Bishop Noel Jones Exposes Weaknesses of Prosperity Gospel

Once again, another prominent pastor confirms and supports what F. L. Anderson, author of "Clever Lies and Assumptions from the Pulpit to the Pews," states in his new book.

In a report published by Black Christian News Network, membership in African American congregations are up. However, while numbers are rising in the pews, numbers are decreasing in the offering plate. The article goes on to cite Bishop Noel Jones of the City of Refuge, a 17,000 member congregation in Los Angeles, CA, identifies several reason that could explain the rise and fall of church statistics.

According to Bishop Jones, “unbalanced teachings in the church are partially to blame for the crisis. We have endured 25 years of health, wealth and prosperity preaching and the prophet should have told us that we were going to be in this kind of situation and circumstance since they have such prophetic words," Jones said. "What happens is the church has capitalized the gospel and we have preached Americanism for gospel and ultimately we ended up crashing because there is no credulity and authenticity in the whole presentation."

He continues, "The only people who were making any real money were those who were expostulating the theology that left the psychology that debilitated the minds of those who were involved. The debilitation is that everybody expected to bring an offering in church and just get rich though nobody participated and partnered with God. Because at the end of the day, nobody receives a check in an envelope postmarked from heaven. It's your participation that makes it happen.... The ministry and the preachers have taken so much money from the church and lived lavish lifestyles. We need to put something back. We need to equip our people. As James puts it, very explicitly, 'Faith without works is dead.' We co-create, we perpetuate God's creation by functioning responsibly."

Bishop Jones said many Christians have basically lived on credit and owned nothing.

"So, what everybody was talking about as God's blessing was people living on credit. And the Bible says that the borrower is subject to the lender. So, Christian America simply joined the capitalistic bandwagon-- and in the name of God--articulated a theology that has no credulity."

To counteract the new pattern and reality that is taking place in the marketplace of ministry, one strategy is to position the church as a resource that people can use to battle their financial woes. In the case of Bishop Jones, he is doing business incubation-- a marketplace at which his congregation gathers every Sunday. There are 80 to 100 booths in which people present goods and services to the church and to the community. He says he finances some of the stronger business ideas and teaches management and budget skills to the owners, thereby recycling the money within the parameter of the church. He also holds "Urban Seminars" around the country, teaching fundraising/grant writing, financial reporting and compliance for organizations; prudent investing, corporate structuring and growth management.

"If you manage your money right, then everything else will be right" says Rev. Dr. Tecoy Porter, pastor of the 1000 member Genesis Church in Sacramento, CA.