Abuse of Church members: We are all guilty- Pastor Sunday Adelaja

Pastor of the Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations,, Sunday Adelaja has said many pastors including himself are guilty of abuse of church members one time or the other.

He however urged all pastors who abuse their members to repent.

Adelaja made his views known in an online video tagged, How Deeper Life Bible Church abuses its members posted today February 5

He said the abuse system in the church especially in Africa is a common thing.

According to him, a number of pastors abuse their members because that was the way they too were brought up.

“In many instances pastors who abuse their members are not doing so because they set out to do so. But they are doing so because that is the way they were brought up.”

Adelaja then informed that God has used him to plant over 2700 churches across the world. He stated that from his experience over the years, one of the signs of abuse in a church is the inability of members to question church authority.

“The first sign you are under an abusive system is that the church does not entertain questions. If you can’t question a church doctrine and you’re just told to obey what you’re asked to do, then be sure you are under an abusive system.”

Abuse: We are all guilty

He explained further that “this message is not for some pastors but for all pastors including myself. Most of us have participated in inflicting abuse on others because we have listened to and worked with people who abused us. We are all to blame. When it comes to abuse many church members have been damaged. We even abuse our children by not allowing them to express themselves at home. A person who has been abused will abuse others.”

Adelaja said further that most pastors were trained under abusive atmosphere. “Any system that compels you to do things that is not your natural choice is an abusive system. When religion compels you to adopt a certain lifestyle that is not what comes out of your mind, it is an abusive system.”

Citing the example of Deeper Life Bible Church, he said many young men and women have had delayed marriages and issues in their marriages because of the legalistic system being run by the church when it comes to marriage.

“That is why in that church there are a lot of single sisters who are old and yet to marry. But then it is not only in Deeper Life there are many other churches where the abusive systems affect the growth and aspirations of members.”

He noted that the founder of the Deeper Life Bible Church had set out to correct some of the abusive doctrines of the church. “Pastor Kumuyi was asked in an interview about the Church’s marriage system at a time, he said the church did what it did in the past because that was what he knew then. So, we may not necessarily blame Pastor Kumuyi for the abusive system then because it was the knowledge available to him then that was in operation in the church.”

Adelaja is more temperate in this video unlike other videos where he throws caustic jibes at pastors.

He said “many pastors have allowed themselves to be used to collect money from members forcefully. Some pastors abuse members’ time by insisting they should come to church every day. These are all abusive systems that should be discouraged.

“People have had to put up with wounds and damages resulting from abuse from their pastors. The deliverance process in many churches sometimes are abusive. There is need for us to repent from being abusive.” He said.