Rt Rev Prof. Cephas Narh Omenyo receiving a gift from the Victory Congregation
THE NEW Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) says the church is facing serious financial crisis.
According to Rt Rev. Prof. Cephas Narh Omenyo, after 188 years of its existence, PCG has less than one million members while some emerging churches have membership strength of more than two million.
Prof. Omenyo made the disclosure on Sunday at a thanksgiving service organized by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Victory Congregation, Fafraha, Accra, in his honour as the 17th Moderator of the General Assembly.
He blamed the development on lack of motivation by members of the church to make sacrifices for its expansion.
The new moderator indicated that just a few people are willing to make sacrifices for the progress of the PCG, but quickly added that even those people are not being well paid by the church for their services.
He said salaries are very low in the PCG, even though the church has come a long way and as such, is expected to be able to better cater for its members’ financial needs, especially those who are willing to lay down their lives for the advancement of the gospel.
The various basic schools, colleges of education and universities owned by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, he disclosed, are all in financial distress.
According to him, “The stakes are high in the church. The fields are white but the labourers who are committed and are ready to leave their comfort zones to new frontiers are few.”
Contradictions
“The few who offer themselves are not well supported,” Rt. Rev. Prof. Omenyo said, in sharp contrast to what the outgone Moderator, Professor Emmanuel Martey, had made members of the PCG to believe a couple of weeks before.
Prof. Martey, it would be recalled, delivering his last sermon as the 16th Moderator, had indicated that his reign had brought about massive achievements within the church, leading to a significant increase in the salaries of its members.
The outgone Moderator had said at the Peniel Congregation (Salem) Teshie, that the “PCG today is stronger than ever,” adding that it had been able to adjust upward the monthly allowance for widows from GH¢12 to GH¢400 under his stewardship.
But the new Moderator said members serving in the church are taking less than GH¢20 and that some of them have this low salary in arrears of five months.
BY Melvin Tarlue & Solomon Ofori