The President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ghana, Reverend John Shadrack Donkoh, has called on religious leaders to support government’s efforts in creating jobs for the youth and not concentrate only on the spiritual welfare of their members.
He said the teeming youth unemployment in the country was becoming a worrying trend and the earlier something was done about it the situation, the better it would be for the country.
“As most youth become idle, frustrated and poor, it hinders their closeness to participate in religious activities as well as contributing meaningfully towards the development of the country,” he emphasised.
Reverend Donkoh made this remark on Sunday during a dedication ceremony of the church’s ultra-modern new All Saint Lutheran Congregation building located at Anyaa in Accra.
The project, which included an AstroTurf and kitchen for the Lutheran Schools, formed part of the facelift projects for all Lutheran Schools.
It was funded and successful completed through the church’s Internal Generated Fund (IGF).
Reverend Donkoh further stated that the church had over the year supported its members and non-members through, but not limited to, donations, payment of school fee for those interested in vocational training and other formal education and healthcare, as part of their humanitarian programme.
He said the church had plans of establishing a pure water factory in the area to supply the schools and community with their products, stressing that plans were far advanced for the commencement of the project.
“And of course, also the children that are in the school. We want to begin vocational bible school for them whenever school is over, we encourage them to identify their talents, and motivate and guide them so that they can choose good careers for the future.
So these are long-term kind of projects that we have in mind and many other things, but we want to spend our time teaching our members, especially the children, in the fear of the Lord because the Bible says, ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” Reverend Donkoh explained.
He urged the unemployed youth to believe in God and not to allow the situation to lead them to indulge themselves in malpractices that may endanger their lives and as well be dealt with by the law.
The Reverend again indicated that the church should set up strategies to identify those in such situations and find lasting and sustainable methods of supporting them in their difficult times, stressing that they should not necessarily be targeted to only members but non-members as well.
BY BERNARD BENGHAN
