Should preaching about money change depending on the wealth of the listener?
Did you see the BBC documentary The Millionaire Preacher? British presenter Reggie Yates’ interaction with South African ‘miracle prophet’ Mboro of the Church of Incredible Happenings was a difficult watch. The slick showman-pastor’s congregation, who mostly live in dire poverty, give over a million pounds annually to his ministry, and wait for hours for his high energy ministry appearances. He is known for lavish spending on suits and armed guards, insisting his wealth and image are necessary to ‘lead people out of dark places’. Blatant exploitation? Not according to his congregation, who claim they wouldn’t respect a poor pastor.
S uch scenes seem a world away from the traditional British reticence over talk of money, but in a connected world, no interpretation of the Bible’s response to money is far removed. Reverend Liz Clutterbuck, a London-based curate, recently researched the effects of prosperity gospel preaching in several African countries, and discovered pastors ‘ministering to the disillusioned’ in poor communities who had not seen wealth manifest as they had been assured it would. The ‘name it and claim it’ teaching that seemed to offer hope in desperation instead increased it. With the UK home to church communities from across the world, and the
