How did they get…from there to here?

Well a few hours ago I wrote a post on this blog, concluding by saying that I wanted to sleep, then read my Bible and pray. Well I slept, then I prayed, but I am yet to read my Bible. In the meantime I have finally been to a posh cafe to redeem a birthday gift (thanks Sis!)  Going to that cafe inspired a few thoughts as I thought how the markup on the items was a bit like how people sometimes put an artificially high price on themselves to show that they are “good quality”.  So I was thinking of typing that up into a blog post…

However the post that I am going to write now is about something different. Since I got home, I completely forgot about reading my Bible, but instead got sucked into the internet online news sphere, as I always do. And within the last hour and a quarter, I have read not one but two accounts of dodgy churches and the ways they damaged people within them. And it occurred to me to think/ask myself: “How did they get from there to here?” “There” being a place of general soundness, here being a place of error and manipulation and exploitation?  And I was remembering again that this is of particular relevance to me, as someone who also strives for a radical pursuit of God – how could I prevent myself or any church or ministry I start from falling into the same errors? I was wondering how anything I do could be represented or communicated if things were to go wrong: “They were insisting that we should pray all day…they forbade us from going to work!”

These is the first of the two churches I read about:  Hillsong – how many dozens of articles have I read about them in the last few years?! I must admit that there is a bit of me which to my shame almost exults in their downfall. Within various church choirs, I sang one of their songs, “Shout to the Lord” so much my ears almost fell off. I was so relieved at the apparent survival story of Darlene Zschech, the main singer behind “Shout to the Lord”, in her battle against cancer, as proof of God’s supernatural power over illness. However, as I grew older, I forgot Darlene Zschech and “Shout to the Lord”, I watched a number of Brian Houston’s sermons on TV and I was left cold and unimpressed, and  “Hillsong” as an entity comprising everything  came to represent the kind of glossy, cool, money-oriented “Christianity” which I abhor. I have been to their London branch at least once, perhaps twice, and besides the glossiness, which everyone talks of, I could not help noticing that, like another church I love to criticise here on this blog, the overwhelming majority of the people in the congregation and in the choir were visible ethnic minorities, moreover of African origin, and yet, oh surprise surprise, the people in the type of “leadership” positions which were likely to be financially remunerated were of another consistent ethnic origin.

You know, this brings to mind an incident when I was in a shopping mall in London. Whichever shopping mall it is I have now forgotten. However, there was a prominent stand there  – (oh it might have been Westfields Stratford!) and the man was very unapologetically giving out Christian literature (and/or raising money for a Christian charity?) I was so excited, and I shared with him that I too was a Christian. And then we got talking about church stuff, and he invited me to his church. (By the way, I have to make it clear that this man was married, which is always the first thing I ascertain with men, because it changes the way you interact with them!) If I remember clearly he was Polish, his name was Paweł or Pavel, and he may have been a member of Hillsong. And I raised this issue with him about how it is always pink-skinned people of European descent in leadership, and he assured me that there was a more equitable distribution of leadership in his own particular church. Well I did not go to his church and if I remember correctly that was the first and last I saw of him. But it did reassure me when he said that his church was more equal that way. You know what, this is one of the best things about church when it works well, that it is so multicultural.  You can go to one of these big churches and even if they are majority African, you can still predictably find people from just about every ethnicity under the sun, and we are all worshipping the same God and pursuing Him as best as we can! This might not be true in any other UK city, but London is so multi-cultural to start with.  You know, multi-cultural interactions bring with them many possible misunderstandings. But they are still so worthwhile to pursue.

Something a little naughty occurred to me, that I could launch an “Operation Paweł” to find myself a hot handsome, (handsome Tosin, handsome, forget hot!) holy Polish husband called “Paweł” or “Tomasz” (if any Polish men actually remain in London) but  if I am honest…I am just going to leave that joke there! Lord, You know I am very quite open-minded about Huggie-Wuggie’s ethnicity!  Wherever he is, wherever he is from, please just bring him – Amen!

Anyway, to go back to Hillsong: you know what, I was undoubtedly right about their theology. However, it was definitely wrong of me to take any joy in their emphatic downfall. I need to learn what mindset to cultivate in issues like these.
So yeah, I am thinking “How does a church move from a position of groundedness to a position of scandal and downfall?”  What occurred to me is this: firstly we have to understand that we are always “wrong”, even at times when we feel relative strong, as the Bible says “the spirit wars against the flesh, and the flesh against the spirit” – so our sinful nature is always trying to pull us away from the Gospel – always always always! So there is never a time when we can look back and think “we were perfect”. Even at times of our supposed greatest strength, there would still have been issues. So here is the thing: as individuals, as churches there are always issues which have the potential to grow into huge cancers. The thing that will stop these issues from taking destructive root is constant vigilance, humility.

Where am I remembering this from? Is this a popular quote: “The seeds for the downfall were always there even when success was being planted” – or words to that effect? This is exactly the case with every single church that is run by human beings. Our sinful nature is always there, constantly working to pull us away for God and His truth.

And more on humility: as a church becomes more popular, more well-known, more successful, it can only be all too easy to see all of this as a divine endorsement of all that we stand for, and perhaps through that to become a little complacent?  Add to that acute time pressures when pastors become more in demand, and constantly requested for various speaking engagements, and a prayer life/spiritual intimacy with God which was perhaps lacking to start with, would only become more and more tenuous…
And whenever our sinful nature has a chance to exert itself, it predictably expresses itself in the same ways. Power-hunger, expressed as control and manipulation of other people. Exploitation of others. Sexual exploitation. Erosion of truth-telling and integrity.

Part of the issue is that I don’t believe that all this power should be concentrated in one individual in the first place but as Christians we should all be powerful in a Christian understanding of power as true intimacy with God. I hate the idea of Christian celebrity. This is why originally I used to encourage people to not just sit here listening to everything that I have to say, but to rather speak with their own voices. Start your own blog! Post your own videos on YouTube!  Even if you only ever reach a modest audience of one or two people, still make up your mind to be consistent and diligent. I will never be as successful as reaching the people that you meet on a daily basis as you will. This is something I have forgotten about over the years, but I need to come back to it. God’s power is not just reserved for a few select people, but is rather available for all of us who cling to the name of Christ.

It is not only within the church, of course, that we see hunger for power run amok. However, there is something particular to the church (or faith generally) which makes Church power-hunger even more dangerous, which you do not find in politics. That is, the presumption to invoke God and His power and His will to use to control other people. So people, pastors, can and do say “If you don’t do what I am telling you to do, then God says you are going to go to hell!” Or “God will be very angry with you!” Or sometimes they even take the time to work out your particular weaknesses or insecurities to deliberately play on them. And the tragedy is that church members often will go along with these manipulative practices, often not knowing better, but sometimes just not willing to rock the boat.

And can I also say, for the millionth time: “Church and big money juss’ don’ mix!”  My heart simply winces at the thought of church becoming an avenue for pastors, like Brian Houston and his wife, to become millionaires. I am just going to come out and say this: if God truly is your determination in your faith, rather than your own fame, or power, or prestige or success; if you truly want to still be striving after God 10 years from now, 20 years, 50 years, or until the end of your life, or the Second Coming of Christ, whichever comes first – then you have to denounce the desire to get rich through the Gospel and through the ministry. You also have to denounce the hunger for power and control which is part of our sinful nature. And the likelihood is that you will not have to denounce all these just once, but temptations will keep arising, especially once you and your church become famous and successful. So you have to keep denouncing them. You will also need to consciously find a way to devolve power away from yourself. This is if you really want to live for God. And I have made up my mind that by the grace of God, I really want to live for God. Not for any supposed trapping of faith, (except the supernatural power of God!) – but rather for God Himself. You know, as much as I desire the supernatural power of God, I would rather continue to toil in obscurity forever without even the tiniest taste of God’s power than to lose my focus on God. What makes this all the worse is that money and power are not even legitimate trappings of faith, but are rather expressions of the way modern so-called “Christianity” has been twisted.

So that was one church.

The other church was UCKG. You know, someone forgotten warned me years ago that this was a cult, and thankfully I have stayed away, even though there was one so close to where I used to live a few years ago, when I did not want to try to find a church and/or travel far for church. And the article I read detailed some of the weird things that happened in their churches. However, to be candid, not more weird than many of the things I have personally engaged in quite actively, or even perpetuated in my various churches that I have attended. You know, I’ve always kinda known that this church was at heart weird and not really about God.  But writing all these things, it occurs to me that it is a mistake in and of itself to aspire to have a big church.  It makes more sense to aspire to have a big impact, which ultimately will be measured by people going off and bearing their own fruit. So you know you’ve made a big impact when people you have nurtured themselves go off and make their own big impact, passing it along in a chain. No matter what else, as Christian leaders we have to aggressively protect our time with God, even against seemingly noble things like working for God.

So all this is a big lesson, and sadly it is a lesson that we seem forced to keep learning again and again and again as we watch one church topple after another.
Thankfully, in all of this God remains God, and He remains all-powerful, and even as we each constantly battle against our sinful nature, He will hopefully give victory to our inner man, or regenerated holy nature. [I’ve literally just had a thought that perhaps the reason why i am currently struggling is that I am trying to connect to the Spirit of God via my mind, rather than through my Spirit?  Something to think about…]