Last week Thursday, I was a little livid when I read that TB Joshua, the leader of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in Lagos, Nigeria, had yet again, failed to appear in court where an inquest was held to find out what had caused the building collapse at his church earlier this year.
I took my rants to Facebook in a series of posts. Many friends were taken aback by my rants.
I suspect that some thought I had lost it, or at least just had a nervous breakdown of sorts. The truth is that I was still very much in my faculties, so to speak. I knew and was conscious of what I was saying.
There comes a point where the silence of observers is just as brutal as the actions of those guilty of committing an act. I have fashioned myself as a mild activist of social justice on issues of gender-equity and so such. But more than that, and much more crucially, I am first a born-again Christian, saved by the blood of Jesus, and live with the hope that I will one day meet my saviour. But I believe that until that reunion with my Lord happens, I have a role to play in society, and such role will be disingenuous and unauthentic if I do not speak out on issues I feel strongly about. To a large extent, that is solely why I am here. Of that, I have no doubt. Many wrong things continue to happen because we keep quiet.
So I ranted and vented, I huffed and I puffed, about the Lagos spiritual leader's actions or non-actions. Last night I decided to explain my comments, yet again on Facebook, on a long-worded status.
A friend then asked me to put the status/post on the blog so that it doesn't get lost on the Facebook timeline. I have obliged.
Below is the status I posted last night, quoted verbatim, save for a few juggling of words and stuff.
Hi.
I think it's time I said something about my comments about TB Joshua late last week.
In September this year, South Africa, Nigeria, and the world watched in horror as images started trickling out showing the guest house of the Synagogue Church of All Nations crumbling down. A total of 115 (or 116 depending on your source) died in that building collapse. 84 of those people were South Africans.
It was Friday the12th September when that tragedy happened. Many of us only got to know about it the following week. It is widely reported that the leader of that church, TB Joshua, and his officials tried to play down the collapse of the building saying that only a few people had been injured, and that his own personnel were engaged in efforts, by their own means, to rescue the "injured". I say "injured" because a few days after that building collapsed, we got to learn that the building collapse was much, much worse than the public had been made to believe. Scores of people, loved by their families, had lost their lives. It is also reported, very widely, that church officials refused assistance from external agencies.
The way in which TB Joshua and his church dealt with this tragedy was distasteful, to say the least. I, a Christian, watched, read and listened in in dismay at how the church leader (TB Joshua) was responding to this tragedy. It had suddenly become all about HIM. It was an "attempted attack on HIM by a plane" that had been seen hovering above some time before the building collapsed, he claimed. Secondly, a claim was made that an explosion had been heard. That explosion also "caused" the collapse. Boko Haram (the notorious terrorist group) was also thrown into the mix.
Many of us, Christians, kept quiet, at least publicly, throughout this ordeal. Some of us chose the easier route. We directed our anger toward the Nigerian government who were perceived as stalling efforts of repatriating the mortal remains of those that had perished in that building collapse back to South Africa.
Meanwhile, serious public questions were being asked about what might have caused the collapse. Building experts, quickly rebuffed the explanation of Joshua about the aerial attack by the plane. The explosion theory was also disregarded by experts. It then emerged that at the time of the fatal collapse the building was actually in the process of being extended - additional floors were being added to the existing multi-storey building. Furthermore, it was also reported that municipal approval had not been received by the church to make these modifications to the existing building.
Many of us remained quiet.
Finally, an inquest was opened by the Nigerian authorities. The government wanted to get to the reasons why the building collapsed. In efforts to get answers from ALL stakeholders, a summons was also issued to TB Joshua to appear in court, or whatever seating that was. A second was issued, and again, TB Joshua failed to appear. His reason this time (Thursday last week) - he says he didn't receive the summons. ANOTHER summons was yet again issued for him to appear at the inquest the following day, Friday 21st November. This time his lawyers acknowledged that they had indeed receive this particular summons. BUT, they are going to challenge it. Why? "No, it is not appropriate for TB Joshua to go and give whatever testimony is required of him". Why? “No, TB Joshua is still grieving the loss of life”.
Let me park that for now.
I was raised in the church. And I truly love the church. When I was about 8 or 9, a young pastor from the Eastern Cape visited our church in Makwarela, Venda. His name was Pastor Vuyani Sam. I loved Pastor Sam. He left a lasting impression on me. Pastor Sam testified of how he gave his life to The Lord when he was just 10. When I was 9, I gave my life to The Lord. I had beaten Pastor Sam's record. Pastor Sam has since passed on.
Because my father is a pastor and church leader, we saw many, many pastors at our home. One particular pastor, whenever he meets me, still reminds me of a time when he visited our home and asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I confidently told him that I was going to be the chairperson of our church's District Council (DC). Why such a random ambition? My dad was, at the time, the chairperson of the Limpopo (or Northern Transvaal) District Council. I wanted to be like him. So I had ambitions of being a pastor and a church leader.
Actually, I did become a leader of sorts, much sooner than I had imagined. I held a few leadership roles when I was a teenager, often chairing committees with members older than I was. Once, my old man told me to withdraw after I had been elected Secretary, in his absence, into a district committee of a "Fathers Fraternity". I was 16 years old.
I decided to go study at Wits, in Joburg. While there, I continued to attend a branch of our church. At the same time, I was also making inroads in the leadership structures of campus ministry. So on Sundays I would go to a branch of my childhood church in the mornings and in the evenings attend services of an independent campus ministry where I would later become a leader.
After the Lagos tragedy, some friends asked me privately what my thoughts were of what had happened at that church, particularly how the church and its leader had dealt with the incident. I made my feelings known, but I chose to keep quiet from airing them publicly mainly because I felt my questioning them would be somewhat insensitive, especially because many families were still traumatized. I believe many still are.
The popular refrain among fellow Christians is that we should not question "men of God". A more popular one is “touch not the anointed of the Lord”. Fortunately, where I come from, no church leader is above reproach. And such leaders are certainly not above answering questions. Most concerning, in this case, is the absolute refusal to account to public authorities by TB Joshua. That's a very bad trend and one that must be challenged. It is doing us no favours as Christians.
I think it was Archbishop Tutu who said that "truth cannot suffer from being challenged and examined". Truth can defend itself. I wish many a church leader would embrace this.
When a leader starts displaying attributes of seeming to be above the law of the country, and acting with impunity, we should all be worried. And my Christian upbringing tells me that higher standards of leadership should be expected from any Christian leader.
Someone asked me if I myself am a good person, when I made a statement that TB Joshua wasn't one. The truth is that I am no angel myself, to put it mildly. I failed many, many times as a leader. I made huge blunders that I am just fortunate didn't make "front pages" of Facebook. At least not yet. But if they ever do, I hope I will have the grace to own up and account to those who love me or have any interest in what I do.
I think it's time I said something about my comments about TB Joshua late last week.
In September this year, South Africa, Nigeria, and the world watched in horror as images started trickling out showing the guest house of the Synagogue Church of All Nations crumbling down. A total of 115 (or 116 depending on your source) died in that building collapse. 84 of those people were South Africans.
It was Friday the12th September when that tragedy happened. Many of us only got to know about it the following week. It is widely reported that the leader of that church, TB Joshua, and his officials tried to play down the collapse of the building saying that only a few people had been injured, and that his own personnel were engaged in efforts, by their own means, to rescue the "injured". I say "injured" because a few days after that building collapsed, we got to learn that the building collapse was much, much worse than the public had been made to believe. Scores of people, loved by their families, had lost their lives. It is also reported, very widely, that church officials refused assistance from external agencies.
The way in which TB Joshua and his church dealt with this tragedy was distasteful, to say the least. I, a Christian, watched, read and listened in in dismay at how the church leader (TB Joshua) was responding to this tragedy. It had suddenly become all about HIM. It was an "attempted attack on HIM by a plane" that had been seen hovering above some time before the building collapsed, he claimed. Secondly, a claim was made that an explosion had been heard. That explosion also "caused" the collapse. Boko Haram (the notorious terrorist group) was also thrown into the mix.
Many of us, Christians, kept quiet, at least publicly, throughout this ordeal. Some of us chose the easier route. We directed our anger toward the Nigerian government who were perceived as stalling efforts of repatriating the mortal remains of those that had perished in that building collapse back to South Africa.
Meanwhile, serious public questions were being asked about what might have caused the collapse. Building experts, quickly rebuffed the explanation of Joshua about the aerial attack by the plane. The explosion theory was also disregarded by experts. It then emerged that at the time of the fatal collapse the building was actually in the process of being extended - additional floors were being added to the existing multi-storey building. Furthermore, it was also reported that municipal approval had not been received by the church to make these modifications to the existing building.
Many of us remained quiet.
Finally, an inquest was opened by the Nigerian authorities. The government wanted to get to the reasons why the building collapsed. In efforts to get answers from ALL stakeholders, a summons was also issued to TB Joshua to appear in court, or whatever seating that was. A second was issued, and again, TB Joshua failed to appear. His reason this time (Thursday last week) - he says he didn't receive the summons. ANOTHER summons was yet again issued for him to appear at the inquest the following day, Friday 21st November. This time his lawyers acknowledged that they had indeed receive this particular summons. BUT, they are going to challenge it. Why? "No, it is not appropriate for TB Joshua to go and give whatever testimony is required of him". Why? “No, TB Joshua is still grieving the loss of life”.
Let me park that for now.
I was raised in the church. And I truly love the church. When I was about 8 or 9, a young pastor from the Eastern Cape visited our church in Makwarela, Venda. His name was Pastor Vuyani Sam. I loved Pastor Sam. He left a lasting impression on me. Pastor Sam testified of how he gave his life to The Lord when he was just 10. When I was 9, I gave my life to The Lord. I had beaten Pastor Sam's record. Pastor Sam has since passed on.
Because my father is a pastor and church leader, we saw many, many pastors at our home. One particular pastor, whenever he meets me, still reminds me of a time when he visited our home and asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I confidently told him that I was going to be the chairperson of our church's District Council (DC). Why such a random ambition? My dad was, at the time, the chairperson of the Limpopo (or Northern Transvaal) District Council. I wanted to be like him. So I had ambitions of being a pastor and a church leader.
Actually, I did become a leader of sorts, much sooner than I had imagined. I held a few leadership roles when I was a teenager, often chairing committees with members older than I was. Once, my old man told me to withdraw after I had been elected Secretary, in his absence, into a district committee of a "Fathers Fraternity". I was 16 years old.
I decided to go study at Wits, in Joburg. While there, I continued to attend a branch of our church. At the same time, I was also making inroads in the leadership structures of campus ministry. So on Sundays I would go to a branch of my childhood church in the mornings and in the evenings attend services of an independent campus ministry where I would later become a leader.
After the Lagos tragedy, some friends asked me privately what my thoughts were of what had happened at that church, particularly how the church and its leader had dealt with the incident. I made my feelings known, but I chose to keep quiet from airing them publicly mainly because I felt my questioning them would be somewhat insensitive, especially because many families were still traumatized. I believe many still are.
The popular refrain among fellow Christians is that we should not question "men of God". A more popular one is “touch not the anointed of the Lord”. Fortunately, where I come from, no church leader is above reproach. And such leaders are certainly not above answering questions. Most concerning, in this case, is the absolute refusal to account to public authorities by TB Joshua. That's a very bad trend and one that must be challenged. It is doing us no favours as Christians.
I think it was Archbishop Tutu who said that "truth cannot suffer from being challenged and examined". Truth can defend itself. I wish many a church leader would embrace this.
When a leader starts displaying attributes of seeming to be above the law of the country, and acting with impunity, we should all be worried. And my Christian upbringing tells me that higher standards of leadership should be expected from any Christian leader.
Someone asked me if I myself am a good person, when I made a statement that TB Joshua wasn't one. The truth is that I am no angel myself, to put it mildly. I failed many, many times as a leader. I made huge blunders that I am just fortunate didn't make "front pages" of Facebook. At least not yet. But if they ever do, I hope I will have the grace to own up and account to those who love me or have any interest in what I do.
www.truthmagsa.co.za
