 We are not asking you to give so the church can be blessed. We're asking you to give so you can be blessed. The church... Right now, it's... The dark site of mega-churches in Africa. The term mega-church, which is commonly used to refer to a church with a regular attendance of at least 2,000 people, is still relatively new. While there have always been places of worship with huge memberships, the earliest groups that may be considered mega-churches didn't exist until the middle of the 19th century. Even still, these gigantic churches remained outliers and exceptions for more than a century. The concept of mega-churches emerged in the middle of the 20th century. Almost all of the congregations that are currently categorized as mega-churches were founded after 1955. However, it wasn't until the 1980s that these large places of worship really took off. Since then, both the number of mega-churches and the size of their typical congregation have grown yearly in the Africa. Do these mega-churches benefit Africa negatively or positively? Numerous people believe that mega-churches are beneficial for both those seeking spiritual connection and the communities they serve. Mega-churches draw people together by transforming worship into an exhilarating magnificent event. Stay with Africa Reloaded to find out more. Please like and subscribe to our channel. And by the way, let us know your thoughts in the comment section. Major reasons why these mega-churches are considered dark-sided include the preaching of the prosperity gospel. Most likely when you see mega-churches, you picture a polished, smiling pastor standing in front of a sizable congregation while most likely donning a really fine suit. And since many mega-churches are affiliated with what is known as the prosperity gospel, it is likely that the pastor flies around on a private jet and resides in a mansion. The prosperity gospel is a belief that, if you pray fervently enough, God will make you wealthy. It can be summarized as the idea that God rewards faith with material success. You would be right if you thought that went against some fundamental Christian beliefs because it excuses any systemic injustices and places the blame for poverty squarely on the individual. It is implied that if you are suffering, your faith is insufficient. It offers preachers who are ever-rich as cover. Because their wealth is merely a reflection of their holiness and faith, men like David Oideppo, pastor of the mega-church, Winners Chapel International in Nigeria, worth approximately $150 million, don't need to hide the money they receive from the church. People who believed in the prosperity gospel may have contributed to the Supreme Housing Crisis of 2008 by taking out loans they couldn't afford because they believed God would reward their faith, according to some theories. And it's not just a problem in Africa. The riches of mega-church pastors in Africa has long been a source of debate. Mega-churches have eroded our sense of community. Services take place in a conventional church, which is very small. A few dozen to several hundred members, many of whom are neighbors, may make up the congregation of a small-town church or even a neighborhood church in a big city. On the other hand, in a mega-church, literally thousands of people attend extravagant, professionally staged services, with more often than not television viewing. This mostly serves to promote spectator worship. Because of the size of the crowds, most visitors do not actively participate, let alone get to know one another. The anonymity that attendees enjoy is viewed as a strength of mega-churches. Since it makes entering for the first time a secure and pleasant experience. However, it also implies that there isn't much of a sense of community. The experience is more like going to a performance. In fact, most mega-churches spend a lot of time and money providing their attendees with passive entertainment. Because they can blend in with the audience, take in the show, and feel free to not participate, this encourages people to keep to themselves. At a mega-church, tens of thousands of people may attend services over the course of a week, but they seldom ever interact with one another, which undermines any sense of community. They have turned worship into entertainment. Anyone who was raised a Christian likely remembers being bored to tears at church as a child, and possibly receiving a reprimand for making a scene. Worship services are not meant to be entertaining or thrilling. Rather, they are meant to be edifying, to unite people in their faith, and to reaffirm Christian principles. However, as reported by Religion News, mega-churches have developed to resemble entertainment centers more and more. They frequently stage their services in enormous theaters and arenas that can hold a large number of worshipers and have very high production values. As a result, church services and entertainment are increasingly confused in society. We can observe how increasingly ridiculous stunts have been undertaken by mega-churches to amuse their followers, such as the mega-church that dropped Easter candy from a helicopter, or the one that arranged a Christmas party starring characters from the animated movie Frozen. According to Christian doctrine, which holds that your acts are meaningless without faith and humility, this emphasis on performance and spectacle is contrary to Christianity. Additionally, it causes worship to lose all significance as entertainment value increasingly takes precedence over spiritual content in an effort to keep worshipers entertained. What does worship mean anymore, after all, if you can't tell if you're a church or watching Frozen on Ice? Pastors and preachers have become celebrities. The celebrity status of the pastors is one of the most obvious distinctions between mega-churches and more traditional churches with smaller congregations. Pastors like Enoch Adebayo, late TB Joshua, Johnson Salaman, and others have constantly remained in the spotlight. It stands to reason that someone who performs daily in front of a crowd of thousands, as well as on television, would eventually become somewhat famous. The unfortunate side effect of this celebrity status is that a startling percentage of pastors really disintegrate as a result. Many times, being the pastor of a mega-church is compared to being the CEO of a company, and many pastors experience tremendous pressure. The pastors of these mega-churches receive celebrity treatment at the same time. These churches are run like corporations. Given how much money mega-churches handle, mostly from voluntary contributions known as Tidus, it shouldn't come as a surprise that they're frequently run like companies. However, since every church encourages members to give, mega-churches get the benefits of economies of scale. These churches' pastors behave more like CEOs than spiritual leaders, and mega-churches frequently create media and publicity teams to assist in maintaining and even expanding their membership. In fact, a whole business has developed around making mega-churches even bigger. Mega-churches, however, have two advantages over regular corporations. First, they get tax exemptions on a number of items, and second, they enjoy the support of a sizable number of unpaid volunteers who frequently commit a significant amount of their time to working on the church's behalf. This corporatization of religion has a negative aspect because of how driven by expansion the mega-churches have become. According to MSNBC, a few mega-churches are considering opening satellite locations that operate much like franchises, which could have a Walmart effect by drawing worshippers away from the local church's more traditional settings. Mega-church pastors are increasingly political. Politics and religion have always been interwoven, and religious leaders have always attempted to sway their flock on a variety of issues. It is one thing for a pastor to urge his flock to vote in accordance with Christian principles. It is quite another for him to use his position to further a particular agenda. But how their pastors are immersing their congregations in politics is one disturbing facet of the mega-church's expanding influence. We wouldn't go on without mentioning the political saga with late prophet Frank N. Defor of the kingship ministries in the 2018 presidential elections in Cameroon. Prophet Frank convinced his supporters that he was sent by God to be the messiah that would liberate Cameroon from the old regime. They encourage selfishness. It's natural to believe that those who attend mega-churches are fervently spiritual and devout. After all, churches have historically served as the hubs of communities, making church attendance part of the fabric of African society. Mega-churches are given a funny look of piety by the notion that only good, devoted Christians find the time to attend church sessions. The traditional Christian idea of service and charity is frequently at odds with the teachings at mega-churches. Mega-churches, on the other hand, promote a self-centered view of worship. Mega-church congregations frequently teach their members to concentrate on their own lives and issues, rather than seeing themselves as servants who should care for others. In turn, they are prodded to see God as a means of achieving their goals. This is consistent with the prosperity gospel, which is frequently at the heart of mega-church doctrine and holds that God rewards faith with success and material wealth. Mega-church congregations are typically younger and more likely to be single than traditional churches. Most alarmingly, 45% of mega-church attendees don't volunteer to help their neighborhood, highlighting the massive services celebration of themselves. This is just a summary of the many things that contribute to the dark side of the mega-churches. Thanks for watching. Do not hesitate to subscribe to Africa Reloaded for more videos. And also, let us know what you think about these mega-churches on the economy and advancement of technology on the African continent.