According to him, the description, although unsavory and uncomplimentary, is enforced by the challenges the continent faces.

[contextly_sidebar id=”PAbGIx68ChgdFlY9M66InYKbUfRXJKNJ”]In a sermon on Sunday to mark the church’s 34^th anniversary, Pastor Mensa Otabil suggested that Africa had a development challenge that requires a deeper reflection to rise above the current challenges.

US President Donald Trump earlier this year reportedly described countries such as Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as shitholes, generating global uproar especially among blacks who criticized Mr. Trump for being racist.

But Pastor Mensa Otabil in his sermon said, “If God has called us to reach African people then we have to find out what is the problem with African people. And the problems are quite self-evident. We are the poorest in the world. Just look around us. We have been described very unsavorily not too long ago by the president of a prominent nation, in terms that are very uncomplimentary. And as annoying as that description is, it is not prescriptive but it is descriptive. It doesn’t tell you that is where we are going, but it seems we exhibit symptoms that conform to that description. ”

He told the congregation at the ICGC Christ Temple, Abossey Okai in Accra, that he had identified inferiority complex as a major issue impeding the development of Africa and blacks as a race.

While citing the continent’s seemingly over-dependence on foreign assistance in terms of human and monetary resources and logistics, the revered spiritual leader lamented that the current situation depicts blacks as “a broken people.”

“I feel that one of the biggest challenges that we face as people is a sense of inferiority. It is almost as if you can’t do anything about your problems. We almost feel incapacitated before our problems.  We feel as if somebody from somewhere should help us all the time. We are like a broken people, we either need the British to help us, or the Germans to help us or the Americans to help us, and now we even want the Chinese to help us, Indians to help us,” he said.

‘Why should we feel helpless?’

Dr. Mensa Otabil further stressed on the apparent state of helplessness of most Ghanaians in the country over the level of development and happenings in the country, indicating that the phenomenon of feeling or being helpless as a Ghanaian in Ghana must not be entertained.

“I don’t have problems with Chinese or Indians, but why should we feel helpless in our country? I don’t mind feeling helpless if I go to Germany because, I’m not a German. But I shouldn’t feel helpless in Ghana. If I go to Germany and I feel inferior, that is normal, it is okay, but I shouldn’t feel that way when I’m here in my own country.”

“And that problem is not really a political problem. We felt that way before we became politicians so when you become a politician, you just go and manifest what you were already feeling. The sense of the inferiority is one of the things that I think God must help us to break,” he noted.

Click on audio to listen to Mensa Otabil

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ‘We exhibit symptoms that fit shithole description’ – Otabil appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The rally, since 2014, has seen a sharp increase, as kids from the church are joined by many others in the immediate environs and beyond, to have fun games, study the word of God and eat to their satisfaction.

The kids were clothed in branded Jesus Kids T-Shirts, and beyond all the fun games such as bouncy castle, football, drama dancing competition, musical chairs, skipping rope, seesaw among others, some were also given gifts such as toy watches, spectacles, and also served lunch.

The joyous event for the kids between ages 4-15, was live on Facebook on Jesus Kids Foundation’s official Facebook Page.

In 2016, the event attracted over 1, 500 kids, as against 813 kids who turned up in 2015, and now a figure of 2,531 for 2017.

The 2017 event as usual could not have been successful without the influence of volunteers, who numbered 286 at this year’s event.

They rendered services such as registration of the kids, cooking and serving of meals, teaching the kids the word of God, providing security, cleaning and general supervision of all activities of the day.

Of great significance was the fact that about 100 kids gave their lives to Jesus Christ during an altar call.

Head Pastor of ICGC Horeb Temple, Pastor Daniel Sowah, said the church uses the event as an evangelism tool to reach out to the children in the community, and draw them to Christ.

He explained that children are important to the Kingdom of God and to nation building, explaining that children form the next generation, and hence efforts must be made to hone their skills and talent, whiles giving them the platform to express themselves and be confident.

He urged churches to focus more on nurturing Children in God’s word in order to bring out a new generation of morally upright youth to save the country from corruption and other ills that threaten its development.

Pastor Daniel Sowah said “No kid is a bad boy or girl. They are all precious jewels to Jehovah” adding that some are introverts, whereas others are extroverts.

He thus urged parents and guardians to take note of their kids’ individual strengths and weaknesses, to help them transform into responsible adults with God at the center of their lives.

In his closing remarks, he expressed the hope that the event will grow to become a larger national event that will reach out to many more kids in the years to come.

He urged the kids to find God’s presence and his word useful at all times, and show respect to the elderly, avoid bad company and indecent language.

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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post ICGC Horeb Temple’s 4th Jesus Kids Rally fetes over 2,500 kids [Photos] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

During his sermon on peace today [Sunday] he recounted that “Monday was a fortunately good day for me. I was fine on Monday. Tuesday was a very bad day for me. Wednesday was a very terrible day. You go through this stuff and you wonder; wow, what a week!”

[contextly_sidebar id=”ROLvSUI09HMQF4Buxs1LsImO7vJKVIml”]But this experience only served to provide Pastor Otabil with another testimony of God’s goodness to him as he said, “on Thursday morning, I started feeling God’s favour.”

The pastor normally starts the preparation of his Sunday sermons on Tuesdays, however, “this Tuesday, I was not in a frame of mind for a sermon. This was not sermon Tuesday.”

“Wednesday definitely wasn’t a sermon Wednesday” either for Pastor Otabil, who faced some criticism for the running of the Capital Bank as revelations of negligence at its top level seeped into the public domain.

“But on Thursday, I got up, I picked my laptop, I opened it and Thursday, I put my ideas down like I normally do and all of a sudden, I just felt like a cloud just left my shoulders.”

The collapse of Capital Bank and UT Bank marked a seismic shift in Ghana’s banking sector. The two banks were heavily deficient in capital and liquidity.

It, therefore, became necessary for the Bank of Ghana to revoke their licenses and approve a Purchase and Assumption transaction to allow GCB Bank to take over deposits and selected assets of UT Bank and Capital Bank.

A leaked 2014 memo published in the Insight Newspaper in 2015 revealed that Capital Bank, then First Capital Plus Bank, was on the verge of collapse.

The bank’s Chief Executive Officer at the time even described the situation as a “time bomb” as he warned that Capital Bank had capitalization issues and may not be able to meet its obligations to its clients.

The memo addressed to the Board of the Bank, also outlined cases of mismanagement that had compromised their shareholder’s credibility and he urged that it take drastic and urgent steps to resolve the bank’s situation.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Mensa Otabil admits to rough week after bank collapse appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Hundreds of excited and enthusiastic children between the ages of 2-17 years, were taught the word of God, fed and taken through several games at the 3rd edition of the event.

The rally, which is in its third year, is held every last Saturday of December.

This year’s event attracted over 1, 500 kids, as against the 2015 figure of eight hundred and thirteen (813) children.

With 130 volunteers for the 2016 edition, majority of the children, assembled from the community to join the kids of the church, were adequately fed, taught the word of God, as the messages focused on the birth of Jesus Christ.

They were taking through a time of praises, praise and worship, as they also memorized some Bible verses, and performed the ‘junko’ dance – a choreographic performance made out of Biblical stories.

The kids were also presented with Christmas hats, cards, T-shirts, toffees and other gifts.

They were later engaged in several fun games such as football, swimming, basketball, volley-ball, face painting, skipping rope, seesaw, bouncy castle and trampoline amongst others.

A Pastoral Assistant at the Horeb Temple ICGC, Gilbert Quarcoopome, told citifmonline.com that the church uses the event as an evangelism tool to reach out to the children in the community and draw them to Christ.

According to him, this year’s event was an improvement over the previous years in terms of numbers. He said there were children who came from other parts of Accra to participate.

“Our first target was to bring Christ to the community through this programme. We targeted about 1,500 and indeed we had over 1,500 coming and they were all fed, they had gifts and they’ve had a lot of fun; and I think they have enjoyed themselves. We’ve given them the word of God; they memorized Bible verses, and they’ve had a lot of fun with the word of God; and I believe that they are not going home the same as they came.”

He said the next event in 2017, will target over 2,000 kids.

He also expressed the hope that the event will grow to become a larger national event that will reach out to many more kids in the years to come.

“Moving forward next year, we hope to make this bigger and much better; by targeting over 2000 kids. This year we were blessed from having kids from Laterbiokoshie who came from a different church; and that tells us that this is a tool that can be used to win souls for the Kingdom of God.”

He explained that children are important to the Kingdom of God and to nation building, explaining that children form the next generation, and hence efforts must be made to hone their skills and talent, whiles giving them the platform to express themselves and be confident.

“This is so important because you remember that when children were coming to Jesus they were turning them away, but Jesus stopped that from happening. Children are so important and I keep saying that children are the next generation; we because they are the next generation, we need to give them all the necessary skills and empowerment for them to takeover this nation and the kingdom of God to the next level so it’s very important. And in our culture, children aren’t supposed to be heard, they are not given the platform of expression; and this offers them that platform to express themselves, learn the word of God and have fun.”

The Pastoral Assistant urged churches to focus more on nurturing Children in God’s word in order to bring out a new generation of morally upright youth to save the country from corruption and other ills that threaten its development.

According to him, that is the only way to get Ghana on track since the current generation have become adamant to transformation. He says the nation faces a huge risk if much focus is not paid to the right upbringing of children.

The rally, which cost the church about Ghc30, 000, was sponsored by members of the church.

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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Hundreds attend ICGC Horeb Temple’s 2016 Jesus Kids rally [Photos] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Speaking to congregants at the Holy Ghost Temple of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC) at Adenta on Sunday, Mahama said the fact that the rate of maternal and infant mortality has decreased significantly and life expectancy increased above the average of most African countries, show the country is making progress.

“What we are enjoying today is a cumulative work of all the governments that have… so when a new government comes you don’t have to start from level one, you start from where they left off and then you take it to the next level so cumulatively we are making good progress. If you take all the UN human development indicators, it gives clear evidence that this country is moving in the right direction. Maternal mortality is falling, infant mortality is dropping and life expectancy is the highest in West Africa, average 63 years where as in other countries it is 52 years,” Mahama said.

He added that “76% of the population have access to clean drinking water, more than 80% of our people have access to electricity and so you can see that we are making progress.”

The president however lamented that there are many Ghanaians with cynical attitude and lack of faith in the future of the country in spite of the developments.

He therefore said that Ghanaians need to have faith and believe the country will “make it.”

“Sometimes I wonder and ask myself, it looks like outsiders have more faith in our country than we ourselves have in our country. We think that our country is a basket case and anything that we do, we cannot make it, but you go our self and they appreciate what you are doing,” he said.

The President also said he was hopeful “if we continue to work the way we are doing and we continue on the right track this nation will not only be a model of democracy, but it will be a model of economic prosperity in West Arica.”

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ghana isn’t a basket case; it’s moving in the right direction – Mahama appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.