Nov 24 2009
Church Relevance 2
Amos 5:21-14 (The Message Translation)
“I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice–oceans of it.
I want fairness–rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.”
How else can we ensure oceans of justice and rivers of fairness without accurate representation in the executive, judiciary and legislative arms of government? How can we take responsibility for doing what God wants when we have strategically placed it out of our reach?
What was God really upset with here, and what was he saying the priorities should be? I think it’s clear, don’t you think so? I think it’s so clear we might need to have to hire someone to deceive us. God is not interested in religious meetings, conferences or conventions. He doesn’t want anything to do with religious projects or pretentious slogans. He’s had enough of fund-raising schemes, public relations and image making stunts. He’s not interested in celebrity ego-music, he wants people to sing to him not about themselves or to themselves. More importantly he wants an abundance of justice and fairness – virtues we may never be able to model without playing an active role in the polity of the nation.
Don’t get me wrong, the Church in Nigeria has tried. We have supported and built a few orphanages, we have created Jobs for many people in the Church industry, we have converted unproductive warehouses into development and production centres, we have kept a lot of young minds busy, rather than idle-ing away their Sunday mornings and midweek evenings. Some of the more noble ones among us have even gone further to venture in education, health, communities and all. We have tried, or haven’t we? What worries me however is not what we have done, but what we have done compared to what we could have done! What we have done compared to what we can do! And what we have left undone! All that we do and have done pales into near insignificance when compared to what a serving governor can achieve in a few months of his/her administration. We need credible people to lead us, and what it means is that you and I must be interested, and the church cannot be silent participants anymore. We can give billions to support certain courses, but if the head is sick our investments on any part of the body will soon rot.
Oh, I understand and do know history, I know how in the past the church of God became nothing else but a political gathering, and I know that the fear of that error is enough to completely take one’s hands off it. However, the same way the church has learnt that money itself is not a bad thing, but the lust after it without recourse to ethics is what is wrong, in the same way, we must assure ourselves that if all we do is fold our fingers in the time of voting, we’ll continue to be ruled by wickedness. If we cease to be light, then our lack of expression gives permission to darkness. This is not a clarion call for community development, this is a call for taking political leadership. “Nigerian politics is dirty”, is so common a phrase, my question is how will it ever get clean if those who ought to be making change happen run away from it? The church in Nigeria has gotten more enlightened in the last 20yrs about it’s members taking their rightful place in the economy, today however we must with the same zeal and fire enlighten and empower ourselves to advance into leadership. It is shameful to have 5 star churches and world-class cathedrals in an underdeveloped country. We need to move to action, or we’ll lose our place. Or isn’t the government meant to rest on the shoulders of the body of Christ?
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“Or isn’t the government meant to rest on the shoulders of the body of Christ?”
Chairman this is the question of the year. We cant continue to leave the political stage for people with the wrong motive to occupy. We must initiate the change we want to see. A five star church in a five star country with five star individuals.
If we read through the bible carefully, every leader that was a leader had a prophet, the "church" played its role, Prophets and Prophetesses were the deliverers/Kingmakers..but now instead of the church being involved in government, providing guidance, direction and amenities, its how to build structures and acquire titles..its comparing one … Read Moreministry to do the other..May God deliver us, myself inclusive, even the apostles in the book of Acts selected men to attend to people's needs while others went preaching..may God help us to do things His way and get involved in "politics" and not "politricks" as its being done now, may He help us to stand in prayers, stand in unity and enthrone men/women of integrity, may He give us a voice to speak and be heard until lovers of true change will stand up and fight for the destiny of this nation.Thanks for this post my Prophet, indeed Jeremiah 1-5 and 10 shall find expression in your life
Hmmmmmmmmmm……….
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….. God was really upset … ?
You lost me there….
As light of the world, chriatians can build orphanages, provide education, and jobs but as SALT OF THE EARTH, the nation must feel us, taste us and we must be an active ingredient in the affairs of things. Deolu, only as SALT can we influence the polity. Thanks again.
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Yes, we have to rise to the occasion. However, our political arena is not save for a lone ranger righteous man. We all need to go together so that we can constitute a majority, because politics is a game of number. Deolu, thanks for the post.
I guess we need to personalize the ‘church’ to each person…what happens in politics, economy, education etc is the fault of you and i
This is a wake up call to the church as a group and the church as individual. At time to dare the so called game-politics and turn the table around from dirtiness to cleanliness so generation to come can say politics is a clean game. only the church-light can do it.
All pastors must read this Haba.
Interesting…I didnt know i have missed out in issues like this. Church relevance, i think i am the church and if i am not relevant in pursuing the right thing and doing it, then i am setting a part for illusions. Its a pity that many of us dont understand scriptures and have become dogmatic due to what have been given to us as doctrine. There are so many pastors who dont believe the church has a part to play in gorvernance and they teach their congregation such. The shameful thing is that, the christians so called believe such and leave as such. God want us to praise him in all areas of our lives including gorvernance. Rulership is of the lord, but today, the story is different. Judah and Judas means praise but the difference between the two is that Judas is Praise that betrays God. May God help us to see beyond doctrines and learn to worship God truely.
Very simple thing to do @Deolu,(We can give billions to support certain courses, but if the head is sick our investments on any part of the body will soon rot.)
the church should be you and I not the building. the bible says the disciples were called christains because they were christlike.
@Okoromogba, wow you hit the nail on the head and your definition of judas is hillarious.
May God Help us
But my points exactly, we should make our investments in the head! The Church shouldn't be you and I, the church is you and I. The organized church is the organization of you and I and our kind… and we need to move… or we'll be replaced.
People, i just came across this speech (questions and answers) involving Pastor Tunde Bakare and the church. I hope you will check it out.
It is here: http://www.pointblanknews.com/os2482.html It supports what CM has been saying. This is one of the many things he said
“In Nigeria, I don’t see the difference between the man who goes to church and the man who doesn’t. I don’t see the difference between the one who calls the name of God and the one who doesn’t anymore. Why? Because immediately there’s crisis or corruption, you find area pastors and senior leaders participating in it. So you have status quo churches and churches who are asking for change and neither is exclusive to any denomination. I’ve seen Anglican priests and bishops who are very forthright. I’ve seen Catholic priests who are very forthright. I’ve seen Penterascals, who call themselves Pentecostals. I’ve seen Pentecostals who are upright. So you cannot really say who is where. But if that is going to change, all hands will have to be on deck.”
i wish i could print this out and distribute on sunday.
How long are we going to go on like this … people play politics in church to become deacons or heads of units, yet they come out of church and fold their arms.
our rising to the occassion as a church,d body of christ must start from speaking out,i man our voices,what do we say when this goes wrong , corrupt activities,wrong worgs are used right in our present,in buses,our place of work,public places etc,we need to start to speaking out ,afterall,when david got to the battle field ,he spoke out,What will a man get for killing this man?who is this uncircumsised philitine that want to defile d army of God?
evel prevail when good men do nothing