The shepherd of a Lagos branch of the INRI Evangelical Church has declared that there will be no collection of offerings in the church until further notice.
The shepherd said this in a video that has now gone viral. He cited the economic hardship in the country as the reason for the decision.
In the video, he noted that many of the congregants struggled to get to church and many would still go to work the following day.
He said the situation of the country, especially the cost of fuel was bad and until the situation improved the church would not ask the congregants for offerings.
He said shepherds who were genuinely called by God would still be able to feed in spite of the congregants not paying offerings again.
He called on other pastors to emulate his church and stop collecting offerings from their members.
His congregants clapped for him when he was done with the announcement.
Many Christians, however, took to the comments section to query the shepherd’s grasp of the purpose and essence of offerings in church.
Read some of their views:
Chainsmanofficial: “Only a baby Christian will obey this.”
josemai40: “Offering is not commanded by man and no man of God has right to stop it. It is like telling farmers to stop sowing seed because of poverty. Pitying a poor man doesn’t make him rich. Jesus Christ didn’t return the offering of the woman who put all her living into offering box.”
Adeymolla: “They asked you not to give to God for a while and you clapped?”
thatcher_ukwuoma: “Nonsense…seeking public validation. Allow those who love God give, simple. Giving is not affected by rich or poor you are, everyone living has something to give, the question is do you love God enough to give?”
samibozi: “Well, it simply means you were reviewing offerings for the wrong reasons. Secondly, you don’t know the purpose for offerings. It’s like saying no more farming because seedlings are very few, so people should eat their seedlings because of hunger.”
ms_tames: “He probably doesn’t know what the essence of an offering is”
jeanfcollections: “Deut 16:17 Do not come to house of God empty handed’. The way some so call men of God are doing things, people should be very careful.”
