We Are the Problem!

I remember listening to a sermon back in medical school that left me unsettled. The preacher implied that being a doctor did not necessarily mean I was doing the Lord’s work, and that unless I was actively serving in church, I hadn’t truly found purpose.

This is not to say that serving in church is unimportant, and it certainly isn’t to suggest that our jobs should become excuses to neglect service. Rather, we are the church, and our light should shine through everything we do. Our work, when done with excellence and integrity, can be just as much an act of worship and a pointer towards eternity as a Sunday sermon.

The seven pillars of society, sometimes called spheres, mountains, or gates, represent the systems that shape culture. They include religion, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment and economy/business. The transformation of any nation depends on how these spheres are influenced and what we often fail to realize is how deeply interconnected they are.

A closer examination of the leaders we so admire in the Bible brings us to the realisation that God worked through them, using these systems as platforms. We see Joseph (the son of Jacob) and Esther in Government, Daniel was in Education, Joseph and Mary were a Family etc.

In many ancient societies, religion and culture served as the primary pillars, establishing moral codes, social order, and governance. Today, those same pillars are cracking, and we, the very people meant to uphold them, are part of the reason why.

An unintentional divide has formed between our faith and the other pillars shaping society, allowing the world to dominate these spaces.

The world is gradually making nought of the Family pillar, introducing concepts such as same-sex marriages and the church, which should be the light, is trying so hard to conform to these standards. Many believers have adopted an attitude of testing how close we can get to moral boundaries; testing the limits of compromise. The Church of England, for instance, voted in 2023 to allow clergy to offer blessings, thanksgivings, and dedications for same-sex couples. In 2024, the Lincoln Cathedral celebrated Pride by lighting up the building in rainbow colours. These actions contradict the very doctrines they claim to uphold—doctrines that clearly state marriage should be between a man and a woman.

In Government, the decisions made by our leaders have ripple effects that either strengthen or weaken the other pillars. In Great Britain, for example, street pastors have been arrested for exercising their freedom of speech by preaching in public. The Crown Prosecution Service justified these arrests, stating that some references in the Bible are “simply no longer appropriate in modern society” and “would be deemed offensive if stated in public.” Such reasoning reveals how truth is being rebranded as hate, and conviction as intolerance.

Nevertheless, there are some leaders who choose to stand for righteousness. In Ghana, Honourable Sam George serves as a reminder that leadership is a platform. His firm stance in supporting the anti-gay bill and opposing the normalization of polygamy demonstrates what it means to use influence as a tool to preserve moral order rather than erode it.

If Christians do not engage in these crucial conversations surrounding the seven pillars of society and set the standards that govern them, the world will. And when the world defines those standards, it will inevitably compel us to conform. Engaging in these conversations is essential, for silence today often leads to gradual compromise.

If we grow comfortable and assume that these shifts do not affect us directly, we fail to realize that the worldview of the next generation will be shaped by them, continuing a cycle of moral decay.

The Education sector offers a clear example. In the United States, programs such as the “Drag Queen Story Hour” are being introduced in schools under the guise of promoting diversity and inclusion. These initiatives may seem distant from our African context, but global influence is never far. When our governments enter agreements with Western nations, we often fail to question the underlying motives behind these partnerships.

Recently, Ghana’s leaders agreed to accept deportees in exchange for reduced tariffs on exported goods and extended visa validity. If such exchanges are possible, what assurance do we have that similar deals won’t one day involve our moral and educational systems?

Within the Business and Government sectors, corruption has become a canker, eating away at the very foundations of our nations. It is disheartening to realize that many in positions of power whether boardrooms or parliaments openly profess to be Christians; some are even elders in our churches. Yet when they rise to positions of influence, we rarely see the light of Christ reflected in their leadership. Integrity is replaced by self-interest, and public service becomes a means of personal gain. The irony is painful: the very people called to be salt and light have instead allowed greed to rot the systems they were meant to preserve.

In the Media and Entertainment sphere, we once saw Christian values reflected in storytelling. Walt Disney who came from a Christian background incorporated numerous moral and faith-based themes in his productions in that regard. We had writers like C.S. Lewis who pointed to the cross and eternity even with their fictionary work. Yet in recent times, the tone of mainstream entertainment has changed drastically. Immorality has become the new normal, subtly shaping the worldview of entire generations. Almost every western movie or series now normalizes pre-marital sex, and it has become almost obligatory to include a character representing the LGBTQ+ community not merely for diversity, but as a deliberate effort to redefine what is considered acceptable.