As “Prophet Dr.” Kanyari’s theological transgression of biblical proportions exits the news headlines, the shock effect dissipates. Consequently, Kenyans are returning to their old habits. “Prophet Dr.” Kanyari’s coterie of followers is back in business. They are unmoved by the damning expose in the national media. Elite worshippers gloss over their own Augean stable. Of Predator Pastors and their antics are the stuff for the hoi polloi.
Yet both rich and poor, highly educated and those not, are unwitting co-conspirators. They contribute to the death of the Christian church as an organism. This church consists of God’s people in whom Christ dwells. Instead, it reincarnates as an institution owned and operated by individuals or corporate groups. Of Predator Pastors and financial manipulation within churches is concerning.
Nowhere is this institutional entrapment of the church more apparent than in financial matters. With the exception of Nairobi Chapel (and associated Mavuno Church) that posts its audited financial statements online, in most churches financial matters are conducted in dark smoked-filled rooms.
During my visits to Kenya, phone calls to elite “M-pesa” churches seeking information on financial matters have only elicited stern reminders of confidentiality. Worshippers have not fared better. They believe hook, line, and sinker in the warped logic of pastoral salary confidentiality. Of Predator Pastors and their cunning tactics thrive on this. A spiritually and biblically comatose laity is enormously good business for the Kenyan clergy.
Apostle Paul’s letters to the Corinthians visualized the church as a dynamic organism with life-flowing energy. Christ is the head of this body and organizes members of the body through the impulses of the Holy Spirit.
In 1 Corinthians 13 and 14 he envisions the Christian church as a dynamic entity. In it, all members’ gifts, from clergy to laity, are appropriately ordered. They are governed through institutional elements of leadership, policy, and structure. All for the furtherance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The furtherance of the gospel is through the ministerial forms including proclamation, celebration, teaching, ordering as well as deeds of love and justice. None is superior to the other.
The church ministry is characterized by unity within functional diversity. This is honored in the division of labor. The proclamation, teaching and celebration are major roles of the clergy. The ordering (governance) is performed by elected “ruling elders”, and deeds of love and justice by deacons and laity. In matters of money and housekeeping business of the church, all have a spiritual responsibility. This includes elders, clergy, paid staff, and laity.
How did we arrive at the likes of “prophet Dr.” Kanyari and his cabal of celebrity “M-pesa” fundraising bishops? These figures own and control the church as a personal institution for self-aggrandizement. Of Predator Pastors and historical influences modeled after rigid hierarchies began with medieval Catholicism of the second and third centuries. It marked the start of embellishing the clergy over the laity in church matters.
While contemporary pastoral work is based on Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (4:11-12), Kenyan clergy only give lip service to this call. Apostle Paul describes the pastor’s job as “equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.”
The result is a dependency model of churchgoers. Pastors perform the ministry while people are grateful recipients of their professional care. Pastors are regarded as experts in spiritual matters (prayers, prophecy, miracles etc.). The congregants view themselves as enfeebled objects. They feel incapable of nourishing each other spiritually despite decades of attending church as Christians.
This dependency model of pastoral care has given rise to pastor “prophet Dr.” Kanyari” and his ilk with their snake oil salesmen antics purveying prayers and miracles to the highest bidder. Viewing themselves as Omni competent, they mimic the multi-talented pastors of megachurches in the USA who appear to operate like well-oiled machines.
The spiritually malnourished congregation becomes solely dependent on these pastors. It is an addiction that pastors cannot let go. It is a congregation that rarely reads the Bible to discern God’s will. It is a congregation that does not pray because it lacks the formula to do so. It is an impoverished tithe-giving congregation awed by the wealth and opulent lifestyle of the pastor. Meanwhile, he/she preaches prosperity and blessings hereafter.
Equally, the congregation has convoluted views of pastors. They are viewed as the ubiquitous multi-talented servants of God. They are perceived as motivational speakers who provide biblical vignettes. These serve as escapes from daily troubles. Rather than spiritually equipping them to confront the hard realities of a broken world, they reinforce misconceptions. They are regarded as the possessors of the church instead of ones who have given their life to the ministry. The aim is for the people of God to thrive spiritually.
This co-dependency creates what we have come to see in the charismatic churches in Kenya today. Pastors and bishops hold the distorted belief that God’s presence is borne only by them. Consequently, the congregation cannot be channels of God’s mighty activity and power. The church has become a picture of a dependent child stuck in a suffocating attachment to a publicity-seeking wealthy pastor. Of Predator Pastors and their grip on congregations, change is needed.
AG Githu Muigai’s proposed legal framework may partially ameliorate the quandary. Real solution lies returning the ministry to the people. This requires a professional trained clergy who are equippers to train all God’s people for the ministry. It needs a bible-reading and praying congregation active in ministry. It also needs a USA-like Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability to provide oversight and accountability to member churches.
Ishmael I. Munene is a member of the finance committee of Trinity Heights United Methodist Church in Flagstaff, Arizona (www.thumc.com) and a professor of education at Northern Arizona University. He can be reached at:Ishmael.Munene@nau.edu
Source-standardmedia.co.ke
