Soulchurch Arvostelua 4

SOUL Church is warm and welcoming! It’s so encouraging to see a church full of people of every age, young and old and from every ethnicity.
People struggling with addiction find acceptance and support in SOUL Church.
Autistic children needs are provided with sensory rooms and experienced leaders.
Those without transport are collected by bus/coach from around Norwich to attend the meetings.
People will always give financially into what they see is making a difference in people’s lives and the community.

From an observer’s standpoint, I have to hand it to them, Soul Church always appears a choreographed production.

Whoever’s responsible - the Marketing Department, the Scriptwriters (or even Costume / Hair and Make-up Departments to ensure that Jon’s £90 Ralph Lauren t-shirt hasn’t suffered an unfortunate spillage or not one hair of Chantel’s bouncy curls is being unruly), what goes on at 55 Heartsease Lane, Norwich, NR7 9NT is truly worthy of banal television entertainment.

Wheel in the drums, keyboards and electric guitars, musicians poised for jumping and head-banging, flashing lights and dry ice ready to go, let ‘em all in free of charge then selectively quote parts of the bible where the congregation’s consciences only need testing to the point that they succumb to tapping Visa / Mastercards / Apple Pay or emptying the cash out of their wallets. Note: reverse psychology that you don’t have to give really does work.

Then, when the Sunday service is over, the necessary pleasantries are exchanged (hugs reserved only for Jon and Chantel’s best buddies) and the takings counted, it’s back to Shalom - far enough away for the Normans not to randomly run into the ordinary congregants for another few days except those in their financially endowed social circle who are, doubtless, welcome with open arms.

Other than squeezing in the 5:00 pm once a month Sunday service, the Norman household is busy getting ready for the week ahead. For Jon and Chantel, that’ll be something like a flying visit to Australia to network with their Hillsong associates. Meanwhile for the children, come September, it’ll be a new school year of privileged education that many of the congregation can only ever dream of being able to afford.

Forget the morality of how Soul Church succeeds in the way congregants part with their money; all that matters is for the Soul Church accounts to surpass the previous year’s financial position.

P.S. It’s still not clear what the 13 million GBP is for, so best of luck to anyone brave enough to stick their head above the parapet and ask - assuming Jon and Chantel would be prepared to endure a grilling over Soul Church finances.

Dear oh dear oh dear….

Disclaimer: this is simply an observation and categorically not an allegation of any wrongdoing by Soul Church Enterprises [sic], heaven forbid Jon and Chantel take offence and come after me.

Some churches teach messages of love, hope, community, humility.

Some churches actually practice these messages too.

Other churches teach the very same messages with flashing lights in a multimillion pound new build.

Some churches will embrace you with one arm, whilst the other plunges itself into the pockets of vulnerable people to line their own.

Christian teaching can take many forms but remember that Jesus spoke his lessons not against the backdrop of electric guitar and strobe lighting. I question where the humility of this church is. Maybe it’s registered away somewhere as an outsourced private entity in Companies House?

Jesus is King? Not here 💸

At the invitation of a friend, I went to a Sunday service at Soul Church, persuaded that it would be enjoyable. Having been to several Christian churches over the years, the experience was certainly different to anything I’d seen during other services.

For those who haven’t been to Soul Church, it isn’t an old or traditional church. The building is both new and contemporary in architectural style; the service, itself, hosted in a darkened room, with elements not dissimilar to stand-up comedy, but with a religious topic. The people are warm and welcoming. The Fruit of Joy was delivered by Pastor Jon. Full of humour, it was a reminder not to allow life’s negatives to outweigh the positives.

As with all church services, there was a collection. Fundamentally, I have no issue with this, but I had the same amount of cash with me in coinage that I would give to my local church collection.

When the bucket came my way, there was the realisation that the implied ‘going rate’ (ie what others contributed) was more than I had; however, for those without cash, wanting to give, there was the option to add to the collection by contactless card payment.

Bank notes floated from the congregation’s hands into the buckets. I couldn’t control my jaw dropping, staggered by the way people readily parted with their cash; never had I seen this in a single Sunday service in my life.

When I spoke to my friend about this afterwards, she explained that giving is seen as a commitment to God. Soul Church also welcomes monthly tithes by standing order and encourages fundraising.

Whilst appreciating that church funds rely on donations, members of the congregation parting with large amounts of cash didn’t sit right with me, so I took a look at Soul Church online. It is listed on Companies House as a company limited by guarantee. Its latest accounts for the year ending 31st March 2024 show the following total funds position:-

£13,250,280

Compared to 31st March 2023:-

£9,970,560

Financially speaking, Soul Church is thriving; a gain of £3,279,720 between 2023 and 2024 is substantial for any organisation, let alone a church, particularly in the current financial climate.

Giving as a commitment to God is part of the faith that the congregation of Soul Church believe in. I am not sure if this means, in their own way, they believe that the money they give is actually for God, but why does Soul Church need tens of millions of pounds and who is really benefiting out of this?

Personally, Soul Church is not for me. I prefer a traditional service at my village church where I join in the style of worship familiar to me. I’m not at all sure about the sustainability of weekly giving at the level I saw last Sunday.

That eight figure total funds position is difficult to ignore.