Reinhard Bonnke: We Don’t Collect Offering At Our Crusades

The German Pentecostal evangelist, Reinhard
Bonnke, has warned members of the public
and, especially, participants at his ongoing
Farewell Crusade holding in Lagos, that he does
not collect offerings during his crusades.
"We are here to bless you; we have brought you
gifts of salvation and deliverance; we are here
to give and not to take anything from you.
"Anyone who asks you to give offering for this
crusade is a thief and should be reported
immediately," the sponsors of the crusade,
Christ for All Nations, warns participants on
Thursday at the crusade ground.
This is coming on the heels of suspicion that
certain unscrupulous persons might want to
malign the credibility of the preacher by seizing
the opportunity offered by the huge crowd at
Bonnke's crusade to raise money for personal
use.
Observers opine that Bonnke's decision is a
radical departure from what critics see as
"normal practice" by some open-air preachers
who urge crusade participants to donate money
for offering and other projects.
A respondent, 50-year-old Mr. Ifeanyi Duru,
said Bonnke's decision to not raise offerings at
his crusades is "an attestation to his sincerity" in
only being concerned about "the salvation of
souls."
Duru recalled that as a student in the University
of Benin in the mid 1980s, a popular preacher
from the region (name withheld) had to contend
with the activities of people he described as
"rogues" who tried to raise unofficial offerings
from the crowd.
"The preacher, who is now late, had decided to
collect offering during his open-air crusades, but
some unscrupulous persons tried to outsmart
him," Duru said.
He added that the popular preacher beat the
thieves to their game by having different colours
of offering bags for each night of the week-long
crusade.
"The colours to be used were announced just a
few seconds to the commencement of each
offering collection; and because the rogues had
no prior idea, they were defeated in their
purpose," Duru said.
He, however, commended Bonnke's "caring
heart" for refusing to succumb to what he called
"the temptation to exploit the crowd," who he
said would have given "generously" if asked.