Pastors Never Loved Us

It doesn’t surprise me that a pastor like Andre Olivier of the famous Rivers Church in Johannesburg has uttered remarks widely perceived as racist to his multiracial congregation where he implied blacks were disadvantaged because they are lazy and whites privileged because they work hard. I don’t have to be Pastor Jeremiah’s ex-wife to testify that Pastors generally never loved us.

Pastors and church members have increasingly found themselves in the list of repeat human rights offenders in my short life and quite frankly, their spiritual healer counterparts, the sangomas seem to be more deserving of my resources including time and money.

There’s no escaping Christianity and its teachings and activities when you grow up in Swaziland –almost every other corner houses a church. 

There was certainly no escaping Christianity in my mother’s household where the teachings were drilled into my skull ever since I could say the word “Make”. 

The religion has useful teachings, no doubt. The biggest problem for me most times is the people who claim to uphold this higher level of knowledge. Hypocrites! Of the highest order!

Sure, we are each hypocrites in our own way but I struggle with church things because they hardly ever mirror the true reflection of society. I remember in 2009 when I consciously started getting myself into the church - I was unemployed after quitting my TV job at the SABC (because hurricanes like Hlaudi Motsoeneng must be forecasted years before they happen). I was quite amped about being in a new space and learning new things that were on the extreme end of what had become my routine lifestyle.

I participated in home cells (weekly semi-informal meetings with other Christians) where it was refreshing to engage new people on different perspectives of life. We each brought prayer items no matter how personal and collectively prayed for them.

I knew I was running into problems when I probed what could have possibly influenced the origins of certain biblical texts and how certain copy applied to everyday individual realities – and this was just pure childlike curiosity of a heathen in transition. Turned out this was a minor discomfort.

The ultimate bother bout home cells in particular was that my cellmates only reached out to me when it was 15minutes before the start of our weekly session; “Are you coming?” is all the wanted to know.

The other days none of them ever called to find out how I was surviving or at least planning to survive since I was unemployed. No one called to direct me to opportunities, not   even an offer of 1kg sugar from their extravagant pantries. This was the general modus operandi.

These were the same people that made endless trips to the offering basket come Sunday when we were all in the presence of the pastor in church; same people who were just short of breathing on the pastors behalf; ready to do anything for him. Certainly didn’t feel like the family that the church said we were.

It was easier to buy into Christianity in yester years because the schools, clinics, bursaries and other public services it initiated and maintained were applicable to day-to-day life; regardless of an individual’s social standing. 

Think of the caliber of Christians like Father Ciccone of St. Joseph’s mission - still home to a majority of Swaziland’s population living with disabilities.

Today, Christianity is characterized by flashy cars, flamboyant church buildings with bank ATMs inside, high gold-plated chairs for the pastors and their wives, bottled mineral (or is it flavored) water…I could go on. 

Good for them but what’s disturbing is that they have transferred this level of consumerism to all church members. 

It’s become so bad people are prepared to eat rats and gulp gallons of petrol with the pastor’s promise that this kind of nonsensical acts will escalate them to a life of individual financial wealth. 

That’s just an extreme example but we know of people who will starve their households in order to save money so they can gift their pastor (who never hesitates to accept) a gift of a top-of-the-range car from a poor church goer.

Your church is over 10 years old and easily raises over E1million in one day – tax-free - but where is the school? Where is the clinic? Where is the sustainable feeding plan for the disenfranchised and poor of this country? 

Evidently Pastor Olivier is not the only hypocrite in his field – praising only those who’ve always been in a position of privilege and power.