The public outcry upon the reception of the news – Winners Chapel sacking about 40 pastors – has kept some of us wondering. The response of David Oyedepo has further worsened the situation.
“I was told by the management that the church doesn’t operate at a loss.
They also told me that the total income that is being generated from my station should be able to cater for my welfare and accommodation, so as a result of low income, I’m hereby dismissed.”
Above was the lament of one of the pastors, and it’s rather funny to see people noticing some of these things now.
Money and wealth have overtaken spirituality.
It should be known by now that some churches are strictly in the business of maximizing profit. Some call it “soul-winning” and we understand the need to replace the actual thing with a name that sounds religious. So, when cases like this arise, there’s bound to be confusion as to the true nature of the leadership of a Church.
“We asked you to go because you are unfruitful. Unfruitful! Blatant failure. Doing what there? We have no patience with failure here,” Pastor Oyedepo said, regarding the sacked Pastors.
I believe he was trying to support his decision with the lines in John 15:2-3, and actually forgot the council of Grace.
Fruitfulness has to do with the growth of members, and with that comes a lot of progress like “more money” during tithing. So the outpour of anger is also understood by the crowd that thinks it has something to do with money being made from a particular church branch.
It is even more annoying when some persons put it this way: “If people can be sacked in a bank, why Pastors can’t be sacked?”
This makes it more evident to persons who have already zeroed their minds to the fact that “their church is a business enterprise.”
But the question should be this: Did the General Overseer at any point find out why it was hard for them to be fruitful? He is a leader and should understand that the ways of the world, are entirely different from the ways we’re bound to exist as Christians.
I still think the General Overseer went too far in his decisions. If we’re actually seeing it from the angle of “The Body of Christ.” His action was too fast, if he did nothing to help them in being fruitful.
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If nothing was done initially to help their unfruitfulness, then, his action is similar to that of a Bank sacking their marketers for failing to meet a target. For, to me, and some others, something different is expected in the decisions of leaders in the Body of Christ.
Written by: Edward Amah
