The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

CHRISTIAN Council President Rev Dr Ranford Patterson yesterday suggested that Bahamians in all levels of society are incapable of moving “beyond our politics” in order to collectively “solve issues that will affect the national good of our country”.

Rev Patterson said it is a “challenge” for him that civil society cannot unite to solve the country’s problems.

As such, he called for church leaders throughout the Bahamas to attend a Pastor’s Conclave in Grand Bahama to seek “divine intervention” on ways to tackle the country’s ills.

The conclave will be held next Thursday and Friday at the Grand Lucayan Hotel in Grand Bahama beginning at 6pm, he said.

“I’ve been calling for us to come together and sit at the table,” he said at a press conference yesterday.

“I think it’s been three years now. For some reason, we cannot move beyond our politics to solve issues that will affect the national good of our country. And that’s a challenge for me.

“My hope is that at the end of our conclave, we truly would get the answers that we are seeking in ways that we can help to make what we believe is necessary to foster the change that is necessary for our country. And that’s what we hope that we will garner from this. We will get the answers that we need to do our part to bring the country together.”

According to Rev Patterson, The Bahamas has moved away from the “Christian and spiritual values to which we committed as a nation”.

As a result, he said, “Spiritual darkness, lawlessness and social ills are now pervasive throughout our country.”

Rev Patterson said the conclave would be a time of prayer and fasting and repentance in which pastors will “cry out to Almighty God to have mercy upon us and deliver us from our evil ways”.

According to Rev Patterson, special discount airfares have been arranged with Bahamasair for pastors travelling from New Providence and the Family Islands. He said discounted accommodation rates have also been arranged with the Grand Lucayan Hotel in Freeport.

He said pastors planning to attend the conclave should contact the office of the Christian Council at 361-0809.