The founder of Hillsong Church has urged followers to donate a tenth of their wages to the amid the fallout from cheating pastor Carl Lentz.
The megachurch has been rocked by scandal since its head pastor for New York Lentz – once a mentor to singer Justin Bieber – was kicked out for cheating on his wife of 17 years Laura.
Lentz, 42, confessed on social media earlier this month to having an affair with fashion designer Ranim Karim, 34, after being sacked for ‘moral failures’.
Lentz and his wife, who are parents to Charlie, 16, Ava, 14, and Roman, 11, are said to be seeking professional help to mend their marriage.
Hillsong founder Brian Houston has said there would be a full investigation into the church earlier this month in the wake of the scandal.
Mr Houston has returned from the U.S. with his wife Bobbie, preaching from the church’s Sydney campus in a service streamed live on YouTube on Sunday.
The service contained multiple messages for followers to donate a tenth of their income, which the church calls ‘tithing’, including when they are struggling with bills or debt.
‘It’s a powerful thing when people know how to tithe, they know how to give, Amen,’ Mr Houston said.
A video played shortly after showing people step-by-step how to pay online, with the example of a $100 donation each week.
The service included a pre-recorded video of an interview with Senior Pastor Robert Morris from the Gateway Church in Dallas, U.S.
Mr Morris said giving 10 per cent of income to the church via tithing was ‘the most important principle’ because that was ‘putting God first in every area of life’.
‘Jesus himself said where your treasure is there your heart will be also,’ he said.
‘Sixteen of 38 parables Jesus taught had to do with money and possessions, so you have to kind of ask yourself: Was Jesus after their money? No.
‘He was after their hearts. Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be.’
Mr Morris said if people put God first in their finances, their hearts would follow their treasure.
‘So if they’re putting their treasure in the church, their heart’s going to be in the church,’ he said.
Mr Morris urged people to give even when struggling with finances.
‘All these people would write to me and say: ‘hey I’m giving but I’m still in debt. I’m giving but I still can’t pay my bills’,’ he said.
Mr Morris said it wasn’t ‘magical’ but that ‘God blesses generosity’.
‘We’re going to give and God’s going to bless us,’ he said.
He then told the story of a used-car dealer who earned only $640 in a difficult week.
After donating $64 to the church, the very next day he got a refund cheque for an overpaid water bill, Mr Morris said.
‘You’ll never convince me in a million years that is a coincidence,’ Mr Morris said.
Secular Party of Australia president John Perkins, an atheist, said the church was encouraging people to give them money by implying that God would repay it.
‘At a time when people are struggling financially because of the virus it is quite immoral of the church to seek more money from its followers,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘They say it is important to give money to God – but God does not get the money. And why does God need money? Tithing is a very onerous imposition. No wonder Hillsong Church is so rich. It is psychological manipulation.’
Hillsong Church’s revenue was $95,903,071 with 76 per cent from ‘tithes and offerings’, according to its 2019 report, and it has set up multiple donation channels.
Churchgoers can give money through the Hillsong giving app, which was advertised during the service, by BPAY or direct deposit, in an envelope at the service, or by mail to the church’s headquarters at Castle Hill in Sydney’s north-west.
The Australian mega-church said in 2015 that no one was ever pressured to donate.
‘We call the offering a ‘free will’ offering for a reason – and many people let the offering containers pass them by without contributing anything,’ Hillsong said in a press release.
‘People give because they want to, not because they have to, and anyone has a right to support a church financially if they wish, just as they have a right to give to any other organisation.’
After making it look like God need their money and they ain’t good Christians if they ain’t giving while in debt, you turn around to say it’s a free will. Of course, believers should and most give, but when the church doesn’t care that people are hungry and in debt, then there is a problem.