Executive Director, African Rural Integrated Network Ghana (AFRINET Ghana), Mr Victor Attah Ntumi, has reiterated the call for mankind’s care for the environment to ensure sustainability.
“In the beginning, God looked upon His creation and called it good. And into that paradise, humankind was placed not as owners, but as stewards. The command was clear in Genesis 2:15: The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to till it and keep it. To till and to keep, to cultivate and to conserve, to use, but never to abuse or destroyed.”
He said however, the cries of creation echoed all around in recent times where forests once lush were now laid bare, rivers once teeming with life ran dry or polluted, species vanished, the climate warmed and the most vulnerable, poor, voiceless and future generations suffered the consequences most severely.
Mr Ntumi in an address during the opening ceremony of the 15th Presbytery Synod of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, Central Presbytery, on the theme “Care for Creation: The task and mission of the Church” said the theme was not only timely but prophetic.
“It reminds us that the work of the Church does not end at the pulpit, nor is it confined within the walls of our sanctuaries. Our mission extends to the very soil beneath our feet, the rivers that flow through our lands, the air we breathe, and every living creature that inhabits God’s earth.”
He said the Church was called to be the conscience of the world, to challenge the systems and habits that destroyed the earth and to embody a new way of living, one marked by simplicity, sustainability, and reverence for life.
Mr Ntumi said the Synod was not just a meeting but a commissioning and urged members to emerge from it not only with plans and policies, but with passion and prophetic courage and let the churches become centres of environmental awareness and action.
He said young people must be empowered as ambassadors of ecological justice, worship reflected wonder at the beauty and holiness of creation and theology embraced the earth, not as a footnote, but as an essential expression of God’s redemptive plan.
Mr Ntumi called on citizens to take part in immunisation exercises when rolled out as well prioritise healthy living such as sleeping under treated bed nets and desist from using such nets for fishing and domestic uses.
Reverend Dr A.K Addae, Presbytery Synod Moderator, called on members to embark on evangelism to bring new members to the Church.
He lamented the dwindling membership of the Presbytery’s congregation, identifying the Fodome-Wli area of the Gbi- Wegbe Pastoral District as the most affected.
GNA
