I find it hard to disagree with his criticism: “The way things are now in America, the way we do church is kind of like a program… We are doing church as a club. We are trying to make people feel good, to entertain them, or try to keep them. So because of that concern – we don’t want them to go or to lose them – we kind of try to suit them. …[He] also diagnosed American Christians as egocentric and said that they need to be taught that the focus of their life is not themselves, but God.”

I just have to note that I do not endorse this man or his ministry. I have never heard of him before, but I find what he says in this article to be quite relevant. I am wary, however, because I have not examined his ‘doctrine’… and on his Web site, he appears in photos with Paul Crouch and T.D. Jakes, two men who seem to fit exactly what he says is ‘wrong’ with American churches. He may just be doing some hypocritical posturing, as I also came across a ‘damning’ article about him from the Telegraph, which I discuss after the excerpt…

The pastor of Europe’s largest evangelical church gave advice on how to revive Christianity and the Church in the United States Tuesday evening during a Q&A session based on questions submitted by American Christians.

Sunday Adelaja, founding pastor to the 30,000-member God’s Embassy Church in Kiev, Ukraine, was the featured guest of a teleconference hosted by Strang Communications, the publisher of Charisma and Ministry Today magazines.

God’s Embassy Church boasts more than two million converts and 600 church plants worldwide.

During the Q&A, Adelaja emphasized how the Church should not be pulpit-focused, but rather concentrate on how to reveal Jesus Christ to people if they want to experience growth.

The Nigerian-born Christian leader used his own church as example, saying that his church first experienced massive growth after four fruitless years when he started to go out and fed the poor and took care of the drug addicts and alcoholics in Ukraine.

He also encouraged every single church member to influence and impact the culture for God.

“Do not let your people get comfortable with sitting down in the pews,” Adelaja advised a pastor who submitted a question during the teleconference. “You have to literally push them out of the pews and strengthen them so they can go out there and invade the darkness of the world because they are the light of the world.

“You have to really keep on pushing them to believe in themselves that they can change the world for God.”

The influential European pastor said that the mayor of Kiev, the chief justice of Ukraine, and the prime minister of the country all come from his church.

Adelaja was also critical of U.S. churches, saying they were a “far cry” from real churches and that this generation of Americans have not seen the real church yet.

(Source)

And from this 2006 Telegraph story on Sunday Adelaja and how the 1,000-year-old Ukrainian Orthodox Church felt threatened by his movement:

“Our main problem is that Sunday Adeleja has created a personality cult around himself,” said Fr Evstratiy, a spokesman for the Kiev Patriarchate.

“Experts say he uses conscience manipulation techniques. He starts his sermons in a low, ingratiating voice, and gradually gets heated up to the point where he is running round the stage screaming.” At a recent service at a Kiev ice hockey stadium 14,000 people crammed in to experience the effect.

As “Pastor Sunday” prepared to make a grand entrance, the choirgirls shook their pompoms, the disco lights started to flash and a fanfare sounded. The lights cut out, and Mr. Adeleja emerged from a shroud of dry ice. Children holding flags of the world wafted round him and the choir bellowed “Sanctus!”

The congregation responded enthusiastically. Many danced in the aisles. With his eyes closed and brows furrowed in concentration, he raised his arms aloft. A hush fell over the audience.

“A man who is having problems functioning in his manly area, God is healing you,” he intoned. “Those who are having skin problems, God is healing you.”

On and on he droned, curing everything from buttock problems to bankruptcy. Some in the congregation wept, others bellowed hallelujahs. Ushers discreetly passed around collection boxes.

Maybe the writer was exaggerating, maybe not. Anyone know much about this man?

(Source)

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