The gospel
by Eric Bosire • 4 April 2024
The service went on well, some good praise and worship songs, and testimonies were given as well. A lady gave a testimony on how God had saved her from an accident she was involved in a couple of days earlier while returning home from work. She was really thankful to God because she got out of the damaged car without any injuries.
Finally, the speaker of the day, who is the senior pastor of the church, stood at the pulpit to give his sermon. His topic was on faith and he preached from the book of Hebrews 11. He brought the message quite strongly and a keen listener must have gotten very important things about faith. At the end of his sermon, he made an altar call and two people in the congregation expressed to get born again. The two were requested to walk to the front and stand at the altar, the pastor took them through the procedure of getting saved which involved them repeating some words after him in prayer, words of accepting salvation and repentance of their sins. The pastor then proceeded to pray for them.
At the conclusion of the service, as the congregants were leaving for their homes, I could see very happy faces. Since I could not talk to everyone so as to understand that church and why they were happy, I caught up with one of the congregants. This is what he said, “I am really blessed from today's sermon and now I know that with faith I will be able to achieve more in the things that I do.” He further noted that the gospel and what his church stands for has really impacted his life in a great way. There is an improvement in his prayer life and also in reading the word of God.
I was happy to hear him emphasize these topics, because all too often nowadays, the success of a Christian life is measured by material outcomes such as money, jobs, expensive cars, just to mention but a few. Some pastors in Kenya are turning away from preaching the true gospel and are teaching that material wealth and prosperity is a sign of true blessing.
The gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ who came into the world so that we can get salvation and get freedom from the bondage of sin. This is God’s act of salvation for those who believe in Christ’s death and resurrection.
My understanding is that preaching the true gospel involves calling out and rebuking sin, together with explaining how people can get out of sinful ways. Those who speak uncomfortable truths are not popular and they don’t have many friends. Therefore, when you preach the truth and call out sin in the Kenyan church, you will not be loved, as Jesus said in Matthew 10:22, “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake.” Maybe that is the reason why some churches have put the message of the cross and the topic of righteousness away. Paul in his epistle to Timothy said that during the latter days, the church will hip up priests or people who would tell the people what they want to hear: “Their ears will be itching to hear things that they want to hear.” (2 Tim 4:3)
Having mentioned that, we do have churches that preach the true gospel. One pastor told me: “It is everybody’s prerogative to identify a church that preaches the true Jesus.” What he meant is that one will need to use his or her own wisdom to make a decision and know what church preaches the true gospel. However, one can seek advice from friends and relatives.
Pastor Joshua*, one of the pastors in Kisii town, said that the reason as to why sin is not being called out in the Kenyan churches today is because Christians have “normalized” sin. The churches have become by all means dens of all evil things and nobody is bothered with such trends. The patterns of this world are creeping slowly into our churches. We should not allow that, as the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:1-5.
“You can’t even differentiate churches from night clubs. Christians go to church for entertainment but not to encounter God. The so-called men of God are in the forefront in crafting such entertainments that satisfy carnal self-other than the spiritual self. We see some being involved in sexual immorality and they will justify themselves, divorce has become the order of day in our Kenyan churches,” said Pastor Joshua.
Pastor Joshua continued and said that sin is not called out, because some of the main financial supporters to most ministries are not believers. Those pastors have partnered with politicians, business people and other unbelievers, such that they are afraid to offend them if they call out sin that might be associated with them.
Pastor Joshua was reminiscent of the times in Kenya when the gospel was so popular, revivals were the order of day, multiple evangelism crusades that attracted thousands upon thousands of believers. “I remember this because I was a young boy when this was happening in the 90’s,” said Pastor Joshua.
In those days, according to him, people were purely seeking God without any other motives, preachers were sharing undiluted gospel, seeking God first was the belief of many that followed Him. Then came the gospel of “Prosperity”, this gospel has deviated people from the true gospel and since it is appealing to the carnal man, many fall for it.
I caught up with Jane* who is a member of Pastor Joshua’s church. She started by saying that the true gospel is the one that is based on grace, and spreads the good news about Christ and His immense power in saving the souls of men. “Men must portray a seed of faith for them to possess salvation and other benefits relating to the true gospel as highlighted in the word of God. Such benefits enable believers to know what God requires of them and how to survive the end of the wicked system,” said Jane.
According to Jane, the true gospel in the Kenyan church has been forgotten by many people causing false gospel to drift in and has swayed many along. She went ahead and shared her personal experience; in the year 2019 when she had just tied the knot with her husband in one of the towns in Kenya, they had to relocate to Kisii on employment duties. Jane and her husband had been under a man of God who treasured and valued true gospel at heart and endeavored to have the flock follow the same.
Having moved to Kisii, they felt compelled to look for a new church where we could easily go for fellowships. “We walked in about 3 churches of which I wouldn't mention, but the experience was not good at all. The essence and touch of sound doctrine was not evident. We resolved to be traveling every Saturday to our former town to enable us to attend Sunday church service and listen to the sound doctrine from the man of God because that was our utmost desire,” said Jane.
“One year down the line God graciously led us to our current church through a long-time friend. This is a place where we found a man of God fully equipped with wisdom, knowledge and grace to preach and teach the church the true doctrines of Christ. The vision of the church emphasizes prayer and the word of God as the guiding principles. The church is geared towards achieving this through frequent one on one fellowships, repentance, Bible study sessions, prayer and fasting, baptism, reaching out to the needy in the society; orphans and widows, virtual meetings and get-together retreats and fun days,’’ noted Jane.
I also met Pastor Dan*, an associate pastor in one of the churches in Kisii town. He said that the reason as to why the true gospel is unpopular is because church leaders are not taking a stand against greed, abuse and manipulation in the church today.
Pastor Dan had a contrary opinion regarding explaining about sins in the context of evangelistic preaching. He is one of the pastors who don’t call out sin in that context, but not because he supports it, but because people know what is sin and what is not sin. “People know their sins; some are not happy with it. People want to get out of it and they don't know how to do it. What people need is the power of God, the gospel and the grace of God,” said pastor Dan. Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.”
According to Pastor Dan, it is the gospel (good news) that has the power to pull people out of sin. Remember sin is not good news. “You can't win against darkness by fighting darkness, but if you put on the lights, the darkness will automatically disappear. So also, you can't win against sin by calling out sin, you put on Christ who is the light and sin which is darkness will disappear,” concluded pastor Dan.
One of the members in Pastor Dan's church said that indeed the gospel preached in their church is true because of the many lives that have been transformed in their church. By following the teachings, she has seen the favour of God especially at her work place. “I got promoted and still remained in my workstation while some of my colleagues were being transferred to places they did not want. Indeed, it is by the grace of God,” she said.
I recently attended a Sunday service in Pastor Dan’s church. Their services, just like any normal Pentecostal church, include praise, worship and preaching in that order. One thing I noticed that they do differently is that they don't have altar calls, which means that people are not asked to give their lives to Jesus individually. Since I could not get pastor Dan, who was busy with post service meetings to give an explanation, I approached one of the congregants by the name of James*, who is married with kids.
James stated, “In our church, there is no such thing as an altar call, we just get prayed for as a whole church and according to me, I see no problem, because the teachings are enough to guide us.” He was in high spirits and said that the sermon on that day was a blessing to him.
James further narrated about his Christian journey and said that growing up in a Christian home, it was mandatory for him and his siblings to attend Sunday church services although some days he felt it was not necessary to go to church. However, as he got older he started understanding the concept of Christianity. He got baptized when he joined teen classes.
The teachings he has received over the years have helped him grow in Christ and he now fully understands that going to church is not just about putting on the best clothes every Sunday, but having a deeper connection with God and understanding His word.
As some pastors preach the true gospel, others are bent on the ideology of prosperity and wealth. This gospel claims that whatever your heart desires to get, God will grant it: good health, nice car, big house, better employment, and money etc.
In the many church services I have attended, I only once heard a preacher who by his accent I could tell was a guest speaker from a foreign African country. He spoke about what is wrong with the prosperity message: “You are told you will buy a car, you will build your dream house, you will wear expensive clothes.’ Who lied to you about this? you have to work in order to get these things, they don't just come like that!” he shouted from the pulpit with his eyes wide open in order to drive the point home.
What this man of God was referring to is the gospel of prosperity that has been used by some pastors in a wrong way. We can all agree that God has good plans for everyone, plans to prosper His people and not harm them, and plans of hope and a good future (Jeremiah 29:11). The same Bible also tells us that God will bless the work of our hands which means that in order for believers to get the good things, they must work and in return get God’s blessings in the form of good things in doing so, God will have fulfilled His promise.
Next:
Conmanship in the church
by Eric Bosire.
Notes:
* Pastor Joshua, Pastor Dan, Jane and James are not their real names.
About the author:
Eric Bosire is a Kenyan Journalist. He is based in Kisii.
About the image:
Photo by Eric Bosire.
Suggested citation:
Eric Bosire: The gospel. MissionField News (ISSN 2813-2270)
https://missionfield.news/2024/8_Gospel
2024-04-04.