Regulating the Zambian church

The government has announced its intentions to enact stronger legislation to regulate the operation of churches in Zambia. According to Ministry of Home Affairs deputy minister Stephen Kampyongo, this move is a response to demands from the church mother bodies and other religious organisations who have expressed concern on the mushrooming of churches and the growing number of clergymen and women who remain unaccounted for in Zambia.
I ask the question, since when did churches become a problem? When did they transform from being institutions of hope, morality, integrity and uprightness to institutions of anarchy requiring supervision and control?  Perhaps the government is moving with undue zeal on a matter that they should be leaving to already existing structures such as the registrar of societies and the church mother bodies. The truth is that, as any society grows and develops, it becomes more dynamic and all its institutions evolve and encounter problems. The perceived problems with the churches in Zambia are not unique to churches. Churches have increased, yes, and so have other places of social gatherings such as bars, nightclubs, private schools, cooperatives, service clubs, NGOs and other forms of groupings. It can be argued that some members of the church have been caught up in criminal activities and all sorts of undesirable activities but so have members of many other institutions and groupings, a reflection of the dynamism of society. There are adequate laws that deal with such things whenever they rear their ugly head regardless of who is involved.

A closer look at the statement from government seems to show that this proposed law will be targeted at churches other than the traditional churches such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican, The United Church of Zambia and others who have well established structures and systems and often do not worship from temporal places such as schools. The target clearly is the independent and charismatic churches. I am told that some of these churches such as Bread of Life Church established by Joe Imakando and the churches under the fellowship if the Pentecostal Assemblies of God (PAOG) and a few others are now affiliated to the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, but it is not clear to what extent the council provides oversight to their operations. Kampyongo insists that it is wrong for churches to continue using classrooms as places of worship.
"Schools are meant for learning and not for conducting prayer meetings, you can imagine 10 churches praying at one school, it's not acceptable," said Kampyongo in response to a question on what the government was doing about the trend.
When perceived from the standpoint of the inspiration for charismatic churches mainly from USA based evangelists, one cannot ignore their emphasis on personal wealth accumulation. When one looks at the big preachers in the USA today who inspire the Pentecostal movement one would see why there is a clamor to establish churches patterned after their lifestyles. This gives credence to the argument that churches are sprouting at every street corner to enable their founders to accumulate wealth and money after all church income is tax free.

In the USA top preachers live very luxurious lives and earn hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some reports indicate that Kenneth Copeland founder of – Copeland Ministries is among the top wealthy preachers. He allegedly flies around in a $17.5m Jet, lives in a $6 million lakefront mansion with a 1,500 acre campus and a private airstrip. He and his wife make over $655,000 a year in salary alone. It’s not clear whether this includes speaking fees, book royalties, and “love offerings.”

Jan Crouch of Trinity Broadcasting Network is alleged to have a $50 Million dollar jet, 13 mansions, and a $100,000 mobile home for her dogs. Creflo Dollar founder of – World Changers Church International allegedly drives a Rolls-Royce and lives in a Million dollar home in Atlanta, and a 2.5 million-dollar apartment in Manhattan. Dollar will not release his salary information. Another famous preacher John Hagee of Cornerstone Church allegedly last released his salary information in 2004 and was earning nearly $1 million per year.  Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church allegedly stopped taking his $200,000 salary several years ago. He makes tens of millions off of his numerous books. Joel & family are said to live in a $10.5 million 17,000 square foot mansion.

Africa has its fair share of wealthy pastors. According to Forbes magazine the list of the richest pastors in Africa have Nigeria's pastors making the top 5. The richest Pastor on the continent is said to be the President and Founder of the world's largest Church Building according to the 2008 Guinness Book of Records - Bishop David O.Oyedepo of the Living Faith Church, A.K.A. Winners Chapel, Canaanland, Ota, Nigeria. With an estimated net worth: $150 million.

David Oyedepo is Nigeria’s wealthiest preacher. Ever since he founded the Living Faith World Outreach Ministry in 1981, it has grown to become one of Africa’s largest congregations. The Faith Tabernacle, where he hosts three services every Sunday, is Africa’s largest worship center, with a seating capacity of 50,000. Oyedepo owns four private jets and homes in London and the United States. He also owns Dominion Publishing House, a thriving publishing company that publishes all his books (which are often centered on prosperity). He founded and owns Covenant University, one of Nigeria’s leading tertiary institutions, and Faith Academy, an elite high school.
Chris Oyakhilome, founder of Believers’ Loveworld Ministries, a.k.a Christ Embassy has an estimated net worth: $30 million – $50 million

The charismatic preacher was once at the center of a $35 million money laundering case in which he was accused of siphoning funds from his church to foreign banks. Pastor Chris pleaded no wrongdoing and the case was eventually dismissed. His church, Christ Embassy, boasts more than 40,000 members, several of whom are successful business executives and politicians. Oyakhilome’s diversified interests include newspapers, magazines, a local television station, a record label, satellite TV, hotels and extensive real estate. His Loveworld TV Network is the first Christian network to broadcast from Africa to the rest of the world on a 24 hour basis.  

Temitope Joshua founder of the Synagogue Church Of All Nations (SCOAN) is said to have an estimated net worth of between $10 million – $15 million and is
Nigeria’s most controversial clergyman is also one of its richest and most philanthropic. T.B Joshua heads the Synagogue Church of all Nations (SCOAN), a congregation he founded in 1987, which accommodates over 15,000 worshippers on Sundays. The Pastor has remained controversial for several years for his inexplicable powers to heal all sorts of incurable diseases, including HIV/AIDS, cancer and paralysis. For miracle-craving worshippers, it’s the perfect seduction. The church currently has branches in Ghana, the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Greece. It is said that Joshua has given over $20 million to causes in education, healthcare and rehabilitation programs for former Niger Delta militants. He owns Emmanuel TV, a Christian television network, and is close friends with Ghanaian former President Atta Mills.

It is almost impossible to know how much the top charismatic preachers earn in Zambia but their lifestyles speak for themselves. Some now drive top range fancy vehicles and live in luxurious mansions when a majority of their members are barely surviving. What is the point of building big beautiful cathedrals without providing any services to those who are needy and suffering? Even the schools run by these fancy churches are too expensive for the average family a clear indication that their motivation may not be close to serving the poor.

The Zambian government is quickly running out of time considering it is working on a six months deadline starting March 2014 to put in place these new regulatory mechanisms to guide the formation of churches. On March 3, 2014 government convened a meeting at which a key resolution was to allow church mother bodies and religious organisations to come up with self-regulatory mechanisms to assist the office of the Registrar of Societies in the review of the societies Act Cap 119 of the Laws of Zambia with an emphasis on the vetting process for applications of churches and other religious organizations.

"This was done in order to allow the church mother bodies as stakeholders to freely submit their input as well," said Kampyongo at a briefing attended by Fr Cleophas Lungu from the Zambia Episcopal Conference, Reverend Suzannne Matale from the Council of Churches in Zambia and Reverend Pukuta Mwanza from the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia.
Others that attended the meeting include Bishop Mutunda, Suzyo Zimba from the Islamic Supreme Council of Zambia and the registrar of societies Kakoma Kanganja.
Whilst the need for more effective regulation of churches is obvious, the manner it is done must be transparent and inclusive. It must be borne in mind that there is no church that exists today that is not regulated because the Act under which churches operate provides conditions for registration and has requirements that must be fulfilled in terms of returns that provides sufficient information to monitor the operations of churches. What is lacking is the capacity of the government institutions to monitor the operations of churches, this is where affiliation to church mother bodies becomes helpful but again no church may be compelled to affiliate as this is membership is voluntary. The enforcement of regulatory mechanisms must not infringe on the rights of people to form and belong to associations of their choice, a freedom that is protected by the republican constitution. Furthermore the constitution upholds freedom of religion and conscience. Some proposals coming through that go as far as prescribing that a church must have its own place of worship and have a minimum number of say 500 members will come into direct conflict with the rights of persons as provided for by the constitution and must be examined with caution.