Executive Pastor of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC); Christ Temple, Albert Ocran has waded into the controversy surrounding the special offering collected by the church during its Greater Works conference last week.
ICGC and its senior Pastor, Mensa Otabil courted controversy when a snapshot was taken of a special offering that was taken during the Greater Works conference. A section of the critics did not understand why the amount was quoted in dollars, while others felt the amount was too high.
Giving his personal take on the subject, Pastor Ocran said: "the banner making the rounds on social media was not put out to solicit for funds from the public as was originally being speculated".
According to him, "the preacher who raised the funds is based outside Ghana so he mentioned the amounts in dollars. It was naturally deemed helpful to convert them to enable donors pay in local currency"
Read his full response below;
Some clarity from Executive Pastor of ICGC Christ Temple, Pastor Albert Ocran.
Blessings my friends. What a week this has been. An absolutely phenomenal Greater Works conference and a very thorny side issue.
Let me clarify that this is a personal perspective and not a statement by ICGC. As you know, the church does not respond to these matters.
The banner making the rounds on social media was not put out to solicit for funds from the public as was originally being speculated.
As you probably might know, in its 33 years of existence, ICGC has refused to solicit for or accept funds from outside the church.
By God’s grace, the church supports 15 charities (educational, health and Christian missions) on a monthly basis. This includes the children’s cancer unit of Korle Bu which has publicly indicated that our monthly donations for the past 5 years, which are the largest they receive, have allowed children from poor families all over the country and West Africa to receive life-saving treatment for free. This is verifiable.
The amounts listed on the graphic circulating are various categories of pledges made by members in a conference fundraising by one of our guest ministers. I presume that people pledging different amounts at fundraisers are standard practice.
I attended a book launch last year by one of our nation’s sporting legends at Alisa Hotel. The chief fundraiser started the pledges from GHc100,000 and came all the way down till everyone could contribute their widow’s mite. Those who gave the top amounts were even given special privileges and photo sessions with the author. No one was offended because each one gave as they could afford.
I have also attended church harvests where Chairmen, Vice chairmen and Supporters were required to contribute role-specific amounts some in excess of the highest amount on the list currently circulating. Would that qualify as exploitation? I don’t think so.
I believe that if we want to hold large Christian events and conferences that seat over 50,000 attendees and where the number of new converts alone is over 7,000, we mustn’t shy away from big contributions. In other jurisdictions, individuals are known to sign $5 million cheques to underwrite the entire cost of a single crusade.
Currency & Conversion
The preacher who raised the funds is based outside Ghana so he mentioned the amounts in dollars. It was naturally deemed helpful to convert them to enable donors pay in local currency.
Categories
The issue most people seemed to have was with the categories the amounts were tagged with. These were simply prayer points he provided for each giver to base their faith and prayer on. Once we put it into context, you will agree that the more you commit to something the greater your expectation is likely to be. Everyone in the conference had the chance to give according to their strength.
I have personally experienced a 24-hour miracle more than once. I believe in giving and in financial miracles but it doesn’t make me a lazy person. I work extremely hard but I am also a firm believer in the grace of God. In my humble opinion, a balanced combination of God’s grace plus hard work is the key to success.
SO WHERE DID THIS GO WRONG?
The preacher finished preaching the next morning and asked people who were ready with the various categories of donations to come forward with their pledges. Thankfully, many responded positively and willingly.
However, as you can imagine, some people had made more than one pledge and kept asking ushers for the various amounts in cedis as well as banking details.
Our hardworking projection team therefore took the initiative, summarized the various categories and projected them for the benefit of contributors as they came forward.
At that point, the screen snapshots were taken by viewers of the live streaming service on the internet. The rest, as they say, is history.
We can continue having an informed discussion about the scriptural or moral dimensions of this issue based on the actual facts that I have provided as accurately as I can. Informed debate is healthy and no one must insult a person who genuinely inquires about the scriptural basis or appropriateness of our actions.
Official Response
The church as a practice does not issue statements on issues in the media. The video circulating about Pastor Otabil purportedly responding was definitely not a response to this issue.
CONCLUSION
The snapshot was not an advert for funds. The gospel is definitely not for sale and will never be. Many have visited ICGC Christ Temple, where Pastor Otabil pastors, and been surprised or even objected to how little fuss is made about giving and fundraising. It’s just not our focus or style.
We are grateful to the well meaning Christians from all over the world who have reached out in love in a genuine quest to confirm that the highest standards of excellence and integrity of ministry ICGC is known for remain intact.
Be assured that ICGC remains resolute and unreservedly committed to raising leaders, shaping vision and influencing society through Christ.
I hope that this information helps throw a bit of light on the issue. (Sorry it ended up being much longer than I intended).
Thanks once again for asking and God bless.
Source: Peacefmonline.com
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Readint the comments above makes me sad.It was as if the good Ashimolowo put a gun on the hundreds of people who responded to the call to pledge for the work of God.Why are some Ghanaians talking too much like that.Some of us wld contribute any day to the work of God and we dont need the prompting of a man of God to do it.God has been good to some of us He took us from nowhere and lifted us up.#Kingdom Investors wo krom
ICGC GOOFED BIG TIME. THEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES. WHEN CROOKS TAKE OVER THE CHURCH OF GOD, NO AMOUNT OF EXPLANATIONS WILL ASUAGE THE SENTIMENTS OF CHRISTIANS AND YET TO BE CHRISTIANS. MENSA SHOULD BE ABOVE THESE LOUSY WAY OF MAKING MONEY. THE GRACE OF GOD SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED. IT IS GOD WHO GIVES ONE THE GRACE TO PROSPER AND TO DO HIS WORK, HE CAN TAKE IT AWAY FROM YOU AS WELL. LEARN FROM AHITHOPEL IN THE BIBLE. MENSA SHOULD THINK OF HOW FAR GOD HAS BROUGHT HIM. I REST MY CASE!
The explanation is ok except it sounds more like the official position of the church. Those of us who by grace are placed on the high moral pedesta ought to be careful what we do.Icgc, please ensure this is not repeated
@ERIC. THANK YOU FOR YOUR EXPLANATION. I AM JUST A CONCERNED CHRISTIAN. ONE WHO LOVES CHRIST AND THE CHURCH OF CHRIST DESPITE MY IMPERFECTIONS. WE SHOULD THEREFORE CONSIDER STRONGLY WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR CHURCHES AND TRY TO CHANGE IT IN MY OPINION. LETS LOOK AT MARK 8:36, ACTS 8:20, TIMOTHY 6:10, MATT 6:24 LUKE 16:14, PETER 5:2. COUNTER THESE WITH PROVERBS 10:22, PROVERBS 15:6 READ THE WHOLE SENTENCE WELL, PSALM 112:3 CONSIDER THE PART AFTER THE COMA. FOR THE POOR IN THE CHURCH, MATT 5:42. LETS ASK OURSELVES IF OUR PASTORS REMEMBER WHAT IT SAYS? WHEN YOU TAKE THESE BIBLE VERSUS AND OTHERS TOGETHER, YOU WILL HAVE A CLEAR PICTURE OF THE POSITION OF THE WORD. MAY HIS GRACE BE WITH US ALL.
The title "executive pastor" is commonly used in Churches around the world for pastors who perform mostly administrative functions. It is like a church administrator in most churches but in this case the person is a pastor and he may perform pastoral duties as well. There is no fetish about this title. That being said, Otabil is a pastor most people respect and I think this whole offering episode is in bad taste. From Albert's response it seems it is more an Ashimolow type of offering but I guess ICGC is ultimately responsible. It is unbiblical and unnecessary. Hopefully, this doesn't happen again.
SO if I dont have 5000 dollars, God cannot elevate me to a millionaire status and so i dont deserve a billionaire status prayer. So sad! If you need to support your pastors, why dont you just call for it that we need x amount of money and so please contribute to it according to your strength? Because you feel we are ***barred word*** and vulnerable and believe so much in prayer, so you can tie it to prayer points to compel and entice members who are miracle seekers to pay and claim that deceitful blessings! God is angry!!! I am one of of your members but we must call a spade a spade! Youth of ICGC let us rise up to instill the true doctrine of Jesus Christ into the rising generation, and let us refuse to allow these selfish and fraudulent people to take advantage of us! We must speak up!!!!!
Kofi, I have read your response and appreciate your background. It is usually to do with a religious culture. For some Christians, even paying their tithe is so difficult to do even though they have the money. The culture of ICGC is that whatever needs to be done must be done excellently well. Inviting international speakers to such an event costs money. We members of the church are always prepared, according to our individual abilities, to foot the bill so that we can continuously hold the program each year. For those of us who are members, it has become part of our annual budget and we will continue to do so by the special grace of God.
I personally don't see anything wrong with those pledges. if your faith doesn't allow you , don't criticize. experience some monetary miracles and see if you will ignorantly criticize again. my brother, pledging is an opportunity to be blessed wai.
Executive Pastor????????????
Mr. Albert Ocran and wife, strategically, professionally extorting money from the youth and unemployed people to enrich them selves with their so-called SPRINGBOARD. That certificate is VALUELESS. No company accept it it is cheap PAPER.I am advising the Youth not to take part in their upcoming. They make millions of cedis. IT IS VALUELESS