It's a hot Monday afternoon. A group of people walk with a sense of urgency holding Bibles. They are not going for lunch but for ‘lunch hour fellowship’ at a church a few meters away from their office located in Remera, a Kigali city suburb. They often use the lunch break to go for the one hour service.
It's a hot Monday afternoon. A group of people walk with a sense of urgency holding Bibles. They are not going for lunch but for ‘lunch hour fellowship’ at a church a few meters away from their office located in Remera, a Kigali city suburb. They often use the lunch break to go for the one hour service. Inside the church, activity is about worship and praise as the fully packed room reverberates with song and praise.
Thirty minutes into the service, the offertory basket passes around and people generously sow a seed.
The pastor reminds the congregation that the more you offer the more the blessings. As the service comes to a close, the preacher again reminds the believers about the stalled church project, and asks them to contribute generously. Again, another offertory bag is passed around for this cause. Many contribute generously while others offer personal items like cars, electronics and pledges from their monthly salaries.
Have churches ceased to be houses of worship and turned into business entities determined to financially drain believers?
This is a question that a number of believers are grappling with. Some have abandoned particular churches because of these financial demands.
Dennis Karera was a regular church goer at a popular church in Kimironko. He loved prayers and would not miss church on any given day. But every time he went to church, he felt out of place because of his inability to be a good believer through tithing and giving offertory.
"I used to attend a certain church in Kimironko, but half the time for mass was spent on fundraising for a wedding, church reconstruction project or something about raising money. Scriptures about the purpose of tithing were the order of the day. I thought giving offerings was more of my wish but the preacher always made it look like its mandatory,” Karera says.
However, some religious leaders argue that it’s not churches turning into money making vampires but some wrong elements may be using the cover of starting churches to exploit gullible Christians.
Pastor Niruminata Ntawukinishimana of Eglise Rehoboth Kanombe says the Church is a holy place and if led by the right people, it can never lose direction of its purpose. She says churches after money have other motives other than that of serving the Lord.
"Yes, churches do survive on support of Christians, those who have the heart of working for God and they do this through offertories, tithe or out of goodwill. This money is used in the development of the church; the pastor has no access to the money. There is a committee that handles it, to ensure transparency,” she says.
Pastor Ntawukinishimana, notes that the tithe and any offerings from Christians should be voluntary and used well by helping the needy, like orphans and widows among others.
"We use the money to accomplish a lot of things. We help orphans by paying their school fees, there are those we help to start small investments, we do all this and we stand together as a Church,” she adds.
Pastor Eugene Nshogozabahizi from Anglican Church Kacyiru, echoes a similar view. He says that people who think that churches are turning into businesses need to understand that not all churches are the same and that as long as a church has trustworthy leaders who serve God with a calling, all is done in the name of God.
Nshogozabahizi explains that Mathew 6: 33 tells us to first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all the other things will be added to us. So for what the Lord does for us we have to thank Him by giving a tithe and offerings, these not only serve as a token of thanksgiving, but help out other Christians in need.
"Although these days things have changed, in the Old testament, among the twelve clans, that of Levi did the work of God and the other clans were supposed to help them earn a living, they were to be supported so that they find time to concentrate on the work of God.”
"Today, it’s the Christians to decide on what they should give the man who does God’s work and in that way he gets to earn a living.”
Pastor Robinah Mugeni agrees that some churches have lost a sense of direction, and need spiritual guidance to put them on the right track.
"Some Churches have resorted to tricky ways of extracting money from their followers yet on top of that they have constant reminders on how paying a tithe and offertory come along with lots of blessings,” she says.
She however says that not all churches are money minded as some really focus on the work of God.
Christians speak out
Yvonne Umurerwa is a 58-year-old staunch catholic who says that today’s churches are totally different from those of their time, pointing out that some churches and their leaders make it crystal clear that what they need is money and more money.
Some religious leaders are a wolf in a sheep’s skin.
"Pastors of today pretend to work for God yet in real sense, they are after money, that’s why we hear of false prophets who perform miracles and demand a certain ransom disguised as offering, this is not right, this isn’t how the work of God should be done and these particular churches need to change,” Umurerwa says.
Today’s pastors are shady; that’s how 24-year-old Lillian Utamuriza labels them. She narrates an unfortunate encounter she had with a certain pastor in Kicukiro. The pastor allegedly told her of how she was bewitched and that she wouldn’t get married unless she gave him her undergarments and money.
Startled would be an understatement about how Utamuriza felt. "I left promising to go back with what he requested but I never turned back. I couldn’t believe that those words were coming from a man I respected as a servant of God and from that day, I have a big question mark about the intentions of the so-called religious leaders and the Churches they minister,” Utamuriza adds.
However, Deborah Tuhayise defends Churches saying that, yes it’s true they collect money from their flocks but they do that with a purpose and not in bad faith.
"The bible requires us to pay a tithe and offerings; this is not something churches came up with. Doing this as Christians blesses us and helps other people who are cared for by the church,” she says.
For Collin Mwangi, to a certain extent, churches have turned into businesses, with less focus on preaching virtues. That more focus is given to practices like tithing, special offertory in search of blessings.
"Church owners seem to have realized that the congregation is in desperate need for blessings and divine intervention. This has led them to be easy prey for churches who promise divine intervention and miracles,” Mwangi says.
Churches are now spreading out opening new ‘branches’ in the name of outreach raking in a lot of money in the process, he adds.
YOUR VOICE: Are churches doing what they are supposed to be doing?
Simon Kalisa, Student
Some Churches are actually determined to spread the word of God however they tend to mix it with the love for money, and this is impossible as it creates inequalities in one way or the other. No one can serve two masters at ago, you choose God or money and some churches choose the latter so I would say today’s churches are somewhat after money.
Jackie Umurerwa, Accountant.
Today’s churches have lost track of what they actually have to do which is spiritual guidance, they instead aim at milking their members dry so that they get what they want. However some churches especially the catholic ones are still on the right track.
Rogers Ndemezo, Sales Manager
I wouldn’t generalize because some are honest to their followers and they do their ministry work efficiently. However, some churches show it firsthand that they are after money, they even have VIP seats for those who have ‘fat’ offertories yet all people are supposed to be equal in the eyes of God; if this isn’t business then I don’t know what it is.
Vestine Mahoro, Procurement Officer
Churches have turned into businesses, one thing churches have mastered is their knowledge that people yearn for miracles; they use this as a weapon to get money from them by promising them heaven on earth. I think this is not right in the eyes of God.