The Journal of Applied Christian Leadership
By Kelvin Onongha
September 1st, 2014
This is an excerpt of the paper “ Corruption, Culture, and Conversion: The Role of the Church in Correcting a Global Concern”,
Although the church is meant to be God’s representative on earth, its history, regrettably, has not been entirely free from corruption. Each time leaders have focused more on earthly things than on god, the result has always been tragic.
Debauchery and depravity of the vilest forms plagued the medieval church every time it was closely allied to the state or drew its authority from humans rather than god.
During such dark periods of ecclesiastical history, revival would begin at the fringes, led by men and women who drew inspiration from the Word of God and were empowered by prayer.
Indeed, ecclesiastical corruption formed the background for the Protestant reformation spearheaded by Martin Luther (Robert, 2009, p. 33).
… ecclesiastical corruption formed the background for the Protestant reformation spearheaded by Martin Luther (Robert, 2009, p. 33).
The Protestant work ethic is considered to be the primary reason Western nations today are industrialized and have low levels of corruption. This strong religious component, which has become a cultural element for Western nations, is a by-product of the reformation era.
The aforementioned British high estimation for procedure more than authority is understandable, seeing that the country was the birthplace of Methodism, a denomination that emerged with a high regard for procedure.
The Protestant work ethic is considered to be the primary reason Western nations today are industrialized and have low levels of corruption.
Protestant missions were also instrumental in eliminating the once-lucrative trans-Atlantic slave trade by replacing it with other forms of commerce and establishing technical and industrial schools where skills and techniques could be learned to provide a livelihood. Unfortunately, one of the unintended consequences of christian missions was secularization and consumerism (Bonk, 1991, p. 27).
The result of this, coupled with the debilitating effects of colonialism, laid the foundation for the large-scale corruption that followed countries that gained their independence from the colonialists.
Because of the debilitating effects of corruption (such as poverty and theft of the funds that could be used in plague prevention and famine relief), churches need to be at the forefront of advocating against corruption and developing models and structures to combat it (Stuckelberger, 2010, p. 7).
