The Suhum Area of The Church of Pentecost began the New Year with a four-day power-packed residential retreat meant to equip church leaders with the needed skills in shepherding the flock.
The retreat dubbed “Direction 2019” took place from January 2 to 4, 2019, at Akim Asafo Senior High School. The participants were all presiding elders in the Area, local secretaries, as well as ministers and wives.
In his welcome address, the Area Head, Apostle Anthony Eghan Kwesi Ekuban, commended officers of the church for their massive contributions in the effective running of the church.
He indicated that the invaluable contributions of elders and other unpaid officers in church administration cannot be overemphasized. He, therefore, reiterated the need for them to be abreast with the leadership skills that would help them in shepherding the flock.
In a presentation on leadership, Pastor Norman Appiah Danquah of Suhum District explained that leadership involves having a vision. According to him, one of the most painful issues is to have eyes for seeing but no vision.
He continued that leadership involves the ability to motivate subordinates and also create the enabling environment for people to work in.
Pastor Norman admonished church leaders to use team building approach, thus making use of the entire presbytery in order to achieve desired results, saying, “Leadership is not the matter of imposing ideas on subordinates.”
He outlined the various types of leadership as autocratic, democratic, transformational, team, and cross-cultural. Others include transactional, coaching, charismatic and visionary leadership.
In another presentation on the topic, “Complacency, A Bad Medicine for the Leader,” with Bible texts from Proverbs 18:9 and Philippians 3:12-14, Pastor Patrick Koomson, the District Minister of Coaltar admonished Christians to focus on the process of achieving greatness rather than the outcome, since successful leaders develop a process of achieving and sustaining excellence.
He indicated that many successful leaders always deal with complacency by learning to adapt to new techniques in order to remain with the current best practices and trends. He, therefore, entreated church leaders to focus on their ministry and avoid complacency.
Other topics treated at the retreat were: “The Visionary Leader,” “How to Spot Leaders,” “Increasing Your Momentum,” and “The Role of The Leader in Church Growth.” Others were: “The Leader and Evangelism,” “The Leader and Homiletics,” and “The Leader’s Authority and Power.”