Apostle Dr Opoku Onyinah, Chairman of the General
Assembly of the Church of Pentecost, has called on Christians involved in politics to bring their faith to bear on their activities by being truthful and upright even if such actions were against the traditions of their political parties.
He said Christians practising journalism must also demonstrate Christ-like tendencies in their duties by presenting the right message and
not be sensational to attract public attention and boost sales.
Apostle Onyinah was addressing participants at the 38th General Council Meeting of the Church in Accra on Thursday.
The four-day meeting is under the theme; "Being Transformed into the Image of Christ in a Changing World".
He urged Christians to eschew selfishness, backbiting, crave for money and hypocrisy and rather work to put their ideas into actions for national development.
On activities of the Church, Apostle Onyinah said it now had 1,618,561 members representing over seven per cent of the Ghanaian population.
He extolled members in the Afram Plains Area for having the highest growth of 16.2 per cent followed by Bolgatanga and Wa Areas of 15.8 per
cent.
He praised members in La Area for being the highest contributors towards missionary offerings.
"We would like to praise members in Dansoman Area for taking the initiative to sponsor the establishment of an assembly in Chereponi and
commend members in Cape Coast Area for winning back 977 backsliders and undertaking more rallies than any other Area," he said.
Apostle Onyinah expressed satisfaction with the church's ability to win 235,229 souls for Jesus Christ with 106,472 of them being baptized and urged the members to continue with their discipleship for Jesus Christ.
He expressed appreciation to the management of Pentecost University for their managerial skills which had resulted in the increase of students' population to 2,089 since its inception six years ago.
Apostle Onyinah pledged the church's readiness to continuously partner government in its national development agenda through the establishment of schools, hospitals and clinics throughout the country.
He mentioned the high cost of land in the cities as hampering efforts for the establishment of new assemblies and the lack of leadership to supervise the assemblies in some districts as well as the high level of
illiteracy in some areas assome of the challenges facing the church.
Mr Alex Asum-Ahensah, Minister of Chieftaincy and Culture commended leadership of the church for its numerous contributions towards the country's socio-economic development.
He appealed to them to make concerted efforts in tackling the growing moral degeneration that had plagued the nation.
"By this way, we will be inching towards achieving the objectives and laws of God which enjoins us to be upright and be each other's keeper," he added.
Mr Asum-Ahensah urged leadership of churches to participate in the celebration of the National Day of Prayer instituted by government for introspection and building of strong spiritual foundation for the country.
Apostle Ekow Badu-Woode, former General Secretary of Ghana Pentecostal Council, urged the members to accept all persons who worship in the church.
"I urge you to accept all persons who worship in the church, be it Rastafarian or not as they will be transformed eventually by their continuous fellowship with the church," he added.