Rich Churches, Poor Members
Vanguard special Report
October 25, 2014.
Pastor Enoch Adeboye, G.O, RCCG
Oritsejafor Pastor Chris Oyakhilome and his wife, Bishop Oyedepo, TB Joshua, Bishop Okonkwo
In the early days of Christianity in Nigeria the
church was at the forefront of society’s
development building schools, hospitals,
vocational skills acquisition centres, farms and
cottage industries, among others.
They offered scholarships, gave free books
and teaching aids, and gave food, clothing
and shelter to those deprived of these
necessities. Notwithstanding that the central
theme of sermons was on preparing for the life
after death, the church tried as much as
possible to ensure that members and those
who dared to come into God’s house had a
good life before death.
The satisfaction of the church was the welfare
of members and the success of the church
was seen in the number of lives touched and it
therefore offered safe haven to people in
various distress situations such as those
needing food, clothing, accommodation,
financial relief, treatment of debilitating
illnesses such as leprosy and mental disorders
and several others.
As the church ministered to the needs of
members and their lives got better they
brought the proceeds of the works of their
hands in form of tithes and offerings to God at
Sunday services, thanksgiving and harvest
ceremonies. With these, more cathedrals,
mission schools, orphanages, maternity homes
and farms were built.
Also more scholarships to even higher levels
of education were awarded as the house of
God indeed became the house of plenty.
Pastors saved money for social development
projects by living modest lives usually behind
the church, riding bicycles and working their
own farms in a clear example of storing up
treasures in heaven as the Bible recommends.
Fast track to 2014, members minister to the
needs of the church paying through the nose
to fund broadcasts on television and chain of
businesses including universities, publishing
houses, nursery, primary/ post primary
schools, as well as buy flashy cars and private
jets. They are reminded daily that givers never
lack.
In a bid to please “God” and achieve the
elusive breakthrough parishioners squeeze
themselves dry to contribute to various
projects in the house of God. But surprisingly
their situation never changes. The more they
give the poorer they become and the richer
the church.
Today’s church is an epitome of modernity
operating from state–of-the–art, imposing
edifices fully air-conditioned and complete with
evolutionary camera, klieg light and other
stage facilities for live broadcast from the
pulpit. Yet poverty ravages the same
establishment. Due to this religious paradox
discerning Nigerians have begun to ask a
pertinent question – has the modern church
abandoned social service that the old church
used so effectively to warm itself into the
hearts of many?
Take this: July 6, 2014 in a church in Amuwo
Odofin area of Lagos, a priest held the
congregation spell-bound with his homily. His
delivery was superb. Emphasis was to shift to
appreciating what God has done for all by
been generous in the Harvest contributions.
He started by calling on those who wanted to
appreciate God with N200,000 to come
forward for special blessing. From N200,000 it
fell to N150,000, N100,000 and to N50,000 to
N5,000 and below. Although nobody came
out for a supposed N200,000 blessing, the
priest at the end of the day asked the entire
church to stand for general blessing.
To the conservative Catholics it was taking
revenue drive too far. The scene at the Amuwo
Odofin church is common in Catholic churches
in the country now. Before now, the
pentecostal churches appeared to enjoy the
exclusivity of megabucks from members.
Some church leaders even flaunt their wealth.
Even in their jerry-curl hair style they defend
their affluence on the grounds that “my God is
not a poor God.”
The message is apparently for members to
strive to be like them as they claim to enjoy
the benevolence of God. And so the craze for
miracles that could create rags to riches
phenomenon is unabated in our churches.
Although the pentecostal churches are in the
lead for revenue drive that see churches
embark on big projects only a few of them
have programmes to help the poor. And it is
in this area that the Catholic Church stands
out.
The programmes of their Saint Vincent De
Paul Society are geared towards alleviating
problems of the poor in their various parishes.
They visit, hospitals, prisons, charity homes to
donate items to them. They identify with the
poor in their parishes and lend a helping hand.
The Church is known for their contributions in
education and health care that is affordable
by the poor. But unlike before, the Catholic
church in Nigeria appears to have joined the
race to grab and grab from church members
or parishoners.
The harvest period in some churches last up
to six months. The mass is usually longer for
speeches and announcements that plead to
members to appreciate God. Although
members, in many cases, attest to what the
church does with the money, the pressure on
members to offer resources during harvest is
unChatholic to many.
Mr. Gabriel Bolade, an accountant in a
commercial bank who attends Baptist Church,
Yaba believes the church has abandoned its
members. He lamented that the church of
today has abandoned the noble role of taking
care of the weak and vulnerable in the society.
His concern arose from the clear unwillingness
to help enhance education in the country.
“Most of the private universities are owned by
well established churches who charge fees far
beyond the means of ordinary members who
contributed to the establishment of these
higher institutions. Fees in the region of N1.5
million to N3 million per session are charged
which can only be afforded by the wealthy.
The ordinary members who helped in donating
materials, cash, labour and even by praying
and fasting for the universities cannot afford
such fees for their children and wards.”
But exorbitant fee is not the exclusive
preserve of Pentecostal churches. Mission
schools handed back by government to the
churches that established them some years
back as part of strategies to improve
education in the country have now been
caught in the web. The schools owned by
Methodist, Catholic, Anglican, CMS and other
churches that were reputed social service
providers have now been hijacked by greedy
capitalists. Their fees are no longer affordable,
just like private universities.
Mr. Emmanuel Onyeji, past chairman of the
Laity Council at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic
Church, Okokomaiko, Lagos put the problem
at the door step of “churches that are mainly
interested in making money” and not in the
welfare of their members.
“Pastors of churches often preach about the
primacy of giving at least 10 per cent of their
income as tithe and more as offering to the
church. Their focus is on prosperity mainly”.
But Pentecostal churches have faulted this
claim about church members contributing
towards the establishment of educational
institutions. In fact, Pastor David Oyedepo of
Living Faith Mission (Winners Chapel) who is
Founder and Chancellor of Covenant
University was quoted as saying that he did
not build the university with tithes and
offerings of members. But he is yet to reveal
the sources of funding. His denial, however,
does not explain why majority of Winners
Chapel members cannot afford the fees
charged by a University owned by their church
or senior pastor; yet he owns private jets –
Gulfstream G550, Gulfstream G450,
Gulfstream V and LearJet with combined
valued of $98.3million (N15.9billion).
The situation is not different at the Redeemers
University (RUN), owned by the Redeemed
Christian Church of God (RCCG). While fees
are also as high as that of Covenant
University, RUN claims to have established a
scholarship scheme for indigent students. The
scheme involves school fees discounts of
between 10 % and 80% for children and
wards of the university’s staff, children of
pastors and some indigent members of the
church. Like Winner’s Chapel Senior Pastor,
the General Overseer of RCCG Pastor E.A.
Adeboye owns a private jet – a Gulfstream V.
That owned by the President of Christian
Association of Nigeria, CAN, Ayo Oritsejafor
has just been involved in a scandal in South
Africa. It flew $9.3m cash into South Africa
where the money has been seized by the
home country although the man has explained
that he leased the aircraft to another company
and that he knew nothing about the
transaction. . Nigeria’s government claimed
responsibility, saying that the money was
meant for the purchase of arms to fight terror
and that cash payments are sometimes
effected in such deals.
Ayo Oritsejiafor has admitted owning the
aircraft and also admitted leasing it out to a
company he has substantial interest. Nigerians
want to know how this has this helped
evangelism? Critics will be quick to answer
that materialism is better for it than
evangelism.
Mr. Daniel Ede, a banker who worships with
the Anglican Church expressed worry that the
present day church has deviated from the
practice of the early church in terms of
assisting those in need and he recommends
immediate change.
“The early church in Acts of the Apostles sold
their belongings and gave to the needy. Some
of the wealth being made by our churches
should be used for the sick, poor widows,
prisoners, etc. Churches ought to create more
welfare programmes for the indigent and
needy in their midst. They should have
schools and hospitals that the poor can
afford”.
A worker in a Pentecostal church in Lagos,
who spoke to Saturday Vanguard on condition
of anonymity said churches in Nigeria are not
doing enough to help the poor and indigent
and asked for remedial action. “The Nigerian
churches are not doing enough. The church
can begin a revolution of wealth creation and
the development of education. We need to
give in such a way that those given will not
need alms again. Education funds should be
created for those who are eligible to attend
university, but are indigent. If churches build
schools, they should dedicate a certain
admission percentage slot for indigent church
members. Of what essence is a church that
doesn’t give back?”
He added that “churches should help fund
businesses for church members and may also
establish food banks, where indigent members
of the church can access food in times of food
shortage. They can also generate funds for
small businesses to grow, as well as train the
owners of such businesses”.
Speaking to Saturday Vanguard, the Benue
State chairman of the Christian Association of
Nigeria (CAN) Arch Bishop Yiman Orkwar sees
nothing wrong in churches establishing
schools and running them in a professional
manner, without sentiments. While he is not
against churches granting scholarships to
children of the poor, he insists that there is no
way all members of the church could be
exempted from paying fees as a matter of
policy as this could harm the institution’s
ability to run the institutions properly and meet
the demands of staff.
Sociologist Dr. John Akposibruke disagrees
with those suggesting that the church has
abandoned its social service role to humanity
like poverty alleviation.
“Some of the Pentecostal churches being
accused of collecting tithes and offerings
without giving back to the needy members
have commendable welfare/poverty alleviation
schemes.
“I know of a church that pays rent, school
fees, medical bills and even wedding costs of
its indigent members, but how many people
can they do this for with their limited
resources?”
He explained that their efforts are not being
felt because the magnitude of poverty and
deprivation in the country is so high that what
is done pales into insignificance.
“In some churches those who need help are
up to 60% of members and with the
worsening level of unemployment the rate is
growing; how do you attend to everybody?”
He points out that some members have
developed unrealistic expectations from their
churches one of which is that their children
should attend a church-owned university free
of charge simply because they gave tithes and
offerings when the universities were being
built without asking themselves the percentage
of these contributions to the cost of setting up
and running such schools.
“Tithes and offerings are gifts to God and the
church, and like every gift they are not
returnable either in form they were given, or by
extending discounts and privileges.
“Since tithes and offerings are pooled together
to carry out various projects in the house of
God it is difficult to determine who gave what
and on that basis extend any privilege; how
can you be sure that your own portion of the
contributions was not the part used to
decorate the church or buy musical equipment
and not used to build a school?”
Investigation by Saturday Vanguard revealed
that some churches are indeed engaged in
one form of welfare/empowerment scheme or
the other. Daystar Christian Centre runs a
leadership, entrepreneurship and skill
development training for members to empower
them. While the leadership programme is
meant to impart leadership skills, the
entrepreneurship class is a case-study based
executive business education that takes
potential entrepreneurs from idea to business
plan, start up and fund sourcing.
The vocational skills development teaches
members various skills such as maintenance
of generators, photography, cake and
confectionery making, bead making and video
production among others. The church also
runs a benevolence scheme under which
foods, clothes and shoes are distributed to the
needy whether they are members of the
church or not. The Senior Pastor’s wife has
also established a Real Woman Foundation to
care for the female folk.
The foundation operates an orphanage and a
street women rehabilitation centre which
imparts vocational skills and education to any
level. Inmates of these centres are given the
kind of care and support that should have
been provided by their families.
Saturday Vanguard also found out that The
Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) has
established a number of schemes to help
members beat poverty. Among these are
“Career Academy” – an after school touch up
for graduates to help them secure
employment and “We Care” under which the
church pays rent, medical bills, and gives
foods and clothes to indigent members. It is
also involved in rehabilitation of street girls
through its “Rehobot Homes” programme.
The church also offers scholarships to
intelligent but indigent members of the church
under the Bishop Mike Okonkwo Scholarship
scheme which runs from secondary to
university.
Further investigations also revealed that
several other churches run one form of poverty
eradication scheme or the other to empower
members but the impact of such schemes has
remained minimal.
However, Dr. Joseph Antyo of the University
of Mkar, a private university in Benue State
owned by the Evangelical Church of West
Africa (ECWA) believes that poverty issues in
Nigeria cannot be effectively addressed at
different levels (family, community, state and
nation) in isolation from the churches.
He recommends that “churches should see
poverty eradication as a part of their mission
of evangelisation, since not only spiritual but
also material salvation is needed to truly free
someone. Some of the money that some
churches have should be made available to
their members in form of loans and other
poverty alleviation measures, and the churches
should be able to build on their greatest
strengths which are trust and commitment
rather than dependency.
Churches should also motivate their members
to work or to help create employment, since
the lack of it is probably the greatest bane of
Africa today.”
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