The President of the Volta and Paramount Chief of Asogli traditional area, Togbe Afede XIV, has stressed the need for the church to educate its members on the need to work hard and blend their Christian and spiritual growth with work. Addressing the 150th Anniversary celebration of the Ho-Kpodzi Regional Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Ghana, he observed that some Christians were spending more of their productive hours at prayer camps and on church activities, than getting involved in socio economic activities, thereby worsening the existing poverty situation in the country.

“It seems Africans are now worshiping God more than those who introduced the Christian religion to us”, saying even though that was the current picture, most Christians in Ghana and Africa were suffering from high level of poverty.

He continued that it was unfortunate that African countries like Ghana, which is committed to the worship of God, still have majority of the people deeply rooted in poverty, saying “why is it so because God does not like people to live in poverty”. Togbe Afede mentioned education, health, agriculture among others as some of the most important contributions of the church, which had positive effects on the lives of the people and urged the church to help build both the spiritual and physical lives of its members to accelerate development.

He stressed that the leadership problems that led to corruption because of the selfish interest of the leaders should be avoided in the church and that the church should be seen shaping society.

Togbe Afede also called for effective collaboration between the church and traditional authorities to coordinate development activities in the common interest of the church and society adding that was the only way to accelerate development in the country.

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the EP Church, the Rt. Rev. Francis Amenu asked Ghanaians to emulate the missionaries who sacrificed their lives to spread the gospel by showing more commitment to the development efforts of the country and refrain from negative practices that retard development.