Rescuing the Nigerian church from the hands of praise and worship “dealers”  (1), By Ayo Akerele

“My price is a million naira for a two-hour session of worship, amounting to a service cost of N500,000 per hour. Any further worship would require you to prime up my charges. Your bill will probably be issued by my supervisor.” How low may a person fall as a worship minister? On the root of this widespread desecration of the sacred music ministry is the spirit of mammon which clearly is a significant stronghold within the Nigerian church. It’s the similar spirit engaged on the hearts of a number of ministers of the phrase at a number of ranges of ministry. However my focus in the present day is throughout the scope of the music ministry.

So far as I’m involved, music dealership has taken over music management within the church, ensuing within the air pollution of the sacred altar of Christ. These breeds of worship leaders (sellers) share putting similarities with the biblical sons of Eli — Hophni and Phinehas whom God judged for his or her attitudes in direction of His sacred Altar.

In 1 Samuel 2:17, the Bible says, “The sin of the sons of Eli was extraordinarily severe within the Lord’s sight, as a result of they handled the choices to the Lord with such disrespect.” It has by no means been this dangerous within the Nigerian church. I used to be privileged to know the Lord within the early 80s. There was no time within the historical past of the Church that the providing of reward and worship turned a commercialized enterprise for branding and advertising functions.

Immediately, it’s an trade of proud, smug, grasping, and selfish folks—lots of whom aren’t actually saved, a lot much less being damaged.

We’ve got misplaced it fully on this side of our service to God, and the sooner the fathers within the land stand as much as this menace, the higher for the subsequent era. Who’re these worship sellers? They’re lots of our brothers and sisters whose faces adorn fliers and posters in our conferences and conferences. They’re the merchandise of our church buildings. Sadly, lots of them have turned their backs on God—blatantly violating the tenets of His phrase as ministers of Christ that all of them declare to be. It’s a era populated by loads of unsaved folks and carnal worship sellers, all of whom have discovered a secure haven to market their singing abilities to the best bidder. It isn’t concerning the want to advance the gospel of Christ, however to construct picture empires and international manufacturers for themselves that may finally convert to monetary features for them.

Root Causes 

However what’s the root reason behind this drawback? The Church, our fathers, and society at giant is accountable for this menace. Most of the “famous person” worship sellers which might be grinding the noses of pastors on the bottom in Nigeria with their “pay me my charges earlier than I lead worship” practices had been influenced by a few of our fathers.

My dialog with worship leaders in Nigeria, coupled with my a few years of expertise within the Church, proves to me past all doubts that this menace has its roots firmly entrenched within the values and practices of lots of our church leaders. Listed below are my findings from my analysis on this subject material. Lots of our church leaders publicly boast and brag about their international affect; they unfold branches all throughout the globe and rake in funds of their billions regularly; they arrive to the church on Sundays and communicate glowingly about how a lot cash they’ve bought; they boast concerning the expertise of their household and kids of their final holidays to the Bahamas and to Hawaii; they revel of their acquisition of state-of-the-art cars and selection properties; they invite pastors from different components of the world and pay them fortunes.

In response to my findings, these reward and worship leaders informed me that other than the sacrifices of those pastors, their very own labor and sacrifices equally contribute to the expansion of the church. They informed me that as they sit in church each Sunday to hearken to the mouth-watering monetary success of the pastor and the church, they really feel used and deserted. “We’ve bought households too,” they informed me. “We studied music in class and maintain music as our main calling in life.”

Consequently, Devil hijacked the method and pushed these younger, proficient worship leaders to insurgent in opposition to the system, “Me too will earn a living with my abilities and abilities, anyhow, anyplace.” And to make issues worse, when the pastor invitations a “famous person” worship supplier with a big following to his conference with mouth-watering reception and a crimson carpet to match, the trustworthy worship leaders within the church grow to be pissed off and influenced to toe the identical path, “Me too should grow to be a famous person,” “Me too have to be obtained on the airport with a crimson carpet.” After which the cycle of desecration continues. Additional to that is the function of our declining tradition. Nigeria is a nation deeply rooted within the tradition and worth of greed and waste, ably promoted by corrupt politicians, impoverished inhabitants, and big unemployment. These socio-economic elements, coupled with the function of the fathers, consistently sweeten the narrative, “There isn’t a different technique of paying my payments if I don’t cost charges previous to accepting invites.” Second, these famous person worship sellers are devices for pulling crowds to applications. So, the provision chain of ministries is fraught with compromised church leaders who finally mentor and nurture compromised worship sellers. It’s a three way partnership—deliver crowd to my conferences, pay me my charges.

Cures 

It is crucial for me to inform whoever cares to pay attention that what is sweet for the goose can also be good for the gander. Your current wants, my current payments, and our collective challenges don’t and can by no means be the logical and rational excuse for desecrating the hallowed chambers of the church of Christ. It’s possible you’ll not know, however what you’re doing is promoting the grace of God in your life. It’s a really grievous sin in opposition to God.

For these church buildings in Nigeria which might be truly based on Satanic covenants, it’s logical to desecrate and re-desecrate their altars with any technique or practices accessible to the thoughts. However for each pastor or church chief who’s standing for Christ, what we are saying in public and our practices in personal should align with God’s methods of doing issues. It’s evil and satanic to cost to evangelise or to cost to steer worship throughout the church group.

Ayo Akerele is the senior pastor of Rhema Meeting and the founding father of the Voice of the Watchmen Ministries in Ontario, Canada. He may be reached by way of ayoakerele2012@gmail.com