Proliferation of prayer ministries: a threat to the church in Nigeria

By Dr Moses George

Since the advent of Christianity in Nigeria, the church has witnessed steady growth in both establishments of churches and worshippers. While no individual can lay claim on the Orthodox churches which has been in existence for long period of time, the same cannot be said of Pentecostal or charismatic churches which came into existence in the 1970s.  The advent of Pentecostal churches also came along with proliferation of churches in Nigeria, and recently; the emergence of prayer houses.

Prayers houses are spiritual houses that lay claim to the supernatural.  Littered all over the places, they lay more emphasis on revelations, deliverances, healing, miracles, prosperity and divine interventions. Millions of people are gravitating towards these prayer houses in search of solutions to their challenges. It is alarming that a very large percentage of traditional church goers in Nigeria are abandoning their churches for these prayer and prophetic ministries.

This has led to almost empty pews during Sunday services in several churches.  There are reports from several church leaders that they are fast losing their members to these prayer houses. In several cases, when their members manage to attend church services, they are no longer fully committed as their interests and loyalties are with these prophetic ministries.

Prayer houses are springing up at an alarming rate all over Nigeria.  You can find them in almost every corner of streets in uncompleted buildings or make shift structures. You can find them in villages and cities.  There is no doubt that prayer and prophetic ministries are thriving much more than churches and the reasons are not far – fetched. Obviously, they have found a market niche that helps them woo and attract gullible people from main stream churches.  Operators of these payer houses usually exploit the biblical ignorance of Christians, their inordinate desires for miracles and for other supernatural experiences.

It is worrisome that several churches in Nigeria are fast losing their members to these prayer houses whose existence are built upon the desire for self-gains.   Those who patronize these prayers houses are usually blinded by their desire to experience the miraculous and as such are not able to acknowledge the fact that when a man or woman calls himself a prophet or prophetess or preaches with elegance, speak in a strange tongues and could move a crowd emotionally does not in any way imply that such a person speaks from God.

While most of these so called prophets and prophetesses do not know, or teach the word of God as contained the Bible, they have a unusual boldness that shield their ignorance  and appeals to their audience.   Operators of prayers houses could now be found outside Pentecostal churches. Within the Catholic Church, prayer houses now constitute a great threat and the church is not happy about the development.  Recently, the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale-Martins, sounded a warning and condemned the emergence of prayer houses within the church.  The existence of prayer houses in the Catholic Church is already having adverse effect on it.  Several Catholic Church members are shifting their allegiance to prayer houses operated by priests instead of the church.  If not curbed, this may have a devastating repercussion on the church which is struggling for to keep its head above board.

Interestingly, the Bible is not ignorant of such fake men and women of God. It actually warned that such people exist and can be recognized by the fruits that they bear (Mathew 7: 19 -20). These go beyond physical appearances because some of the fake prophets and prophetesses carry out acts of charity that usually give the erroneous impression that they are real. They use unbiblical methods to perform deeds which suggest miraculous power under the pretext of being done by God and to His glory (2 Corinthians 11: 13 -15).

While the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) may not have the power to regulate or check this situation, the body has a huge responsibility to find a way of dealing with these bad elements and their nefarious activities before it causes serious damage to the church in Nigeria. While the presence of these fake men and women of God is a sign of the end of the Age, Christian writers and journalists should take up the responsibility of investigating and exposing them and activities to the public.