Saturday, February 27, 2021
  • Markets & Companies
    • Stock Market
    • Companies
    • Appointments
    • Commodities
  • Business & Economy
    • Energy
    • Agricultural Economy
    • Insurance & Pensions
    • Aviation
    • Maritime
    • Road Transport
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Investment
    • Manufacturing
    • Consumer Goods
  • Innovation
  • MSME
  • Empire
  • Opinion
  • Cultural Currents
  • Features
  • AE Magazine
  • Corporate Rendezvous
Financial Street is a meeting point for technology, economy, and journalism.
No Result
View All Result
  • Markets & Companies
    • Stock Market
    • Companies
    • Appointments
    • Commodities
  • Business & Economy
    • Energy
    • Agricultural Economy
    • Insurance & Pensions
    • Aviation
    • Maritime
    • Road Transport
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Investment
    • Manufacturing
    • Consumer Goods
  • Innovation
  • MSME
  • Empire
  • Opinion
  • Cultural Currents
  • Features
  • AE Magazine
  • Corporate Rendezvous
Financial Street is a meeting point for technology, economy, and journalism.
No Result
View All Result

Church establishment as free enterprise

by Ejiro Awhana
August 3, 2019
in Empire
0
Financial Street - Church establishment as free enterprise
0
SHARES
29
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on WhatsApp

Churches are originally established to attend to people’s needs, especially spiritual, but things seem to have changed. EJIRO AWHANA looks at the other reasons for the proliferation of churches in Nigeria

Statistics show that there are over a million churches in Nigeria. While some are pluralised, others are lone-rangers. Nigeria, with its over 80 million Christians, has seen unprecedented proliferation of churches in the last two decades.

READ ALSO

WHO supports COVID-19 surveillance in Nigeria

UN seeks $164m for displaced Central Africans

Some large new generation churches in recent times have begun aggressive campaigns to plant a branch in every nook and corner of the nation. One of them plans to plant a branch two minutes walk from another.

Read Also:

  • Angola's 65 years oil history good, but...
    Angola's 65 years oil history good, but...
  • Fintech growth in Nigeria and challenges for SMEs
    Fintech growth in Nigeria and challenges for SMEs
  • Bitcoin slides below $45,000
    Bitcoin slides below $45,000

Churches as religious institutions
Hundreds of churches are opened each year in Nigeria. This increase is due more to pecuniary reasons than the spiritual well-being of the people.

Social critic and academic, Dr Gbenga Oyenusi, attributed the proliferation to the increasing need for man to connect with the Creator.

Oyenusi described the trend as a sign of significant spiritual re-awakening. He pointed out that ever since the Pentecostal revival in Nigeria in the late 1970s, there had been more and more churches, with each new brand proclaiming a peculiar message.

Business ventures
Many unemployed Nigerians, both educated and non-educated, have discovered another source of living in the establishment of churches. Tune to many television or radio stations on Sunday morning, you would be served different kinds of ‘impossible grammar’ and disjointed English expressions by preachers of different hues. You would be convinced that many of them were not called by the owner of the farm, who said that the harvest is rich but labourers few. Actually, as some people would argue, it was either that they called themselves to ministry or their stomachs and greed did. And they answered after a three-month crash programme in a Bible institute.

However, Onyenusi was uncomfortable with the development, due to the “charlatan proclivities” of some of the ‘pastors’. This set, according to him, should have no business on the pulpit.

Many of the churches are established as business ventures, as the proprietors have their eyes on the offerings and tithes from the congregation. Some of them, hence, preach prosperity to the detriment of holiness.

A Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Lagos, Francis Falako, stated that many of the so-called men of God exploit the people’s vulnerability and faith in a supreme being.

According to him, these pastors, in the pretext of being led by the Holy Spirit, latch onto the gullibility of the people and exploit them.

“Many of the ‘men of God’ that pastor these new churches are in it totally for (material) gain. They latch onto the gullibility of the people and exploit them to the fullest,” he said.

Scandals
The media platforms are replete with absurd tales of the exploits of these preachers; their sexcapades, especially with under-age children, and fraud. Recently, a former Super Eagles of Nigeria player was swindled of a whopping N1bn by his pastor.

Lagos-based psychologist, Jombo Preye, has described the antics of these preachers as a pathetic case. He lacked words to describe their hypnotic power over their followers.

“They hold sway over their members in ways that cannot be fathomed, and the followers obey their every word and do their bidding,” he lamented.

Preye explained that the financial reward that attends the entire church operation made it a viable enterprise.

“The more absurd the doctrine, the higher the followers. Unlike the traditional churches that have been in existence for ages, these new Pentecostal churches are uncanny in their doctrines and practices. They come up with weird beliefs and practices and the people follow them all the same,” he explained.

In a recent survey by Business Insider, 95 per cent of Nigerians pray daily. So, the church entrepreneurs capitalise on the religiousity of Nigerians to hoodwink them.

Government to the rescue
The economic instability, security challenges and unrest, infrastructural deficit and a host of other factors help these fraudsters in cassock.

There have been calls in recent times for government to put a check on the activities of some of these churches, and hold them to account for their unwholesome acts.

However, due to the menace of the new ‘gospellers’, some genuine clerics would welcome the regulation of churches by government.

A Roman Catholic priest, Fr Okon Dickens, said, “It is the responsibility of government to put checks in place. There is a limit to what the Christian Association of Nigeria can do. There are so many uneducated pastors out there that run churches.”

He called for a semblance of order in the house of God.

“We cannot afford to have just anybody pastoring a church. The Muhammadu Buhari-led government can do what Paul Kagame did in Rwanda and set a basic standard for all churches and ministries in the country. This way, there will be a limit to all those fake pastors that rob the people and desecrate the entire body of Christ,” he added.

Last line
The predominance of churches has been attributed to the ability of the churches to generate revenue from their members; hence the urge to establish more branches at every opportunity.Warehouses, residential apartments, and even strip clubs, have been turned to worship places. The ‘churchpreneurs’ are willing to pay any rent, so the landlords are tempted to give out any available space without question.

While it cannot be disputed that many churches are truly proclaiming the word and teaching the tenets of Christianity to its members, the stiff competition between churches to gain more followers and patronage is uncanny.

close
Subscribe to our newsletter and join thousands of readers of our financial, economic & investments news blog!
We don't spam with your email

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn

Get real time update about this post categories directly on your device, subscribe now.

Unsubscribe

Related Posts

2021 will be critical in fighting COVID-19, climate – Guterres
Covid19

WHO supports COVID-19 surveillance in Nigeria

February 26, 2021
Investisseurs & Partenaires closes IPAE 2 fund at €75m
Empire

UN seeks $164m for displaced Central Africans

February 26, 2021
CIBN, NIBSS unveil e-payment certification for financial institutions
Empire

CIBN, NIBSS unveil e-payment certification for financial institutions

February 24, 2021
Red Cross launches SFr8.5m appeal against Ebola spread
Empire

Red Cross launches SFr8.5m appeal against Ebola spread

February 24, 2021
PAP committed to empowering beneficiaries, says Dikio
Empire

PAP adopts new empowerment model for delegates

February 24, 2021
Seven die in NAF plane crash
Empire

Seven die in NAF plane crash

February 21, 2021
Next Post
Financial Street - nter corporate Okada

Enter corporate Okada

RECENT STORIES

NCS intercepts N950m worth of pangolin scales, lion bones at Apapa

Nigerian ports recorded 2.2% cargo decrease in 2020 – NPA

February 27, 2021
Nigeria, ABU may partner on fiscal policy formulation

Nigeria, ABU may partner on fiscal policy formulation

February 27, 2021
Angola's 65 years oil history good

Angola’s 65 years oil history good, but…

February 27, 2021
Fintech growth in Nigeria and challenges for SMEs

Fintech growth in Nigeria and challenges for SMEs

February 27, 2021
No disruption to operations, NSE assures at first digital closing gong

Nigeria’s equities market slumps further by 0.74%

February 27, 2021
Mariners canvass security fund to curb piracy

‘More Nigerian-owned ships carry foreign flags’

February 26, 2021
Why Ponzi schemes are unstoppable in Nigeria

Infinox Capital posts 61% growth

February 26, 2021

TRENDING

  • African business leaders call for sustainable response to COVID-19

    W’Bank projects $1.6bn vaccine roll-out aid by March

    2 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Nigeria’s equities advance further by 0.14%

    2 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • CIBN’s mentoring scheme critical to banking sector – Stakeholders

    2 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • United Capital posts 57% growth

    2 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Nigerian bank customers lose N3.35bn to fraudsters

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
Financial Street is a meeting point for technology, economy, and journalism.

© Financial Street 2020. All Rights Reserved.

More Links

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Markets & Companies
    • Stock Market
    • Companies
    • Appointments
    • Commodities
  • Business & Economy
    • Energy
    • Agricultural Economy
    • Insurance & Pensions
    • Aviation
    • Maritime
    • Road Transport
    • Financial Inclusion
    • Investment
    • Manufacturing
    • Consumer Goods
  • Innovation
  • MSME
  • Empire
  • Opinion
  • Cultural Currents
  • Features
  • AE Magazine
  • Corporate Rendezvous