Welcome. A blog on an issue that often lies under the service in inter-cultural contacts in ethnically diverse cities. I would love to hear the observations of those with more intimate contact with ‘prosperity’ emphasising churches.
The stimulus to this blog came from a discussion with a new incumbent about culturally different attitudes to money and giving in his church. If you would like to discuss issues raised for you by cross-cultural ministry I would be very glad to hear from you.
‘Prosperity’.
When Christians talk of ‘celebrating cultural diversity’ what exactly is it that we are celebrating? Often, I suspect, it is fairly superficial issues of dress, food, music, and physical appearance itself. But there are more deep-seated often hidden differences that can catch out the unwary and which can lead on to unanticipated and distressing conflicts that severely bruise our hopes of ‘unity in diversity’. (The analogy of an iceberg, the majority of whose bulk lies hidden below the water-line, I find to be a helpful illustration of how it is that the less apparent cultural differences can cause ship-wrecking cultural conflicts).
I think the extent to which faith is closely connected with the material world, in particular wealth and prosperity, is one such cultural difference, and one where western culture has developed away from many others. On matters like this all generalisations are rough and have numerous exceptions, nonetheless I think it is appropriate to regard attitudes to ‘prosperity’ as one difference that deserves serious attention. I realise that much ‘prosperity’ emphasis has North American roots. I think of a Nigerian neighbour who used to leave on his front wall copies of the magazines of the white American prosperity teacher Kenneth Copeland. However, overall it can still point to an important gulf in thinking and attitudes between English Anglicans and those Christians who have roots in the majority world. Much of what follows focuses on African Christians, but not dissimilar features are found with Far Eastern or Latin American Christians.
So what follows is my attempt to identify the strengths and weaknesses of ‘prosperity’ theology and practice, and to suggest ways in which we might respond.
Strengths
1. Affirming the goodness of creation.
Ask a Nigerian what his or her name means and very often it is a combination of words for God and words for success or wealth. Surely it is a natural human desire that for our children things to go well for them in this world and for God’s blessing to be invoked. God’s creation was ‘very good’ (Gen 1:31). Psalm 104 is one of several that delight in the material world: ‘wine that gladdens the heart of man, oil to make his face shine, and bread that sustains his heart’ (v15). In ‘The Meaning of Christian Conversion in Africa’ (1987) Bishop Cyril Okorocha draws together the work of John Mbiti and Desmond Tutu in saying that ‘to all African peoples, salvation has to do with the affirmation and enhancement of life. All this goes to explain the overriding African concern for spiritual power from religious forms as the essence of true religion’ (p 78).
This aligns with the growing theological emphasis that God’s eschatological purpose is for a ‘new heavens and a new earth’, not the evacuation of bodiless souls into an immaterial heaven that has often dominated the western Christian imagination.
2. Being serious about money
As a vicar we didn’t pass round a collection plate during services, both intending to discourage the idea that putting money in a plate was on the one hand a sort of entrance charge, and on the other an embarrassment to those who had little to give. Understandable, but on reflection I think it was unwise pastorally and theologically. Offering our gifts (usually financial, but possibly material) is a right act of worship, expressing our thanks to God for his material blessing to us and wanting to share what he has given. The stiffness and reticence, at times rather furtive, with which money is discussed in the Church of England suggests a feeling that it is a rather distasteful necessity, rather than symbolic of God’s good material provision. The very visual offertory exuberance that can be seen in some African worship may not fit in an Anglican service, but seeing money as an expression of God’s goodness to be rejoiced in, rather than an unbecoming decline from the spiritual, needs to be much more obvious in our church life.
Such aloofness fits easily with people for whom material scarcity has never been an issue anyway. But for people whose background experience is hardship and financial insecurity, then taking seriously that God can bless us financially is a proper concern. Chigor Chike writes: ‘Unlike in the West, where guilt is the main issue, the issue for African Christians is the battle for life against the many dangers they see in their world. So the threats are not so much within as without. Concern for sin is . . .because it could hinder harmony with God and deny them God’s protection and provision’ ( in ‘African Christianity in Britain’, 2007).
3. The blessing of godly wisdom.
Yonggi Cho, the founder of the South Korean megachurch, Yoido Full Gospel Church, used to promise that within two years converts could be delivered from poverty. Such a promise made in a context of grinding, widespread poverty would be a cruel deception; but in the context of a booming economy it is a realistic promise that following a biblical life pattern of hard work, sobriety, and deliverance from the idols that hedonism offers, then material progress and stability are definitely achievable.
It is a process well attested in Christian history. Ronald Fletcher's excellent study ‘The Conversion of Europe: from Paganism to Christianity 371-1386 AD’ (1997) illustrates how people became Christians for reasons that made sense in their own context - Christianity offered benefits that were not present in their previous faith, especially the discovery of God's power seen in answered prayer or the discovery of divine help in particular crises. So too, John Wesley observed ‘When a man becomes a Christian, he becomes industrious, trustworthy and prosperous’ with the consequence that he eventually moved away from living with the poor, so undermining the church’s vitality where it was most needed.
If ‘prosperity’ is offered simply as God’s transactional response to someone making a seriously sacrificial gift to the church then it is a wicked deceit. If it is offered as a very likely consequence of following Paul’s injunction: ‘Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery’ (Eph 5:17,18), then it simply reflects the good outcomes of living lives aligned with God’s purposes. In this sense the emphasis of ‘prosperity’ churches on giving specific advice as to how to live well in this world and the positive consequences that come from so doing has a properly material orientation which churches in the increasingly abstract, disembodied and theoretical West have lost sight of.
Weaknesses
1. Disappointed expectations
Chigor Chike warns ‘an emphasis on glory, provision, miraculous healing and material success can make this approach ill-prepared to deal with ‘failure’ in these areas’ (op cit, p 69). It is not uncommon to meet ex-members of African Pentecostal churches who have been disappointed by finding that the promised material blessings have not materialised, especially if they have contributed substantial ‘seed’ gifts with the expectation that they would harvest for themselves a substantial financial response from God for their generosity.
This of course is not a problem restricted to ‘prosperity’ churches. In a Sunday Times review of Andrew Atherstone’s recent book on Alpha, Christina Patterson described her disillusionment with faith brought about by unanswered prayers for healing whilst attending Holy Trinity, Brompton. All intercessory prayer risks the potentially faith-dampening experience of finding nonetheless nothing has changed. Churches and Christians thus wary of taking the risk of publicly pleading tend to find nothing changes anyway; prosperity churches that are big on the risk may at times experience dramatic fufillments, but also practice deceit to disguise lack of impact, or simply leave behind a trail of the disillusioned – some of whom may find their way into less high stakes Anglican churches, but far more, I suspect, simply make up the unchurched mass of the population.
2. Distorted view of Christian life.
The expectation that God will hand to us material blessing is not without grounds in the Christian faith, especially in situations where deliverance from poverty is both needed and attainable. But it can too easily become the lynch-pin of Christian faith, leading to an unhealthy pre-occupation with our own well-being and success, as well as to a distorting focus on material well-being as the central focus of Christian living. Such self-centred and materialist expectations often form a major element into prosperity based evangelistic programmes. So the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Crusade in Tottenham July 2016 held meetings on ‘Wealth must change Hands to the hands of the Holy Spirit in my Life’, and a ‘Restoration and Prosperity Night’. The Kingsway International Christian Centre megachurch ran The Coming Wealth Transfer programme, including ‘25 Insights on Wealth Creation’ and ‘15 Strategies for Investment’. There is, of course, a proper and longstanding Christian commitment to helping people live well in God’s world by attending to God’s wisdom, which underlies the entire Christian involvement in education, and programmes such as the above could be seen in that tradition, perhaps with a valid entrepreneurial spin. However questions need to be raised at a general level of whether such training has strong and reputable foundations in business terms, or whether it is merely superficial sugar-coating to draw people into the ambience of the church. More seriously they can at times draw people into business enterprises run by the church itself, which can be disastrous failures for those who get involved.
3. Abuse
Following on from the above, there have been a succession of large scale scandals involving ‘prosperity’ emphasising churches along with smaller more local ones, or less publicised tussles with the Charity Commissioners over irregular governance procedures, as with KICC. Victory church in Wembley made national headlines when it was embroiled in scandals over both financial dishonesty and sexual abuse, with celebrities such as the footballer John Fashanu involved as bodyguards. More recently the predominantly youthful SPAC nation church in south London has again been accused of misappropriation. The upshot is that tragically the public perception of Pentecostal, especially African churches, is largely negative, despite the remarkable and sacrificial service to the community carried out by other churches such as Tottenham’s Highway of Holiness church. (See Alex Gyasi’s ‘The Test Room’).
4. Naivety discredits the church.
Too easily, then, Pentecostal majority world Christians are discredited as naïve – taken in by exaggerated claims, and selfishly focussing on their own comfort and prosperity to the neglect of the wider world. In the film ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ there is a biting little cameo where the heroine’s super-rich and snobbishly hostile future mother-in-law is leading a bible study in her opulent Singaporean mansion. The passage (as I remember) of 1 Timothy 6:17: ‘Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth’ grated painfully with the participants unblushing complacency in their luxury.
One of the few books about Christianity to receive national attention recently is the journalist Elle Hardy’s ‘Beyond Belief: How Pentecostal Christianity is taking over the World’. At times Hardy is sympathetic to the faith she encounters (for example with British Gypsies) or even drawn towards it, but too easily her journalist’s eyes are able to pick out the absurd, the self-centred or the hopelessly superstitious. In terms of the global impact of Christianity in a world of plurality, ‘prosperity’ churches - despite their successes and achievements -score far too many own goals to be of benefit to the world-wide team.
Responses
How then should churches and especially church leaders respond to the emphases of God giving prosperity to those who give large scale to particular churches and ministries?
1. Be aware of how widespread prosperity teaching is.
Far more than most clergy realise, I suspect, our church members are receiving ‘prosperity’ teaching. This comes from profilerating independent television and radio channels, such as from the Brazillian billionaire-run Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, whose ‘Help Centres’ are common on urban streets, and who are assiduous in their publicity, both through their My Channel (203 0n the Sky Guide) and through pamphlets. One such testimony tells the following story:
‘The task was to give an offering at every meeting. . . God made me aware that Abraham sacrificed on occasions. . . I began contributing at these services. Then one day I took a bold step – I took a trip to the office and spoke with the interviewer. . . The contract I have with my current employer is amazing. It has allowed me to purchase a brand new BMW . . (with) heated seats and bigger alloy wheels to an upgraded sound system and more. God blessed me in such a way that I was able to purchase this BMW without selling my other car, so today I have two vehicles’.
Many of our church members will have relatives or friends attending prosperity influenced churches and be under some pressure to buy into the transactional framework of giving with an eye to receiving miraculous blessing.
2. Be aware in our teaching.
I always appreciate David Livermore’s advice concerning Cultural Intelligence to ‘Switch off cruise control’ – that is instead of following our natural and routine patterns in pastoral ministry and teaching we need to stop operating on automatic, but rather to freshly appraise how what we do and say works out in a different cultural context. In our preaching we need to be aware that our listeners’ understanding of God’s ways can be shaped by the understanding illustrated in the story above. This means pointing people to Jeremiah’s life of apparent failure and unheralded death as well as to the glorious promises found in Isaiah 40 onwards; or to Paul underlining the indignities and suffering of his ministry over against the swagger of the ‘super apostles’ who were deluding the Corinthian Christians (and who seem to be unconsciously copied by the expensive glitziness of prosperity preachers today). More basically, we need to simply underline the major rebuke that both the lifestyle and teaching (Luke 6:20-26; Matt 6:19-20) of Jesus present to offers of abundant material prosperity
3. Model life affirming simplicity.
We need to retain the emphasis behind prosperity teaching of the goodness of God’s material world. It is right that the goodness of God’s provision to us is celebrated in beauty or attractiveness in our church buildings, our music, our artefacts, our dress, our food. All these things can honour God. But they can be done without ostentation or undue display. Against the worldly and individualistic view that expensive clothes or cars are signs of God’s blessing, churches, and especially leaders, need to be modelling that it is a joyful but life-affirming simplicity that honours and pleases God.
4. Encourage compassionate generosity.
It is right to emphasise the enjoyment of God’s good material creation, and the value of money as providing a convenient way of accessing these things. But love for our neighbour simply means that we want others to share these things as well as ourselves; that is, God’s purposes for prosperity are not me as an individual, but for others as well. Wanting prosperity for all humanity, for ‘the common good’, is a godly desire. So, at the risk of being prescriptive, we can not believe that in the testimony above the person’s desire to spend on ‘bigger alloy wheels’ is closer to God’s heart than giving to feed the hungry or help resist the onset of climate change or supporting those persecuted for their faith. God wants to bless us materially but that blessing is always to be distributed widely, as Paul recognised from God’s gift of manna: ‘I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written, “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little”’ (2 Cor 8:13-15).
It is delight in a ‘fair balance’ (NIV ‘equality’) between peoples that honours God. Delighting in substantial personal blessing is a naïve surrender to the individualism of our age, not a godly affirmation of the goodness of God’s material world. Inculcating into our churches a delight to further his purposes for a fair balance is a vital counter-cultural emphasis, especially where Christians are tempted to unquestioningly accept a worldly emphasis on personal acquisition of expensive goods.
Thank you! I found this insightful and practical
Good word! I appreciate that you actually engaged in a healthy way as I usually just read/hear quick dismissals