The Reverend Dr. Kojo Osei-Wusuh, Senior Pastor of the Grace Baptist Church in Amakom, Kumasi, has charged wealthy Christians to be compassionate to the poor in society, to show gratitude to God who has blessed them with resources.
He was speaking at a ceremony, organised by the Church to climax this year's campaign to end hunger and poverty, dubbed: "Stand up, take action", in Kumasi on Sunday.
The campaign is a worldwide call on all people of the world to end poverty and work hard to help achieve and exceed the Millennium Development Goals (MiDG), initiated by the United Nations (UN).
Rev. Dr. Osei-Wusuh urged the Church to promote the spiritual and physical wellbeing of members.
He said the programme, which was introduced in 2000, would span for 15 years and appealed to governments to support the initiative.
The MiDGs aims at eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women.
It also seeks to reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development.
In Africa, "Stand up, take action" provides an opportunity for citizens to show solidarity with millions of poor and excluded groups by demanding that governments become more accountable by improving their governance practices and develop pro-poor policies.
According to a UN report, 50,000 people die everyday as a result of extreme poverty whilst the gap between the rich and the poor widens.
Nearly half of the world's population lives in poverty whereas every year, 530,000 women die during pregnancy or at childbirth.
Campaigners, worldwide, yearly remind governments for more and better aid, debt cancellation, education for all boys and girls, health care, trade justice, gender equality and public accountability.
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