The Great Derailing of the Nigerian Church
Recognizing and escaping the pitfalls of Nigerian Christianity
In every way it has come to this, that what one now calls Christianity is precisely what Christ came to abolish. This has happened especially in Protestantism.
~ Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855)
These days, so much of what passes as Christianity in Nigeria is anything but the faith of Jesus Christ.
Nigeria is a hyper-religious country. But unfortunately, many Christians are just Christians in mouth only — mere mouth professions. Their Christian professions don’t touch their daily living, habits, lifestyles, politics, and government.
As Christians, we must stop, ponder, and reflect all the time on what we hear, practice, and uphold.
It was said concerning the Berean Christians,
Now, these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Acts 17:11 (ESV)
The Old Testament book of Prophet Isaiah talked about some of God’s people who prefer hearing smooth things instead of God’s words.
9 That this is a rebellious people, Lying children, Children who will not hear the law of the LORD;
10 Who say to the seers, “Do not see,” And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things; Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
~ Isaiah 30:9–10 (NKJV)
Many Christians base their faith on scriptures that have been twisted to suit what they or their preachers want them to hear.
Apostle Paul talked of believers who develop itching ears — they only want to hear whatever pleases them.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. ~ 2 Timothy 4:3–4 (NKJV)
Every heaven-bound believer must watch and ensure they don’t fall into these traps that are wreaking havoc on Christianity in Nigeria.
Here are some of these pitfalls.
1. Leaders Centric Churches
These days; Christianity in Nigeria is so founders and leaders-centric that at times one is left wondering, “Where is our Lord Jesus Christ in all these?”
In every major city, thousands of handbills supposedly promoting the cause of our Saviour are printed every year. Yet, if you look carefully, what you will notice is that these “gospel marketing” handbills are more into extolling the virtues and glories of their pastors and church founders.
Our Lord Jesus Christ is subtly relegated to the background, demoted to the status of a “tag–along” from behind the scenes instead of being at the forefront where He rightfully belongs.
Church signposts and handbills are incomplete without pictures of church or ministry founders.
So much is this pervasion that non Christians now identify churches with their founders names instead of Christ.
The true church wasn’t built on man but on Jesus Christ who is the Solid Rock and only Sure Foundation.
Leaders-centricity is so prominent in the Nigeria church today. Some ministers feel no scruples, assuming ungainly titles that borders on sacrilege.
Slogans and banners like, “Live coal minister… “, “Demon Slayer”, “Talk and do pastor” and many such human glorifying titles are the order of the day in Nigerian Pentecostal Christianity.
Unlike the early Apostles, many Nigerian Pentecostal ministers are not hesitant to see themselves as infallible saints.
In Nigeria, the name of the church or ministry’s founder plays around better than the Name above all other names — the name of Jesus.
Why is this so?
The name of the founder of the church or ministry can be seen, admired, or adored, while God seems to exist only in the mind.
Make no mistake about this. What else do we call it if not idolatry? Yes, rampart idolatry in the Nigerian Church.
No matter how clean and holy any human vessel may be, God Almighty will not share His glory with any mortal man.
With the name of Jesus being unwittingly relegated to the background, it is no wonder the glory and the power have departed from several of these churches.
John the Baptist declared that our Lord Jesus Christ must increase while he decreases (Jonh 3:30). Many Nigerian pastors seem to prefer the opposite to John the Baptist’s style.
You cannot exalt our Lord Jesus Christ and show off your own cleverness at the same time. ~ John Piper
2. Are We Sloganeering or Preaching?
Politicization is an extreme that is the mirror image of privatization, but it compounds the work of its twin. Whereas privatization undermines the integration of faith, politicization undermines the independence of faith.
American religion has always been known for its sacramental materialism, but with television and the arrival of the megachurches, it has tools of which Tetzel never dreamed and profits to make even Chaucer’s Pardoner blush.
Today, what is to be escaped is poverty, not purgatory, and what is for sale is indulgence of another kind.
With miracle prayer cloths now sent out by mass mailing and by Protestants, the wheel has come full circle. The co-opting of the Reformation is well advanced.
Little wonder that the market in retail religion is bullish. Spiritual renewal means business is booming for the brokers of consumer religion.
~ Os Guinness
Many Nigerian ministers are following in the pattern of some known, compromised American preachers. The content of the gospel message spread from many pulpits is everything but the simple gospel of salvation.
Many ministries resort almost exclusively to the glitz and glitter of entertainment, marketing, advertisement, and public relations to “market” the gospel.
Yes, what they are doing is competitive mass marketing instead of preaching the gospel. Therefore, whatever gospel message that is preached gets watered down to suit the hearers’ whims and fancies.
For many hearers, being a Christian serves as a means to an end. And “when Christianity is used as a means to gain the world (both by the seekers and the preachers), it ends up being a means to lose your soul.”
When Christianity is used as a means to gain the world (both by the seekers and the preachers), it ends up being a means to lose your soul.
In his book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J. I Packer, a gospel minister and theologian of a past generation, listed some questions that Christians should ask about every new form of ministry:
Is this way of presenting Christ calculated to impress on people that the gospel is a word from God?”
Does this way of presenting Christ's savor of human cleverness and showmanship?
Does it tend thereby to exalt man?”
Is this way of presenting Christ calculated to promote, or impede, the work of the word in men’s minds?
Is it going to clarify the meaning of the message, or to leave it enigmatic and obscure?
Is this way of presenting Christ calculated to convey to people the doctrine of the gospel, and not just part of it?
Is this way of presenting Christ calculated to convey to people the application of the gospel? . . . Will it, for instance, leave people unaware that they have any immediate obligation to respond to Christ at all?
Is this way of presenting Christ calculated to convey gospel truth in a manner that is appropriately serious?
Is it calculated to make people feel that they are indeed facing a matter of life and death?
Will it help them to realize that it is a fearful thing to fall into His hands?
Or is this way of presenting Christ so light and casual and cozy and jolly as to make it hard for the hearers to feel that the gospel is a matter of any consequence?”
One can only wish that all Nigerian preachers will ask and apply the answers to these questions to their preaching.
3. “Too many programs kill the convert”
Yes, water is life.
But, even more surely, too much water can kill. If in doubt, ask a drowning man.
Today, many a church time, fellowship, and worship service days are overcrowded with many programs and meetings.
Many of these churches place much emphasis on attending church activities and participating in all their programs. Consequently, many members devote very little time to personal studying of God’s word, personal meditation, personal prayers, and personal evangelism.
Ours is a present continuous generation of proliferation of churches and church programs.
It is therefore no surprise that many Christians are several miles wide on church programs and inches thin on the doctrine and substance of their faith and calling.
4. Money and Poverty Driven Christianity
These days, many Nigerian Pentecostal and new-generation churches, place little or minimal emphasis on cheerful giving.
For many adherents, once “signed on and in”, it is goodbye to joyful giving in the service of the Lord. Compulsive giving and tithing are mandatory. Any believer not in tune is automatically tagged a “God’s Robber”.
Much as they will be loathe to admit it, many adherents give or tithe out of fear that God will do them harm if they do not comply. With such mindsets, giving is robbed of its joys,
Ironically, the more emphasis is placed on tithes and offerings and sowing seeds, the lesser the emphasis is devoted to brotherly, practical Christian love of sharing and helping poorer members.
Today, in many Nigerian churches, scriptures are quoted to imply that dire consequences and even untimely death await those who renege on their tithing obligations.
Quoting Malachi 3:10, many churches and ministers suggest that Christians who don't tithe are stealing from God. The implication is that non-tithers are bound for hell and damnation.
Indirectly, these ministers teach that tithing is an essential component of the “must haves” for Christians to earn God’s salvation.
For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. ~ Ephesians 2:8
Such ministers may teach salvation by grace through faith and not of works, lest anyone should boast. But as soon as the believers settle in the church, someone sneaks in and ties the yoke of tithing to their necks from the backdoor.
“If you are not tithing, you’re robbing God.”
“If you are not tithing, God will afflict you or your children with sicknesses.”
“If you are not tithing your business will go to the locusts.”
And with many of such like ad nauseam guilt-tripping and fear-inducing teachings, they wring undiscerning believers out of the scanty money in their lean pockets.
Such teachings are no different from the practices of their idol-worshipping ancestors, who have to appease and cajole their ancestral spirits, idols, and evil spirits with gifts in order to avert personal disasters.
With their tithes done, many believers look opposite the sight of their needy, weeping, and bleeding less fortunate brethren. For them, Luke 6:38 interprets no further than paying their tithes and giving their resources to the physical church.
Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. ~ Luke 6:38
Having entered into God’s good books through their tithing, many Christians are reluctant to call and ask after their brethren’s welfare.
Why?
Because such calls will affect their pockets. Could this be the reason why many home-based church fellowships are no longer growing as expected?
Any wonder why the church is over-populated by the poor and needy brethren? No wonder why so-called “fellowships” are no longer as effective as was the case in many ministries.
5. Lesser and Lesser emphasis on personal devotion
Without a life of personal devotion and spirituality, all programs and church activities are useless.
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. ~ Hebrews 10:25
As much as possible, Christians must not neglect the meetings of the brethren together (Hebrews 10:25). But, without a personal regular living fellowship with God, what results is a mere formality and a superficial superfluity of endless church activities.
The Berean Christians were commended because they search the scriptures to see if what they were being taught by Apostles Paul and Silas was correct. But these days, the words of many ministers are taken as the gospel truth even if their teachings are anti-Bible.
These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. ~Acts 17:11
Without a life of meditating on God’s word and personal devotion, the Christian’s heart can become hard and impervious to God’s voice.
Many speak and teach holiness, yet they are entirely out of touch with it.
As Christians, we are supposed to be examples and lights to the world and our communities.
But, no matter how strongly we may preach, pontificate, or call for truth and righteousness, if our lives and practices don’t square up to our Christian profession, many will reject our teachings.
Even if the messages are 100% true and doctrinally sound, Christians will be seen as hypocritical. At the worst, non believers will simply conclude that genuine godliness is optional or unnecessary.
Without true spirituality, constant church activities will only produce temporal and non-lasting euphoria, but rather short-lived feel-good.
This is the reason, many professing Christians are forever running from program to program, from prayer houses to prayer houses, and from one Church to another.
They neglect the essence of true Christianity for endless, futile activities that bring no assurance or satisfaction to the soul.
Without a life of personal devotion, every church activity sooner than later degenerates into hypocrisy, “spiritual show-off”, and “let me do it so that they notice me” or “notice-me” Christian spirituality.
6. In Cahoots with Ungodly Rulers
When it comes to taking a stand for truth and justice, many Nigerian Christian leaders flip-flop. They have ready scriptures they quote to smother dissent against unpopular, ungodly rulers.
Instead of speaking truth to power and warning of God’s judgment against unjust rulers, many of them pander to the whims and caprices of any government in power.
At other times, these ministers released their pulpits for non-Christians and even known anti-Christian politicians to do their politics. Well, should such ministers heed the warning of Christian apologist, Dr. Os Guinness that, “a religion that sold its soul to gain state support was sooner or later bound to be corrupted by the devil’s bargain.”
A religion that sold its soul to gain state support was sooner or later bound to be corrupted by the devil’s bargain. ~ Os Guinness
As part of every Sunday worship service, faithful believers are enjoined to pray for all especially their government. And rightly so, because the Holy Bible instructed Christians — to pray for their leaders and rulers.
But what do many Nigerian Christians pray for these days?
For what?
That God Almighty will make their government (whether good or bad) succeed at ruling Nigeria, and that “This government will favor me and my family.”
Imagine that!
Any wonder why Nigeria is the way it is? A large section of the church has lost its moral rudder despite the multiplicity of Christian churches in the country.
Many Nigerian Christians are more tribalistic than they are Christians.
This is why many Christian leaders rationalize the actions of politicians who bloodied and heisted themselves into the seat of government at every election cycle. Christian ministers who ought to be the nation’s conscience and voices for the voiceless are silent when they ought to speak up.
The catalog of pitfalls that are constantly dodging the steps of Christians in Nigeria are many and multiplying. These have weakened the faith and steadfastness of believers. With all these open pitfalls, the impact of the Church has been relegated into irrelevancy in Nigerian society.
As believers recognize these pitfalls, we must confess and repent from them.
It is only as the Church does these that Christians’ lights will begin to shine to show the glory of our Lord and recommend the people to His salvation.
Sources
©J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, Intervarsity Press, 2012
©Os Guinness, The Last Christian on Earth — Understanding the Enemy’s Plan to Undermine the Church, Baker Books, 2010
Thanks for reading.
The discussion is still on. Share your insights in the comments section or join me on Reddit to share.