A religiously charged year!
Tefo Pheage | Friday December 18, 2015 15:25
The book of Ephesians 4:11 says, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers” while in the book of Matthew 24:24 Jesus warns that, “false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect”.
Batswana, some experts in sociology say, are very trusting and gullible people. This they argue, is because Botswana has been for many years a peaceful country free of alien and inhumane incidents associated with its global or regional counterparts.
The mashrooming of charismatic churches seems to have affected the entire continent and the Southern African region seems to be the hardest hit.
Some experts worry that the situation may worsen owing to Botswana’s circular state status. But there are those who posit that the trouble within the houses of God shall subside with time.
During the yer, a number of mainstream churches lost several members citing socio-economic problems and in pUrsuit of spiritual growth. The churches grew in alarming rate, further confusing their followers on which one to follow and which one to dump. The UCCSA later resolved to hold a referendum to decide on calls to evangilise owing to the pressure from within and outside.
The government was forced to respond to the polluted religious environment and amended the Societies Act by increasing from 10 to 250 the number of persons required to register a church.
This was with the advice of the three churches umbrella bodies, the Botswana Council of Churches (BCC), the Organisation of African Independent Churches (OAIC) and the Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana which later became critical of the said piece of legislation.
President Ian Khama exclaimed at the growing number of prophets in Botswana when he was addressing a kgotla Tlokweng meeting and remarked that he will not be suprised to hear that we also have a Pope.
However while some worry at the proliferation, others say it is healthy for the propagation of the gospel. Interestingly all these has not deterred Batswana who were seen flocking the stadia in large numbers during the ‘men of God’s services.
2015 popular churches..
While Botswana ‘s population has been growing at a steady rate, the churches has been growing at an alarming rate.
Churches were founded by foreign pastors, while others are founded by Batswana. Some are just branches of international churches. Despite this, some churches appeared to be more popular than others and commanded large followings.
Academics side
Dr Obed Kealotswe of University Botswana says Botswana should be declared a religious country and not a religious state. “This will allow us to detect and deal with false prophets and whatever they come with,” he says.