#3 You use your money for what you shouldn’t use your money for and you use God’s money for what you should not use it for.

There are things you can do to a business start-up that will bring you a loss. If you do the same things in the ministry, it will not only bring you a loss but a curse.

You want to buy fuel in the ministry, you dip your hands into your pocket and buy. Then, you wanted to buy a Coke to drink, you dip your hands into God’s money and buy. That’s a malady.

That’s why I talk about imprest. Even if you buy fuel with your money, get a refund and then buy your coke with your money. If you go for an official (ministry-related) assignment, you are not buoyant but hungry, buy a Coke, account for it and let the ministry pay for it. If you need recharge cards for official work and you can’t bear it from your personal purse, let the ministry pay for it but ACCOUNT FOR IT.

As simple as these things are, they are things that put pressure on full-time ministers. If you sort it out accordingly, you will be less burdened. Meanwhile, I don’t expect you to abuse this. If you drain the ministry all because you want to drink a crate of coke, you’re on your own. In our early days in the ministry, I waited to subscribe at night for 25 naira so I can upload KBI lectures. I am talking of KBI, our business arm. It was meant to make money for the ministry but it was a start-up then and wasn’t making much yet. I used to cramp the lectures together and upload them at once in the middle of the night. It is the day I planned to upload that I will start feeling sleepy but I will still ensure I keep the vigil. Today, I don’t care what the MB is. I don’t even check, I just upload any time of the day.

There are 3 phases to this:

Entry phase– at this phase, you allow the ministry to bear some minor things that are not burdensome on it. Ministry can bear official call cards, transportation fares and so on. You also have to endure at this phase. Where the ministry can’t bear all the transportation costs, you may have to trek some distance. Those days, (even now), I was very reluctant to charter a bike or tricycle or cab. Not that the ministry can’t bear it but the cost would be burdensome.

Second Phase: Ministry can now bear some higher responsibilities. Like house rents and the like. If you do things right, your personal finances should be improving at this point too. So, you can bear some things while the ministry bears other things. At this point, Bishop Oyedepo said he paid for his personal flight tickets instead of the ministry bearing them.

The third Phase– is a more stable phase for you and the ministry. You can take up more expenses. At this stage, you have also fully separated ministry expenses from you. For instance, you don’t concern yourself with how the Church generator is fueled. The ministry can buy and maintain an official car(s) or aircraft(s).

Note: these phases are interwoven and overplay. It doesn’t mean you clearly come out of one before another. it flows together.

The point is that let the ministry bear things it can bear and be very frugal while doing that else, you will kill the ministry. Today, I still manage here and there to save costs. That is inspite of how God is blessing us.

And importantly, if you have something to give, give it to the ministry, don’t use it to sort things out. Like, instead of bringing money from your pocket to buy fuel, pay that money into the ministry purse and let the ministry buy the fuel. That is the seed that attracts blessings. Not the one you spend without a record. Don’t say I used my seed to pay for the ministry NEPA bill.

Full-time ministers who work with a ministry should ordinarily meet a system that settles these things. The level of sacrifice you will make is determined by what phase the ministry you serve with is. If you have a unique situation that is not covered in this write-up, state it so I can give input.

Comment in the section for the link to Part 1-2.