Nigerian pastor and founder of Wonder Chapel, Bayo Oluwayemi, has stated reasons pastors, not gospel singers, should be blamed for charging churches and commercialising ministration.
In a recent YouTube video, the clergyman argued that it was pastors who introduced the culture of “packaging,” luxury, and performance in the church, saying gospel artistes are only following the example set before them.
He said, “One of the things trending in Christendom is word criticism against music and gospel ministers. But let’s be honest — the pastors started it. We are the source of everything; we are to be blamed. And the youths are now wise.”
He said pastors created an environment where wealth and status are flaunted, leading younger ministers, including gospel singers, to adopt similar approaches in order to survive.
“Let’s not deceive ourselves, what is meant for A is also meant for B,” he said. “A pastor that starts a church with branches, has a car, a house, a land — from where? Should the gospel minister just stay looking?”
He continued, “A pastor comes back from overseas and starts boasting saying, ‘When I travelled abroad, I was invited with one million dollars.’
“So when a music minister hears this and is invited, he would request a hundred thousand dollars, if he can’t request one million. We started this packaging together.”
The pastor also criticised the selective blame placed on gospel singers, urging critics to extend the same to other sectors within the church.
“Not only music ministers should be criticised. We should also criticise the comedians. We allowed comedians.
“We the charismatic destroyed the body of Christ.”
He added, “Where would a pastor called from Seraphim to another church charge a fee? They dare not, no matter how worded.
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“But the Pentecostal churches are the ones with packaging. They would have a P.A., protocol, driver.
“They’ve commercialised it. Some would even be greeted with flowers, the holder kneeling while we lay hands on them. They started it and it can’t be controlled.”
“The music ministers see us boasting and flashing wealth and they can’t just sit and stare! To tackle this, we must start from the pastors — they must go back to the source.
“It is the Pentecostal churches that invite pastors to raise offerings and then share it 60/40. The music ministers also see all this.”
He noted that music ministers have bands and team members who must be paid and they don’t have a fixed salary.
“Left for me, I won’t blame music ministers. Some have bands that must be paid. The drummers charge. The saxophonist charges. The MC charges. The guitar guy too. And the gospel minister doesn’t have a personal salary to pay them, he pays from what he receives.”
He also described how some ministers now make financial demands through personal assistants, request bank statements, and insist on deposits before showing up.
“Some ministers take it to the level where you will talk to their P.A. They will ask for your bank statement and even the pastor’s bank statement. If they bill you for 600,000 naira — just an assumption — you may be asked to pay 450,000 as a down payment, so immediately after the service, you pay the balance. Then you expect musicians to be watching?” he asked.
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