About the author s Nkechi G. Share this article. Abstract In Nigeria, there is an upsurge in the number of churches. Keywords Church proliferation; immorality; Christianity; Pentecostal; Nigeria. Metrics Total abstract views: Total article views: Crossref Citations. All rights reserved.
No unauthorised duplication allowed. At that time, nobody wanted to be a church worker. The popular consoling slogan in Igbo language then was, eluigwegaakwuugwo heaven will pay. However, the reverse is the case today. Onah and Ugwu noticed that:. For example, the Daily Post of 25 January , reported that three dead bodies were discovered in a foundation of church under construction in Ugwuaji, Enugu State. According to the report, some residents claimed that the building believed to be a proposed place of worship, belonged to a ritualist who disguised as a man of God.
Such people are deviating from spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ to money making. The getting rich quickly syndrome has penetrated all facets of the Nigerian society. This is evident in politics, social life and even in Christianity.
Establishing churches or starting of ministries in the contemporary Nigeria society has been considered as a panacea to poverty and a gateway to wealth. Rather than emphasising spiritual growth, moral sanctity and Christian anticipation of eternal life, signs of total submission to capitalistic inclinations, especially voracious material acquisition looms large in Nigerian churches Iheanacho According to Mbefo :.
Their God is neither poor God, nor is he a God of the poor. They promise to make their followers millionaires. Some of these pastors have adopted ostentatious lifestyles and carry themselves as celebrities, superheroes and business executives Ojo Some of these ministers lay emphasis on prophecies, visions, healing, miracles and preach a prosperity gospel.
The ministers convince their followers the importance of family deliverance to avert ancestral curses, barrenness, sickness, premature death, poverty and other problems. They capitalise on the poor economic situation in the country and the suffering of the masses.
These pastors or ministers de-emphasise the fact that we cannot entirely eliminate sickness and poverty from the world Mk Sickness, suffering and death are parts of being human. Iheanacho remarked that they:. They often convince their followers that the more they sow the more blessings will come their way. A number of these pastors and general overseers sell stickers, anointing oil, handkerchiefs and wrist bands to their followers.
They prey on the myriads of problems existing in the society. They sometimes use television, radio stations, billboards and other social media to advertise their programmes. Politicians and businessmen who want quick success also patronise these pastors or self-proclaimed evangelists and prophets who claim to be miracle workers.
To ensure effective and successful deliverance, some items to be used are to be bought from that ministry. Also, some money should be paid to the man of God before or after the spiritual exercise.
In some of these churches, mere seeing or consulting the pastor or evangelist attracts financial charges. Through these, the pastors continue to enrich themselves to the detriment of their gullible congregation. They make merchandise of the gospel. Leadership tussle or disagreement between church leaders is tearing and breaking some churches apart in Nigeria and has led to the proliferation of churches.
For instance, the church Assemblies of God has been involved in leadership tussle for two years, culminating into the emergence of two factional leaders and multiple court actions The Sun News 20 December The church that is supposed to be a place where people gather to worship their God and a place where human beings should be refined and prepared for the second coming of Jesus Christ through the machinery of the word of God sometimes becomes a battle ground.
Paul Emeka later initiated a suit challenging his eviction Nzomiwu Emmanuel in Independent This event divided the church into two factions, one led by Prof. Paul Emeka and the other group by Dr Chidi Okoroafor. Rather than settling issues amicably as spiritual men of God, the unhealthy rivalry amongst these leaders of the same church led them to court.
From the ongoing discussion, it is obvious that leadership tussle can result in proliferation of churches for every leader has his or her own followers who are ready to form a new church. Doctrinal differences have been a major factor in the surging cases of the proliferation of churches in Nigeria. The mode of worship and religious teaching of church is based on the doctrine. When a person or a group of persons feel s uncomfortable with doctrine being practiced, they decide to form their own church or religious gathering.
It is on this basis that Ruth :9 sketched that these specific set of doctrinal tenets form social bases of various churches and para-church organisations in Nigeria. It is a popular opinion that the proliferation of churches is bad and nothing good comes out of it. But as much as there are negative effects, there are also positive effects of proliferation of churches in Nigeria. It is important to mention here the positive effects before delving into the negative effects of proliferation of Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria.
These churches have added considerably to the religious and socio-economic growth of Nigeria. Their contributions are discussed in the following sections. All the early missionaries started their missionary activities such as building of schools and skill acquisition and so forth alongside other medical services.
They started the Western education that has changed the development of Nigeria Ikeazota These new generation churches, despite spreading the gospel, have also established schools at all levels, hospitals and other economic empowerment facilities for Nigerian citizens. Many people have benefited from those projects.
It has provided employment and a source of livelihood to those working in such establishments. The main line churches are not left out in this laudable venture, which boosts the Nigerian economy. With regard to healthcare services, some of these churches have also established hospitals and other care delivery services to all segments of the society, for example, Healing Stripes Hospital, established in by the City of David Parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lagos.
They also help in empowering the people for self-reliance. Similarly, the Living Faith Church, also known as Winners Chapel, has mobilised doctors, lawyers, engineers, members of the diplomatic corps, gospel ministers, high ranking government officials and experts from all works of life to various cities outside Nigeria to train mostly the youths and to empower them for self-reliance Ikeazota Through these, the churches are contributing not only to the spiritual life of the citizens, but also to human capital development and the development of the society in general.
The emergence of the Pentecostal churches brought spiritual awakening in the mainline churches. Most new generation churches are seen carrying megaphones and preaching in different places and converting people, thereby winning more souls for the body of Christ. They try to reach the masses at grassroots level. Their activities have led to the growth of the body of Christ and moral development of individuals. Their activities give way to spiritual transformation. The mode of worship, in these new generation churches gives the worshippers a sense of belonging and exhibition of emotion.
According to Nmah proliferation of religion churches in society caused the mother churches to wake up from spiritual slumber.
Similarly, Obiefuna et al. According to Ojo , the rise of Pentecostal and charismatic movements brought a kind of spirituality into existence, constituting one of the main forms of religion in Nigeria. Even though the undaunted commitment of some priests in propagating Christianity is acknowledged, there are some negative effects of proliferation of churches in Nigeria.
This is discussed in the following sections. He taught that the inner sorrow for ones sins was enough for God to forgive them. His posting of his 95 theses would eventually lead to the division of the Church, the Reformation and in effect the Thirty Years War.
The letter was dated 31 October , a date which is now celebrated by Protestants as Reformation Day. Again, no one is sure whether Luther nailed his theses to the door of the Wittenberg church, and there are indications that he did not want them translated into common German. Nevertheless a few months later Luther published a sermon against the trade in indulgences in German which was to find widespread application.
In April of Luther took part in a Chapter of his Augustinian Order which later came to be known as the Heidelberg disputation. For Luther this was fruitful ground and we find that a number of later Reformers took part e.
He also ordered the University of Mainz to prepare an assessment of the mater. In the hope of stopping this rebellious monk, Albert did not wait for the report from the university, but immediately sent the matter on to Rome.
The final break with Rome took place after the dispute of Leipzig, in which Luther defended his beliefs that neither the Pope nor the Councils were the highest authorities in questions of faith.
Here he formulates his arguments along the lines of sola scriptura. The Curie at first ordered a preliminary investigation against Luther during which Silvester Mazzolini in his report potestate papae dialogues comes to the conclusion that alone the criticism of the Pope was a case of heresy. As a compromise he was ordered to appear before the Imperial Diet in Augsburg.
Here he was questioned by Thomas Cardinal Cajetan who had the task of convincing Luther to recant or be placed under Church ban. Luther did not recant on his 95 theses; in fact he went a step further and stated that it was not the sacrament that justified but belief alone sola fide.
Frederick was ordered to hand over Luther, which he refused. Luther appealed to the Pope as he was of the opinion that he could defend his standpoint with Scripture. In June of the following year it came to a renewed dispute in Leipzig. The dispute was organized by the University of Leipzig which viewed the younger University of Wittenberg as a rival.
The Church was represented by the theology professor John Eck who held the initial discussions with the docent Andreas Bodenstein aka Karlstadt and the young history professor Philipp Melanchthon. During the disputation Luther takes the lead for the Wittenberg side. Unluckily for Luther, Eck was successful in getting him to deny the infallibility of the Pope and the Church Councils; in fact he presented his view that Hus was a good evangelical.
No one really saw a winner of the dispute as both side would come to claim victory. One thing is certain; the Disputation of Leipzig put an even greater wedge between Luther and the Church. In the main tract to the Christian nobility, he incites the powers that be to take things into their own hands against Rome. Luther sees that church as unwilling and unable to perform any reforms and sees no other alternative for getting his will satisfied.
He puts together a socio-political reform package that calls for state run education, social programs for the poor and the lifting of the celibacy requirement for clergy.
He also disputed the fiscalization of the Church which gained him esteem among the Imperial Knighthood. The Tract was also a great financial success. For the 16th century, it was tearing at the roots of society and a thousand year old way of life. Referring only to hid interpretation of the Bible he, in his own right, reduces the number of sacraments from seven to three.
Along with this he takes case with the teaching of Transubstantiation and the sacrificial nature of Holy Mass. In his third tract, The Freedom of a Christian, Luther to thematizes evangelical freedom. With an eye to the theory of the natures of man Luther formulates it as a coram Deo as well as a coram mundo.
With the view to man in the world, he must manifest good works. Her we have the world in which the law of the Sword applies and a world in which the holy Word applies.
When we put this all together we have a very clear system being defined that is a complete break with the teachings of the Church at the time. With that we have in essence a new Christian Theology now generally called Protestantism. The major points of the reformation are the foundation of most, if not all, protestant confessions.
The whole idea of these soli is quite foreign to Catholic theology. Which in no way excludes the fact that Catholics believe in the Grace of God, living a life in faith, the power of Scripture, Christ as the only way to the Father, and giving God the Trinity the glory. Nevertheless they form the basic principle of Protestant thinking: justification and Scripture. It is on these five principles that all other Protestant theological teachings are based.
This exclusivity is the basis for most of the theological disputes between Catholics and Protestants. After the election of Emperor Charles V the proceedings against Luther were continued.
One day before the deadline, Luther burned the Bull and the book of Canonical law. This is important as this vehement insult will set the stage for the rest of the Reformation process against the Pope and the Church and continues on to this day in certain Protestant confessions.
This was not the end of it as Imperial Law called for the excommunicated person to become persona non grata, an outlaw, and he could be killed by anyone who wishes to do so without punishment. Through the intercession of his liege lord, Friedrich the wise of Saxony, Luther was given the opportunity to appear at the Diet of Worms to be heard by the Emperor. Despite a papal protest, Charles received Luther on 17 April in worms.
Luther was asked if he knew the documents presented and if he was willing to recant. After thinking about it overnight, Luther recognized the writings as his own and refused to recant. He not only refused to recant, he went much further and questioned the authority of the Pope and the Church Councils.
His protest based on the reformatory thinking that Holy Scripture was the only authority. Given twenty-one days to find safe haven before the Ban took effect, Luther set on his way back to Saxony. On the way, he was taken in a mock attack by the troops of Frederick the wise of Saxony and transported to the Wartburg fortress in Eisenach. It is here that he eliminates the authority of the Church and begins to form his own congregations. He also publishes quite a number of sermons that become the preaching guidelines for the often poorly educated preachers.
After this tract was published, many monks and nuns left their congregations to live a secular life. The main work that Luther would accomplish during his stay in the Wartburg would be his translation of the Bible. It is not, as some protestants would have us believe, the first translation of the Bible into common language.
Before Luther, there were many common language translations in circulation. In fact, his Bible German became normative for the German language as a whole.
The more difficult Old Testament was successively finalized and published in Again, Luther takes case with the Church as he has his own quite different views of what is to be considered canonical and what not. Putting aside the Synods of Rome , Hippo , and Carthage 38 , he removes seven books from the Old Testament deeming them apocryphal.
Luther also made an attempt to remove the books of Hebrews, James, Jude and Revelation from the canon 39 He calls the book of James an Epistle of straw:. But he thereby brought Paul into direct verbal conflict with James, who says James , "by works a man is justified, and not only by faith" "nicht durch den Glauben allein". It is well known that Luther deemed it impossible to harmonize the two apostles in this article, and characterized the Epistle of James as an "epistle of straw," because it had no evangelical character "keine evangelische Art".
Luther wasted no time in delving deeper into the differences of his teachings and those of the Church. He takes case with the traditions of the church and puts them to his hard test according to his sola scriptura.
Any tradition not directly found in Scripture he deemed profane. He did however maintain those traditions he thought helpful to the Christian e.
Images and the outward form of the Latin Mass. His massive criticism of the office of the Pope was a mainstay of his reformatory enthusiasm, which Melanchthon and Zwingli shared. The basis for this was again a theological problem. The idea of the supremacy of the Pope was based on the text of the Gospel of Matthew f. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
The simple logic here is that Christ calls Peter the fundament of the Church and imparts in him the power to loose and bind.
Peter later becomes Bishop of Rome. For Catholics the See of St. Peter is a continuation of the St. The Pastor is no longer representing Christ in persona Christi 41 , he is, in the eyes of the reformers, nothing more than the head of a congregation with no special priestly Orders. Recognized as an off-shoot of missionary Churches and bearing some features of African traditional religion, proliferation of Churches is seen on the whole to constitute pastoral challenge on Christendom in Nigeria.
The founders of these new generation churches always postulate diversified reasons for their emergence and expeditious growth, some say that their call is a divine call from God, while some claim divine visions and dreams, emphasized deeper biblical interpretation and so on.
However, it is the opinion of the present researchers that the pivotal factors for the emergence of these newer churches, as well as the costs and benefits of the activities of these new movements to the entire Nigerian society have not been properly investigated and analyzed.
Therefore some responsible theological investigations have become imperative, more so at this stage of crucial discussions and debate concerning the gains of religion in nation building. The result of such investigations and evaluations will help towards the establishment of truly stable and authentic Church of Christ in Nigeria.
The thrust of this research, therefore, is to trace the historical foundations of Church proliferation in Nigeria. The issue of moral decadent in our society is a thing that is needed to be looked into. Many things have gone wrong, since no one sees the reason to be upright in action at all times, in all places and in all circumstances.
Until recent years, churches had since deferred from their original roles in morality, though many outside the church continued political pressure to move churches either towards or away from a value oriented.
Oviawe, Oviawe, opined that moral and morale are polite, decent and appropriate way of portraying ourselves in our duties, home and society.
It is a socially acceptable manner of life. It can also be referred to as the principle of right and wrong or decorum.
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