The Reverend Dr Yaw Frimpong-Manso, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), has challenged churches to be interested in the welfare of their members.
He said the church should not only be interested in taking offerings and other dues, while their members wallow in abject poverty, adding, "It is a core responsibility to care for the vulnerable and the weak who also contribute for the growth of the church".
Preaching the sermon at the ordination of 14 Ministerial Probationers from the southern sector at the Ascension Presbyterian Church in Koforidua, Rev Frimpong-Manso said there were many needy members of the church who need attention.
He pointed out that the welfare of the PCG, which focused mainly on helping members who were bereaved, must be redirected to be a fund set aside by the church to help members who were not necessarily contributors.
The Moderator urged that the welfare fund in the church should be expanded to help young ones to be able to marry without any difficulty, adding "that would also attract the youth to stay in the church".
He said the lack of assistance for the needy in the PCG, especially for the youth had driven many of them away from the church.
Rev Frimpong-Manso therefore urged the new ministers to extend their ministry beyond the pulpit, by showing interest in the life situations of their members in the various districts.
He advised them to be worthy ambassadors of "Christ and the Church" and reminded them that the church reserved the right to sanction any pastor who goes contrary to the call.
The Clerk of the General Assembly of the PCG, Rt Rev Herbert Anim-Oppong, who introduced the probationers for the ordination, said they had gone through a five-year training programme from the Theological Seminary and completed two years of ministerial probation.
He said the probationers were attached to different churches and districts within the PCG and had been duly recommended by the General Assembly Council to be ordained as full ministers of the church.
Rev Jonathan Akuetteh Abbey, who spoke on behalf of the probationers, said they were aware that they were being commissioned at a time when so many vices including the "Sakawa" menace had eaten into the society and that they would not disappoint the church.