The modern church and our Christian life — Which way?

So for most Christians, God’s blessings come in the form of landing a good job or promotion, a car, house or visa to America or Europe, although God does make interventions in such areas often in the lives of people.

But I wonder what or who Bill Gates will attribute his huge success to, or Warren Buffet, or Steve Jobs, creating jobs for tens of thousands, not to mention the inspiration to create wonderful consumer products. Or the engineers who design and build automobiles, aircraft, ships and rockets etc. What about the great discoveries in science and medicine?

Human beings have studied life on the planet and named millions of animals and plants on earth and under the oceans; some spend a lifetime studying the firmament and the planetary systems etc. Life-changing discoveries are being made and products churned out to make life better and livable and multitudes of people are content to be subjugated, their minds and aspirations captured by the teachings of a man or woman they revere as their pastor!

A German lady professor I worked with on consultancy projects in Ghana a few years ago was always happy to engage me on such matters. We spent most of our travelling time discussing the African belief systems, now characterised by the charismatic wave sweeping across much of the continent.

She always made the point that she believed in a God Spirit, a life force that enabled life, not necessarily God sending His son to save souls and shower them with blessings! She insisted that human beings were and should be the miracle to do great and inspiring things, not to look to a spirit being outside of them to make them prosperous.

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Prayer sessions during working hours

Years ago, I engaged a female producer of an international news organisation who did a feature on belief, looking at the Christian charismatic movement in Ghana. An English lady, she was quite fascinated by what she witnessed visiting some of the popular mega churches in Accra. She and her colleague producer had fits of laughter as they played back some of the encounters they had recorded.

One gentleman fiercely defended his pastor’s ostentatious lifestyle saying: “I want to see my pastor dressed well and driving a good car. That inspires me because he is doing God’s work and God is blessing him.” His pastor owns a fleet of luxury vehicles, moves about with bodyguards and loves eating exotic foods. Another woman, a banker, explained her presence at a church prayer service in the afternoon of a working day. She had gone to pray for a breakthrough.

When it was pointed out to her that she was already gainfully employed, she smiled and said, but God could do more for her. Another lady, a hairdresser, waved away an argument that she could have spent the afternoon tending to her customers at her salon.

She said her apprentices could take care of her customers quite well. But Madam was away seeking God’s mercy and blessings at an afternoon prayer session.

An interview with one of the pastors engaged in the afternoon prayer service was very interesting. The interviewer referred to a full car park and asked whether the church was serving the people well by encouraging them to leave their work and come for prayers.

He replied, “ A lot of people have problems they believe only God can answer. That’s why they want to come and seek the Lord’s face. He recounted the story of a barren woman who came for prayers and got triplets. He had photographs of many births through prayers displayed in his office.

I listened to the account of the lady producers with some interest. In my own church, people offer thanksgiving and seed offering (cash) for what the Lord has done or is expected to do for them, I said with a little blush, not sure how it would be received. “Well, I also believe,” I blurted out, not so convincingly.

Years after that conversation with the radio producers, I still think about our conversation and the shocked reactions from the ladies.

I am still keeping the faith but I sometimes wonder, where does this leave us? Should we remain closeted with our pastors and our concept of God looking for that promotion, a financial breakthrough, the miracle visa to travel abroad? Or see ourselves as a miracle, alive and filled with that enabling power to do great things for humanity before we depart this life? A young Christian author I have been engaging with from time to time about his reasons for quitting our church to follow God’s direction shocked me the other day in my office.

He told me our concept of heaven and hell was completely off! According to him, we experience heaven and earth during our lives here on earth!!! There are moments of heaven and hell experiences.

Until that day he made that statement, I had been wondering if all was correct upstairs and so had introduced him to a pastor friend to check him out for me. The pastor assured me later that the young man was okay but needed guidance which he was willing to offer him. Maybe that’s what he needs, I reasoned. Then again it struck me, from another pastor?