The Anglican Diocese of Tema in the Church of the Province of West Africa (CPWA) has been inaugurated with a call on members and clergy to build the Diocese on a foundation of prayer.
‘Prayer is the key for growth,’ The Right Reverend Solomon Scott-Manga, the Bishop of Bo, in Sierra Leone said at the inaugural service at the SS Alban and Mathew Anglican Church in Tema Community One.
The colourful inaugural service, celebrated by The Most Rev’d Dr Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, Primate and Metropolitan Archbishop of the CPWA and Bishops of the Anglican Internal Province of Ghana, had clergy across the Anglican Diocese of Accra and members in attendance.
The carving out of the Tema Diocese from the Anglican Diocese of Accra had become necessary due to the growing numbers of Parishes in the sprawling cosmopolitan city of Tema and its environs.
It is to advance the vision of the Anglican Church of Ghana in church planting and evangelism.
The creation of the Tema Diocese brings to 13, the number of Dioceses in th
e Internal Province of Ghana (IpG).
Rt. Rev’d Scott-Manga, in a homily on the theme: ‘The Presence of God in your Journey’, urged members to seek the face of the Lord through constant prayer as that was a sure bet for their growth as a new Diocese.
The Bishop, who likened the Diocese to a football team, said it required all members of the team, members and clergy alike, playing their respective roles in order to succeed and make tremendous strides.
He said the great commission as instituted by Jesus for Christians to reach out, make disciples and evangelise, was key in ensuring that the church was built on a solid foundation.
‘Evangelism is key, but the lifestyle of the clergy and members of the Diocese can bring people to Christ and the church which will increase its finances as a new Diocese,’ the Bishop of Bo said.
The Rt. Rev’d Sylvanus Mensa Torto, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Accra, in his Statutory Declaration, said ‘the intriguing aim of the creation of new Diocese is for the effective growt
h, promotion and propagation of the gospel.’
He said the readiness and zeal of the financial capability of the ecclesiastical area of the Tema Diocese was viable as the area had great financial potential and was well-resourced capable of taking care of the new Diocese.
‘The Five-Year Composite Budget shows the Diocese can be financially sustainable,’ he stressed.
Bishop Torto said, ‘As the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Accra and with the full support of the Clergy and Laity of the Diocese, I declare to put shoulder to work for the successful prosecution of the creation of Tema Diocese to the ultimate glory of God and benefit of the Anglican Church of the Province of West Africa and Anglican Communion worldwide.’
The Most Rev’d Dr Cyril Kobina Ben-Smith, The Primate and Metropolitan Archbishop of the CPWA, who declared the Tema Diocese officially inaugurated, said the new Diocese of Tema shall, until the promulgation of its own Constitution and Canons, use the Constitution and Canons of the Diocese of
Accra.
Reading provisions of the constitution of the CPWA, he said Article 18(1)(1)(a) provided for the formation of a new Diocese with the consent of the Provincial Synod, by the division of an existing Diocese.
He said under Article 18 (4)(2), of the constitution, no new Diocese shall be formed unless it contained at least five parishes within the boundary of the new Diocese.
As required, the Primate and Metropolitan Archbishop of the CPWA said he received a written proposal for the division of the Diocese of Accra by the Diocesan Bishop after consideration by the synod in accordance with Canon Six of the Constitution.
Archbishop Ben-Smith indicated that due process was followed to the later in the creation of the new Tema Diocese after the creation of the Nkoranza Diocese weeks after.
Source: Ghana News Agency