Mercy Chinwo, a popular gospel singer, has been called out by Rev. Fr. Chinenye Oluoma, a Catholic priest in the Abuja Archdiocese, for charging N10 million to perform in churches.
During a recent service, Father Oluoma, while lamenting how expensive religious worship has become, chastised gospel musicians who demand large fees to perform in a place of worship.
Using Mercy Chinwo as an example, the cleric reiterated in a viral video that the singer charges N10m as a performance fee in churches.
“We have made religious worship expensive,” he said. How much will I pay Mercy Chinwo to come here and sing if I have to bring her? How much does a gospel artiste of Mercy Chinwo’s calibre charge to perform at an event or in a church? It has now surpassed N10 million.
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“This is the tragedy that we have turned Christianity into: an artiste will come to a church and lead praise and worship for N10m, N5m in ten minutes.” So, if that particular artist does not sing Jesus, you love me too much, does that imply that God did not love you enough?
“And some people wondered if they should be paid.”Why did you not pay them? If you must bring them, you must compensate them because you are bringing them for entertainment purposes. We have made worship into a form of entertainment.
“We have imitated the rest of the world.” “Those who composed the songs we still use for worship today were unknown back then,” he said.