Justice

Salaries, Destiny and our own Vision?

By Ant / 14 March 2010

It would be hard to miss the media coverage of Destiny ‘church’ and issues concerning money right now. It seems it’s CEO is on more than $1 million a year. That’s a pretty impressive income for a church leader, unless of course you are in America, where it’s still impressive but also a little more common. Of course, his income is entirely within the vision of Destiny – after all they proclaim a prosperity ‘gospel’ in which people believe they get wealthy because they are faithful.

Just because it’s common, doesn’t make it acceptable – especially in an organization that is intended to exist to proclaim and live out an alternative social reality. In my New Testament Jesus can’t be found asking for a speaking fee, nor piling up wealth and treasures for himself – in fact the opposite is true in his practice and his teaching, and that’s what he asks us to do when he says ‘follow me’.

So it seems that we now have a clearer understanding of the difference between a cult or a sect and a church, right? Destiny is many things, but it is not a church.

And while that may be right, it doesn’t mean we can take the moral high ground too quickly though. In the Anglican Church Bishops may not receive $1 million salaries (although the running of the episcopate is by no means substantial, more money is probably wasted in overseas jaunts and such like), but the injustice of resource distribution creates huge inequalities. Some of those inequalities are most obvious in Tikanga Maori – but pouring more money in isn’t necessarily the solution that will work.

Without a vision the people perish – and from what I understand the biggest single thing absent in this church is a vision to which leadership are universally committed, and the strength not to succumb to ensuring one’s own personal survival at the expense of others.

Our church’s witness is forever constrained by the petty politics of self-agrandizement and self-protection in so many of those in whom responsibility and trust have been placed. Just because others do it doesn’t make it right, and we should be ashamed of what we have become.

We might do well to remove the log from our own eye before the speck from our neighbour’s.