Rev. Joyce Aryee, the founder of Salt and Light Ministries, has urged Christians to inspire hope rather than lament in difficult times.
She said that Christians must criticize in tough times, but they must do it in ways that God desires.
Rev. Aryee — a former Minister of State under the PNDC — said during a symposium hosted by the Ga Presbytery of the Victory Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana in Adenta last Friday that the country has endured terrible times previously, but those who trusted in God survived.
The symposium, titled "Christian Mission in a Pluralistic World," was held as part of the Ga Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana's centennial celebrations.
Complaints
"We need to hold one other accountable for the way things are going," Rev. Aryee added, "but I'd want to urge us, as God's children, that we are not obliged to join the litany of complaints that is going on in the country."
"In our nation, we grumble much too much. "We're like the children of Israel in the wilderness, fleeing Egypt but recalling the cucumbers and lovely food they left behind," she explained.
She pointed out that a complaining child of God was really diminishing God's ability to make all things possible in tough circumstances.
She claimed that Christians were people of hope, and that as a result, they needed to let others know that things had been worse in this nation previously.
"Do you recall the Rawlings chain from the 1980s, where Ghanaians waited in line for petrol, milk, sugar, and kenkey?"
"We've been through such times before, and we've survived because, as Christians, we trust in God, and we've been blessed because of it," she added.
She noticed that February to May was a lean season, and that the high cost of local commodities was due to the season rather than the cost of gasoline.
"That is why, as people of hope, we must conduct our lives in such a manner that, despite everything, we may remain hopeful."
That is why, as people of hope, we must conduct our lives in such a manner that, regardless of other faiths, we Christians can walk about with our chests out because we know who we believe in.
"And we are convinced that God will fulfill all of God's promises to us," she concluded.
Coexistence that is peaceful
Rev. Johnson Mbillah, a Research Fellow at the Akrofi Centre for Interfaith Studies and Engagement in Africa (CISEA), said that in order to foster peaceful coexistence in society, Christians must collaborate and live with other religious groups.
He stated that in order to cohabit with other religious beliefs, Christians need not ignore, but rather recognize, the differences in religious diversity.