Founder of Eastwood Anaba Ministries, Reverend Eastwood Anaba has bemoaned the dominance of entertainment in churches, stressing that it has swayed Christians away from the primary purpose of worship.
In a viral sermon video, Rev. Anaba emphasized that entertainment has now become the “oxygen of churches” and if taken away some churches will collapse.
“When you go to these our churches, sometimes I just imagine. If there is no drum, there is no organist, there is no guitarist, and you take away all the music and the entertainment, many of our churches will die. It will be like the oxygen support has been remove and that is because the entertainment in our churches I think it is too much,” he said.
The pastor continued to highlight instances where he witnessed more focus on entertainment in some churches.
The renowned pastor recounted situations where invited ministers spend over two hours at conventions surrounded by “one song after the other, one dance after the other, choreography, and somersaulting.”
According to him, the church is for signs and wonders, healings and spiritual dealings. Comparing some secular establishments to the church, he humorously remarked how focused they are on their purpose.
“I’ve never entered a ‘chop bar’ and they said ‘praise and worship’ before the food was brought. They know exactly why they exist so as soon as you sit down, they come to you with a menu. They want to know what you want to eat because the purpose there is eating.”
He urged Christians not to neglect the work of the Lord in exchange for entertainment and quoted biblical verses, cautioning against neglecting “the work of the Lord” in favor of extravagant entertainment.
The pastor concluded by challenging his fellow clergy, asking, “How many pastors walk into church on Sunday with the aim that if there is a leper in my church, he should be cleansed? If a dead person is there, he should be raised? If there is a cripple, the person should walk?”
The pastor while acknowledging that entertainment is accepted in churches, he believes churches are rather being more reliant on it than God’s purpose.
