The church in the season of scarcity (2), By Ayo Akerele

Let’s gather and use resources in a more transparent and accountable manner. Let’s invest in the spiritual growth of the people. Let’s train and teach the people to know God and to grow into maturity. Let’s publish our accounts, following the right channels and best practices, to help those who give to us to know how much we make and what the money is spent on. Let’s be deliberate with taking people out of poverty based on our capacity.

Sadly, many, of the current leadership model, are groomed around the, “you can’t question me” kind of paradigm. In addition, many of our churches lack accountability and transparency. For the most part, even when trustees are appointed, the head of the ministry or the senior pastor is still answerable to no one in the church, and can’t be questioned by the trustees. Being a charitable organisation, many churches in our clime rarely, if at all, make their financial statements public to donors and givers, much less to even their closest associates.

The only thing the people see and hear are the projects and spending of the church. This sums up why there has been a lot of outcries against the church due to the lack of trust in the leadership of the church. Secrecy impedes trust. The people are seeing the mammoth crowd in the church. They also know that there is a network of five thousand other branches sending in money from twenty different countries. They can see the network of schools and other businesses that are owned by their church, all of which bring in money. Yet, their own individual lives are getting worse by the day. The outcome of this kind of system is the preponderance of doubts and mistrust in the leadership of the church. The people feel like: they are using my money to do these things but they can’t help me to solve my personal problems? And more so, when so many churches with vast resources don’t really have very effective and resounding support systems for their members, much less for Christians from other churches.

Having identified some of the challenges in the church, it is important to wrap this teaching up by appealing to our church leaders to change their church models. Any model that only prospers the leader, but excludes the people is not from God. Truth is universal for it to be truth. Any truth that only works in Nigeria is not truth. The gospel is universal.

These crises stem from the bad church model that we run – the, “it is my ministry that I’ve laboured for” model. When I was fasting and praying, where were you? When I was a nobody, where were you? It all stems from the bad theologies and doctrines that underpin the foundations of many ministries. There are a few remnants of mega churches that are doing things in a far more Biblical way. But they are really in the minority. The majority of our mega churches basically operate the same model. Most especially in a nation like Nigeria where the political class has failed, the last hope of the people remains the church. Many of them go to churches that further destroy their faith in Christ through bad doctrines and prevent their mindsets from being productive, to being overtly dependent on prayers, vigils, deliverance, sacrificial giving, and fasting for every need and for everything. Thus, the mindset of many of our people are rendered unproductive and fallow.

Having identified some of the challenges in the church, it is important to wrap this teaching up by appealing to our church leaders to change their church models. Any model that only prospers the leader, but excludes the people is not from God. Truth is universal for it to be truth. Any truth that only works in Nigeria is not truth. The gospel is universal. If it works in other nations, it must work in Nigeria, if it’s built on the truth of God’s word. Otherwise, the people will always see us as their problem, and would always ask us to do what the government is constitutionally elected to do. If we continue to operate with secret church models that lack accountability, transparency, love, integrity, and Bible-based compassionate leadership, the people will remain tied to our aprons, and would always see us as the solution to their problems. It’s time to reverse the order.

Over time, when the people start to see our level of love and compassion, transparency and accountability, coupled with their spiritual growth and maturity, the purpose of the church won’t be confused with that of the government. The little we do to support the people’s welfare will be appreciated by the people, and together we all would walk in greater unity of purpose…

Let’s gather and use resources in a more transparent and accountable manner. Let’s invest in the spiritual growth of the people. Let’s train and teach the people to know God and to grow into maturity. Let’s publish our accounts, following the right channels and best practices, to help those who give to us to know how much we make and what the money is spent on. Let’s be deliberate with taking people out of poverty based on our capacity. Cease from vanity projects that are not commissioned by God, but by the spirit of envy and competition, so that resources could be freed up for building and grooming sound disciples.

Over time, when the people start to see our level of love and compassion, transparency and accountability, coupled with their spiritual growth and maturity, the purpose of the church won’t be confused with that of the government. The little we do to support the people’s welfare will be appreciated by the people, and together we all would walk in greater unity of purpose to elect good leaders that would play their roles well in building a great and working society for all.

Ayo Akerele is the Senior Pastor of Rhema Assembly and the founder of the Voice of the Watchmen Ministries in Ontario, Canada. He can be reached through ayoakerele2012@gmail.com