Charles Awuzie: Has the world become more loving than the church?

1. When you resign from your job at Google and start your own business, Google invests cash in your new business. But when you resign from your former church and start a new church, your former GO lays false accusations on you to discredit you before the people. Between the world and the church, who has shown more love? Judge for yourself.

2. The worldly government of South Africa does not collect tax from businesses with turnover of at least less than R75,750 in a financial year. The Nigerian government gives new businesses almost 18 months tax exemption period.

But new generation Pentecostal churches in Africa will charge you tithe the day you start a small corner shop. They will tell you that for God to rebuke devourers from your business, you need to tithe 10% else your business will be cursed. Between the world and the church, who has shown more love? Judge for yourself.

3. When you resign from a secular job, you are paid certain benefits including gratuities but when you resign from a church as a branch pastor, you get nothing except hatred from your former GO. Between the world and the church, who has shown more love? Also judge for yourself.

4. If you are invited by a corporate organisation to speak at their event, you are not expected to raise the funds for your ticket back home because they would have already packaged a good honorarium for you before inviting you.

But if a church invites you as a guest speaker in an event, you will be expected to raise funds to transport yourself back to where you came from. Again, between the world and the church, who has shown more love? Judge for yourself.

5. The corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the secular world is a huge slap on the face of religious institutions whose leaders galavant from London to New York in private jets while the host communities of their headquarters have no good hospital. Again, between the world and the church, who is showing more love? Judge for yourself.

6. When the government of a country introduces a new constitution, they set aside the old one but in the church, after Christ has introduced a New Covenant, we wouldn’t set aside the old covenant because it has tools we can use to manipulate the people. Between the world and the church, who is more genuine? Judge for yourself.

I could go on and on but I know you are not ignorant of the rest of such ills in the church which the corporate organizations in their worldliness heals.

A very wealthy Australian real estate mogul said to me in a conference in Umhlanga, “Charles, I have given 80% of my wealth to a global charity organization. As a Christian, I wanted to give to the church but I knew that the senior pastor would convert my gift to his personal wealth and not reach out to the poor, hence, I chose to give to a charity organization with a track record of accountability.”

I wept. Hence, I asked “has the world become more loving than the church?”.

Before you make a defensive comment on this post, please read the disclaimer. If it offends you, scroll to the next post on your newsfeed. If it heals you, you are a genuine and responsible member of the body of Christ.

Maranatha!