By Anjolaoluwa Olajumoke
Haven’t you noticed that our sermon narratives these days have been resultantly pointed to big bucks? Can anyone be blamed for this? Especially in an economic season as we are experiencing today.I stumbled on this write up and I asked for the writer to share her thoughts on this for my column – it’s deep, profound and brings a lot of sense to bear.
I found myself searching online for the richest pastors in Africa and guess what I found? The 5 top richest pastors are from Nigeria. So I sat down and I began to analyse. Nigeria as we are aware of today has grown into a country whose economy has experienced a drastic dwindle not only in its GDP but also in its prestige. Yes I know, we have leadership issues. Our political leaders are the cause blah blah blah.
Come to think of it, what about our religious leaders? So many times we tend to look past certain obvious things because of our oblivion due to the worship of religion. Very few are aware of how much it has eaten deeply into our ethereal minds and as such blinded our eyes. I strongly believe that if one of our major problem is religiosity, then the change we are looking for is not farfetched.
Without further ado, let me take us down memory lane. When Christianity came into this country through missionaries, their purpose and intention was crystal clear to the blind – that the foundation of this new religion will be forever based on Christ-like love and selflessness. They were able to portray this by having to leave their country that was flowing with milk and honey to come into a strange land to make a remarkable impact by building social amenities, infrastructures and standard institutions from primary to tertiary (with even better qualities than the government’s).
All these advantages came free to us. Our children could go to school to get free and standard education. Come to think of it, are yesterday’s churches richer than the churches of today?
What am I driving at? We call and thirst for change even when the church which is an integral institution for national change stays numb.
How can God answer the prayers we pray for this country when we take pleasure in paying tithes and not in paying taxes? Was it not Jesus that said you should give what is for Caesar to Caesar and what is for God to God?
To my beloved “Do not touch my anointed Pentecostals”, how can we please God when it is more potent to sow “seeds” of mammoth volumes and our companies evade taxes? And we know people, orphanages, even relatives that starve and crave for at least one constant meal per day.
There is a massive competitive quest by Pentecostals these days to have the biggest church structures with exquisite furnishings and largest camp venues while there is a collaborative shout for prosperity and most times at the expense of source which overtime bites the country’s coffer and hampers the nation from reaching her future place.
We would conveniently blame our political leaders for the problems of this country while ignoring the part that our religious leaders are also playing in this matter. I am an economist. If the church takes so much cash from the economy through tithes and offerings, what are they giving back in terms of responsible citizens to bring about equilibrium? What exactly are they producing, good Christians?
What help is today’s church to national development? Why aren’t our church goers whistle blowers? Why are they not the light? Why are they not the salt? What sort of Christianity is this? Christianity of ease and satisfaction as a manifestation of Christs work? Nigerians need to wake up! Some might get offended to this truth, but you can’t keep defending one sided fact forever.
For me, I believe our churches need to wake up to the responsibility of nation building through building sound believers. Believers who have a strong distaste for corruption, citizens who will be selfless and loving; because if the church doesn’t change, Nigeria would remain largely hopeless and by nature corrupt.
Olajumoke wrote from Abuja