the transactional church

You get what you pay for. Those who give more money to the church are quickly identified and reserved a seat close to the man of cloth. They become instant friends and earn a name among the brethren: they are soon made the elders, the head of departments and from time to time in the pastor's sermon, they get their names mentioned as a token of appreciation.

If you are poor, never mind, no one cares. The ushers see you and quietly show you a seat at the back. You are not qualified enough to partake of the sweet fellowship which only some few enlightened folks have worked so hard to attain. Woe unto you if calamity befalls you. I have personally witnessed, a 'poor man' loose his father and a 'rich man' loose her mother in the same church almost the same timing. There was a huge contrast to the response of the church to the two cases. A large delegation went to the 'rich' man's home for burial and only one person (who is not even well known) was sent to the 'poor' man's home for the burial. Lets not talk about the money that was given ( I honestly do not know).

James 2: 1 - 4
My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

Let me tell a story I encountered. It was after my 2nd year in college and during my long break, I got an internship in the capital of Kenya, Nairobi. I was residing at my Aunt's place and as a means of saving transport costs, I had to wake up early. That is how I found my way into a church located along Kenyatta Avenue ( I am not sure if it still exists now). It was a good thought, since I had a lot of time before the offices opened. Why not pray! Each morning there were a handful of us zealous to know God more and at least have some time (the elusive time from our schedules) of fellowship. It was not long, however, before I was conscious of how we were coerced to give money. I remember the preacher would ask us to remove our wallets and lift them up high to God before giving, so that he (the preacher) can bless our economy. 

We were told to repeat after the man of God and the prayer will be something like this: ".....Thank you Jesus (repeat).... Father we are lifting our economy to you... (repeat).... as I give the best note in my wallet now (repeat) ..... bless me Lord (repeat)...."

Right there in his prayers (ooohh, wait a minute, in my prayer because I said the prayer when repeating after the man of God) I made a pledge to God. I had just told God I was giving the best note in my wallet. So there was no room for giving my little coins that the matatu guy had given me as change. I was in an unpaid attachment. My auntie had given me the money for transport and lunch. I had all the money for the week in my wallet. There was a 1,000 Sh. note and few hundreds. 

It was time to give and it was expected from me that I give the 1,000 Sh. note. Nobody else knew about my thoughts, but I was stumbling right there in the fallacy and on a foolish pledge I had made. Yet I tend to think that when they stand in the pulpit and in their position, they exactly know what they are doing. They know the guilt will eat you up. They do not care, so long as their basket is full. Eventually, I had to stop going there as I had no enough money to keep pledging in my prayer every morning. I chose to sit in a city council bench and say my silent prayer with peace. What happened to ---" My house will be called a house of prayer"

In our churches today, they insist that the way to activate the Word of God in your life is by sowing what they call seed in the altar as the man of the cloth is on fire saying it. "Don't let that moment pass you!" when you hear a part that is interesting to you, get up, sow a seed and that word will be real in your life. You will tap into his anointing, they claim. What happened to faith?

Maybe the bible did not tell us how much the woman with the issue of blood had paid for her miracle! For her suffering was great and shameful for 12 years! What has happened to the free gifts of God. 

Acts 8:18-21
Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this authority and power too, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your money be destroyed along with you, because you thought you could buy the [free] gift of God with money! You have no part or share in this matter, because your heart (motive, purpose) is not right before God.

The man of cloth received freely from God the anointing to preach, teach and share the Gospel. What has made it necessary that we should give our money to hear from him? Even he who leads the praise and the other one who leads the worship, they need to be paid first before they can sing in the house of God!

If you give your money and pray less, it is deemed okay. In the eyes of the transactional church, your money has covered for your other short comings.

Luke 21: 1 - 4
As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.  He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.  "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." 

Our men of cloth despise your 50 bobs openly. They have rejected them already before even God had a chance to either accept or reject them! What if the 50 bob was all that I had? All my possessions.

I was in church one day. After preaching, the man of God said, " If you have this much money (deliberately omitted the amount) and would like to give, please stand, I would like to pray with you". Since it was so much money, more than half the church was seated. I cannot tell what went through their mind, but I can tell my thoughts.... 

I felt locked out from worshiping God just because I did not have a certain amount of money. I felt my God had suddenly become special and so far away. I could not reach Him because there was a certain amount I did not have. I wondered why He had a special anointing for those who have certain amount of money.  Then I quickly remembered He is not so. All He desires is a willing heart not a transactional heart.

Exodus 35:29
All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord freewill offerings for all the work the Lord through Moses had commanded them to do.

2 Corinthians 8:12
For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.

Even in the old testament, God had room for everyone. The one who has a bull, a sheep or goat, even a dove or pigeon.

Leviticus 1:14
If the offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, you are to offer a dove or a young pigeon.

Leviticus 14:21-22
“If, however, they are poor and cannot afford these, they must take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved to make atonement for them, together with a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, a log of oil, and two doves or two young pigeons, such as they can afford, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.

1 Chronicles 29: 8 - 9
Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly.

You may be having a share of your experiences as well. You may not agree with me wholly or partially. I am just sharing my concerns that the church has become a place of money transactions. The money factor is driving many of the churches and there is great danger in this fallacy. 
I am conscious to the fact that some may label me as critical but I am not opposed to giving money to the church or to the man of the cloth. However, we must do it scripturally.

May God help us to escape the spirit of deception.