Bishop James Kwame Baffour-Awuah of Sunyani Diocese of the Methodist Church, Ghana, on Thursday called on members of the religious institution to apply their talents to help accelerate the development of the Diocese.
He made the call at the opening of a five-day 32nd annual synod of the Diocese at Wesley Cathedral in Sunyani, under the theme:
“Connexionality and the Development of the Diocese”.
Bishop Baffour-Awuah explained that connexionalism was a word originally coined by John Wesley in context of the Universal Methodist
Church in the early beginning of the church’s movement to mean “an association of local societies that had been set up independently with
its own organisation and leadership”.
Bishop Baffour-Awuah stated that “the original purpose of John Wesley’s Connexionalism was to create oneness of churches that are
interdependent, part of each other nationally and internationally and to distinguish the Methodists from the early evangelicals in terms of
style”.
He, however, said in the Methodist Church, Ghana, the original meaning of the word “Connexionalism” in John Wesley’s wisdom stands
supreme - oneness of various churches, dioceses, circuits, societies, organisations, etc.
Bishop Baffour-Awuah said “Connexionalism” was also referred to as team work, which comprised a group of people contributing their
individual knowledge and skills but working together to achieve a common goal.
He said: “When team work is working well, there is what is called synergy where the result of the collective whole is greater than the
sum of the individual parts”.
Bishop Baffour-Awuah said it is essential for church members to work as a team to be able to achieve the expected goals.
He asked the Church to couple evangelism with the physical and spiritual development of members.
Bishop Baffour-Awuah appealed to the Government to assist the church in the rehabilitation of its school buildings that were
recently damaged by rainstorms.
He said the church had released GHC2,000 to the Biadan Technical/Secondary School in the Berekum Municipality, to complete its dining hall, and GHC5,000 for to supply of water to the school.