‘The church should collaborate, not compete’ – Rev. Frimpong-Manso on peacebuilding

Founder and President of the Frimpong-Manso Institute, Rev. Prof. Paul Frimpong-Manso, has urged churches in Ghana to play a stronger, yet neutral, role in national peacebuilding efforts.

Speaking on Off the Lens, a weekly current affairs program streamed on OnlineTimesGh, he stressed that the church’s mandate goes beyond the pulpit and must be channelled into unity and collaboration with institutions already working to safeguard peace.

“The church will be a light and a salt. The church should collaborate. We should not compete with the existing institutions that are working, but we should collaborate with them,” Rev. Frimpong-Manso said.

He noted that churches are already represented at the district, regional, and national levels of the National Peace Council. Still, their role must be amplified by preaching peace and unity, not partisanship.

According to him, church leaders risk losing credibility when they openly align with political parties.

“If a church leader belongs to party A or party B, he loses his authority even to speak when there is confusion,” he cautioned, adding that the church must remain a trusted neutral body in times of conflict.

He further called on Christian leaders to support established institutions such as the security agencies, the Peace Council, and even political parties in the pursuit of peace, while speaking boldly against injustice without tying themselves to partisan interests.