The Methodist Church Ghana has commissioned 82 ministers who will be posted to branches of the church across the country to serve and help to revive the faith of members.

This was after their completion of a three-year Master of Divinity programme at the Trinity Theological Seminary. Three separate commissioning services were held simultaneously for the new ministers, with 28 commissioned at the Garrison Methodist Presbyterian Church at the Burma Camp, 27 commissioned at the Bethel Methodist Chapel at New Aplaku, and another 27 commissioned at the Bethany Methodist Chapel at Dzorwulu.

They will be engaged in fieldwork during a three-year probation period after which they will be ordained as full-fledged ministers of the gospel and subsequently received into full connexion.

Charge

The Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church, Rt Rev. Paul Kwabena Boafo, who conducted the ceremony at the Garrison Methodist Presbyterian Church last Sunday, charged the newly commissioned ministers to discharge their ministerial duties with dignity and stay true to the course.

He said the church had put great trust and hope in their future and, therefore, expected abundant fruits of holiness from their ministries. “Remember that the church will heavily rely on you to create the awareness to humanity of the absolute need in every person's heart to encounter Jesus Christ the Lord and at the end to receive eternal life.

As a church, we give thanks because ministry is so important, not only for the church, but also for the whole world. This is because your calling and your response, as well as your commissioning today tells us and gives us a sign of God's love to humanity,” he said.

Cleansing

Rt Rev. Boafo said their calling and their coming into ministry was God's way of saying that the world was full of sin and needed cleansing. He said they were being called at a time when there were a lot of abuses, deception and faking in the church which had subjected the gospel to mockery.

The Presiding Bishop said God had called them for a purpose, and that purpose was in His plan of redemption for the world and for humanity and for all who had gone astray.

“It is God's way of showing the world that with you, He will continue to make disciples and with you He will continue to guide the people towards the ultimate end, and that is heaven,” Rt Rev. Boafo said.

He also acknowledged that their journey as ministers would be challenging, especially due to the influx of many self-acclaimed ministers of the gospel. He, therefore, urged them to refuse to be corrupted and influenced by the practices of people around them as they work for the Lord.

At the Bethel Methodist Chapel at New Aplaku, the Bishop of the Tema Diocese of the church, Rt Rev. Samuel Ofori-Akyea, and the former Bishop of Assin Fosu, Rt Rev. Samuel Mensah, taking turns to read some of the rules advanced by the father of Methodism, John Wesley, for the guidance of preachers who assisted him, asked the newly commissioned ministers to be diligent and not to while away time nor spend any more time at any place unless it was strictly necessary.

Charges

They also asked them not to speak evil of anyone, but to keep their thoughts within their own breast till they came to the person concerned. “Tell everyone what you think is wrong in him, lovingly and plainly, and as soon as may be, else it festers in your own heart. Be ashamed of nothing but sin,” they charged the newly commissioned ministers.

A former Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana, Most Rev. Titus K. Awotwi Pratt, who commissioned the ministers and delivered the sermon, charged the newly commissioned ministers to be obedient and humble to their calling.

The ceremony saw high-ranking ministers of the church in attendance, including the Bishop of Accra, Rt Rev. Emmanuel Borlabi Bortey; a distinguished theologian at the Trinity Theological Seminary and minister of the church, Very Rev. Dr John Abedu Quashie; the Bishop-elect of the Accra Diocese, Very Rev. Samuel Nii Nmai Ollennu. and the Lay Chairman of the Accra Diocese, Joseph Eduam.