Batshu urges OAIC to take religion to schools
Bonte Seepi | Tuesday February 28, 2017 17:12
When officially opening OAIC’s annual leadership high-level consultative meeting at the Holy Apostolic Church in Mahalapye on Saturday, Batshu said that the youth are a group, which leads in numbers in the country hence a need to be engaged in faith, be empowered and positively influenced.
“The youth must be ready to take over the baton from you and must become the material we would like to see leading this nation to prosperity in the generations to come. I trust that your churches have well organised youth programmes that ensure young people play a meaningful role in the development of the country,” Batshu said.
“Being the hallmark of goodness in families and virtually the society when we see you, we believe that the future of this country is in good hands. So, we expect your churches to get to schools and teach the children the word of God while they are still young.
There is a tendency of leaving children at home when elders go to churches, people must know that by so doing they are leaving their children with Satan. These children are OAIC’s future leaders,” he said.
He was worried by the segregation he has noticed in some churches where women are barred from becoming priests. He told the OAIC leadership that the recently established national Gender Commission should address the issues of gender in institutions like churches.
Batshu applauded OAIC for now having 167 churches in their organisation. He also encouraged them to continue knocking on the doors of those who did not join to do so. He also called onto church leaders to be patient saying their job is not an easy one. He urged the leadership to run the organisation as expected saying they ought to be exemplary to the people.
“Pastors, you ought to be the mirrors of your churches, advice them well. Don’t break them when they tell you the truth. A leader must be patient and accept all their advices. You must also help the government build families. Preach equality, children’s care and responsibility,” he said.
Even though there are always complaints that there is mushrooming of churches in the country, Batshu said that he appreciated that churches should multiply and grow in numbers as long as that signifies growth in faith not conflict. He said as the government, they only get worried when the multiplication is a result of power struggles and disputes within the church.
OAIC president, Phillemon Motlhagodi told the minister that out of 624 African churches in the country, only 167 are part of OAIC Botswana Chapter. He outlined land as one of the worrying issues saying churches are expected to compete with businesspeople for land.
He said churches must be allocated plots in a different way from businesses as they are independent entities not profit-making ones.