Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. (KJV: Luke 6:38)

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. (KJV: Malachi 3:10)

Anybody who has ever attended a church in Ghana or other African countries may have heard the above verses often quoted by pastors and preachers to urge people to give money to the church by way of tithes and offering. Anybody who has listened to a street preacher would have experienced the same. If you have attended a church in a developed country where the leadership and majority of membership have roots in Africa, chances are you will hear more of this than if the leadership and majority of membership are typical Westerners. This is not absolute, as there may be a few exceptions. I attended a particular church while doing my Masters degree at the University of Leicester between 2002-2003. I have never enjoyed church services like those days all my life. I still remember those 45-minute Sunday services with some nostalgia. But I can’t recall ever hearing the above quotes at the Leicester church, although there were offertory and fundraising to support charity and other good causes. Usually, the highlight was more about how the funds raised would benefit the recipients and people gave without really ‘expecting’ anything in return (from God) as such. I experienced quite the same thing when I attended another church in Reading, also in the UK. There is a question in my mind as to why those churches were able to raise funds without having to promise members certain blessings from God in return, whereas back in Ghana we are often promised that “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over…”.

In principle I have no problem at all with any of the two different approaches. What agitates my mind is that whenever one dares to question why they have not received the promise of “…good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over…”, there is a fight-back by pastors that ‘God does not work that way’, ‘you may be living in sin’, ‘you may not be praying a lot’, ‘you have to attend 10-day prophetic all-night prayer sessions’, ‘you don’t have faith’, et cetera, et cetera. When the call is made from the pulpit to “Give, and it shall be given unto you…”, you don’t hear any caveats. It is definite. They give testimonies of people who gave and got so much blessed with a lot of resources. There is no caveat that if you are a sinner, don’t bring your money into the offering bowl. Drug dealers and money launderers are all welcome to give. The highest giver sometimes gets the chairman’s seat at the annual harvest, regardless of how his money was made. Give, no questions asked. But, what do you expect a poor person, who has dropped his last Cedi (bar his Trotro fare) into the offering bowl and going home to drink water, to do if after fulfilling his part of the bargain, God is given an excuse by the pastor to not fulfill His part? In Ghana, drive past the Achimota Forest every weekday and see the number of people attending church services. Drive around many churches during working hours in Ghana, and you’d be amazed how many people troop to these churches. Yes, there are those fanatic churchgoers who steal their employers’ time to attend church services during working hours, but the majority of those attending church services during working hours are poor, unemployed people. And one verse that is equally popular is Exodus 34:20, “But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.” Yes, “And none shall appear before me empty”! Whether you are poor, unemployed or not. Thou shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. And yes, once you have given whatever you sent to the church in offering and tithes, you have no right to question why for months and years you still have not seen the rewards promised. You give, but you don’t receive. And oh, don’t worry, Acts 20:35 says “I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” The emphasis is more often on “It is more blessed to give than to receive”. The pastors conveniently forget “ye ought to support the weak”!

“…Ye ought to support the weak…”

If I were a pastor, and believe in what the Bible says in Acts 20:35, then I would never ask poor people to attend church services during working hours and ask them to “Give, and it shall be given unto you”. I would ask the wealthier members of the church to contribute to a Fund that would be given to the entrepreneurs among the members to set up businesses that would employ the poor and weak ones among the church. That way, the poor will get work to do, earn income, also contribute to the Fund and enhance the opportunity to help more and more “weak” ones among the membership. The businesses will pay taxes to help develop the economy, but the church will attract more poor and unemployed people in the community who will even attend church services on weekends, after having the opportunity to work during the week. If the poor should ever be asked to “Give, and it shall be given unto you”, I would let them give unto a Fund that would in turn set up businesses to employ them and take them out of poverty. That would be a better way for God to give back unto them. As long as churches use offertory to keep building bigger church auditoriums, running sleek adverts on TV, buying top-of-the-range cars and mod-cons for pastors while poor church members continue to fast and pray many years un-end, questions will continue to agitate my mind whenever I hear, “Give, and it shall be given unto you…”.

Best Regards -------------------------------------- Kwaku Antwi-Boasiako Accra, Ghana Cell: +233 246 282 030 Email: antwi29@gmail.com Twitter: @ABKwaku --------------------------------------