INTRODUCTION
The rogue churches refer to the group of churches that attempt to brainwash and radicalize the faith of their followers negatively. Rogue churches in this regard refers to the conduct of the alter operators down to the discipline of the churches. Rogue churches by comparative analysis may also include the churches like those concentrated in Sau Paulo and Rio de Janeiro whereby statistics indicate that they majorly comprise of homosexuals which arose as a result of the church’s traditional teachings not condemning homosexuality or not including it as sin and so they end up setting their own churches to cater for those who feel homosexuality is a standard acceptable lifestyle. These churches allow the manifestation of faith in the Christian tradition regardless of sexual orientation. rogue churches may also widely refer to the churches whose leaders amass wealth by the running the church as their business rather than the intended purpose.
According to the Kenyan constitution under article 32 (1) states that (1) every person has the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion. That expressly allows every individual to automatically acquire the freedom to worship. At the same article under sub-article 2 continues to state that (2) every person has the right, either individually or in community with others, in public or in private, to manifest any religion or belief through worship, practice, teaching or observance, including observance of a day of worship.
This gives us a clear idea for everyone’s freedom of worship. However, any mischief or conducts that derail the purpose of the church will not in any manner hinder one from being charged or being corrected using the set laws. It should be noted by the pastors and other leaders of the church that the freedom of religion should not give them liberty and grace to conduct themselves as they please. These kinds of image are a disgrace to the church and they tarnish the image of the church and the Christianity in general.
In regards to the rogue churches it is probable to reflect mostly on the conduct of the preachers. As a major concern, church rogues’ also arise from the idea or notion of the pastors poorly managing the finances of the ministries they run. It is a clear view a good percentage of the pastors in the recent past who have grown into millionaires due to their widespread trustee misconduct and abuse of trust and fraud majorly against their believers. Many of the pastors have grown rich through rogue activities in the same churches. It at some point led to the idea of introducing taxation of the wealth accumulated from the churches. This idea was pushed for by Olatoye Akinbode, a Nigerian who had suggested for the introduction of income tax on pastors’ wealth in the Nigerian churches. Take Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, for example. He is the founder and lead pastor of the Christ Embassy, a thriving congregation with branches in Nigeria, South Africa, London, Canada and the United States. His publishing company, Loveworld Publications, publishes ‘Rhapsody of Realities,’ a monthly devotional he co-authors with his wife. It sells over 2 million copies every month at $1 apiece. He also owns television stations, newspapers, magazines, a hotel, a fast-food chain, and more.
These days, millions of souls, desperate for financial breakthroughs, miracles and healing, all rush to the church for redemption. And while the bible expressly states that salvation is free, at times it comes with a cost: offerings, tithes, gifts to spiritual leaders, and a directive to buy literature and other products created by men of God.
This topic on rogue churches can be analyzed in two manners; the legal perspective on one hand and the regulatory perspective on the other hand.
Rogue churches also arise among fellows who don’t want to change their practices. One of the key beliefs of these churches is in the witches and exorcising them whereby small churches can be hidden away in a living room or a garage. The problem with such churches is that they are set up in almost all public places including leisure centers and school whereby no one knows what is going on not even the authorities who cannot manage to track the growth of the churches.
In the recent past, there was the article that came up with the idea of deregistering rogue pastors. This was brought about after the media (NTV) aired a story of how a pastor allegedly paid commercial sex workers to feign her physical appearance and dupe the congregation about his miraculous ways of healing the lady. Various church leaders said that action should be taken against such individuals since they are tainting a bad image about the church. Some even went ahead to say that it is only a few who were spoiling its name by their actions such as by selling anointing oil which should not be for sale. In such occasions the state has to intervene. At then, the AG Prof. Githu Muigai warned that any church which engages in such illegality will be deregistered if any hard evidence is established.
THE LEGAL PERSPECTIVE
Under the legal perspective, besides the penal codes, there are no clear provisions from the constitution that have directly tried to limit the practices of worship or provide as to the extent as to any limitation in the practices but rather offers exceptional freedom especially under article 32 (4) which states out that a person shall not be compelled to act, or engage in any act, that is contrary to the person’s belief or religion. This provides worshipers with extraordinary freedom to conduct their practices without any fear of interruption and of which has greatly led to the numerous cases of rogue churches as a result of the fear of confrontation to the alleged preachers.
However, in order to ensure peaceable running of activities concerning worship, various dominions have come up with their own constitutions through which they regulate their conduct. This has to some extent made it easier for the courts in cases where there arises misunderstandings in the same dominions such that the members feel that the actions of their leaders are unscrupulous they can approach the courts for assistance claiming for an injunction to halt proceedings they feel is not probable.
Sometimes the Attorney General has to intervene when acts of infidelity arise in the churches. The AG Prof. Githu Mugai in the recent past seized the moment, of Kanyari’s escapades, in streaming churches and mosques and suspended registration of new churches and mosques until fresh regulations are set. Though sharp as remedial solutions, it is a double entendre whose other meaning may be hidden in a move against freedoms however how ill-advised the move may be towards stemming the alleged illicit activities by certain religious institutions which we refer to as “rogue churches” in which they are geared to tame.
This state action was prompted by a TV documentary exposing the dirty tricks used by salvation Healing Ministry’s leader Victor Kanyari to make millions out of his followers in the name of “seed money”. This actions though are not only depictive only in churches but also by famous renown witches fleecing resources. At some point, not long ago there was also one Archbishop Deya of “Miracle babies” fame and scandal in which his activities were deemed criminal and was therefore charged accordingly although he fled away. This then brings leaves with many questions main one being “do we need regulation to stamp out crime against the public?”
John Locke, the famous 18th century social theorist saw the value of keeping the state apart from religion. Locke argued that the government lacked authority in the realm of individual conscience, as this was something rational people could not cede to the government for it or others to control. For Locke, this created a natural right in the liberty of conscience, which he argued must therefore remain protected from any government or authority. Failure to observe this would plunge the back to the religious intolerance from which there is no fleeing from.
As long as the problems for which people seek in the society such as miracles or breakthroughs persist, there will be no end to illegal innovations such as those of Kanyari and Deya. So long as someone claims to offer alternative solutions to people’s needs such as unemployment and poverty, many will gamble with their little resources in hope to get more such as in the lure to “plant seed” in bid to gain a huge harvest they never planted will always make rogue churches and false preachers flourish.
Greed and desire to move up to the next level seem to have bewitched even educated people. Many religious leaders such as the Evangelical Churches Alliance chairman, Bishop Mark Kariuki, former National Council of Churches Of Kenya(NCCK) boss Mutava Musyimi and Kenya Muslim National Advisory council chairman Sheikh Juma Ngao have argued and warned the government regulation of religion.
In a similar scenario, this was evident from the Canonical Greek Orthodox Church in Adelaide whereby GOCSA resistance’s injunction hearing against Prokopios and the committee ordination issue was raised whereby GOCSA’s lawyer was arguing that “power to appoint priests” (which they claim to have in their constitution) is broad enough to include the power to appoint bishops too. That was certainly a rather odd argument from the church or from a theological point of view and so it was for the Supreme Court to come up with a solution.
Internationally, some states have come up to try solving issues of rogue churches despite their efforts being rooted. A good example to illustrate this was the case that tried to shun politics from being incorporated into the churches that was between IRS and the ADF whereby a judge in the U.S District Court for the district of Minnesota sided with the church, ruling that the IRS director of exempt organizations examinations, who had authorized this audit and others, was not a high enough ranking treasury official. The exempt organizations examinations director, the court held, did not have the range of responsibility of a regional commissioner, the official who had been authorized to approve church audits before the IRS was reorganized in 1998.
The government should establish measure to counter such activities such as obtain certificate after the furnishing of doubts and the certificate may either contain details of committee members and registered trustees with their IDs and personal identification number (PIN) and tax clearance certificates among many other documents like location of branches etc.
RECCOMENDATIONS
There should be the establishment of the church regulations such that religious organizations that fail to file their annual returns to the registrar of societies every year risk being deregistered. And if they fail to file annual returns in three years, they will be declared dormant.
The proposed regulations are in part a response to recent reports in which some Christian leaders have been exposed by investigative journalists to be engaging in unethical practices, fleecing gullible followers by promising miracles in exchange for money.
However, in drafting the measures, there should be keenness such as note to limit the freedom of worship as provided by the constitution.
THE REGULATORY PERSPECTIVE
Under the regulatory perspective, it is deeming fit for there to be rules and regulations that control the operation of churches. By doing so it would be easy to enforce the law against the ungodly and unprofessional pastors who and hold them accountable for their actions. It is noted that most of the preachers are self-imposed, self-appointed, anointed and ordained leaders who do not have proper qualifications and approval to be deacons, pastors or bishops.
There have been established associations which regulate the conducts of the leaders of churches from misusing the privilege of worship. Such associations like Association of Charismatic and Pentecostal bodies of Namibia which have rose to the occasion to propose the government to establish a body that would regulate the churches’ activities. The leader of the association, the president of the ACPCN, Reverend Jan Fritz Gaweseb said the association’s aim was to get rid of the Christian faith of the uncalled for actions of ungodly and unprofessional pastors. He went ahead to condemn the fake pastors operating in the rogue churches in Namibia saying that it would be very easy to hold the fake pastors accountable for their actions if there are regulations put in place to control the churches.
Their main aim is to flush out the bad behavior and misconduct of some pastors and church leaders. The association also goes ahead to criticize the pastors who claim to have miraculous healing powers that solve people’s health or spiritual problems and those who also make promises of bringing people fortunes in exchange for donations to the church that are used for their own personal gains rather than for what they profess in the alters they run the business rather than the Christianity.
There also arose the issue of the church and the state. In the United States leaders had engaged churches auditoria into campaigning for them during elections. A good example was during the occasion when Garlow made the comments regarding the race for the GOP presidential nomination which raised a major question “did he violate the 501(c)(3) prohibition against campaign intervention?” in which the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) hopes the answer is “yes”. Garlow’s made his remarks during a sermon before his congregation as part of “pulpit freedom Sunday” during its fourth year with aim of encouraging preachers to give sermons and brought about by the ADF to prevent biblical perspectives on positions of electoral candidates. In the event, the IRS spoke up to warn the ADF against the pulpit practices setting straight that church electioneering is illegal and people don’t support it as the AU Executive Director Barry W. Lynn said in a statement days before occurrence of the same event. He went ahead to say that “It is time for the religious right to stop trying to drag churches into backroom politics.”
Another issue that adds up to the creation of rogue churches is the moral crisis as a challenge to the church. Moral leadership is by far the most critical area where the church is expected to play a specific role. My contention is that even more than the political and economic crises, the moral crisis represent the greatest challenge in Africa – and indeed in the world in general. There are serious ethical questions both at the African and world level that we must be prepared to give leadership in addressing. The so-called new international economic order, which is being expressed through globalization, is but a global economic apartheid. Basically, it is a moral question even before it becomes an economic and a social question.
The moral leadership of churches should also be discerned in the area of debt and structural adjustment programs. These are fertile grounds for breeding corruption. Debt cancellation alone is not enough. Alongside with the campaign for debt cancellation, the church must raise ethical questions about borrowing, lending, and spending. How responsible have we been in those three areas? The church must unmistakably state that structural adjustment policies and programs as well as debt servicing and repaying are unethical as long as they result in massive suffering of the people.
The moral leadership of the church is critical in fighting corruption. As noted above, corruption and graft exist in all countries of the world. In some countries of Europe procedures get through as so called commissions, in others they may be considered as corruption. So, we cannot say that corruption only exists in the South or the west countries.
However, a society in which corruption and graft are institutionalized and generally accepted as a standard behavior will hardly progress in anything. In many African and non-African countries the churches have an enormous responsibility. This is even more so, as many of the countries heavily infected by corruption boast of very high percentages of Christianity. There is no doubt that a drastic change in the ethical and moral climate in Africa is necessary for the continent to be in a position to utilize and allocate its resources justly and efficiently. I insist on the role of the churches in fighting corruption not only because it is simply Christian to do so. It is also African.
From the traditional African point of view to talk of a corrupt leader was a contradiction in terms. A leader was a person whose moral integrity was unquestionable. FECCIWA, the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches in Western Africa, which organized this consultation to overcome corruption, should pioneer in promoting an ethical code of leadership in Western Africa.
The same has grown into our current church leaders in that even if they go ahead to ponder the church finances and use them as they please, there is no one to question into the budget or take the responsibility to verify if the church finances have been used in a manner to assist the church grow or the leaders have converted the money for their own interest. This drives us to the Nigerian article that came up with an argument over the numerous growth of richness that has been accumulated from the churches.
It’s so hard to imagine how a full-time preacher like David Oyedepo or Chris Oyakhilome or even Deya can manage to amass such huge wealth. However, the answer can be straight that it’s from the tithes, offerings and donations offered by the wealthy members of their congregations, most of whom defend the right of the pastor to grow wealthy in the service of his flock. There are however two fundamental problems that arise with all these pastoral wealth. The first is that it is generated from the process of trustee misconduct, abuse of trust and fraud.
As Prof. George Avittey reminds us, ‘traditional African rulers were held accountable at all times’. He goes on to cite the example of Mantse Obli Taki who was dethroned in 1918.
Obli Taki was accused of a number of offences but the most serious of all was ‘the selling of Ga land in the name of the Ga people without consulting the owners of the land and pledging the stool throne itself as security on a loan’. Another example is in 1883, the Asante people dethroned their king Mensa Bensu for excessively taxing the people and the failure to account for the taxes collected. This clearly indicates that the church leaders should be responsible in the manner in which they use the funds of the church and if possible the funds should be accounted for the purposes of transparency and accountability towards the followers. The church leaders should therefore be liable for their actions so as to cub the idea of “rogueness”.
In conclusion, I suggest we ask ourselves crucial questions: ‘Where are the sites in which churches buried the truths that made it possible for the leaders to live such dignified lives? Where is the crucible of the spirit that enabled our people to name and deal ruthlessly with “the intolerable” in our churches – thereby sustaining hope for all the people? Whatever happened to the generosity of the spirit that characterized the qualities of a church leader?’ It is by answering such questions that we will begin to deal in earnest with the issue of spirituality as a foundation of the churches and help counter the rising number of rogue churches in the society.
There is therefore a great task up on the organizations and regulators that may be set up to take the lead in exploring ways of ecumenical responses to corruption in this region and beyond. My emphasis would be to facilitate the rebirth of the African values that girded the ethical dimensions of leadership and governance. This would aid come up with smooth operation in the churches today as was in the past.
CONCLUSION
In modernity, despite the challenge of post-modernism, a person’s life in religion is a private affair. That simply implies that it is optional and based on one’s own free will. Leadership, all over the world, should promote the idea that the witness (martyria) of the church is mainly directly related to the internal individual local churches. It is a matter of identity of each concrete ecclesiastical community: ‘For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another’ as the bible quotes it.
When we address issues of personal identity and cohesion of society, religion, as part of a cultural system, plays an important role. No one can talk about probable models of a multicultural society without taking religion into consideration. The academic analysis of the religious phenomenon has shown that the study of religious data is not only useful but also essential to social matters. The history of religions and academic interreligious dialogue aids the effort to achieve mutual understanding and the exchange of religious knowledge and therefore the chronic ideology of how churches should function and how they are run intellectually. Both mutual understanding and the exchange of religious knowledge are vital devices necessary to approach the world religious experience.
The formulation of the structure of an ecclesiastical community is related with the face of the leader and how this had gradually developed in the political systems and the cultural regulations that emerged in the long-lasting course of various Christian communities.
Nowadays, the pressing issue that arises in a continuously transforming society is how religious leadership can respond to the new demands and face the new challenges without being presumed bias. In the words of Saint Paul: ‘Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.’, transforming then seems to be the key rather than conforming.
It is a widely accepted historical fact that in the past religion provided a motive for bloody conflicts and animosity between people. At the same time, it is also acknowledged that religion has the internal dynamics to heal the traumas and tensions caused by errors of the past. Religion cannot remain indifferent to the anxieties and needs of people today.
Of course, many people believe that the church is betrayed by its leaders every time they abuse their leadership role and position, and every time they show an arrogant conviction that they are the only bearers of God’s grace. They have to keep in mind that it is God who reconciles, and human beings actually participate in God’s Mission.
We are living in the new era of globalization which has brought people together and at the same time pointed to the diversities of the several pluralistic environments. It is our duty to create safe places and reconciling (and reconciled) communities. Our vision must be to form such communities, in other words to make again the church what it really is.
The truth is that no one want to assert the fact behind the wealth of church leaders congregations tend to go silent on such matters that touch on financial malfeasance and church members overlook approvingly as their preachers grow rich on income that they are by law bound to hold and administer in trust for the purpose of advancing the course of Christianity. Financial transparency and accountability cannot make sense in the churches.
REFERENCES
1. Hock, Klaus, ‘Beyond the Multireligious. Transculturation and Religious Differentiation’,
2. Stückelberger, Christoph, Continue Fighting Corruption. Experiences and Tasks of Churches and Development Agencies, Berne: 2003, p. 38-41.
3. Encounter’, in: Mortensen, Viggo (ed.), Theology and the Religions. A Dialogue, Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2003, pp. 46-63, p. 55.
4. McCutcheon, Russel T./Braun, Willi, Guide to the Study of Religion, London/New York : Cassell, 2000.
5. Book of Russel McCutcheon “Critics, not Caretakers. Redescribing the Public”.
6. Study of Religion, New York: SUNY Press, 2001.
7. Ecclesiastical structure through the ages in East and West
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