Nigerian churches are not rich – Rev. Sam Adeyemi

The Senior Pastor of Daystar Christian Centre (DCC), Pastor Sam Adeyemi, on Monday debunked insinuation that Nigerian churches are rich.

According to him, the insinuation that churches are in control of huge financial resources is just a mindset which does not reflect the reality.

Adeyemi spoke during the maiden media briefing and conference of the Christian Financial Accountability Association (CFAA).

CFAA is a self-regulatory association of churches and Christian faith-based organizations dedicated to facilitating financial accountability, ethical and governance standards.

The cleric insists that most churches are small, saying 75 percent of them have less than 100 members.

He said while churches do not owe the government any responsibility in terms of the management of their finances, the formation of the CFAA was a deliberate step to help them improve on their financial management skills.

He said, “We must admit that most church leaders don’t have the financial management skills. When we help the churches and other Christian faith-based organizations, their resources will improve.

“Churches are not rich contrary to what we are told outside. I think this is just a mindset. Most churches are small. I can tell you that 75 percent of them have less than 100 members.”

According to him, CFAA would work with Christian organizations that are open to their activities.

He said already the nose is tightening by the day and it is high time churches embraced change, adding, “One policy in Rwanda shut down over 8,000 churches”.

Another member of CFAA and Managing Partner, Ivory Solicitors, Barr. Tomi Vincent, said the association is self-regulatory to encourage churches to self-regulate themselves internally before subjecting themselves to external regulations.

He said, “The aim of the group is education and nothing more. We are not here to enforce. We want to prepare people because the nose is tightening already.”