The Church of Pentecost was the first to release a communiqué within 24hours when the President of the Republic of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, announced the ban and closure of all borders, churches or religious services, educational institutions and social gatherings in March this year, to fight the quick spread of COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement released by the General Secretary sanctioned by the Chairman of the Church, all ministers, officers, and members were urged to accept, respect, and obey the directive protocols from the President, professionals, and scientists or experts in the nation with immediate effect.
During the period of the ban and restrictions on social gatherings, the church of Pentecost had never hesitated to be supportive to the President, Health and front line workers, the vulnerable and the nation at large, in diverse ways, making every necessary effort to help fight this unexpected COVID-19 pandemic crisis and redeem the lives of innocent people.
In the same way on how the church responded to the first address of the President, everybody now, including the majority of the church members are eagerly ready with erect and open ears to hear the immediate decision or response from the leadership of the Church of Pentecost; whether to allow their church assemblies or buildings to be opened or remain closed until further notice, after the President’s address and declaration on easing restrictions.
The recent address of the President, easing ban, and restrictions on churches or religious bodies has put many questions into the mind of Ghanaians and even some of the Church Members. Everybody seems not to understand why the Church of Pentecost is still silent without releasing any communique or directive whether to open their church assemblies or the church buildings continue to remain closed. However, the leadership of some Churches like Destiny Empowerment Chapel International, Lighthouse Chapel, International Central Gospel Church, Perez Chapel among others has come out boldly to declare their stance, urging their member to make their church buildings to remain closed until further notice.
About views of others, the majority of Ghanaians including some of the church members seem to believe that, the easing of the restrictions on the ban has rather put the leadership of the various churches into a very tight corner where they need to be patient with critical thinking before making a decision. They also agree that, in such a critical situation, the Church leaders need nothing but exceptional revelations, grace, wisdom, knowledge and insights or spirit of discernment with collective intercessory prayers from other subordinate leaders and church members to make them think well, reflect deeply and make an effective decision thus declaring the best stance for the church; whether to allow the church buildings to be opened or continue to remain closed, and this is the news every church member is ready, eager, interested and hungry for, with open and erect ears to hear or listen from the leadership of the Church of Pentecost.
In response to cool temperatures down, the General Secretary of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Alexander Nana Yaw Kumi-Larbi, released brief information sanctioned by the Chairman on Friday, June 5, 2020, calling on all Area Heads to advise the District Pastors, Officers and Members not to rush to open church buildings for use immediately. They were advised to exercise patience to wait for official directives from the Church Executive Council before opening the church buildings for mass worship, despite the easing of the ban and restrictions on Churches by the President, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo.
In the statement released by the General Secretary, the Area Heads were directed by the top hierarchy and Leadership of the Church to continue reaching out the Church members through family, friends and cell systems while the Church takes its time to monitor, assess and evaluate the situation and know when to fully resume for effective service. “The Chairman has asked me to inform all Heads to advise the Ministers, Officers and Church Members NOT to rush to open church buildings for use immediately. Instead, we should continue using family, friends, and cell systems. The Executive Council would release the way forward soonest” the General Secretary of the Church stated.
Before the release of this information, the leadership of the Church has already given out directives that, Ministers and other church leaders should not engage the media in any form of discussions about the President’s directives on the easing of the restrictions, thus the Executive Council is discussing and would give further directives and other reforms to help the effective run of the church in the Post-COVID new normal and soonest.
The way the Church of Pentecost value, respect and obey leaders, many Church members fail or find it difficult to comprehend why the information released by the General Secretary and sanctioned by the Chairman of the Church, needed to be respected and obeyed, should rather create or raise issues of mixed reactions, confusions, and tensions among some of the Heads, Ministers, Officers, and Members. Some Area Heads, District Pastors, and Local Assembly Presiding Elders claimed, they are fully prepared to worship coming Sunday and even anytime so no matter what happens and provided Jesus does not come, they would open their local assemblies. On the other hand, others share contrarily views that they are not fully prepared to go to the church coming Sunday because the safety protocols and measures to put in place before opening the church buildings are very cost expensive and they needed time to plan very well to avoid risking the church coffers and lives of the church members.
With regards to other responses from the church members, though some members are eager to church to go to see their leaders and other fellow members coming Sunday they also do not understand why some of the Heads, Ministers and Presiding Elders are disrespecting, rejecting and opposing the directives from the Church headquarters.
For others, they are fine and wish the church buildings should remain closed for now as directed by the leadership. Those with these assertions said that the church buildings should remain closed, and even if the church or their local assemblies are fully prepared with all the safety protocols and measures in place, they would not risk their lives to go to church now. “We are not in normal times, and since our bodies are the temple of God, we can worship God anytime anywhere and pay our tithes and offering via electronic means. Life is sweet and very important to live. We are not praying to happen but it would be a big blow, strange and disgrace for someone to go to church and get back home with infection of coronavirus which is also very possible to happen. Again, it would be very difficult to see members at church and avoid greeting or shaking them. The way we have seen each other for a long time, many members would even shake and hug each other before relaxing it that, there are some safety protocols to comply with. So to avoid temptations, we should stay at home sometimes and use the family, friends, and cell system as directed by the leadership of the Church. We should not rush to open church buildings as directed by the General Secretary. Though everybody will die one day for sure we can easily prevent or escape some premature deaths by obeying and practicing simple rules and measures. We need life to live, we need life to worship God, we need life to possess the nations and we need life to transform other lives” they said.
The critical question other neutral church members asking now is that “assuming some or even all the leaders in various Areas, Districts and Local Assemblies are fully prepared for church service, fellowship, and worship with God coming Sunday in Church buildings, are we supposed to disregard and disobey or we should regard and obey the directives from the top hierarchy of our the Church-sanctioned by the noble Chairman?
Source: Jadya, Saturday June 6, 2020
