While the issue of tithing appears to be causing ripples and division among Nigerians, an investigative journalist and writer, Femi Owolabi, has come to the defence of some pastors and what they do with the tithes and offerings they get from the church.
Femi Owolabi took to his Facebook account to speak on the trending issue. Below is what he posted…
I live around Yaba area of Lagos. From Sabo down to Iwaya, you see boreholes donated by Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries, MFM.
Many months ago, I was working on a report and I needed to carry out some laboratory tests. When I got to University of Lagos’ Chemical Engineering lab, I was directed to the university’s central lab which I gathered is the largest and most equipped. Entering, I saw that the lab was donated by Daniel Olukoya, founder of MFM who is actually an alumnus of the school.
As much as the leadership of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, embarrasses itself on the pages of newspaper, CAN runs one of the largest displaced persons camps in the northeast. For three years that I have been mobilizing relief materials for displaced persons in the northeast, aside individuals and a few NGOs, Christian organizations have been a larger donor of relief materials. My phone would ring, and the caller goes, “I am Pastor JJ. We have bags of cloths, please how do we get these to the displaced persons in the northeast?”
Charis Family Church, in 2015, opened its facility as a collection center for relief materials. The pastor, Bayo Adeyinka, and a team raised almost a million naira to sort logistics.
Just yesterday, another pastor whose church’s team once gave me bags of relief materials for IDPs, told me they have 33k left in the account, and he asked what this can sort for the IDPs. He also wants us to meet this week so he can drop with me, bags of relief materials.
A man reached out to me many months ago. He needed information on how he can move 1000 cartons of flour (or wheat?) from Lagos to any of the IDPs camps in the northeast. I did a check on the man, he is a pastor.
In Lagos here, the Catholic Mission and a couple of other missionary hospitals are always on medical outreach to the IDPs.
I understand there is an ongoing debate on whether or not paying tithe is a Christian practice. Sincerely, those arguing against come with strong points. And sadly, responses from Daddy GO and others are so weak, far from convincing.
Get it right, it is the duty of Lagos Water Board to provide water for Lagosians, but MFM now shares in this responsibility. It is the duty of NEMA and the Refugees’ Commission to attend to the victims of insurgency, but CAN and a couple of other Christian organizations share largely in this.
So, above all, if I am paying tithe or giving church my money, I do so because of some of these things I have mentioned in this post
