ctmi concerned parents

One of the largest religious institutions is being vilified by the world for tolerating systematic abuse of children under its care. Another is tying itself into knots trying to pretend that homosexual bishops are somehow Biblical. Major “celebrity” pastors, with worldwide ministries, get divorced and continue in the ministry as if nothing has happened. Closer to home one of the country’s most prominent pastors announces his divorce – for the second time!

Elsewhere, out of the limelight, but certainly affecting more Christians than all the news-generating events mentioned above, churchgoers are being duped by a dubious message of prosperity, in which it seems only the pastor and a few close acolytes actually become prosperous. Finally, one only has to travel to a few capital cities in Africa (for example), or to watch Christian TV, to see other strange doctrines like those requiring people vomit who-knows-what into buckets at public deliverance sessions.

Daily, one hears of the weirdest and most bizarre things being preached in churches all over the world. No denomination, no grouping, no nation or culture seems to have been spared. What you see in Florida can be seen in Rio, in Nairobi, in Mumbai and in Sydney. This appears to be a bleak time indeed for the Church. What can its witness be to a sceptical world, which the Western Press has already described as the post-Christian age? Which parent bringing up children in these days could fail not to be concerned by all this?

All of the above does not imply that everything is wrong with the Church, and that no good can be found. On the contrary, let us be grateful that there are also millions of brothers and sisters faithfully serving the Lord with all their heart in the place that He has called them. Many of the world’s widows and orphans, the hungry, the poor, the sick, the dying, children with little hope of an education and a better life are eternally grateful for what Christian organisations, staffed by committed believers in Jesus Christ, have done for them.

By comparison to the numerous large ministries and huge relief organisations operating in the world today, CTMI would have to be described as a tiny ministry. Its peculiarity of working with churches and church leaders might even make it hard to define its role in the Great Commission, as 21st century theologically trained Christian leaders might understand things. Nonetheless, it has been quietly going about its mission for a number of years now, mainly with churches in Africa.

While the ministry and its leaders, including Miki Hardy, have met with opposition in the past, this has always come from leaders of churches who have felt threatened by a message calling the Church, its leaders, and Christians to return to the preaching of the Cross. So, the self-righteous outrage being displayed by a small band of people in one suburb of Durban, and the lengths they appear willing to go to, is quite incomprehensible.

At some point, they have appointed themselves ‘guardians’; complete with logo, vision, and mission statement, to warn people about CTMI. Without meaning to throw doubts on their bona fides (good faith!), it would be interesting to know from whom did this calling to this particular field of ‘ministry’ come?

Whatever the case, we are all called to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that we will be called to account for what we have done while on earth.

With everything that is going on in the Church today, it might be interesting to listen in on a conversation on Judgement Day which begins like this: “Well, Lord, we had these concerns about CTMI, so we set up a ‘concerned parents group’; we created a website, invited everyone with any complaint about them to join; we decided that every outrageous story we heard must be true, we listened to everyone, even those with no credibility, we did a careful analysis, and…”

The (Un)Concerned Parent