By Rick Hiebert. All Rights Reserved. Used By Permissions
There was an interesting online column from London’s Daily Telegraph newspaper a few days ago, which reports that some newer churches in the London area have learned some of the wrong lessons from the North American church. Or, rather, I believe it should have reported that.
One of the newspaper’s online editors, Damian Thompson, who evidently does regular writing on religious issues, is dismayed by some of the things he is seeing about “London’s new churches”, which his headline describes as “dynamic, superstitious and obsessed with money”.
Three HIV-positive people, he notes have died after going to these churches, receiving prayer, and deciding to stop taking medications.
Good spotting on Mr. Thompson’s part. I’d agree it’s news. But I’d advise him to follow up as I wouldn’t agree with Thompson that this is due to a wave of “‘“pop-up” West African [immigrant] churches” in Britain , as dicey theological practice is found across racial boundaries. He goes on to write that these churches are “obsessed with money” and practice exorcisms.
Why isn’t this a story, he asks, attributing the lack of coverage to political correctness.
Well, I’d agree that it is newsworthy that these mostly immigrant churches are picking up bad theology from those of us Christians, of all backgrounds, who are already in Britain and North America. But any sudden newsworthiness would be the fault of the Daily Telegraph’s–and other media outlets–in not reporting on the prosperity gospel and other developing theological faults when these issues began many years ago in the–shall we say “non-immigrant”–church.
If these ideas as widespread in the British church as a whole, that would be even more of a news story and Thompson would be more justified in a raising a concern about it.
He doesn’t want to “caricature the faith of West African Christians”, but I find it passing strange that he is unable to refer to other British Christians, in that huge country, who believe the same thing. Or that he is seemingly unable to trace the bad ideas that are espoused by these congregations to where they found them. [Read, North America]
Foolishness comes in all colours. Pity that Mr. Thompson missed that. A reporting sin of omission?
If I recall correctly, there is a bigger Word of Faith-style component in developing-world Pentecostals than in the US. While there are few denominations that are fully in that world-view in the US, quite a few African and South American WoF denominations are forces to be reckoned with.
I have seen that story elsewhere about the faith-healing deaths, but it may be that the women in question went to African-centric churches rather than ones planted from North American churches.