Quote:‘Hijacked’
It is these tax breaks, the millions of dollars rolling in the doors of these churches, and the lack of accountability, that is fuelling a growing body of critics.
Philip Powell, a Pentecostal preacher and a former general-secretary of the AOG, is concerned by the more flamboyant Pentecostal churches. “It is my conviction that the present Pentecostal leaders like Brian Houston [pastor of Hillsong] and Phil Pringle [pastor of Christian City Church] have hijacked the godly movement, which was simply a fellowship of churches. They have turned it into a hierarchical denomination for selfish purposes and ends. It has become a fellowship of ministers, not churches,” he says.
“Many of these ministers have made themselves multi-millionaires. They are no more than business magnates who benefit from the tax-free status of corporations that they lead. They are not ‘pastors’ but business managers who have cashed in on a loophole in the Western governmental tax system.”
Houston says he is not an entrepreneur but considers himself a visionary. He says Hillsong’s message is not about personal wealth, “but rather it’s about personal effectiveness. We encourage people to live resourceful lives, enabling them to reach beyond themselves. It’s the difference between faith to put food on your own table and the commitment to look beyond your table and put food on the tables of others,” he says.
Politicians are usually wary of antagonising such powerful churches, but not Carmen Lawrence, the national junior vice-president of the ALP. She has been asking questions in Federal Parliament about the lack of accountability and transparency.
Lawrence says she worked out that Hillsong had received almost $800,000 in grants from government departments to fund various programmes, including family workers, youth activity services and “emergency relief”. “I suspect the figure is larger than that. We haven’t pinned down some of the questions, and the answers we are getting [from the Government] are evasive,” she says.
Lawrence says it is essential that if taxpayers’ money is involved, the grants and the use they are put to should be made public. “The real problem is that it isn’t clear what the constraints and controls are, or the criteria for monitoring these grants, so we don’t know whether the funds are being used to proselytise,” she says.
But the churches themselves say there is nothing to worry about. They say the money is being re-invested in community services – relevant community services. Houston says: “As a not-for-profit organisation, all our income goes back into the church and extensive services we provide. Last year our total turnover was $40 million. Of this, 60% went directly towards helping people; 28% was for buildings and infrastructure, which is ultimately about people too, as you have to put 18,000 people somewhere; and 12% was for general administration.”
Whatever the case, the popularity of Pentecostal religion is unquestionable. Pastor Ashley Evans from Paradise Community Church says: “We are scratching where people are itching.” That itch has a lot to do with the way Australians are feeling.
Ruth Powell, a manager at NCLS Research, says there are many theories about why the Pentecostal churches are so popular. Some theories centre on their contemporary style of worship and the experiential nature of their approach to faith. Other theories centre on the churches’ ability to offer certainty in times of change.
The more popular Pentecostal churches are tapping into a void in people’s lives, offering a sense of community, fun, and a way to alleviate financial responsibility. They do this by selling a message that is easy to buy: that Pentecostalism is about enjoying life now. In other words, if you embrace this brand of God, you will be rewarded financially and spiritually in this life, as well as the next. It is much easier to think that wealth and worldly success are signs of God’s favour than to wait for happiness in the afterlife, as most traditional religions preach.
The New Zealand-born Houston, pastor of the biggest Pentecostal church, Hillsong, is one of the main proponents of prosperity theology. The author of You Need More Money: Discovering God’s Amazing Financial Plan for Your Life, Houston writes: “Prosperity is definitely a result of applying God’s word to your life.” In section two of the book, he adds: “It’s God’s will for you to prosper.”
Houston’s wife Bobbie reinforces the here-and-now in her books and CDs, the most eye-catching being a CD entitled Kingdom Women Love Sex, which talks about everything from having a great sex life to keeping slim.
Father James McEvoy, a senior lecturer in theology at Flinders University, says this type of religion, prosperity theology, is a reinvention of the gospel. “It is a distorted reading of the gospel,” he says. “The central symbol of the Christian faith is a failure.”
But the idea of having a good time on earth – financially and personally – is one reason Pentecostalism is so popular. It is entertaining, and the preachers, like all shrewd marketers, know how to reach their market.
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Hillsong – Gods Millionaires that don't pay tax !! (Read 42108 times)
