By Ada Obeleagu and Ishola Adeleke, YeyeNews.com, November 9, 2021
Members of Breaking Yoke Assembly Church (BYAC) in Sapele have been banned from using any currency denomination less than N500 for offering. The pastor of the church made the declaration during the Sunday service at the church’s ultra-modern auditorium, a source told YeyeNews.com reporter.
“The senior pastor of BYAC has placed a ban on the use of money below N500 for offering in the church. He cited the rising inflation and the loss in value of the naira as the reasons for the ban. The pastor told members that the church is not a place to drop useless notes”, the source recounted.
A junior pastor in the church confirmed the ban to a YeyeNews.com reporter. He explained that the God of the Breaking Yoke Assembly Church is not one that accepts N200 offerings and that “our God instructed members to only use N1000 and above as offerings. But the senior pastor was able to bring it down to N500 after days of intercession. You should understand that we don’t worship a poor God in BYAC. He provides for us daily so he deserves the best offering in return. The pastor has already set up a compliance committee to screen members’ offerings before they are put into the offering box”, the pastor explained.
YeyeNews.com reporter spoke with Mr. Christian Solomon who is a member of the compliance unit. Mr. Solomon expressed their readiness to carry out the responsibility given to them: “We are very much ready for the job. Yesterday we sent back some members who wanted to give N100 offering. We politely told them that our God doesn’t accept such low denominations as offering. One of them was able to increase his own to N500 but the others just went away. God’s work must be done no matter what anyone feels about it”.
But some members of the church who spoke with YeyeNews.com expressed mix reactions about the ban. An usher in the church supported the move saying people who spend thousands of naira in beer parlors will come to church to give N200 offering to God who provided the money for them in the first place. “N500 is not even enough for offering but our God is merciful enough to show compassion towards his children. So I don’t know why anybody will want to bring N200 for offering which cannot even buy a loaf of bread. I know they won’t think of giving such miserable amount to their earthly fathers”.
Another member disagreed with the decision to stipulate amount that can be used for offering in the church. “People should be allowed to give whatever amount that they choose. Remember the story of the Widow’s Mite in Mark 12:41-44 and what Christ said. Besides, God does not require our money for anything. It is men like us that feed fat on our offerings and tithes. The church should think of assisting members in need during this tough economic situation rather than telling them the amount they can put as offering”, the member concluded.
Another member who spoke with YeyeNews.com said the directive was not clear to her. She said she asked an usher if she could give N700 offering of N500 and N200 but the usher did not know if that was allowed, therefore, she ended up giving an offering of just N500.
