US-based Nigerian gospel singer Lara George has waded in on the trending topic of whether Nigerian gospel singers should be paid or not for singing at churches or Christian events.
Lara George, in a statement, responded to people criticising Nigerian gospel singers for charging for their performance.
She compared Nigerian gospel singers to secular artists who charged in millions, and stressed that would people find the latter less spiritual if they led praise and worship.
“If you found out that your favourite non-Naija Gospel artiste charges $100k to sing songs of praise and worship, would they appear less spiritual to you because they do so? Or did you all think that they sing for free?” she asked.
In expressing her thoughts, she also suggested that some churches pay non-Nigerian artists huge amounts of money, while they perceive paying Nigerian artists as an unthinkable thing.
“If you discovered that many of your favorite ‘pulpit persons’ who act as though paying the Naija artiste is an unthinkable thing, are actually paying the non-Naija artiste those so-called ‘high sums of money’, would your view of the ‘pulpit person’ change?” she asked.
Lara George asks pastors questions
The gospel singer, who stated that she can’t stand bullies, also queried some pastors’ lavish lifestyles as she asked for their source of livelihood.
“Have you ever asked whether it is the ‘pulpit-person’s’ tapes and cds that are affording them the lavish lifestyles they live with private jets here and there? Or is that lifestyle from tithes and offerings???? A Gospel artiste is indeed a professional.
A professional artiste. Is there such a thing as a professional pastor? Dear ‘pastor’, What’s your source of livelihood exactly? If we stop the tithes and offerings, will that ministry also retire??? I can’t stand either bullies or hypocrisy!”
See Lara George’s post below:
This is coming after Pastor Chris Oyakhilome shared why some popular gospel singers, like Sinach, left his church, The Christ Embassy.
He said many of the artists began charging fees for their performances and became professionals making money from the church.
Reactions to Lara George’s post
Read the comments below:
@djgosporella:
“This same question I have asked, ’IS PASTORING A PROFESSION?”
@ademefunadelayo:
“How is Pastor Chris a bully? I hope you know he has invested in many of these gospel artists too.”
@_kingthorba:
“Gospel artists come with instrumentalists, backups, they rehearse at studios etc .. All these require money. I do not understand why you won’t pay them for coming on your stage.”
@ikaka6son:
“This discuss actually is not more of the payment ,but more of the artiste not christ focused, not bothered about saving souls, some of them are not even believers in the first place. To most so called gospel artiste ,the singing of gospel songs is just to make money, that is why this needs to be talked about ,stop making merchandise of the gospel.”
@amariss001:
“Everyone whether pastor or singer should have a real job or handwork beside the activities in the church. After all even the apostles had meaningful jobs and skills at the time.”
@gtdaguitarman:
“The main issue here is greed. Churches collect enough offerings to fund everything that truly matters—including music and musicians’ welfare. Without music, praise and worship, arguably the most important part of Christianity, is lost.”
@farmexporttraining:
“First of why bring an external minister to your church when you have choir ministers? Use the money to equip your church music team.”
@kmesh620:
“This issue keeps lingering on and it’s rather distressing. In a perfect world, the music minister would not have to worry about money.”
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