The Church rose to its peak in the medieval period with its
domination of world affairs and later waned in the face of rising
secularism that grew out of the industrial revolution and free market
enterprise. Another product of the industrial revolution which is
monumental to the church is the Protestant Reformation championed by
Martin Luther. There were a number of changes that the church underwent.
For example, we had the emergence of the Puritans in the 16th and 17th
century who wanted to purify and free the Church of England from
government control.
This movement gave rise to pietism, the practice of deep devotion and
reverence for God. What came out of this was the evangelical
reawakening which was first ignited by the Moravian Movement and spread
wide to the whole England through the work of the early Methodists like
George Whitefield, John Wesley, Charles Wesley and a number of English
laymen in the 18th century and beyond. The Moravian Movement and the
Methodist Movement championed a re-enactment of Christian mission to the
heathen world, a kind of what was obtainable in the primitive church
during the era of the Lord’s Apostles. This missionary activity started
purely based on the Biblical commission to ‘go and make disciples of all
nations’ (Matthew 28: 19), but was later hijacked by imperialist rulers
who claimed to be Christian kings helping to ‘champion the course the
gospel.’ Again, the church became a victim of government by subjecting
her mission to state control.
Hence, the church is accused of collaborating with the expansionist
and oppressive policy of colonial administration all over the world.
These antecedents continue to hunt the church till today and it accounts
for the general apathy against her in Europe and most of the Asian
countries. In the late 19th and early 20th century, a new brand of
Christianity emerged from the Wesleyan Holiness movements in America
first promoted by the Rev Charles H. Parham, a former Methodist
minister. By 1906, William J. Seymour, a black American one-eyed
preacher who was under the tutelage of C. H. Parham was caught up with
an extra-ordinary manifestation of the power of the Holy Spirit in a
Methodist Mission House he was using on Asuza Street, Los Angeles, USA.
The place became a centre of spiritual activity and turned out to be a
pilgrim cite with people pouring in from all over the world and
receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the second blessing, a replica
of the Pentecost experience of the early Disciples of Christ.
Eventually, modern Pentecostalism took its name from this. This helped
the church to recover its commission once again and led to renewed
missionary activity. Again and again, the church would derail. Again and
again, God calls His people back to His purpose. Right now Pentecostal
and Charismatic form of Christianity seem to have reached their plateau,
a position of complacency. A critical look at all Christian groups now,
especially in Nigeria, shows that most of them are no longer concerned
about making disciples for Christ. In my own judgment, every church is
now either Pentecostal or charismatic. Churches are now into empire
expansion, acquiring this and that here and there.
Yes, it is right for the church to have a sound financial base but
that should not be the primary focus of the Church of God. Some church
leaders continue to amass wealth for themselves only and neglect the
highly priced sacrificial leadership. What we use to know as follow-up
no longer holds. Most altar calls after message now are for promotion,
prosperity, healing and deliverance and not for repentance and
conversion. The church has become user-friendly. Many ministers of God
especially in Nigeria have become prayer contractors, praying and
prophesying good things for the highest bidder. Even when we are not
actually praying, we tell them we are praying earnestly for their
progress.
If Peter and John were modern preachers they would have prayed for
one kind of spirit to fall on Simon the Sorcerer since he had good money
to pay for the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 8: 14-24). The church is
supposed to be the conscience of the nation but some of us have become
collaborators in wrecking the nation like the High Priest Amaziah, ‘the
palace chaplain’ during the reign of King Jeroboam, who was enjoying the
booties of the land and turned a blind eye to the evils of his day. God
sent Amos, an obscure figure, to minister in Bethel and Amaziah ordered
him out, ‘Get out of here, you seer! Go on back to the land of Judah
and do your preaching there! Don’t bother us here in Bethel with your
prophecies, especially not here where the royal sanctuary is!’ (Amos
7:12-13 NLT).
Some churches that were known for humility and quiet contribution to
nation building and development have become sycophants. In all our
church programmes now, even revival services and crusades, what do we
target? What vision do we ministers receive when praying for programmes?
The amount of money that will be raised or the of souls that will be
won to the Lord? Those who are our great financiers and donors, do we
bother if they have repented of their sins or have problems that needed
attention? Because we fail to win souls of people to God, we have no
control and moral authority over them.
Because we aim at their money and not their soul they will continue
to control us. If we win people to the Lord, we win all that they have
and own, but if we win only their money we loose our integrity before
them and before God. And when people loose their integrity before God,
they are finished. O God! Bring us back into your purpose for us on
earth. In Christ’s name. Amen.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of SaharaReporters
