Pastor Juanita Bynum made headlines earlier this week after news about her prayer course, The Prayer Institute, circulated online.
The reason behind the commotion was because many were appalled to discover that the course came with a hefty price tag.
The Prayer Institute, which is set to begin on Oct. 6, offers a four-week in-person course in an undisclosed location in Atlanta, a tote bag, a binder, a prayer shawl, an anointing oil, and a certificate of completion, just to name a few items, for $1499. That is a discount from the original price of $1999.99.
While promoting the course on Sept. 14, Bynum urgently encouraged her followers to register for the class because “seating” is limited. In the Instagram post, The 63-year-old wrote, “Register Now! Seating is Limited!” Almost a week later, Pastor Bynum offered a virtual registration option.
As fans viewed Pastor Bynum’s upload, many immediately questioned the “You are Great” vocalist’s motives behind the pricey course. One social media user went as far as to tell the pastor to remove the post altogether.
“1,499 to pray? This is a joke.. what could she teach me about prayer that the Bible hasn’t already has? I’ll wait…..3.2.1. Go..”
“Please take this down. This is truly shameful and one of the reasons people have lost faith in the church…BECAUSE OF GREED.”
“Should be Ashamed of yourself. It’s people like you that some people don’t attend church… false prophets.”
“The fact she’s wearing Gucci says a lot… it’s wrong to make business out of God. You don’t need no class to learn to pray. Join a Bible study near you for FREE. She’s really ripping everyone off. She should be ashamed of herself.”
“Charging people to learn how to pray? This is gross and blasphemous.”
Among the previous remarks, others jokingly suggested the main reason why they would pay that specific amount for a praying course. One wrote, “If I’m paying that much, I need Jesus to personally pull up so I can physically touch the helm of his garment….”
Another said, “So does the $1,499 prayer class and the $133 prayer kits come with a tour of heaven, brunch with Jesus, and some selfies with Peter? If not, I don’t want it.”
Following the scrutiny, Pastor Bynum took to her Facebook page to disclose why she charged $1499 for her month-long course.
While bringing up the many years she has dedicated to the ministry, Pastor Bynum said, “I’m not going to insult myself to even discuss the price. It’s an insult to who I am. After being in ministry for over 50 years and for, I know, at least 35+ years, I have done nothing but be a pioneer in the things of prayer and helping people to understand prayer and letting them watch me doing it.”
She added, “So that they can know that there are different dimensions and different levels to prayer. And how do I know that there are different levels and different dimensions? Well, it’s simple. It’s called results. When you get the results, you know the person absolutely knows what they are doing. And that’s what I want to do.”
