It is increasingly becoming obvious that the two fastest growing endeavours in Nigeria today are churches and bars, at least in the Southern part of the country, where the Islamist fundamentalists, Boko Haram, are not bombing churches and bars. If you have been observant, you will notice that the number of churches and bars in your neighbourhood has increased tremendously in the last five years.
Companies close shop and churches or bars
take over their spaces. Until 2009 when the Central Bank of Nigeria
came down hard on banks, they were the ones taking over every available
space in Nigeria, so as to be called the biggest bank or the bank with
the highest number of branches. These days, once a building or a piece
of land is put up for sale or lease, chances are high that it is a
church that will acquire it.
On the other hand, once a canopy is
erected in front of a house on a central road or street in a
neighbourhood, you can be sure that a new bar has sprung up where people
will gather every evening to drink. Even in early January when many
people usually still try to keep a resolution not to drink alcohol, or
when many people are still recovering from the high amount of money they
spent during the Christmas/New Year period, such roadside bars are
still filled with patrons every evening. Interestingly, I have never
seen any roadside bar that seems to be experiencing a lack of patronage,
including those that operate beside dirty, stinking gutters.
Why are churches and bars booming at a
time businesses are hurting and dying? Many reasons are responsible for
this. First is that the Redeemed Christian Church of God’s vision of
having a church within a walking distance of its worshippers seems to
have thrown a challenge to other churches. Every church now also wants
to have a branch close to its members.
Second, when all hope seems to be lost,
the church provides hope to the faithful. The words of a minister
reassure people that all is well no matter how dark the clouds are. Many
pastors have also noticed that pastors who focus on prosperity have
mammoth crowds; therefore, many of them have jumped on the bandwagon of
prosperity preaching. Those whose businesses are struggling or have
collapsed, flock to churches in search of their own breakthrough. It is
said that when an economy is buoyant or life is rosy, many people think
less of God. It is when things are bad that many people remember God and
need Him to help them.
There is also the fact that churches help
their members find jobs, business, spouses, among others. Many people
have such needs and they flock to churches to find solutions to these
needs. Friends and contacts are also made in churches which prove useful
in life. The more people troop to churches to solve these problems, the
more churches expand.
In addition, many pastors lay special
emphasis on tithing, and consequently use Malachi 3:10 to instil fear
into their congregation. This portion of the Bible says that those who
don’t pay their tithes rob God and will consequently receive hard times
in all their endeavours, but those who pay their tithes will receive an
open window from God, from which He will pour down His blessings upon
them. Even the older churches that never preached tithing have joined in
preaching tithing as a compulsory Christian doctrine. In addition to
tithing, many churches lay great emphasis on giving – seed-sowing,
offering, seed of faith, covenant seed, dangerous giving, donation for
special projects, etc – through which churches receive huge sums of
money in comparison to what obtained in the past. This makes expansion
easier.
Also in the past, being a priest was
synonymous with poverty. It was seen as a calling, because only someone
with a high conviction would choose the poverty, extreme self-denial, a
life of service, risk and pain that were associated with priesthood.
Priests were expected to live a life similar to that Jesus Christ and
His apostles lived: a life of lack and service with no amassing of
wealth or flamboyance. But given that many pastors are rich and
flamboyant these days, being a pastor has become attractive. Many young
people are daily pouring into the seminary or Bible college that it is
difficult to know those who had a divine call and those who are just
changing businesses. The effect is that churches build more branches to
find places for the large number of ministers, while individuals who
don’t want to be part of any of the existing churches open their own
churches in their neighbourhoods, thereby increasing the number of
churches.
In the case of bars, it is a fact that
when many people record achievements, they celebrate with alcohol; and
when they are hit by hard times, they drink more alcohol in an attempt
to drown their sorrow, even if temporarily. Many people simply bury
their problems in alcohol: a kind of escapism. As people’s debt mounts,
as they are unsure of how to pay the next rent or children’s school
fees, many resort to alcohol.
Money problem is also a huge source of
marital crisis. Rather than drive home to face the anger of their wives
for several hours, many people prefer to hang out with their friends in
bars and return home only when it is bedtime, cutting down on the period
they will spend with their wives before sunrise when another working
day beckons on them to escape from home again.
The more people seek to drink, the more
owners of bars smile to the bank, and the more new bars open to attend
to the need of more drinkers.
Ironically, in spite of the massive
expansion in churches as well as a rise in religious activities in
Nigeria, there is a drop in values, morality and godliness. The Nigerian
of today is less trusted internationally than the Nigerian of pre-1990.
The Nigerian of today has a higher chance of demanding a bribe or
giving a bribe or cheating another than the Nigerian of pre-1990. It
therefore points to the fact that the expansion in churches and rise in
religiosity have little to do with spreading the gospel of God and more
to do with pecuniary consideration. But that is not to say that there
are not many men of God whose desire in church expansion is driven
purely by a need to win souls who will be godly and therefore great
citizens.
The bitter truth is that countries don’t
become great as a result of an astronomical rise in churches and bars.
That companies are folding up and churches and bars are growing should
sound a warning to the government that all is not well with the Nigerian
economy. The economy needs to be revived so that those who want to
worship God will worship Him in truth and spirit, not because of those
material things that they believe they will get from Him, but because
they are convinced that He is worthy to be worshipped. In the same vein,
those who want to drink alcohol will drink it as a choice, not as an
escapist mechanism from hard times.
Culled From Punch
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True talk.
ReplyDeleteI need to change my carrier .
ReplyDeleteChurch is cool business .
It is only in Nigerian , people receive call from God to everyday to start Church business .
ReplyDeleteI dey laugh oooooooooooooooo.
ReplyDeletethank u very much for this post. its realy true about churches. may God help us.
ReplyDeleteKudos to the writer here, the most sounding statement in this piece which I wish Spiritual Leaders in there closet would cry on and ask for a true God's presence and that Nigerians who flock in Churches and think religion can replace godliness should reason on is:
ReplyDelete"Ironically, in spite of the massive expansion in churches as well as a rise in religious activities in Nigeria, there is a drop in values, morality and godliness. "
Adeyinka Fadehan