Chairman of The Church of Pentecost, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, says illegal mining, locally known as galamsey is increasingly disrupting both community livelihoods and religious practices in parts of the country.

He made the comments at the Church’s 48th General Conference during the State of the Church Address, where he outlined key challenges, progress, and ongoing interventions within the denomination.

He explained that pollution of water bodies in mining areas is now interfering with core church activities, particularly water baptism, forcing churches in some districts to adopt alternative arrangements.

“The extensive pollution of water bodies due to illegal mining has hampered traditional water baptism in some mining communities, necessitating a shift to synthetic rubber pools in several districts to carry out the ordinance,” he said.

He further warned that the environmental degradation is also undermining livelihoods, especially in farming and fishing communities already under pressure from changing weather patterns and declining yields.

“These unpredictable environmental conditions, along with the seasonal migration of fish stocks, continue to impact the steady financial growth and stability of affected local assemblies,” he noted.

Apostle Nyamekye added that the Church is scaling up vocational training, literacy support, and social intervention programmes to help members build more resilient livelihoods.