The Pentecostal Task Force

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 Initially, I thought I'd explain my post yesterday. 

"Embrace the Pandemonium" 

But, instead, I thought I'd show you what that means by moving on to something entirely. 

Pentecostal Churches. As a former Pentecostal, turned Baptist turned Agnostic, I have mixed feelings about Pentecostal churches. 

On the one hand, a Pentecostal church deepened my relationship with God. The church's emphasis on engaging with God constantly, intentionally and dynamically helped me build a relationship with God that continues to this day; albeit in a different form. The idea that it is my responsibility to establish a personal relationship with God forced me to engage with her on my terms. It forced me to reevaluate how my relationships reinforce or distract from my faith and be intentional about the relationships I pursue. Also, Pentecostal churches were entertaining. It didn't feel like going to church. It felt like brunch with you and your 700 closest friends.

On the other hand, I find the manifestation of the Pentecostal faith to be, primarily, performative and misaligned with the Gospel. Such that the strength of your relationship with God is judged, externally, by the works of your hand. Can you speak in tongues? Can you heal the sick, the lame, the injured? Do you have the gift of prophecy? Can you cast demons out? I never could and to be honest with you, these weren't the gifts of the Holy Spirit I wanted. I didn't want to speak in tongues, heal the sick or predict the future. I just wanted to love like Jesus could. This was the gift I wanted; a gift I found easier to access, rather ironically, once I left the faith entirely.

I was also deeply uncomfortable by how wealth came to become a by-product of the Holy Spirit. While Churches all over are struggling to clarify and demarcate their relationship to and with wealth, Pentecostal churches are known for proclaiming the prosperity Gospel. This is not only the idea that wealth is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, but that the inverse holds true. If you are poor, then you are not blessed by Holy Spirit. This logic is disgusting. It conflates the wages of sin, with the realities of poverty thus condemning an entire group of people for a condition that is not their fault. It reduces God to Santa Claus; existing only to gift you material pleasure rather than spiritual fulfilment. 

Finally, we cannot ignore the fact that the entertainment value of the church could leave the congregation vulnerable to a manipulative leader. Leaders like Paster Mackenzie of the Shakhola Cult, in Kilifi. 

So when President Ruto announced a task force to investigate the theology and reality of Pentecostal Churches in Kenya, I was happy. Even though Ruto had spent the last two years legitimising these churches and courting the political base they represented, he was finally stepping up. He was doing the bare minimum to investigate why the Pentecostal faith lends itself to scandal and harm in this country? And identify the steps the Government can take to remedy this situation. 

But is the task force the right move? Especially one constituted without representatives from umbrella organisations representing the Pentecostal and Charismatic churches? (although I also believe that, by virtue of how these churches have perverted the faith and abused their congregates, they have lost the right to be represented in a committee designed to evaluate their actions). 

What kind of change is the President hoping to enact? We know that the Task Force was created to "[identify] gaps that have allowed extremist religious organisations to set up shop in Kenya, as well as [formulate] a legal framework preventing radical religious entities from operating locally." But what if the law isn't the solution here? In Shakhola, the community raised alarm bells frequently. They reported their concerns to the relevant authorities and were dismissed. So what if this isn't a problem of law, but of implementation? Will the recommendations the task force present address the conditions that make people susceptible to the worst aspects of Pentecostalism? To extremist religious philosophy in general? Will it recommend socioeconomic changes that empower people with the capacity to enact their critical thinking skills? 

Or is the President merely hoping to buy himself some time with this task force? To appease a country horrified by the acts of these churches, while providing some sort of cover to a core part of his political base? 

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