Should We Sing These Songs?
Considering Prosperity Gospel Hymnody, pt. 1
The numbers tell me that my recent newsletters have been too long. This next series will be made up of short issues based on my 2021 ETS presentation. (An academic version will appear in Healthy and Wealthy? A Biblical-Theological Response to the Prosperity Gospel, ed. Robert L. Plummer, expected August 2022.)
It’s the question I get asked about all the time. Ready? :)
Let’s consider the controversial relationship between evangelical churches and the songs associated with what is often called the prosperity gospel. Consider three questions:
Why do evangelical churches sing prosperity gospel songs?
Why do critics think evangelical churches should absolutely never sing songs from this movement?
How should we think about this?
Why Do Evangelical Churches Sing the Songs from the Prosperity Gospel Movement?
At first glance, it seems unlikely that these two groups would ever interact. What could the loose network of Pentecostal broadcasters and megachurches of the prosperity gospel have in common with the local churches who identify with the theological tradition of evangelicalism? They don't attend the same conferences or schools. So imagine my surprise when, despite the vanishingly small institutional overlap, Church Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) data shows many evangelical churches sing songs which originated within prosperity gospel organizations.
Why do evangelical churches sing songs from the prosperity gospel? In brief, because many of the same cultural values motivate and animate both prosperity gospel ideologies and evangelical churches. Let's consider this claim by tracing, first, the popularity (in this issue of the newsletter). Then, in our next newsletter issue, consider the history of the prosperity gospel before consolidating our findings by defining the prosperity gospel in four parts.
Popularity
As we discuss the shared values between evangelicalism and the prosperity gospel, we must observe how many people accept the beliefs of the prosperity gospel. A 2006 poll in Time magazine reported that 17 percent of adult U.S. Christians identified themselves as part of the prosperity gospel movement. Beyond self-identification, 31 percent of Christians agreed with the statement “God increases the riches of those who give.” An even higher percentage, two-thirds of Christians surveyed, agreed that “God wants people to prosper.” In a different 2008 survey, the Pew Charitable Trust reported 43 percent of Christians surveyed agreed, “the faithful receive health and wealth.” The same survey found that 75 percent of Latino believers across all Christian denominations agreed, “God will grant financial success and good health to all believers who have enough faith.” (Cited in Bowler, Blessed, 6.)
Hopefully, this addresses a common criticism of prosperity gospel songs—that these songs are a sinister attempt to try to pull people (especially young people) from evangelical churches and relocate them into the prosperity gospel. These surveys indicate a different narrative: churches hold many people who already believe core tenets of the prosperity gospel.
These contemporary songs are too recent to explain the pervasive nature of these doctrines in North American Christianity, including American evangelicalism. We need older answers. How did it get this way?
In next week’s issue of the newsletter, I will discuss two forces that combined to form the Prosperity Gospel. From there, we will consider criticisms about why our churches should not sing these songs. And, in two weeks, we will be ready to think through how my church (and yours) should consider these questions. See you then!