The challenge of money and wealth in some East African Pentecostal Churches
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Date
2011-09
Authors
Gathogo, J.M.
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Abstract
One of the most disturbing questions of our times in Eastern
Africa, and Kenya in particular, is: has Christianity that began
as a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, shifted to being
material-minded? Are the modern churches willing to die for
their people as in the case of the early church and as its Master
did? Is it necessary for the African church in the 21st century to
accept such a fate? In its methodology, the article surveys the
place of wealth and the church from a historical perspective. It
goes on to assess this in light of some Pentecostal churches
such as Jubilee Christian Centre (JCC), Deliverance Church of
Kenya (DCK), Maximum Miracle Centre (MMC), Redeemed
Gospel Church (RGC) and Christ is the Answer Ministries
(CITAM), among others. This article was researched through
reading of extensive materials, interviews with church members,
former members, church leaders, critics and sympathisers
and through participant observation. While appreciating the
new religio-social paradigm in ecclesiastical matters – where
science and technology becomes an important component in
the African churches of the 21st century, hence the money
factor – the article seeks to show the need for a balance in the
handling of church and personal finances. It also cautions about
the need to avoid wholesale condemnations of churches,
especially with regard to the question of wealth and money.
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Citation
Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, September 2011, 37(2), 133-151