Church in transition

The Christian Church evokes a lot of passion, some utterly misplaced. Over the years, the Church has demonstrated magnetic attraction for passionately spiritual congregants, yet it has suffered bouts of biting controversies.

While it has enhanced social, financial and spiritual development of many, in some cases it has also festered outrageous claims, beliefs and practices that have led many into doom.

The Fourth Estate, an online investigative portal published by the Media Foundation for West Africa, recently, in a three-part publication, highlighted some issues between the United Denominations Originating from the Lighthouse Group of Churches UD-OLGC, and some retired bishops and pastors of the church.

The publications focused on complaints and a legal action by six former Bishops and Reverends demanding what they believe is due them in the form of social security contributions.

These complaints have exposed the Church to both criticism and sympathy; while some have poured scorn on the Church for allegedly failing to recognise a basic labour right of its pastors, others have sternly criticised the pastors for daring to raise questions about the operations of the Church thereby questioning its sanctity.

What more, some have sarcastically and cheekily derided the basis for the clamour for earthly pensions after all the sermons of ‘heavenly pensions' in a Paradise of pure bliss. “Your reward is in Heaven,” some commentators have rather unfairly and disdainfully teased.

Heavenly bliss or not, the pastors have held nothing back; throwing jabs at what they describe as “blind loyalty” to the founder of the Church; something they confess, they themselves had exhibited and praying that others see a ‘new light'.

This is a case before the court, so it is best left for the court to decide.

Video

But connected to the issue is a video circulating on social media of the Founder of the Church, Bishop Dag Heward Mills, apparently denouncing ‘wicked opposers and murmurers' in the Church in a rather bizarre and befuddling stream of curses as he wished the ‘wicked' opposers and murmurers an unrelenting scourge of sickness that should leave them dead.

These harsh words have generated some debate on social media; For many Christians, pastors are almost untouchable.

They should not be criticised else one risks damnation; “touch not my anointed” has been a common refrain and you dare not cast aspersions on the Church or “anointed” men of God.

But there are others who oppose such doctrinal orientations, and social media has generously provided them a platform to “touch the anointed of God” with unfazed candour.

For such critics, Men of God should be subjected to criticism and should indeed embrace criticism as a cross to be borne.

Evolution

The church today is obviously undergoing evolution. Modernisation has imposed new perspectives of the Church. For the Church to remain relevant in contemporary times, it may seek to modernise but do so rightly to maintain the discipline and sanctity of Christianity.

In Europe and North America, Christianity continues to face challenges and many Church buildings have been emptied and transformed into pubs for new sets of patrons.

In many parts of Europe and North America, the Church hangs on a thin thread usually supported by the older generation.

The Church, in these places, has virtually lost its place of value and prominence and so have time trusted Christian practices such as prayer, praise and worship.

Indeed, studies show that nearly two-thirds of young people in the UK never pray outside religious service; prayer is almost gone in Europe.

Detlef Pollack, professor of Sociology of Religion at the University of Munster, believes that the woes of the European Church is the product of its ‘authoritarian' posture over the years.

While it is natural to expect the Church to maintain some level of autocracy in its doctrinal beliefs and teachings, Pollack suggests that the Church has failed to respond appropriately to contemporary demands in an era of increasing enlightenment.

Professor Pollack explains further that the decline in enthusiasm in Christianity in Europe may be as a result of Christians facing new realities about their identity.

He argues that Christians today have a greater sense of their capacity to define their lives better now than in the past.

Invariably, the hold of the Church over congregants is limited and members are inclined to assert more independence.

"This affects all areas of life, from choosing a partner to choosing a career and of course the religious sphere," Detlef argues and adds that some of these freedoms may not be compatible with the Church which is often perceived as an authoritarian institution.

Views

These obviously contentious views of Detlef are not isolated; the Catholic Church, the first established modern Christian Church, is not new to the issue of authoritarianism and Catholic Priest, Franz Brendle, believes that the Church must speak the language of the people and reform to remain relevant.

In an article on the Deutsche Welle (DW) news portal, Brendle complained that on many occasions that he had attended church in Germany, he was the youngest at Church Services and for a man at 78 years, he found that “depressing and embarrassing”.

In Africa, Churches are still exciting for many young Christians. Yet, enlightenment through education and modern technology always stirs protests and criticism and any attempt to muzzle instead of managing, such criticisms can affect the attraction of Churches.

That is a lesson steeped in the Reformation of the first modern Christian Church, the Catholic Church that opposed criticism and killed innocent souls who encouraged the Reformation ideals. Indeed, one of the notable heroes of the Reformation even before Martin Luther was John Hus, himself a Catholic Priest, who when forced to denounce his criticism of the Church famously stated, “I would not for a chapel of gold retreat from the truth!”. These men had unfailing commitment to God and the truth.

After refusing to denounce his criticism of some beliefs and practices such as the selling of indulgences by the Church, he was kept in prison and later burned at the stakes. Historical accounts indicate that as he burnt to death, he could be heard singing Psalms.

This is the sacrifice others paid to give plurality and doctrinal freedom to the Christian faith and the least contemporary Church leaders can do as beneficiaries of these monumental sacrifices is to open themselves up for introspection and criticism, knowing well that truth can sometimes be elusive even to the most religious and ‘pious' of men.

The lesson is evident: an unduly authoritarian church can be a ‘monster' that can ‘slaughter' well-meaning and innocent souls.

The Protestant Move that ultimately birthed the contemporary Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches of today was a product of defiant opposition and criticism.

Following the earlier works and sacrifices by the likes of John Wycliffe and John Hus, Martin Luther came out boldly to denounce some practices of the Catholic Church and sparked a wave of radical reformation that thrived despite the persecution of the Reformists.

The Reformation, which had been simmering for a while, finally erupted at a time usually described as the Era of Enlightenment and the newly invented Gutenberg Printing Press provided the critical drive with the publication of pamphlets and the translated versions of the Bible.

Some scholars believe that the Protestant Move was a triumph of literacy and the printing press.

Today, social media continues to highlight some excesses of the Church in more graphic details.

New

Increasingly, the Church is losing a lot of its aura and churches must find new ways of engagement, especially in the area of reforms as well as reputation and crisis management.

History teaches us that the need for constant introspection is critical if the Church is to remain relevant in the changing seasons of time.

Thus, criticism of the Church and Church leaders is no anathema as some contemporary Christians and church leaders constantly proclaim.

That is why it is discomforting for a Man of God to rain curses on opposers, murmurers and critics. The modern-day beneficiaries of the Protestant Move should have a big heart for criticisms and opposition, for they were established out of these and cannot thrive in the long term without them.

The writer is a Lecturer, KNUST

E-mail: nkrumahdan@gmail.com