The recent high spate of occultism, sodomy and other social vices among students in the various educational levels in the country have generally been attributed to teachers’ over concentration of academic activities at the detriment of spiritual enhancement of students.
Deputy Director of Education in the Ashanti Region, Mr. Peter Appiah Amankwah, in an address at a four-day annual national campus community congress of the Deeper Life Christian Fellowship (DLCF) dubbed “Optima 2010” noted that apart from the academic work that students were expected to undertake, spiritual empowerment is needed to produce decent and highly disciplined scholars.
The event is a spiritual retreat organised annually by the church to restore hope and life, particularly amongst the elites and to empower them with time-tested principles for success in life and in their careers.
The DLCF is an arm of the Deeper Life Bible Church which caters for the overall spiritual, social and professional needs of students and staff of tertiary institutions as well as national service personnel.
It also seeks to empower participants to blend their academic achievements with sound doctrines for the benefit of society.
According to Mr. Appiah Amankwah, the fallen standard in education should not always be laid on the doorsteps of government, but must also be blamed on the absence of good moral and spiritual education, which he noted, had led to the rapid increase of indiscipline in our schools.
“Without discipline and fear of God, no one can achieve high and quality academic laurels,” Mr. Amankwah stated, adding that” even if out of the ordinary you are able to climb the academic ladder to the top, indiscipline can bring you down.”
He however urged students to always read their bibles and to seek the face of their creator in all their daily endeavours, saying “to have focus and vision in life, one must combine academic work with spiritual life.”
Speaking on the theme: “Soaring unto the highest height,” the National Overseer of the church, Pastor John Boham, bemoaned the lack of a national policy for the youth in the country, whom he described as “the beacon of hope for the nation.”
The national overseer then charged the youth to get closer to their creator, who, according to him, “has the ultimate solution to their problems.”
He was happy that despite the upsurge in social evils among the youth, there are those who had the genuine desire to contribute their quota to the development of the country.
On his part, the National Campus Coordinator of the church, Pastor Francis Fosu, reiterated that the purpose of the congress is to gather all intellectuals for a spiritual retreat, to assist sinners and backsliders through the word of God to experience true salvation and holiness and to prepare saints for the rapture.
Pastor Fosu was optimistic that participants of the congress would immensely benefit in areas of true salvation, freedom from sin and righteousness, success in academic life, healing and health and all round victory.
STORY: FROM JAMES APPIAKORANG JNR., KUMASI
