The Chieftaincy Ministry of the Church of Pentecost on Saturday launched the Chieftaincy Ministry for the Wa Area of the church in the Upper West Region.
The Chieftaincy Ministry seeks to bridge the gap between Christianity and the chieftaincy institution, provide chaplaincy services to the traditional authority and also foster a good rapport between the two bodies to enhance development and share the word of God with traditional authorities.
Speaking at the launch at Wa, the National Coordinator of the Chieftaincy Ministry, Apostle Vincent Anane Denteh, said chiefs were the gateway to communities hence no meaningful development would happen without effective partnership with the chieftaincy institution.
In this regard, the Apostle said the mission of the church was to partner with the chiefs in the various communities to enhance development, peace building and chaplaincy services that would also encourage Christian royals in the church to ascend to the throne without hindrances and in the Christ way.
In a sermon titled ‘Divine Order’ the coordinator mentioned that God was himself a king and had established the chieftaincy institution, hence the role of traditional leaders was not at the blind side of God.
Referencing Proverbs 16:13, Apostle Denteh stated that because kings pursued righteousness, they loved righteous people and tried to keep them as much as they would skilled people.
“A king favours the one who acts wisely and his anger is against the unwise; in the same vein, every leader would want to associate with wise people as they are able to give them productive advice to correct and help them become successful, ” he said and mentioned that people who lived distasteful lifestyles were shunned by rulers.
“I will use this opportunity to call on various leaders in the country to help reduce shameful behaviours such as corruption, thievery, untruth, lies, indecent dressing as well as people who try to destroy the positive aspect of our culture and think everything African or Ghanaian is wrong,” he implored.
He said the latter group would wish Ghanaians adopted western culture to become modern but lamented that within that culture laid shameful acts such as homosexuality and said “we want to plead with our kings to protect the positive aspect of our culture and not allow shameful things to be part of our culture in order bring meaningful development to the society.”
Inaugurating a seven-member Area Chieftaincy Executive Committee, led by Pastor Kofi Adu Safo, Apostle Denteh spelt out that the committee would work to bring all chiefs to the saving knowledge of Christ and also coordinate the organisation of national and district conferences for chiefs and queens in the region.
On his part, the Vice President of the National House of Chiefs and the Chief of the Lawra Traditional Area, Naa Puowele Karbo IV commended the church for the move which he said would enhance development and charged the committee to discharge their duties in a credible manner in order to earn their trust.
He encouraged the church to continue to deploy the bottom-up approach to development to make sure the development they pursued was participatory and sustainable.
The occasion also saw the presence of the president of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs, Naa Dikomwine Domalae as well as chiefs and representatives from the various paramount areas across the region.
FROM LYDIA DARLINGTON FORDJOUR, WA
