Papas and mamas

By Daily Revelation Editor

There was commotion yesterday at Redemption Shalom Church in Chingola where angry congregants fought and rose against their bishop who they claim is too old to run the affairs of the  Church.

But Bishop Johns Chila said the wrangles started last year in October when he was dragged to court but the case was thrown out as it lacked merit.

“I’m one of the Church founders. last year, they wanted me to retire, and when I resisted, they took me to court,” said 78-year-old Chila.

The happenings at Redemption Shalom are indicative of the general happenings in most churches where the preoccupation has become more about fighting for church positions rather than the noble spiritual mission the Church has been called to. The whole thing has now become about personal preservation and in the process bringing the Church into public odium and losing the reverence reserved for this noble institution.

Instead of bringing out all the fruits associated with the common good, the Church is becoming more individualistic, with the head of a Ministry now and their family members becoming ever more individualist and prominent in their approach towards ministry matters, especially in the area of financial administration.

Those who feel left out and sidelined opt to either suffer silently or take a militaristic approach by influencing other Church members who think like them to try to correct the status quo, and if they fail opt to entirely breakaway from their congregations to form their own congregations. Wherever they have gone, they will work as a unit initially until the one they anointed to be leader becomes individualistic and then another breakaway ensues. It’s a never ending cycle actually.

In saying so, we are actually not against individuals who put in the hard work to start a Ministry or a Church. Such people deserve to be respected for their hard work and bravery. But the basis for their hard work should be about establishing ministries for the purposes of advancing God’s will by working with other like minded, as opposed to using the churches they establish as their own personal chiefdoms for purposes of serving their selfish personal ambitions, mainly financial. 

This leads to a proliferation of Churches, some genuine and others exploiting their followers ignorance to pursue their own personal ambitions under the auspices of spiritually, and in the end deceive many of their followers along the way.

The end result is where people become enslaved to papas and mamas. Whatever the papa says becomes gospel truth, even to the extent of following instructions to eat grass, or any of the nonsense they are told to do. Of course, there are genuine papas and mamas out there as in the sense of being upright leaders in their own rights. However, the advent of papas and mamas has become especially more pronounced in recent years as quacks masquerading as men or women of God have used desperate gullible followers who are mostly hungry for miracles as cashcows to enrich themselves.

There is nowhere where God indicated that a Church must be a personal chiefdom for a pastor and their family members. The idea has always been about the people God has chosen to work with other people for a defined Godly purpose in the earth.