The General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church, Pastor Williams Kumuyi, has urged the church members and by extension all Christians not to give all their money to the Church, but should make the poor a priority in their giving.
He made the call in a recent message titled, ‘Emmanuel Jesus the healer’.
Kumuyi expressed great concern for the poor and the hungry, even as he urged the leaders of the church to bring to his attention those who need help so the church could reach out to them.
He cited the example of a pastor who called for an offering, but later asked the congregation to give the money they wanted to give to the church to the poor.
The pastor, according to him, had asked for those who could give various amounts of money.
“I learnt of a preacher somewhere. He told his congregation, ‘Now, we are going to collect offerings’. He asked those who had N10,000 to give to raise their hands, and he asked those who had N20,000 to give to raise their hands.
He asked those who had N50,000, they raised their hands. And he said all the money they wanted to give to the church, they should go and give to the poor in their neighbourhood, rather than bringing it to the church.”
Kumuyi told the congregation that they should always make the poor and hungry a priority in their giving adding that it makes no sense to give to a church building when the people inside are hungry.
He said, “All the offerings are not just for church. There are poor people around. There are unemployed people around.
There are indigent people around. But we must build our campground. I understand. We are going to build. But while you are building your neighbours are dying. Those who do not have anything to feed are there. Your fellow brother, your fellow sister have nothing to send children to school.”
Kumuyi said the church will begin to budget millions of naira for the poor as the church used to do in the “good old days”