After BCL, churches mushroom in Phikwe
Onalenna Kelebeile | Friday June 23, 2017 14:58
SELEBI-PHIKWE: The town of Selebi-Phikwe is faced with a huge number of churches mushrooming majority of who worship illegally in homes and bushes.
Unconfirmed reports indicate that the number of churches both pentecostal and spiritual may be reaching 800 in Selebi-Phikwe. The situation has prompted Selebi-Phikwe Town Council to setup a taskforce comprising of the management team to profile all the churches. The exercise has already started and the task team is expected to present a report at the end of this month. Town clerk, Godimo Garegope said profiling would enable council to engage churches meaningfully and come up with a way forward.
He added that developments within the town must be done in accordance with the law and added that the issue of proliferation of churches is a serious concern because some worship behind the hills, in bushes without any structure while others just put up structures inside homes. “Setting up church structures in homes is illegal because it amounts to change of land use without authority of relevant departments. It is also unfortunate that these churches develop within the state land that fall under the Ministry of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services but we cannot just ignore as council,” he said.
He added that any material change of land use needs the planning authority and should be sanctioned. Even those worshipping in open spaces are also using the land illegally. He said such churches can be pursued as squatters and ordered to demolish their structures. “Profiling would enable us to understand the reasons before taking proper actions,” he said.
Garegope also doubted if the churches play their meaningful role in terms of those in need of spiritual support particularly victims of BCL Mine closure and suspected that churches may even be abusing the authority that they have.
The number of churches may be defeating the purpose that churches should serve in the community considering the fact that since the mine closure in October last year, there has never been any significant role from the church fraternity in terms of providing necessary support to the affected.
The mine closure has resulted in a lot of depression, suicides and marriage break ups that needed interventions even from churches.
Ministers Fraternal committee member, Pastor Sefularo Mogopodi said during an interview that about 800 churches is just too much for the population of Selebi-Phikwe. “We had the mine closure that brought a lot of confusion, depression and even suicides. What was our input as churches?” he wondered. He added that as the Ministers Fraternal in Selebi-Phikwe they expect Botswana Council of Churches (BCC), Evangelical Fellowship Botswana (EFB) and Organization of African Instituted Churches (OAIC) to furnish them with lists of their affiliates. He added that whoever is in the list must come forward and be a member of Ministers Fraternal.
Pastor Sefularo said they intend to compel all churches to affiliate to the fraternal as this would enable the fraternal to investigate on affiliated members and to conduct reviews and have controls in place. He felt that government should freeze registration of new churches and carryout an audit of the already existing churches. He also regretted that some churches are making huge sums of money and they are not taxed because they fall under non profit making organisations. “The Ministry of Labour must conduct investigations on the legibility of churches. You will find that majority of them are illegal,” he said.
He observed that mushrooming of churches results from the fact that anybody can become a pastor while others are just hungry for power to an extent that instead of addressing a minor difference he/she sets up a new church. “Some are hungry for wealth and are using a church as a business. Boruti is a calling and elders must interview anybody who wants to be a pastor and it should be spiritually revealed to them,” he said.
Another observation, he said, is that people are not hungry for God but are after tithes, offerings and miracles while others take advantage of the demand for knowing God to create churches. However he regretted that instead of teaching the word of God churches are stand alones that attack each other and said this defeats the church’s mission of peace and unity.
“We must come up with a way forward. Ga re gane dikereke but it is enough. There is also trafficking within churches in search of reaches and marriages but one should work for these, they should not come by miracle. Baruti are also to blame for hopping from one church to the other and this causes a lot of problems,” he said.
Pastor Tlholego Keboifile of Holiness Union Church concurred that churches sprouting is a serious concern and observed that economic challenge plays a major role in this. He also said that people do not want to be disciplined and once this is done they break away to establish another church. “There is also elements of wrong teachings and cults that have also risen up. Those who believe in miracles are trafficking from one church to the other,” he said.
He expressed concern as a result of wrong teachings some people fail to comply with treatments because they are made to believe that they can be miraculously healed. He added that as a result of this it has become difficult to control faith as most of the churches do not affiliate to existing bodies; OAIC, EFB and BCC. “We just cannot control the situation if churches are not affiliated. We also fail to account as Ministers Fraternal for instance on land planning. We do not have a proper report to authorities because we cannot control unaffiliated churches,” he said.
On why new churches cannot share facilities with already existing churches to prevent worshipping in illegal places Pastor Keboifile said religions are not the same and said some may wonder why the one that is unable to acquire a plot and build cannot join the already existing churches.
“Religious issues are difficult. Even members of pentacostal churches are abandoning their churches to wherever there are miracles performed. As Ministers Fraternal we want to enforce compliance to the law. We have talked to council so that no church should have a crusade that we are not aware of. Before issuing a permit council confirms with us whether the applicant church is our member of not,” he said.
OAIC president Mookami Tebogo Motlhagodi said churches break up as a result of dictatorship, self enrichment motives, failure to abide by the constitutions and lack of succession plans that end up causing conflicts among church members.
He also said that many leaders treat churches as their personal property. “OAIC, EFB and BCC have advocated for the establishment of Advisory and Arbitration Council as a tool that will assist in the vetting process in applications for registering new churches,” he said.
He added that OAIC has setup a taskforce to investigate why existing churches are not growing while new ones continue to mushroom and the cause of many conflicts within churches. “The report is expected by the end of October this year. We also conduct workshops on conflict management and we have set up a disciplinary and mediation management committee in order to address conflicts in churches with the aim to curb proliferation,” he said.
He said proliferation of churches is not good for the country as they impact on the development plans and also that the demand for land that does not expand becomes high. He said the scenario also confuses the society as to which church is genuine or not and results in the community dismissing churches as a joke.
He regretted that the introduction of a new law to increase the number of people required to register a church has not helped much because since the launch of the Advisory and Arbitration Council in April this year more than 14 churches were registered. “The new law has not reduced registration but cushioned the situation,” he said.
He said as a long term solution government should establish a system of open window period where applications will be received and considered against the current scenario where churches are registered everyday.
“There should be strict vetting process and confirmation that pastors forming churches must have been officially released by former, churches not to register a new church while still a member of another church. Separation of power, spiritual affairs and administration should be managed separately,” he added.
Motlhagodi also said that there should be policies in place to support church constitutions and regulate day to day running of churches. “Let us avoid one man show mentality in our churches,” he said. He also noted that church leaders should be given incentives such as monthly allowances for their welfare. He further said transparency is key, constitutions and other church documents must be made available to all members.