A recruitment drive at a funeral

A few years ago my wife and I went to a funeral of one of her friends in Lusaka, Zambia. The service was held in a very impressive modern church. Mary, the deceased, had been an active member of the church and the building was packed full of mourners from the church and her family and friends.

The service took the normal sort of pattern. A few hymns, readings from the Bible and some preaching. The preaching was the usual sort of fair I got used to in Pentecostal style churches. The Pastors were charismatic and good orators but thoroughly lacking in any theology to underpin their preaching.

Half way thrrough the service I was sickened by what took place. The leading Pastor (perhaps a self ordained Bishop?) took to the Pulpit and began to preach fire and brimstone type material. He praised the late Mary for choosing Jesus to be her 'personal saviour' and then went on to warn those of us who hadn't done the same thing that we were to be damned unless we repented and proclaimed 'Jesus Christ to be our personal saviour.' To my surprise about a dozen members of the congregation were inspired to rise from their pews and to go to the front of the church to be blessed by the Pastor/Bishop. These people were then taken by one of the other Pastors to 'sign up' for the church. All this took place as the deceased lay before the altar in an open casket. To my mind the whole thing lacked decency and showed little respect for the deceased. However, I'm sure that the dozen new converts would have brought in some extra revenue for what was clearly a fast growing and vibrant business (or do I mean church?)

The evil of the Tithe

The TV Envangelists will always preach about 'the tithe'. The tithe has its origins in the Old Testament; Abraham giving 10% of his possessions to the priest Melchizedek became the precursor to the tithe being established under the Law of Moses. Interestingly although firmly established within the Old Testament there is no Biblical evidence that the culture of tithing continued within the early Christian communities. In contrast the early Church encouraged freewill giving whereby memebers of the community made offerings of money or goods depending upon their own conscience. As tithing was only a requirement found in the Old Testament, some consider it to be a practice that has no place in modern Christianity. Others, such as Word of Faith advocates, espouse that tithing, which is inspired in the individual by God, will enable blessings, usually financial, with references to ten or hundredfold increases. This unfortunately is the message which many vulnerable people have preached at them in Sub Saharan Africa. Whilst the mainline churches encourage their faithful to give as they can afford the Evangelical/Pentecostal 'churches' rigidly enforce the culture of the tithe. Not only do the Pastors of the churches preach that those who tithe will be blessed but they also warn those who do not tithe that they will be cursed by God!

Whilst some might argue that this matter is one of differing theologies (if one accepts that their is any theology underpinning those who preach the prosperity gospel) others see it as the ruthless exploitation of the most vulnerable people in the world. It is no wonder that there are literally thousands of self professed Pastors across Sub Saharan Africa. It can be a very prosporous way of life. Afterall the Pastor is taking 10% of the gross income of all members of their church - regardless of the persons ability to pay. I cannot help but be cynical when I see the Pastors fighting over potential members of their churches. Are they interested in saving souls or profits? I wonder!