"The best leaders are humble enough to realize their victories depend upon their people."
-Dr. John C. Maxwell
So I'm an avid church goer.. not the conventional kind but the drankin and cussin kind.
Ok. Well I guess that means I am the conventional kind.
The prevailing wisdom in America is that bigger is better. We're lying if we say it's not. We want bigger houses, bigger vehicles, and bigger paychecks. Bigger candy bars. Bigger stores. Bigger asses and waistlines. So is it just me or have black churches gotten bigger as well? Boasting thousands of members, television broadcasting, multiple buildings and portables.. That means there's something for everyone at a megachurch right? I was invited to one here in Nashville and I was initially afraid because mega-church folks can be scary. Most of them were previously "unchurched" and became born again after discovering some charismatic personality in place of a pastor. They can be a bit too giddy about the Lord, even for a seasoned Jesus freak. They get the spooky look in their eyes when inviting you. Your not sure if it's Jesus that has enlivened them, or crack.
So I went to the Walmart of churches and found it to be very welcoming. They have their hands in all kinds of good works. They raise their hands when they worship and show concern for every part of your life. They want you to stay, to join, and to get your kids locked in to the community.
But for me, it was terribly middle class, impersonal, and somehow distant from Christ. The pastor was funny, personable on stage and incredibly intelligent. But he's a personality not a shephard. Like most mega-churches, everything hinged on him as the focal point, rather than Jesus.
After going for a while and starting a ministry I was overwhelmed by the bureaucracy. It wasn't a church of heart, it was a church of mind and finances. Apparently this is not unusual for the big houses. But my question is this:
Is it all about Jesus, or all about the Benjamins?
Before I recognized who I was, what I was, or where I was, I was in the Black Church; so it is as much a part of me as are my arms and legs--I was raised in it, and I am at my most sane and tranquil moment when in church hearing a beautiful hymn sung or a brilliant message preached.I have remained in the church from my birth, throughout my early youth, throughout my educational years, into my adult life. It is what my parents placed in me and what I found in the church itself that has kept me there. When the Black militants were casting off the obligations and teachings of the Black Church, I was trying to reconcile those teachings and obligations with my growing Black militancy. Somehow, I remained primarily guided by those teachings. But I have not discarded my intellectual enlightenment because of my beliefs; indeed, that enlightenment is not inconsistent with the teachings of Christ, as some would have it.
There is a serious money problem within the Black Church that has brought shame and disrepute to this lofty institution, and that problem makes developing philanthropic foundations in that institution irreconcilable. It is this problem that is the subject of this article.
It is a problem that has been allowed to continue and have a facade of Godliness that has been politely overlooked for years, as we have allowed unsavory men to masquerade as men of God within the structures and covering of the Church of God. We have seen it, joked about it, but never really challenged it. But just as the Catholic Church is now unmasking many of the sexually abusing priests and nuns who have used the church and the things of God as instruments of their untoward actions, the Black church is long overdue in unmasking the charlatans among us! Among the Black Churches, there is a large segment that is totally unregulated--almost a wild frontier, where a few are getting rich off the poor and unlearned.
Many of the con men who pose as true ministers of God have found, as con men do, an angle they can use to exploit a weakness in the law and a weakness in the poor, unsuspecting churchgoers. Indeed, I only started to realize the severity of this problem a few months ago, as I saw the wealth of a few realized at the expense of the poor and the oppressive methods used to extract those riches. And I have been in the church all my life.
The present state of the law does not regulate ministers. Anyone—even an atheist—can become a Christian minister; anyone can incorporate a church in any state and call it anything he or she will call it; anyone can hire out a building and declare it a church, (with some minor regard for zoning codes) woo as many members as he/she can and have a church congregation, making him/her a pastor. And because most people are not versed in the Bible, although most Black people hold the Bible as the Word of God, all one needs to be is relatively well versed in Bible verses and practice a Rev. C.L. Franklin oratory from some of his old tapes, and he/she can command unsuspecting followers to the offering tables.
But the question is still unanswered: Why? The answer is MONEY, lots of MONEY from parishioners/congregants. It has nothing to do with the well-being of the congregants. It has all to do with money!
In the Black community and the Black Church, there is a culture and a custom of giving to the church. During the Civil Rights Movement, the churches were doing something with that money—supporting activists laid off their jobs, paying for food and shelter for those in the movement, supporting the activities for freedom, etc. Now the money collected in many churches is for another purpose. Many churches are established for money; that is their sole purpose. In those churches, there is a system of tithing, an old Jewish Mosaic Code that churches have brought over into the New Testament churches and declared that all the tithing goes to the pastor. This tithe-paying is declared as God-demanded for every member—those working, those on welfare, those on unemployment, those on retirement, etc.—must pay a tithe [tenth] of all their income to the church, which goes directly to the pastor. And most pastors who enforce this system through spiritually coercive means [“Would a man rob God, yet ye have robbed me in tithes and offering…” Malachi 3] declare themselves to be the Old Testament Levites of the New Testament church or some other scriptural slight of hand with the Word of God; their reasoning is theologically and practically troubling. And there is also a demand on each congregant to contribute to an offering that is taken of the church for the maintenance of the church and its business. This is separate and apart from the tithe.
The money part of the church service has become the most important for these pastors of wealth, and they personally preside over it as if they were the poor, milking a tethered cow--and they tether the people to their personalities through a cult of personality culture they teach and breed. This becomes extremely disturbing as we look at the actual money that is received. The tithe, not the offering, is usually where the big money is in the church. But most churchgoers never see the calculations of the tithe money because a cardinal tenet of this con is this: never allow the congregants to know exactly how much is received by them and given monthly to the pastor.
The con artists know that this con can readily be seen if the congregants are allowed to look at the math of this system. The math alerts anyone to the fact that something is amiss. Biblically and intellectually enlightened and honest ministers never take the entire tithe, if such a one has this biblically outdated Mosaic system in force in a church.
Rock climbing walls, kids’ spaces that resemble small Disneylands, bookstores and state-of-the-art sound systems represent today’s Black church – supersized. Black mega churches draw huge numbers of worshippers and receive millions in collection plates. Black Mega churches are successful corporate entities that seek to service all the spiritual and social needs of their communities. Black mega churches’ pastors are major corporate CEOs shepherding large business bases. Mega churches are characterized by congregations of from 10,000 to 25,000 and spectacular buildings which house sanctuaries, day-care centers, bookstores, and health centers. Most resound with crowds and activities seven days a week, and own businesses, subdivisions, and separate community activity buildings. Almost all mega churches have TV pastorates, feature high-tech video along with foot-tapping music.
There are less than 50 nationwide, but Dallas-based Bishop T.D. Jakes, Houston’s Kirby Caldwell, Atlanta’s Eddie Long, Creflo Dollar and Los Angeles’ Charles E. Blake have grown their memberships by preaching material success and sales their books, festivals, and movies. Their congregations have expanded into businesses such as: schools, assisted living facilities and ex-offender re-entry programs.
Most Americans do not attend church. The median church in the U.S. has 75 regular participants in worship on Sunday mornings. Many say “today’s churches are more concerned with raising money than saving souls.” Many a church goer is “filled with the spirit” if the minister barks and woofs enough to make folks happy enough to fall in the aisles and get up before NFL games starts at 1PM. SMH
