By MAYA NTANDA –
THE Government has described the Church as an important partner in uplifting challenges facing less privileged members of society.
Copperbelt Province Minister Mwenya Musenge said the Government valued the efforts the Church was rendering to change the lives of the people in different areas such as education, health and social sectors.
. Musenge
Mr Musenge was speaking during the rededication and 20 years of unbroken service celebrations for the United Church of Zambia (UCZ) Copperbelt Presbytery Reverend Bishop Sydney Sichilima at Riverside Congregation in Kitwe yesterday.
He said the Church and Government had a common goal of serving the people and, therefore, it was for that reason that President Edgar Lungu set October 18 as the day of prayer and fasting.
“The Church and Government have a common goal of serving the people and it is for this reason that President Lungu set October 18 as the day for prayer and fasting because the Head of State knows that God is key in addressing the challenges of the nation,” Mr Musenge said.
He said the Church was above Government and political parties in the country, hence it played a critical role as a mediator in times when people had different opinions and were facing economic challenges like is the situation currently.
Mr Musenge said despite the challenges the country was going through, the Government believed that with the Church committing the country into the hands of God, things would change for the better.
Bishop Sichilima said the Church should speak out against any vices that the country was experiencing, citing defilement and ritual killings as examples.
He said the future of the nation was in danger if society was not transformed through evangelism.
Bishop Sichilima said the country had lost its values and culture, hence the increase in moral degradation.
He implored congregants to be disciplined, united and not to allow the evil to cause tension and divisions in the Church.
He said Church members should be disciplined and avoid behaving like political party members and lead exemplary lives.
