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Jasmine Atieno @sparkleMine

The Bible, in so many chapters and verses, has highlighted how people are acceptable to God.

John 6:7 says “All that the Father gives me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” 

At least for Christians, a bigger result of coming to God includes the expected changes once you become a part of the church.

Social media accounts of some gospel artistes though speak otherwise. They are filled with extremely erotic videos and images, making it almost impossible to tell the difference between them and their secular counterparts.

Posing a question; are gospel artistes slowly marrying the world on social media? 

Nairobi-based Pastor David Ewagata says social media craze is partially to blame for pushing people to do things for views rather than for the ministry.

His advises that gospel ministers should be careful and watchful of their ways and understand why they are in the ministry in the first place.

Calm support

“People are trying to win, through creativity and all. They are pursuing ratings.

And while at it, they will do some things that are not as right as they are supposed to be.

As Christians, we need to separate the two. You need to identify the real truth why you are in the ministry in the first place.

It is important to tell whether you are deviating from your calling or it is just a stunt you are pulling.

But I have to say most of the time it is just for publicity,” he says.

As much as she has been in the ministry for years, Alice Kamande, an artiste says it is important for young gospel artistes to get both calm support and sense of direction rather than scrutiny and beating when they fall off from the truth.

“When someone does something, you have to ask yourself a question: how long have they known Christ?

If they are strong in the faith, then they should be aware of what they are doing.

But if they are young in the faith, then we constantly need to hold them up. Being an artiste and a Christian is not easy, especially when gospel artistes are a representation of Christianity, and when they act immorally, it looks like the whole fraternity is like that.

But then again, they get more rebellious because of how we treat them. It is important to pray for them and talk and guide them,” she says.

She also adds that churches need to embrace young people the way they are rather than throwing them away for looking outwards. 

“It is the work of the Holy Spirit to change people, the church needs to take care of their hearts,” says the musician. 

Founder at Blackstar Media Kenya, Kingwa Kamencu, breaks down the connection between art and religion.

She points out that  religion falls under art, where art is defined as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination”.

While religious followers may believe their religions came from ‘above’, all religions came from human beings, channeling spiritual messages and inclinations.

All Holy Books are works of literature, and understanding them in this manner is not a diminishing of their power or what they stand for because literature is an extremely powerful tool. 

In Kenya, while atheism has been growing little by little, Kenyans are still, for the most part, very religious.

And so the Church is important in and to their lives. Its importance lies not just in spiritual nourishment church teachings give, but also in social and economic support church goers find within the institution. 

“Christian religions teachings and laws are stricter than those of the secular world.

While these laws may have been set up to protect their followers, they inadvertently suppress their humanity and freedom of expression, especially in the sexual realm.

Set up more than 2,000 years ago, they do not take the realities of contemporary life into account, and hence give wide room to hypocrisy as church leaders followers will be driven by their instincts to do one thing in private, but preach the very opposite in public,” she shares. 

Appeal to customers 

She adds that sex and coolness sells, across all sectors, even where sex has nothing to do with the product, for example, putting beautiful girls next to cars for sale in advertisements.

In all visual advertising material, you will notice only beautiful and attractive people are used. 

“For gospel artistes to reach their fan bases and even win more followings, they also have to look cool, edgy and sexy.

As entertainers, they recognise they are brands and carry themselves in that manner.

From way back in the 90s with Kirk Franklin and Mary Mary in America, to pastors such as Joel Osteen and his wife, their image is very important. 

They put a huge premium on looking good. Also here in Kenya, maybe the best example would be Rev Natasha.

She recognises she is a brand and selling something and so she has to ‘broadcast’ it in a loud way so that followers can be drawn to it,” she says. 

She adds, “The link between art and religion is that religion is art and must be marketed in a way that is appealing to consumers.

Beauty , success and charisma, while appearing secular, are things all people strive for both within the church and outside.

So it would make sense for gospel artistes and even religious leaders to use these tools, to brand themselves in this manner, that they may draw more people towards them.”

Derek Bbanga, Communication and Emotional Intelligence Consultant, says the controversial gospel artistes have always and will always be there.

“It has been like this since I was in the US. There are always going to be artistes with whom people don’t agree. There will always be artistes lying between gospel and secular.

And today, there is only one way to appeal to younger demographics. Clout.

Well, the Bible outlines things one should and should not do as a believer, but using lyrics, clothes and images that are provocative will increase views and following and this is something that they all want,” says Derek.

So as much as gospel artistes are representatives of Christianity and the church, there are expectations of how they need to manifest this image, it is also time to accept that not all gospel artists are in it for the cause, some are in it for the clout, which sometimes is the source of income.