{"id":88299,"date":"2023-12-14T22:57:23","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T20:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel"},"modified":"2023-12-15T02:11:18","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T00:11:18","slug":"harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel","title":{"rendered":"Harare-based Church Leader Castigates “Prosperity Gospel”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>A local church leader has urged pastors to desist from preaching the Prosperity Gospel to manipulate congregants into contributing money towards the church for their selfish benefits.<\/p>\n

Prosperity Gospel preachers claim that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one\u2019s material wealth.<\/p>\n

Critics describe prosperity theology as \u201csloppy agape\u201d, the \u201cblab it and grab it\u201d Gospel, or \u201cgreasy grace\u201d.<\/p>\n

Bishop Roger Jeffrey, leader and founder of Tabernacle of Worship Family Ministries International, said many leaders were now taking the Christian ministry as a business.<\/p>\n

Speaking to H-Metro<\/b> on the sidelines of his graduation celebrations which were held at his church in Harare, Jeffrey said:<\/p>\n

The main problem with today\u2019s church is that most of the leaders are in it for prosperity.<\/p>\n

To some, the church is now a business venture, something I am against as a church leader.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey graduated with a degree in Religious and Theology from the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU), as one of the best students, last week.<\/p>\n

He said instead of exploiting members, the church should empower people spiritually and economically. Said the cleric:<\/p>\n

I have invited influential people from different sectors, including the Ministry of Social Welfare, the Ministry of Women\u2019s Affairs and the National Aids Council to address the congregants as I celebrated this achievement.<\/p>\n

We want church leaders who help in eradicating poverty to complement the government\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n

My thrust is to ensure that pastors within my ministry have to be educated so that we don\u2019t exploit people.<\/p>\n

As we preach the word of God, we have to teach people how to empower themselves.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t want pastors, or church leaders, who just exploit the congregants.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that giving is bad but we want church leaders who empower people.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey said his church runs an orphanage in Mufakose, Harare and is now building a school in Mutoko.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. A local church leader has urged pastors to desist from preaching the Prosperity Gospel to manipulate congregants into contributing money towards the church for their selfish benefits. Prosperity Gospel preachers claim that faith, positive speech, and donations to religious causes will increase one\u2019s material wealth. Critics describe prosperity theology as \u201csloppy agape\u201d, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":88297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[1493,2189,15932,19],"class_list":["post-88299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","tag-prosperity-gospel","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\nHarare-based Church Leader Castigates "Prosperity Gospel" - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A local church leader has urged pastors to desist from preaching the Prosperity Gospel to manipulate congregants into co ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Harare-based Church Leader Castigates "Prosperity Gospel"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A local church leader has urged pastors to desist from preaching the Prosperity Gospel to manipulate congregants into co ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-14T20:57:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-15T00:11:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/12\/sm_1702582565.567562.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"866\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Harare-based Church Leader Castigates “Prosperity Gospel”\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-14T20:57:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-15T00:11:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel\"},\"wordCount\":333,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/12\/sm_1702582565.567562.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Zimbabwe\",\"Prosperity Gospel\",\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/harare-based-church-leader-castigates-prosperity-gospel\",\"name\":\"Harare-based Church Leader Castigates \\\"Prosperity Gospel\\\" - 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