It’s a calling

IF YOU COME into the church to make money, you will soon fail. Such people don’t understand what church is all about. Financial prosperity is not the right concept with which to label a church.Those were some of the comments elicited from leaders of several local churches, who have refuted claims that the modern church was indeed the kind of business entity that sought primarily to generate profit rather than spread the principles of The Bible.“You have to be called to it. There is so much to do because our calling in the church is not only to help our people in the church but it is also to the communities, not just around the church but to the nation. And you have to spend a lot of money, especially if you are going to do evangelism,” Apostle Stephen Holford, senior pastor of New Dimensions Ministries in Barbarees Hill, St Michael, told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY in a recent interview.He was adamant about devious religious organisations’ not being successful in their misrepresentation because instead of earning money, the church was required to expend much money to fulfil its true mandate.“Nowadays you can’t just go out with a loud hailer and just say come to Jesus. The whole technology has to be different. You have to set up a proper platform. You have to spend money on getting equipment just to share the message of Jesus Christ,” Holford said.Meanwhile Ivan Broomes, senior pastor at Abundant Life Assembly, Bank Hall, St Michael, called the notion a misunderstanding, saying, “It takes money to do what we do. How do you take care of the poor? How do you help the needy? How do you support missionaries? How do you take care of people who have day-to-day needs?”He told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that his salary was fixed by the board of the presbytery of Abundant Life Assembly and “it is not exorbitant by any means compared to what a corporate individual might get”.“Certainly [becoming rich] was not a motive when this church was opened in 1964. I think it is a myth. I would hate to think that anybody would want to solely open a church to make money. The calling to preach the Word is very high and should not be taken for granted,” said Peter Williams, chief executive officer of the People’s Cathedral, Bishop’s Court Hill, St Michael.Rev. Cuthbert Edwards, head of the Methodist Church in Barbados, pointed out that there were very “strict controls and a democratic process” regarding the management of money within that denomination.“The nearest that our pastors get to the money is if blessing the offering, and we do not handle the money in any way,” he said. Edwards noted that it was the lay people, through the board of trustees, who managed the Methodists’ funds.