THE CHURCH HAS MEN AND WOMEN TO INSPIRE TRANSFORMED LIVES – FORMER ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Story: Sarah Naa Merley Mensah & Emmanuel Ashong, Adabraka

Former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice of the Republic of Ghana, Hon Gloria Afua Akuffo is confident the church has the men and women to inspire discipleship and transformed lives.

She believes like the biblical account of Nehemiah, “Our Church is endowed with the men and women who can inspire us to be disciplers and to live the transformed lives”.

Ms Akuffo was speaking at the 2^nd Sophia Duker Annual Memorial Lecture held at the Rev Ernest Bruce Memorial Methodist Chapel, Adabraka on Saturday, August 06, 2022.

The second in the series, the annual lecture is held in honour of the late Sis Sophia Duker, the first District Chairman (now Diocesan Lay Chairman) of the Lay Movement Council of the then Accra District (now Diocese) of The Methodist Church Ghana. The late retired educationist was also a one-time President of the Women’s Fellowship and Chairman of the Women’s Division (now Gender and Family Issues Directorate) of the Church.

This year’s event had the late Bro Eric Sarpei Ntreh, the second District Chairman of the Accra District Lay Movement Council as the focal point.

The guest speaker for the occasion, Hon Gloria Akuffo who is a Methodist with Calvary Society, Adabraka, recounted her childhood experiences as a girl growing up at Korle Woko, a suburb of Accra and what she described as the “characteristics of present and past societies”.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Discipleship: Living the Transformed Life in Contemporary Society’, the former Minister of Aviation noted that, “Ours may be a broken society, but all is not lost, adding “…with determination, we can rise and build our Church through discipleship and living exemplary lives”.

“We must take inspiration from Nehemiah 2:11-18, …In spite of enemy opposition and what appeared to be an impossible task, Jerusalem under the sterling leadership of Nehemiah was rebuilt in 52 short days that is in less than two months. That clearly shows some great determination”, Ms Akuffo narrated.  

The Lay Chairman of the Accra Diocese, Sis Agatha Nana Ama Ennin Osei, expressed the Church’s profound gratitude to the families of the late Sophia Duker and Bro Sarpei Ntreh.

The Methodist Bishop of Accra Diocese, the Rt Rev Emmanuel Borlabi Bortey, officiated a brief Service in memory of the focal person, the late Bro Sarpei Ntreh. The family of the late Bro Ntreh was represented by the Rev Prof Benjamin Abochie Ntreh, a Minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana who was also the chairman for the occasion.

A citation was posthumously presented to the family of the late Bro Sarpei Ntreh in acknowledgement of his dedicated service to the Church.