In the developed world, churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples are places for worshipping. In Ghana, the church is the center of society. You go to church to meet your friends, to meet your spouse, to spend the weekend, to do charity work with others, to occasionally pray for a better future, and most importantly, to give a significant amount of your salary to the all mighty messenger of god - the humble pastor. The humble pastor drives a BMW and lives in upper class neighborhoods while his church members can barely make it to the next paycheck. Following God’s will does pay!
How can a humble pastor from a small parish reach such levels of wealth? Ghanaian churches (which can be of any religious denomination – all that matters is that God has personally spoken to you for you to spread his wisdom) have copied the retail banking business model fueled by ridiculous ignorance. Like a bank, a church opens an “office” and slowly starts enticing customers to deposit money in its accounts – the only difference is that the money does earns blessings, not interest and the capital is used to help others (including the humble pastor) but not you. The bigger and better sounding the blessings, the bigger deposits the “office” gets. Once a church is established with enough capital (supporters) it can expand and open other branches in other communities throughout the country. Just like a business invests money to build a new plant to produce more to make more money, churches normally “invest” some of their proceeds (donations) in building infrastructure (maybe) or gifting frivolous items to those less fortunate. Along the way a community church is also built (of course) to make it easier for these poor people to be closer to God. In the long run, the church benefits from luring more members into its base with every “branch” it opens. Each new member will, at some point, give appropriately in order to be accepted in God’s kingdom by the humble pastor.
Similar to a bank, the church continues to grow and seek more revenue streams. The church not only gets deposits from Sundays but also Wednesdays and Thursdays. The more you hear the word of God and the more blessings you pay for, the better you will do in life. This last month I saw the church innovate in unchartered territories. The Pentecostal House of the Fallen Nana Owusu Acheampong was giving a mass at a reduced price on Valentine’s Day for new couples. Now that’s called marketing – a non-religious event becoming part of the doors to heaven.
I have searched for the answer as to why the poor people of Ghana follow this ritual that’s hindering people’s ability to save and get out of being poor. Why, if I earn $100 a month, would I give $20 to the church while my kid does not have money to buy books to go to school? A friend of our driver once told me he pays the church and thus he gets much more in return - he gets a blessing from the humble pastor. I asked him to give me $10 and in return I would give him a Jewish blessing – and look at me, I’m an expat and doing very well, I must know what I’m talking about - to which he laughed. I told him then he should ask the pastor for $20 and he should give the pastor a blessing – he paused for a minute and walked away. I think I planted a seed in his brain. However the seed most probably did not grow, as when next Sunday came, my driver’s friend was again church brainwashed.
A possible answer to this church nonsense is that the church is not a place for worship but a social club. There are very few official social clubs in the country; there is one mall, one movie theatre, zero parks, and no walking areas. The only place, apart from work, where you can meet and talk to people is either in the street selling boxes that fell from the back of the truck or at church. Church is the great socializer – and people, perhaps, gladly pay for it; church is the ultimate matchmaker, 100% of all the Ghanaians I’ve known so far have met their spouses at church – which brings me back to my original statistic. The church is a social club and people pay for membership. Who gives a hoot about religion! if it is not about religion though (to be discussed in another blog), why does the humble pastor preach a zero alcohol lifestyle making Ghana one of the lowest alcohol consumers per capita in Africa affecting my bonus possibilities??!!
P.S.: The Pentecostal House of the Fallen Nana Owusu Acheampong is a made up name. If I were to write down the real names of churches you would think I am joking.
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