in Accra, on Tuesday, December 20, 2022.
The meeting was to re-introduce themselves to the GJA, Make Association aware of the history and activities of the Church and as well call for a collaboration between the two institutions towards national development.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Wengam commended the GJA for its work towards national development, especially the fight for the interest of journalists in the country and contribution to press freedom.
He said the General Council was not just concerned about building the church but was also committed to national development, adding that the church will do whatever it can, aside from prayers, to ensure national development.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Wengam said the church was embarking on a transformational agenda, dubbed REACH, which the church seeks to reach out not only to win souls but to also collaborate with internal and external stakeholders, therefore calling on the GJA to collaborate in all areas as a key partner with the church in this regard.
“Our duty is to propagate the gospel and we cannot do that without the wheels of the media so we are here to re-introduce ourselves and commend GJA for its work, especially the fight for the interest of journalists in the country and contribution to press freedom,” he said.
He added that,”We are saying kudos to the media fraternity and to let you know that we are praying for you and it is our desire to partner with the media to send the gospel to every corner of the world,” he said.
Rev. Dr. Stephen Wengam stressed that, “We have a vision, not only for the church but also for Ghana and it is christened the transformation agenda. We have six thematic areas, REACH, is to send the gospel to every part of this country, no village, no town must be denied the gospel of Jesus Christ. The next is Restore, we are products of the Azusa Street Revival, one of the biggest revival that hit the streets of the world in the early 20th century, we came out of that revival and we are leading our church to re-seek the early revival.”
He continued that, “With the Restore, we are looking at focusing on the welfare of our pastors, if you are very familiar with the Assemblies of God, I know people have been concerned that most of the churches are in rural areas and because of the structures of the church where each local church is self supporting, self governing and self propagating, there is a toll on our pastors who are outside so where the economic situation of the people in the community is not too good, it impacts heavily on our pastors and we are waiting to look at that.”
He said the church is going to invest heavily in infrastructure, adding that,”We intend to invest in medical care, we are believing in God to build a state-of-the-art hospital for this country, to serve not only our people but every Ghanaian because healthcare has become expensive and it is very key. We are also looking at initiating reforms in our church to make us relevant in these modern times and also reposition our church so that we can push the gospel of Christ to every part of the world.”
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GJA
In response, the GJA President, Mr Albert Kwabena Dwumfour assured the Council of its support towards its vision, especially its transformational agenda.
However, the GJA President urged the Council to ensure it holds the government accountable for contributions made towards the National Cathedral.
“We know of your contributions in the capacity building of people and advocating for Ghanaians to support the National Cathedral Project. I hold that as you do that, you should not relent on your efforts to hold the government accountable for any contribution made towards such a project.
He continued that, “We believe in the National Cathedral but the government must be able to channel these contributions well into making sure that the core vision or what is expected to be done is done so we encourage you to continue with that call but do not hesitate to hold the government accountable in that regard.”
He also proposed a partnership between the GJA and the Assemblies of God Church to train journalists in the area of peace, security and stability.
“This is because we need to professionally position ourselves ahead of the 2024 elections. Even, during the district election which will be in 2023.,” he added.
The council also presented the Church’s 2023 to the GJA Executives.
Ghana| Atinkaonline.com| Porcia Oforiwaa Ofori
