Churches Must Demonstrate Readiness To Protect Congregants – Rev. Ransford Obeng

Rev. Ransford Obeng, the General Overseer of Calvary Charismatic Center (CCC) has caution the church to demonstrate its commitment to protecting its members when the ban on public gathering is finally lifted by the government.

He said the church must prove beyond all reasonable doubts that it is a safer place for people to congregate for worship by ensuring that all safety measures would be put in place.

The General Overseer, who was addressing the media in Kumasi, said the CCC was not only ready to observe all the precautionary protocols of COVID-19 but also determined to check the temperature of everyone who enters the premises of the church.

He proposed that the government puts together a team to inspect all churches across the country to ensure compliance with the safety protocols as part of plans to ease restrictions on public gatherings.

“I appeal to the church to put in place measures that would offer protection and safety for congregants so that when the restriction on public gatherings is lifted, the church can function effectively”, the CCC leader entreated.

Rev. Obeng who unveiled some protective equipment including thermometer guns, veronica buckets, hand sanitizers, and liquid soap which had been strategically placed at vantage points, said the church would also periodically disinfect its facilities to guarantee the safety of members.

He disclosed that ushers would be deployed to assist congregants to undertake the mandatory health checks as well as the handwashing protocols.

The church, he noted, would engage the services of doctors, nurses and the police to attend to emergencies and enforce the protocols.

As part of measures to ensure social distancing, the church would conduct four services between Saturdays and Sundays to allow for spacing in the seating arrangements.

“CCC has 3,000 members and because of COVID-19 protocols, our main auditorium and big shed have been designated to host congregants with the former taking 400 and the latter seating 300 in four streak services”, Rev. Obeng emphasized.

The Reverend Minister disagreed with persons who claim the church has no role to play in the fight against COVID-19, saying that, what manifested physically first happened in the spiritual realm.

While admitting that combating COVID-19 required scientific measures, he said, there could not be total eradication of the virus without prayers.

The church, he opined, offered a better atmosphere for spiritual battle against COVID-19 than any other place and called on Christians to step up prayers against the pandemic.

“Nobody can downplay the importance of the church in this season of COVID-19 pandemic and the prayer from the people of God offers us a better opportunity to deal with the viral disease than the application of science alone”, he stressed.

Source: GNA