True Prosperity: A Bible Study for the African Church
The message of the prosperity gospel is eagerly accepted in Africa. Africans are often ruled by their fears of the physical world and spiritual forces. They know sickness and death, lack and loss, and they have no power against these things. The prosperity gospel scams them with a chance for a better life. That chance is proved by the wealth of the prosperity teachers who get rich off the donations of the desperate. People give so that God will give back to them.
But we want to offer them a better hope, the better gospel. In True Prosperity, we offer thirty Bible study lessons that counter the prosperity gospel by presenting the biblical idea of flourishing. In the Bible we find that God planned for us to flourish from the very beginning, and though we suffer now, we will flourish again. The gospel of Jesus Christ tells us that we are already in the process of flourishing, but we can expect to flourish in full when Jesus returns.
So instead of putting our hope in the false teaching of the prosperity gospel, we’re eagerly awaiting Christ’s return. We’re waiting for God’s kingdom to be revealed on earth as it is in heaven. We’re waiting for our relationship with God to be fully restored. At that time, God will dwell among us again, and we will fully reflect his image throughout all of creation. We will truly flourish.