A Member of the Council of State of Ghana, Prof Ato Essuman has revealed that Churches in the country are direct beneficiaries of the proceeds from the galamsey business involving their members.
Prof Ato Essuman who doubles as the 2nd Lay President of the Methodist Church, Ghana revealed that simple research of sampling sermon topics of Ministers Pastors in all the Christian denominations shows that there have been few or no sermon topics consciously prepared to teach Christians to be good stewards of the environment.
“The Church has been a direct beneficiary of the proceeds from the galamsey business. There is enough proof that the church, especially those in the heart of the galamsey business depended on the wealth of the operators to survive. It is the church members who engage in the business who are able to contribute meaningfully to support church projects” Prof Essuman hinted.
This according to him makes it difficult for church leaders and preachers to teach against the menace”.
As the Guest Speaker at the Methodist Church Ghana Association of Methodist Men’s Fellowships during the 6th Koomson/Ackah/Enchia Memorial Lectures held in Cape Coast, he bemoaned the galamsey menace.
He spoke on the topic “The effects of galamsey on the Ghanaian economy: the Christian perspectives towards the alleviation of the menace”.
He observed that the lack of environmental consciousness among the Ghanaian Christian population is not due to the fact that the Bible lacks sound teachings on human-environment relationships, but the content of Christian education in the church in Ghana has over the years been lacking in this direction.
Prof Essuman stated emphatically that the Church in Ghana has failed to teach Christians their God-given responsibility to be good and sustainable stewards of the environment.
“Even though there are other factors that have caused the current situation but the religious bit is the crucial reason. When there are no strong biblical teachings on the environment, other factors will influence how people treat the environment” he observed.
According to him, Ghanaian Churches have only focused on teaching Christians to maintain a godly and holy relationship with God and fellow humans but have left out the need for Christians to also maintain a godly relationship with the environment.
To this end, he charged the Christian church to begin to make conscious efforts in making ecology an integral part of Christian education and theology in general and challenged Ministers of the gospel to make teachings relating to the environment a priority.
“Enough of the sermons on prosperity it is time to preach on posterity. There is no use for material prosperity if it does not benefit posterity. The Christian concept of stewardship can therefore be a major stride in this direction hence the church is better placed to do this advocacy than any other entity” Prof Essuman lamented.
On his part, the Bishop of Cape Coast Diocese, the Rt. Rev. Richardson Andam who chaired the function vowed to preach about the environment and reduce preaching about sin because destroying the environment is the greatest sin.