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The Church and for that matter Christianity are faced with serious problems of mistrust, criticism and above all rejection these days.
Erroneous interpretation of scriptures, extra-biblical practices, replacement of the gospel of Jesus Christ with prosperity gospel and others feed the problems mentioned above.
Consequently, the Christian faith appears to be losing its attraction in many African countries today as it happened in Europe and USA decades ago.
The problems are caused by one key thing. Many church leaders do things they do not see Jesus Christ doing and teach things they do not see or hear Jesus Christ teaching.
Where did today’s church leaders learn that Christians who give money to pastors can tap their anointing, will become fabulously rich and never suffer hardship or poverty in their lives?
Where does the teaching that born again Christians cannot fall sick because they are protected by the blood of Jesus come from?
Who taught that violently and repeatedly clapping hands in prayer empowers Christians to defeat enemies and win spiritual warfares?
What about the attachment of titles such as Reverend, Archbishop to the names of ministers and the wearing of clericals? Did we learn them from Jesus Christ or the early apostles?
There is no doubt that many church leaders simply copy these things as they see just one church leader or a denomination using, teaching or doing them.
Many forget that man is not the great example for ministry but Christ Jesus, the only Chief Shepherd or Archbishop of the Church.
Many do these things because they do not sincerely follow Jesus and learn from Him. If we carefully learn from the Lord, we will see what He did in order to prevent or reduce these problems.
When Jesus Christ walked the earth to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God, He decided to do ONLY what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19-20).
Pay attention to the word “only” in the verse. It means that there were many things our Saviour could do, but He purposed to do just what He saw the Father doing.
He patiently and carefully limited Himself to doing things the Father approved. That was an act of faithfulness, obedience, loyalty and humility.
Elsewhere, the Lord Jesus said He spoke only what the Father taught Him ( John 8:28).
Jesus Christ could do that because He maintained a cordial relationship with the Father and determined to do His will.
The early ministers did the same thing and so even though the Jews rejected the gospel, the Gentiles accepted and embraced it, leading to global evangelization.
Thus, a pastor who faithfully follows Jesus Christ and learns from Him will know that the Lord did what He saw the Father doing and teaching.
Paul also taught believers in Corinth to imitate him just as he imitated Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).
This means that a servant of Christ has no business ignorantly doing things he sees another doing or teaching.
It is important he ensures that the leader he wants to imitate or follow imitates Christ Jesus too.
By James Quansah
