Subscribe to Christianity Today
Subscribe to Christianity Today
May 16, 2008
Free E-mail Newsletters:
RSS Feed | More Feeds | RSS Help

Home > 2007 > JulyChristianity Today, July, 2007  |   |  
Gospel Riches
Africa's rapid embrace of prosperity Pentecostalism provokes concern--and hope.



ADVERTISEMENT

Pastor Michael Okonkwo rises from his gold-coated throne before 4,000 onlookers in Lagos, Nigeria. "Hallelujah!" bellows the self-proclaimed "father of fathers, pastor of pastors," wearing a glittery green gown. The crowd stands and roars.

A 62-year-old former banker and graduate of the Morris Cerullo School of Ministry in San Diego, California, Okonkwo touts a seminar called "Financial Intelligence"; if you've missed it, he encourages you to buy the tapes. Okonkwo describes the "intelligence" he preaches in his book Controlling Wealth God's Way: "[M]any are ignorant of the fact that God has already made provision for his children to be wealthy here on earth. When I say wealthy, I mean very, very rich. … Break loose! It is not a sin to desire to be wealthy."

Bishop of the Redeemed Evangelical Mission (TREM) since 1988, Okonkwo presides over the annual Kingdom Life World Conference of 150 prosperity-oriented churches. But tonight he yields the podium to the Rev. Felix Omobude, who urges the crowd to dream big. "There are so many dream killers around," he says. "Don't let them kill your dream."

Omobude prophesies: "Your tomorrow will be better than today. In 2007 you will take your place."

The crowd is thrilled. Omobude promises that women will find husbands, audience members will buy new cars, and the barren will birth twins.

To open themselves to this blessing, Omobude encourages the crowd to give N25,000 (about $200). Local schoolteachers earn only $150 per month, so the amount is significant. Yet more than 300 people swarm Omobude, who rubs oil from a bowl on their palms. Within minutes, the church nets a tax-free $60,000.

Similar scenes unfold every day in countless venues throughout sub-Saharan Africa, where prosperity-tinged Pentecostalism is growing faster not just than other strands of Christianity, but than all religious groups, including Islam. Of Africa's 890 million people, 147 million are now "renewalists" (a term that includes both Pentecostals and charismatics), according to a 2006 Pew Forum on Religion and Public life study. They make up more than a fourth of Nigeria's population, more than a third of South Africa's, and a whopping 56 percent of Kenya's.

Cars in many African cities display bumper stickers like "Unstoppable Achiever," "With Jesus I Will Always Win," and "Your Success Is Determined by Your Faith," says University of London professor Paul Gifford in his 2004 book New Christianity: Pentecostalism in a Globalising African Economy. Gifford notes how these renewalists move beyond traditional Pentecostal practices of speaking in tongues, prophesying, and healing to the belief that God will provide money, cars, houses, and even spouses in response to believers' faith—if not immediately, then soon.

In its 2006 survey, Pew asked participants if God would "grant material prosperity to all believers who have enough faith." Eighty-five percent of Kenyan Pentecostals, 90 percent of South African Pentecostals, and 95 percent of Nigerian Pentecostals said yes. Similarly, when Pew asked if religious faith was "very important to economic success," about 9 out of 10 Kenyan, Nigerian, and South African renewalists said it was.

"I preach prosperity and the message of salvation, too," says Joe Imakando, a former cessationist Baptist who now pastors the 6,500-person Bread of Life Church in Lusaka, Zambia. The church has sprouted 53 branches around the country, as well as church plants in the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Malawi, and Tanzania. Like many successful megachurch pastors in Africa, Imakando headlines his own local television show.





E-mail this pageWrite CTPrint this articlePost a comment





  


Subscribe to Christianity Today and get 3 free trial issues. No credit card required.

Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only.

If you decide you want to keep Christianity Today coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive nine more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The three trial issues are yours to keep, regardless.


Click here for international orders2-for-1 Gifts!

[Reader Reviews]
Average User Rating: 

Displaying 1 - 3 of 16 comments.See all comments
Donnell   Posted: July 06, 2007 2:16 PM
Another chapter in the saga of "image" as opposed to "substance". It gives me to think on Lazarus and the rich man.

Bob   Posted: July 11, 2007 8:39 AM
Disgusting article, but we should attack the root of the problem which is Pentecostalism itself- a movement based completely on carnality- getting riled up by loud, emotionally manipulative music, jumping around in the aisles, getting yourself so detached from your higher mind that you start babbling in "tongues", getting "slain in the spirit", crying, rolling around on the floor, seeing visions and prophecies, and all the rest of the things Pentecostals do so they can "feel" a different way. Pentecostalism isn't about Christianity- it's about making up doctrines and practices so that you can alter your mental state, like a drug user. The Prosperity Gospel is perfect for such people. Pentecostalism is the WWF of Christianity.

Anonymous Posted: July 09, 2007 3:36 PM
the developed west has an unwritten prosperity gospel, one in which the rich church goers look down their noses at the poor. Poor people are seen as cursed while going to church and getting clean means getting a ticket to middle class/upper middle class priviledges. Poor people are to be given hand-outs and fed at the back door. They are seen as unworthy of full status and access to leadership. The unwritten properity gospel in which God is seen as a ticket to worldly success is deeply rooted in western society. But Jesus says "blessed are the the poor because to them the kingdom belongs, even if you keep them from the inner circle of your church."

sponsors 








[Browse More Christianity Today]

Search





















Search by Name
Or use Advanced Search to search by program, region, cost, affiliation, enrollment, more!

Search by:





Books & Culture
Christian History & Biography
Christianity Today
Church Law & Tax Report
Church Finance Today
Church Secretary Today
Ignite Your Faith
Leadership Journal
Men of Integrity
Outcomes
Today's Christian
Today's Christian Woman
Your Church
ChristianityTodayLibrary.com
PreachingToday.com