By Samuel Ajayi
“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts.”
– Malachi 3, 10-11 (KJV)
Let us understand one thing: tithes and offerings were ordained by God. We have to all agree on that. As a Christian, it is your spiritual obligation. I, however, understand the position of those who seem to be campaigning against it. I can clearly see their points.
God knew that to effectively run His house and for His servant to be FULLY devoted to the work, there must be ‘contribution’ by the flock. Secondly, it is BELIEVED, as Christians, that all we have are given to us by God and we are to give a little back to Him. That is where the idea of tithe came from.
However, modern Christianity has made many to start questioning the whole system. And that questioning is understandable. Christianity is one religion that allows for EMOTIONAL and PSYCHOLOGICAL MANIPULATION. You are made to believe so many things that are OUTSIDE the Bible!
Modern church, either we want to admit it or not, has become a business! That is the bitter truth. There is no way people will not raise questions as per tithing when church members daily struggle to eke out a living while pastors and his family live lives of obscene opulence. If a pastor could dash out N30m to his wife to mark birthday and yet, there are thousands in the church looking for 300k to start a business, then we have to ask moral questions.
I know there are those who will argue it is his money. And let me add too: the church can NOT help every needy person in her midst. But let it be seen that the pastor is not living so large where those who provide the funds to run the church could barely feed!
Let me also say this: God never asked us to sow any seed to receive a PARTICULAR BLESSING. (please note the word ‘particular’). He only asked us to bring from that which He has given us and he will destroy the devourer and bless us more. Now, if a pastor asks you to bring certain money or gift to sow so you can receive a CERTAIN blessing, to me, it is against the teachings of God!
Finally, the administrative set-up of most Pentecostal churches makes financial abuse inevitable. The man set up the church, you joined and the church grew. However, the man and his wife retain one critical aspect of the church administration: SIGNING OF CHEQUES.
If during the week the pastor needs a financial emergency of a million Naira, he does not have to wait till Sunday for any Finance Committee to meet before he takes the money from the church account. He only informs them out of courtesy. And that is if he ever does!
And many of us have been successfully blackmailed by this “touch not my anointed” and “judge not so thou shall not be judged” nonsense that many church business owners (to me they are not pastors) get away with murder!
Most of the abuses that take place in these new churches do not take place in orthodox churches. They usually have three signatories to the church account. You can’t just take money out any how? Is the system fool-proof or abuse-proof? Capital no! But it is still better than where the pastor and his wife control tens (if not hundreds) of millions of naira.
They are flesh and blood. Abuse is inevitable. And there lies the problem of modern church management and administration.