The NATIONAL PRAYER ALTAR
MARATHON PRAYERS
Monday 26th August - Sunday 1st September 2024
VANITY PROJECTS
And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent (Acts 17: 30).
For many years, whenever people wanted to describe a case of extreme poverty, the common proverb was, “as poor as a church rat”. In the past, the proverb was apt because people did not eat in the church. The consecration of the old-time Christians gave no room for feasting in the place of worship. In the present generation, however, it would be out of place to describe the church rat as poor. In fact, given all the love feasts, food for first timers, refreshment at every meeting in the church, conventions and other special food programs, the church rat in this generation is fat.
In the wake of the Pentecostal revival of the 1970s, God released enormous amount of money into the Nigeria Church for the expansion of the gospel. As the heart of the people opened to Jesus, their purses opened for His Church. The Church became stupendously rich, to the extent that some ministers of the gospel were able to acquire and maintain private jets. While only a few pastors acquired private jets, many churches embarked on vanity projects, with little bearing on the work of the Kingdom of God. They gulped much money.
Amongst the frontline vanity projects by the Church has been the building of places of worship. The budget for building cathedrals in Nigeria surpassed N21 billion in some instances. The range between N10 billion to N17 billion became the “normal” budget for constructing a cathedral. The usual excuse is that such architectural monstrosities are required to encourage the rich and affluent in society to come to church, where prayers have been absent to pull them. Of course, the real reason is the ego of the pastor. The Bible says, “… he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house” (Heb. 3: 3). Whenever men see a beautiful house, the question they ask is, “who built this house?”
Do Churches require such exotic places of worship? If we take Nigeria as an example, our friendly climate does not require an air-conditioned place of worship. What is required is a solid smooth floor and poles, or pillars, to hold the roof. Even windows and walls are a luxury because fresh breeze will blow upon the congregants. The question we are to ask is how many days in the week do people spend in church to require a billion-dollar edifice? There are 168 hours in a week, and the average total hours spent in church is five hours, for Sunday worship and Bible Study. The remaining hours of the week are spent in homes and in the marketplace. Is it justifiable to spend enormous Kingdom funds on a cathedral that is not used for over 160 hours in a week?
The sad part is that, after putting the resources of the church into building the cathedral, the congregants are invited to come and start praying for prosperity and employment. What a contradiction! Would it not have been better to invest the money in skill acquisition training centres to empower the people, as well as establish cooperatives to enable them access capital for businesses? Could one imagine how many lives N17 billion would transform. Could one stretch the imagination and consider how many schools can be started and how many hospitals can be established. Unfortunately, transforming lives does not appear to be the goal of many pastors.
As the number of the cathedrals increases, poverty bites deeper in the lives of many Christians, thereby making them very desperate and susceptible to manipulations by unscrupulous ministers of the gospel. The unscriptural master-slave relationship observed in some Christian assemblies, between the pastors and members of the church, is easily attributed to poverty. It is probably from some pastors that the politicians learnt to keep the people poor so that they can control them.
The question we are compelled to ask is, Did Jesus Christ command His disciples to construct ostentatious places of worship? Did the Master not command His followers to build men and make them disciples? There is no example, in the New Testament, of a single building project. Even if a place of worship is required for large assemblies, what is required is a functional building as described above. The emphasis should be on functionality because Christians are pilgrims on earth.
The consequence of this misappropriation of Kingdom resources is that the areas in Christendom that require funding are neglected. Yet, it is because of those crucial areas that God has released money into the Church. The areas include:
• Missions and soul winning
• The poor and the needy
• The persecuted Christians
In those three areas, the Church in Nigeria has not done well, and vanity projects is not a call of God. A great deception has afflicted many ministers of the gospel. One can only pray that the casualties will not increase. Many souls have missed heaven because the money meant to get the gospel to them was used to purchase cement and iron rod for a vanity project. What explanation would these pastors present to Jesus Christ when they meet Him at the end of their pilgrimage on earth?
The good thing about God is that, while there is life, there remains opportunity for repentance. As the Bible says in Acts 17: 30, ”And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:” It is time to repent and shun all forms of activities and projects in the Church that constitute vanity. Eternity is a long time for one to be without Christ.
It is not only the pastors that need repentance, the congregation that contributes the money for vanity projects is equally guilty and needs repentance. Christians should realize that the offerings that God recognizes as sacrifice usually fall into the three categories highlighted above. What God considers “treasure in heaven” (Matt. 6: 19-21) is the offering that fulfills the will of Jesus Christ.
It is our prayer that pastors and Christians will reflect on these issues and re-order how they handle the resources that God commits into their hands. We are all custodians of God’s resources, and we shall render account. May we not be guilty before God for acts of improper generosity. May our giving not condemn us.
PRAYER POINTS
1). 1 John 1: 9
The neglect of missions, the poor, and the persecuted Christians is a collective guilt on all Christians in Nigeria. Confess the sin and ask God for forgiveness.
2) Eph. 1:17-18
Pray for Christians, that God would open their eyes of understanding to know His will, particularly as it relates to using resources.
3). 2 Pet. 2: 1 – 3
Pray that Christians shall be empowered by God to discern false teachers whose mission is to make money for their personal lusts and not for the expansion of the gospel.
4). Heb. 13:3
Pray that God shall grant a burden to support persecuted Christians, especially in IDP camps.
5). Phil. 4: 15 –16 Pray that the hearts of Christians shall open to support missionaries and all genuine soul winners.
6). James 2:14–17
Pray that the compassion of Christ will fill the hearts of Christians to respond to the needs of the poor and needy around them, particularly in this season of hunger in the land.
7). Matt. 28:19-20
Pray that Church leaders and all ministers of the gospel shall receive grace from God to re-order their priorities and focus on building men to be Christlike, instead of worldly projects.
AMEN
