11 Jun 2015

In her seminal account tracing the gestation of the Bible, one of the world’s foremost commentators on religious affairs, Karen Armstrong, posits that human beings as meaning-seeking creatures, very easily fall into despair unless they find some pattern or significance in their lives.

Then you ask, are we in such a conundrum that as Batswana we no longer find meaning or our lives are devoid of any significance that we find ourselves a lots generation whose moral fiber is as well as dead than weak?

There is a school of thought led by traditionalists that advocates a U-turn to what they term as culture and tradition to reclaim those aspects and values that made us a nation called Botswana founded on the pillar of “Botho”.

But then, there is another school of thought led by the church that finds recourse in the Bible. While traditionalists seem to be losing or have lost ground, the church appears to have increasingly gained currency but at the same time found wanting and in need of “salvation” itself.

The church in its current state, many contend, is not only defiled and a shipwreck but is itself in dire need of a complete makeover to win back the nation’s trust.

A certain section of society is fast losing faith in men of the cloth as they get implicated in ungodly acts, perhaps a vindication of the word of God that suave men professing God will infiltrate the church and rob the body of Christ of its hard earned belongings.

These wolves, masquerading as shepherds of the sheep, are implicated in money laundering, sexual perversion and other social ills.  Consequently, the school of thought that has put the church under the spotlight posits that the church in its current state is not a safe sanctuary.

On the contrary, Evangelist Amogelang Keitumetse of St Andrews Apostolic Church in Zion in Kanye is ironclad that despite the situation, all is not lost.

“Despite a few so-called pastors who have blemished the good name of the church, we still have committed servants of God who have surrendered to the high calling from above and not personal enrichment,” he reckons.

These men and women, he says, know very well that it is not about them but God who called them to look after God’s people. Keitumetse notes that as bonafide ministers of God their primary duty is to shape the morals of individuals and build a holistic body of spirit and soul as per the dictates of the scripture.

He attributes the greed of some so-called pastors to a deep-seated love for money besides lack of foresights. Ministers, according, to Keitumetse have no business in the administration of the church.

The place of a minister, he reckons, is spiritual nourishment of the congregants through ministration of the word of God while the executive committee of the church bears responsibility to administrate.

Interestingly, Keitumetse welcomes government intervention to promulgate laws that regulate registration of churches. He believes the move will help curtail “thievery” whereby some unscrupulous individuals set up churches to line up their pockets.

Ironically, a beneficiary of the old system having defected from New Jerusalem Apostolic Church in Zion to form his own following squabbles in 2011, Keitumetse is hopeful the 150 threshold will curb mushrooming of bogus churches.

The church through the Ministers’ Fraternal, says Keitumetse is working with government to ensure Batswana are not swindled by these “magicians” claiming to possess divine power. It takes a credible church, he says, to raise a morally upright nation.  ENDS