Spiritual leaders call for order in churches
Recent media reports of atrocious behaviour and moral decrepitude of so-called pastors have propelled church leaders to call for order, discipline and ethical leadership and good governance in the church fraternity.
“The reports in the media warrant serious and urgent consideration. It is understandable if the matter of church governance and affairs are discussed at certain political levels of our country,” said the president of the Association of Charismatic and Pentecostal Churches in Namibia (ACPCN), Reverend Fritz Gawaseb, on Friday.
The body recommended that the government, in collaboration with it and the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN), establish a national body to register churches as spiritual and religious institutions.
Currently churches have to either register at the Ministry of Trade and Industry as a Section 21 company or at the Ministry of Health and Social Services as a welfare organisation.
Though freedom of association is guaranteed in the Namibian constitution, the ACPCN wants all churches to be affiliated to it and the CCN for control.
It further proposed that all church leaders sign a code of conduct to promote integrity in the battle against immorality among church leaders and members.
Foreign pastors should be screened in collaboration with the government for background checks.
“We should know if these people are really pastors with substantial evidence from their countries,” said Gawaseb.
Pastor Niklaas Gariseb even suggested that some of the foreign pastors that have established churches in Namibia “were sent” by demonic forces.
Gawaseb acknowledged that there are serious problems in some of the charismatic and Pentecostal churches which he in part ascribed to wrong interpretations and application of the “prosperity gospel, self-exaltation, and the big-man syndrome”.
The ACPCN also said disorderly mushrooming of churches should be curtailed. It ascribed the proliferation of churches to poverty, unemployment, ill-health, “the prosperity gospel”, self-enrichment, false prophets, desperation and need.
The ACPCN said there must be requirements in place before churches can be established to eliminate loopholes and fake leaders.
Gawaseb also said the state and churches should maintain sound relations but cautioned against a state church.
“If the church and state are one then it means that the government has the ability to made decisions on behalf of the church, dictate, control, prescribe, force and regulate the church. This will prevent true freedom of religion and it will be unconstitutional. Therefore one should not have religion imposed by the state nor should the state prescribe to the nation how to practise their faith or belief,” said Gawaseb.
CATHERINE SASMAN
“The reports in the media warrant serious and urgent consideration. It is understandable if the matter of church governance and affairs are discussed at certain political levels of our country,” said the president of the Association of Charismatic and Pentecostal Churches in Namibia (ACPCN), Reverend Fritz Gawaseb, on Friday.
The body recommended that the government, in collaboration with it and the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN), establish a national body to register churches as spiritual and religious institutions.
Currently churches have to either register at the Ministry of Trade and Industry as a Section 21 company or at the Ministry of Health and Social Services as a welfare organisation.
Though freedom of association is guaranteed in the Namibian constitution, the ACPCN wants all churches to be affiliated to it and the CCN for control.
It further proposed that all church leaders sign a code of conduct to promote integrity in the battle against immorality among church leaders and members.
Foreign pastors should be screened in collaboration with the government for background checks.
“We should know if these people are really pastors with substantial evidence from their countries,” said Gawaseb.
Pastor Niklaas Gariseb even suggested that some of the foreign pastors that have established churches in Namibia “were sent” by demonic forces.
Gawaseb acknowledged that there are serious problems in some of the charismatic and Pentecostal churches which he in part ascribed to wrong interpretations and application of the “prosperity gospel, self-exaltation, and the big-man syndrome”.
The ACPCN also said disorderly mushrooming of churches should be curtailed. It ascribed the proliferation of churches to poverty, unemployment, ill-health, “the prosperity gospel”, self-enrichment, false prophets, desperation and need.
The ACPCN said there must be requirements in place before churches can be established to eliminate loopholes and fake leaders.
Gawaseb also said the state and churches should maintain sound relations but cautioned against a state church.
“If the church and state are one then it means that the government has the ability to made decisions on behalf of the church, dictate, control, prescribe, force and regulate the church. This will prevent true freedom of religion and it will be unconstitutional. Therefore one should not have religion imposed by the state nor should the state prescribe to the nation how to practise their faith or belief,” said Gawaseb.
CATHERINE SASMAN
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