The kind of gospel that our churches are preaching are sometimes not powerful enough to change the very street where these churches are located, talk less of the nation where they are. We are not even going to throw the challenge of changing a whole generation before the modern day church. This generation of believers don’t even know what that means
By Sunday Adelaja
Max Weber is a German sociologist, economist and politician. In the year 1904/1905, he wrote a series of essays about the evolution of capitalism in Northern and Central Europe. These series of essays were later to become the widely read book called The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.
The book is now regarded as one of the most fundamental political science books on the formation of capitalism in Europe. In 1998, the International Sociological Association listed this book as the fourth most influential book of the 20th century. The central topic of the book is the role Protestants played in forming the new economy of the old world.
According to Mr Weber, the Industrial Revolution that gave birth to the new economy in Europe and eventually to our modern civilisation, was a result of the teachings of the European Protestants.
Weber believed that when the Protestant ethic influenced large numbers of people to engage in work in the secular world, in enterprises, in trade, in savings, in investments, these gave birth to the new world economy that is largely known as capitalism. It is upon this economy that our modern world stands.
“All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.” – Calvin Coolidge.
Social scientists don’t doubt the fact that the European civilisation, which the whole world enjoys today, was as a result of the direct teachings of the Protestants.
The need to write this article about the Protestant ethic and the role this played in the history of our civilisation, becomes more and more apparent to me, as I look around the world and see the kind of messages that are been preached by our modern day Protestant Christians (Baptist, Pentecostals, Charismatics, etc.).
“In all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility.” – Titus 2:7.
If the teachings of the early Christians changed Rome and the entire Roman Empire, we can’t point to any great change that the teachings coming from our pulpits today are producing upon our world in general. If the teachings of the Protestants in Europe gave birth to the Protestant ethic and the modern civilisation, it becomes alarming that most of our charismatic teachings today mainly concentrate on individual aggrandisement.
The kind of gospel that our churches are preaching are sometimes not powerful enough to change the very street where these churches are located, talk less of the nation where they are. We are not even going to throw the challenge of changing a whole generation before the modern day church. This generation of believers don’t even know what that means.
The most revolutionary aspect of these teachings, however, was how the Protestants began to look for ways and means to serve God better through inventions, discoveries, research, science, the setting up of factories, industries, etc. These led, at first, to about 90% of all inventions coming from the Protestant world. Up till recently, 75% of all inventions from the time of the industrial revolution are credited to the countries where the Protestant ethic was taught.
The basic teachings of the Protestants were all about values, ethics and morals. The teachings affected the view of the populace to work. Through their teachings, they dignified even the most mundane of professions. According to them, any profession or work that adds to the common good of man must be respected and it is dignified. They taught people that every work is sacred, as long as the believer does it to the glory of the lord.
In their churches, the Protestants taught believers to go out of the four walls of the church to demonstrate their love for God by how they serve fellow humans. The emphasis of the churches were not in how much work or home keeping is done within the four walls of the church itself, they rather told the Protestants to go prove their love to God in their work places through the quality of their works.
It is believed that every work you do is unto the lord and your love for God must show in the quality of your products. This led to a drive in everybody to do their best and produce the best possible qualities. As a result, the products made were the best in the market. Eventually, they became the best in the world, bringing revolution to the European economy.
The most revolutionary aspect of these teachings, however, was how the Protestants began to look for ways and means to serve God better through inventions, discoveries, research, science, the setting up of factories, industries, etc. These led, at first, to about 90% of all inventions coming from the Protestant world. Up till recently, 75% of all inventions from the time of the industrial revolution are credited to the countries where the Protestant ethic was taught.
The dilemma of the European economy before the capitalist teachings was the fact that, when land owners employed labourers, they could not make these labourers give their best. The only incentive that was widely known and used was an increase in wages, thinking that when there occured, labourers would view their works as more valuable and therefore work longer and harder. However, in the real sense, the labourers often spent less time working and not as hard, because they reasoned that they were being paid as well anyway. They would rather go drinking and pursuing leisure.
It was this attitude that made Germany to be known then as a country of lazy drunks, who did not wish to work. But the Protestant teachings changed all that, because people viewed their work as a way of proving their love to God, hence they tried to do their best and give the best quality to God, by giving the best quality to man.
One major teaching of the Protestants that we the Protestants of today must go back to is, the fact that the European Protestants did not emphasise a fivefold ministry the way we do today. Today our teaching on the subject only tends to view those called to the fivefold ministry as those called to be ministers, while the rest of the congregation is just viewed as the laity who just go to secular jobs.
The way the early Protestants taught on the other hand is that everybody is a full time minister in their various places of work. They went to the extent of saying, your job, profession, occupation is your calling. So you’re actually fulfilling your calling by going to work and giving your best to it. Hence, the Protestants went to work not just for the money, but their biggest motivation for work was service to God and man. Not the interest in profits or making money.
The Protestants preached that faith is necessary to planning. They encouraged their members and followers to see into the invincible world. They taught their adherents to plan into the future and believe that they are able to bring to pass that which they have envisioned.
“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24
The Protestant believe in the higher power through the truth they derive from the word of God. They got to know the truth, and that truth set them free. Hence they took the truth to the society and set their whole generation free.
Just like today, the Protestants and their teachings had to fight with the prevalent order of the day which taught that:
Work is only for making profit.
Make money with minimum effort.
Work is a burden to be avoided.
The secular world of the time taught that you should do no more than what was enough for the good living.
As we can see from these points, the sinful nature of man is the same in every generation. Man naturally moves towards entropy. We are driven towards the carnal, mundane and mediocre. We need a higher power, force and truth to deliver us from this entropic movement to self-destruction and to pull us higher to greater values.
When work is viewed only as a source of economic gain, the centrality of work becomes self-indulgence, selfishness and egocentrism. There is a great advantage when work and economic gain is viewed from the perspective of moral and spiritual significance.
Another very important aspect of the Protestant teachings is that money is simply a byproduct, a natural consequence, a compensation, and never the goal. The quality of goods and services are always viewed as more important than the compensation. If I do my best and produce the best products, that is my purpose, then I shall definitely be compensated. The byproduct will come when the product is good.
I think it would be interesting for us to know from what perspective the Protestants preached faith. They preached faith not as a means of personal gain or profit. The Protestants preached that through faith we can endure.
For example I need faith to keep on working on my product. I need faith to give my best. I need faith to endure the process of production. I need faith to persevere. I need faith to pay the price of self-denial, of sacrifice, of repetition. I need faith to keep myself encouraged, while I go through the hardship of labour.
The Protestants preached that faith is necessary to planning. They encouraged their members and followers to see into the invincible world. They taught their adherents to plan into the future and believe that they are able to bring to pass that which they have envisioned.
Sunday Adelaja is a Nigeria born leader, transformation strategist, pastor and innovator. He was based in Kiev, Ukraine.
