The Political Dimension Of The Church (Part 1)

The church is a spiritual federation. The architecture of the church is similar to that of the internet. There’s no single point of failure. The gates of hell cannot prevail. Matthew 16:18. The brand architecture of the church is what we will call endorsed brand architecture in my line of work. There are various forms of brand architecture but the one employed by Jesus is endorsed architecture. It means Jesus endorses each ministry franchise with his brand name. Pastors are franchisees. The franchise model allows for local variations and adaptations; it also allows for the personality of the pastor. […]

The Modern Church: Imperatives (Part 1)

Churches are critical to developing economies. They often constitute the social security system of developing nations. Churches take street urchins aka “area boys” off the streets; they reach out to sex workers, act as ameliorators for mental health challenges, organise conferences for SMEs, set up hospitals, set up schools, feed the hungry, take care of drug addicts… They provide scholarships, clothing and accommodation for the poor, organise job seminars and placements, motivate the youths, teach them values… When people disparage churches and pastors as a collective because of the perpendicular misalignment of a few pastors they throw out the baby with the bath water. There’s that hypothesis the proliferation of churches in Nigeria seems inversely proportional to the values of society. But think about it… If things are this bad despite the churches imagine how bad things would be without the churches. Nigeria will be a Hobbesian state. […]

The Coming Reformation

If you ask the average Pentecostal what Pentecostalism is he’ll probably tell you it’s a Christian denomination defined by the experience of speaking in tongues as evidence of in-filing of the Holy Spirit. Pentecostals are huge on practical relationship with the Holy Spirit. They believe God can speak to you directly, hold conversations with you on a regular basis, even on mundane stuff. Some people think that’s insane of course and it’s understandable. God is far up there and we’re far down here after all. But the truth is, almost all experiences with God require us to be out of our mind. If you want water to be turned into wine you’ve got to be completely out of your mind. […]