Clergy denounced for raising money on buses, public places

THE Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) has denounced pastors and other clerics in a habit of asking for money in buses and other public places upon preaching to the people.
EFZ presiding Bishop Paul Mususu has since urged church mother bodies to ensure that they give the preachers lunch allowance for them to resist the temptation of asking for offering from passengers.
Bishop Mususu said the trend was shameful and church leaders risked being misunderstood by the masses they preached God’s Word to.
The clergyman said preaching God’s Word was free and any genuine clergy had no right to ask for offering from people they were preaching to, as offering from passengers needed to come as a token of appreciation and not under duress.

“I strongly oppose the move by some clergymen who ask for money from people on buses and other public places after they finish preaching the Word of God,” Bishop Mususu said.
“Passengers should only give out offering as a token of appreciation and not because they have been coerced by the preachers.”
Bishop Mususu said pastors had an obligation of spreading God’s Word but they needed to do it without asking for anything in return.
He warned such preachers to desist from the practice as they were tarnishing the name of other genuine men of God.
Bishop Mususu said it was saddening that some people had adopted the trend and were using it as a survival strategy.
“It’s unfortunate that some pastors have adopted preaching in buses as a way of surviving and making ends meet,” he said. Times of Zambia