Pentecostalism and Corporate Social Responsibility: A Study of the Redeemed Christian Church of God

Abstract

Pentecostalism is an aspect of Christianity that places special emphasis on baptism of the Holy Spirit and personal experience of salvation. Until recently, its adherents were pre-occupied with church growth and gospel of materialism. Little attention was devoted to Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR). This constitutes a problem because it does not conform to the teachings of the Bible. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to investigate the role of Pentecostal churches in Corporate Social Responsibility using the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) as a reference point. The objectives are to examine her socio-economic activities, community development programmes, and women empowerment schemes. The study utilized primary and secondary sources of information using the analytical method of interpretation. It draws on the insight of Weber’s theory on the spirit of capitalism and Durkheim’s sociology and functionalism of religions in analyzing the Movement’s capitalist tendencies as a force in community development. The study established that RCCG is aggressively involved in Corporate Social Responsibility with activities such as community health care, education, construction of roads, housing, digging of bore-holes, computer training, and rehabilitation programmes. It recommends that the church should maintain a balance between spiritual and circular activities.