American Pastor and Theologian, Bishop James Smith has charged Ghanaians to embrace the National Cathedral project as a project for all believers and followers of the Christian faith worldwide.
Speaking at the ‘Conversations From The National Cathedral’ symposium held at the Prof. J. H. Nketia Hall at the Institute of African Studies, he shed light on the importance of standing as a united Africa and its Diaspora to initiate the building of this project which shall represent Africa and expound Africa’s prominent role in making Christianity in Africa what it is today.
The academic noted that all efforts to build the National Cathedral by elite groups and even churches will be stymied until believers initiate spiritual intelligence, which he explained as the missing link to capturing the attention and the full participation of believers to this global phenomenon.
“We as Blacks tend to believe in 93% of what theology states, we believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God, we go to church; however, we spend the other 7% arguing about it. Why has this got to be this way and why has this got to be that way? As human beings we tend to rely on intellect and our emotions but the Spirit brings balance;” he explained as the reason behind the resistances surrounding the smooth building of the National Cathedral.
He believed that this period gives all believers the opportunity to employ spiritual intelligence, to be sensitive about all other things aside themselves and all other things that are particularly blocking the smooth building of the National Cathedral. “The Spirit will give us the download of how to navigate through these times, the bureaucratic system, the financial institutions and the cultural differences. We can put all that to the side if we focus on applying our spiritual intelligence and we have it because God gave us His Spirit for a time like this.”
‘Conversations From The National Cathedral’ Symposium was set as an avenue to understand the role of Africa in the Christian story; The Bible’s role in Africa, including the African Diaspora. The symposium contextualized Ghana as “A Home for African Christianity’ consisting of three analytically distinct but interrelated elements – the National Cathedral of Ghana; The Bible Museum of Africa, and the Biblical Gardens of Africa.
