THIS DAWN — In this age of insolence driven by netizens’ insatiable appetite to cruise with whatever relatable reality they can find, the Christian faith would have been the butt of jokes but for a good number of pastors who are also living the good life and flying in private jets.
Men of God across the board are seen to be stupendously rich, such that the dated adage “As poor as a church rat” no longer applies.
A video surfaced yesterday where the Global Senior Pastor of COZA, Biodun Fatoyinbo went down memory lane to reveal how ministry was perceived 26 years ago:
“When the Lord called me to this ministry, that was when banks exploded in Nigeria: 1999.
“I just thought in my mind, all of my schoolmates then were bankers and doing well.
“One of my closest friends even wrote software for one of the banks.
“The question they were asking was: ‘Abe, how you go survive?’
“Because it wasn’t popular to be young and be a pastor as it is right now, and then your bills are paid.
“My pastor used a Suzuki bike. It didn’t make sense, but I obeyed God.
“I didn’t ask for money because I didn’t even know I could have money…,” he said.
As of then, the situation had even improved compared to the 1960s, when the Great Benson Idahosa was heavily criticised and even briefly excommunicated from the church by his pastor for purchasing a motorcycle!
Today, poverty is no longer congruous with Christianity.
Pastor Chris Oyakhilome recently trended on social media for disbursing N2.55 billion as a Christmas gift to 3,000 Christ Embassy staff during the 2025 LoveWorld Presidential Staff Awards and Banquet.
Each of the staff reportedly returned home with N850,000.
A fortnight ago, the Senior Pastor of Dominion City, Dr David Ogbueli gifted a Ford Explorer SUV and N2 million to a faithful serving chorister.
The same cleric gave a worship leader N1 million as a New Year gift for her soul-searing singing during the Crossover Service last week.
Sceptics who can’t fathom the source of such prosperity and extravagance will conveniently point to these men of God’s large congregations and devotees as bankrollers of their lavish living.
Others would allege that it’s the exploitative case of extorting while exhorting.
Scoffers forget that these pastors are serving the God who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servants (Psalm 35:27).
It wasn’t like this in the past because Christians of that era saw poverty as a virtue and vilified the good things of life as worldliness. It can be likened to the scenario in Psalm 82:6-7, where gods die like men because they are ignorant of their identity, worth, and potential.
The situation is now different because this is the age where the earth is “filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14).
Given that it is the much you know and can imagine of God that He avails you, Christians of yore didn’t quite expect the Lord to improve their financial fortune, so He merely supplied them their daily bread.
Conversely, present-day believers have understood and trust Jehovah Jireh to deliver unto them the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places as promised in Isaiah 45:3.
Praying from this perspective, God is answering the believers’ requests by giving them nations as inheritance (Psalm 2:8), “houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant.” (Deut. 6:11).
Conspiracy theorists who don’t understand modern pastors’ and believers’ opulence will do well to be guided by this recent insight from the Senior Pastor of Dunamis International Gospel Centre, Dr Paul Enenche: “Many people don’t know our secret.
They think the suit, this trouser and wristwatch I’m wearing is church money. The Church chequebook is not in our possession from Day 1 until now. We have no need for it. God directly supplies the things we need.
Somebody said I gave you shoes and I’ve been watching to see you wear it. I said, ‘Sorry, there are shoes still inside packets since five years ago that were given as gifts but not yet worn. There are those you just release out. I gave out 200 and something suits in one day…”
Unfortunately, it is this sort of abundance that has turned ministry into an all-comers affair. As bees are attracted to nectar, so is the founding of churches. Fortune hunters jump into ministry without meeting the basic criteria of being mandated and having love for souls.
They hitch the priesthood as a ladder to financial ascendancy and security, forgetting that the Lord knows those who are His. God fends for the set man He sends. He is the Giver of the Mandate, the Message and the Means. In Zechariah 1:17, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad.”
In ministry today, the standards and “competition” are so vaunting that the pastor who isn’t successful enough to set up a studio-like and cozy worship centre will struggle to retain the “right” congregation.
More so, there is this like-priest-like-people consciousness that makes congregants gravitate towards pastors who evince their dream lifestyle.
It is in desperation to meet such expectations and standards that misguided ministers manoeuvre into improprieties, manipulations and sharp practices. Seeing ministry as the street, they cavalierly take God out of the equation.
Let’s put these wannabes out of their misery by pointing them to the secret of prosperity as categorically revealed by Pastor Paul, thus:
“Let’s stop living for things and start living for God. Let’s start living for the Kingdom and you will come to the point where the things people are looking for, rush after you.”
Self-styled clerics must know that in the Kingdom they’ve ventured into, one can only have and control what they are dead to. That is the acid test God applies to whoever will be used by Him.
Not until you have proven not to care anymore about those desires that keep you awake at night, the Lord won’t deem you fit for purpose.
It’s to ensure that your longings align with Kingdom priorities and that you can be a source of blessing to others. Love shown through charity and generosity is highly required, as seen in the benevolence of the preachers mentioned earlier.
All said, the right motive and motivation should matter to both those the Lord called or who called themselves into ministry. Until you seek first His Kingdom, God won’t meet those needs of yours that unbelievers also sorely desire. (Matt 6:31-33). That remains the secret in plain sight to Kingdom prosperity!
VIS Ugochukwu, a Sage, Poet and Storyteller, can be reached on X where he tweets @sylvesugwuanyi.
