The claims Treated as a god
Do Go Church members treat Bishop Dag Heward-Mills like a god?
No: since at least 2001, in Europe, Africa and America, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills has told his listeners that he is just a man and that they should follow Christ, not him. The footage VRT used to show “veneration” was members thanking him for his books, his sermons and for starting a church in Belgium.
What the documentary said
The pastor is honoured like Jesus.
De pastor wordt echt als Jezus vereerd. Dat is heel raar. … Die noemen hem een profeet. Dat is niet wat de Bijbel zegt.
The prophet of our time.
Hij is een bisschop van de kerk, de profeet van onze tijd
Thank you for all your books and sermons. / Thank you for starting a church in Belgium.
Dank u wel voor al uw boeken en predicaties… Dank u om een kerk te starten in België… We love you
He is literally seen as a god.
Hij wordt letterlijk gezien als een god. Hij krijgt de term daddy…
Watch VRT at this point · VRT NWS Pano3:58 (opens the recording on YouTube at 3:58)
Go Church’s full written reply to VRT, in Dutch and English.
What the film left out
VRT showed members’ birthday messages as evidence that he is revered. Read them and they are thank-yous: for his books, for his sermons, for starting a church in Belgium.
How individual former members felt is their own account. What can be checked is what he teaches, and there the record is consistent: he is a man, he can be wrong, and nobody should follow him further than he follows Christ. He has made the point in Switzerland, South Korea, Zambia, South Africa and the United States, over more than two decades.
The record: his own words, across the years
-
2001
Beatenberg, Switzerland, Sermon on 1 Corinthians 11:1
In Switzerland in 2001, reading Paul’s words to the Corinthians.
Now Paul is showing you a very important principle: follow me as I follow Christ. If I don’t follow Christ, don’t follow me anymore. You can follow a man only as long as he’s following Christ. [The] day I do not follow Christ, that is the last day you should follow me.
Watch · Beatenberg, Switzerland, 20011:16:56 to 1:17:16 (opens the recording on YouTube at 1:16:56)
-
2024
Seoul, South Korea, Church Growth International conference, Friday Night Service, Yoido Full Gospel Church
Preaching at Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, one of the largest congregations in the world.
Whenever I think of Jesus, I feel that I am nothing before Him.
Watch · Seoul, South Korea, 202424:26 to 24:32 (opens the recording on YouTube at 24:26)
-
2012
Durban, South Africa, Inter-Fellowship Global
I am not here today because of my family name, or because I’m educated, or because I’m a doctor. It’s because of Jesus… Only Jesus makes you important. Without Jesus you are absolutely nothing.
Watch · Durban, South Africa, 20121:24:53 to 1:25:22 (opens the recording on YouTube at 1:24:53)
-
2017
Ndola, Zambia, Healing Jesus Crusade, crusade platform
Even though you may fool me, because I’m just a man, and you can fool your pastor, your pastor is just a man, you cannot fool God, because God is not a fool.
Watch · Ndola, Zambia, 201738:41 to 39:07 (opens the recording on YouTube at 38:41)
-
2003
Maryland, USA, Sermon
I’m just a man. So you can fool me, but I’m not God. And I don’t pretend to be God.
Watch · Maryland, USA, 20031:02:40 to 1:02:46 (opens the recording on YouTube at 1:02:40)
In his books
The pastors of today’s charismatic churches are seen by their members as superstars who have the answers to everything. This is not the case. Perhaps we pastors enjoy having people depend on us. They look to us as though we are semi-gods with a panacea for every problem.
A genuine minister will always tell you, “Do not follow me if I am not following Christ.” … I always tell church members that because I am a man, I can make mistakes.
It is the anointing that works the miracles and not the title. Power does not rest in the title ‘Prophet’.
The scripture
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
At the Last Supper Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, then told them to do the same for each other. The leader who serves is His pattern, and it is the one Bishop Dag points to when he calls himself a servant.
…whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister…
When the mother of James and John asked for the top seats for her sons, Jesus told the disciples that greatness means service. Bishop Dag tells his own congregations the same about himself.
Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you…
When the crowd at Lystra tried to honour Paul and Barnabas as gods, they stopped it at once. Bishop Dag’s “I’m just a man” repeats their answer.
The verdict
VRT presented thank-you messages as veneration. His own teaching, recorded over more than twenty years on three continents, tells people to follow Christ and to stop following him the day he does not.
Questions people ask
Do Go Church members call Bishop Dag Heward-Mills “daddy”?
Some do. He spoke about it in Accra in 2019: “And around the same time, a number of people started to call me daddy, and I don’t like those terms much, you know, because in Ghana it’s almost like every grown-up is called daddy and mommy.” (youtube.com/watch?v=t0D_d6zL3fA, from 1516 s)
Why do some members call him a prophet?
The New Testament names prophets among the callings God gives the church (Ephesians 4:11). He writes that the title carries no power of its own: “Power does not rest in the title ‘Prophet’.”