In The Church of Pentecost, we give a number of offerings including our lives, energy, skills, talent and money (in various forms) towards the advancement of winning souls and discipling them for Christ, thus possessing the nations for Christ. There are many different ways to make monetary contributions towards the missions work of The Church of Pentecost. Two of such monetary offering are the Monthly Missions Offering and the Yearly McKeown’s Missions Offering. Aside these two regular monetary offerings, individuals are encouraged to make periodic donations as the Spirit leads them – in kind and in cash – to be given to other nations (through the Missions Office) towards mission work. In this article, I seek to mainly explain the difference between Missions Offering and McKeown’s Missions Offering and to also discuss different ways one can be a partner of the mission enterprise of The Church of Pentecost.
The mission work is not only outside Ghana. There are places in Ghana designated as internal mission zone; this includes the Home and Urban Missions (HUM) as well as various places in Ghana that are deprived – in need of boreholes, and various kinds of support. The Home and Urban Mission has two dimensions of mission work – the Home Mission which seeks to reach out to other nationals living in a nation such as Chinese, Lebanese etc. living in Ghana or Ghanaians, Nigerians etc. living in Kenya. The other dimension is Urban Mission which seeks to reach out to the vulnerable and the marginalized living in major urban centres in every nation.
In supporting missions work in deprived areas within a nation, it is worth noting that, few days ago, Pentecost International Worship Centre (PIWC) Asokwa sponsored the construction of a fibre boat for the Afram Plains Area ofThe Church of Pentecost to make mission work there, which requires crossing the Volta Lake, easier. The Church of Pentecost is supporting a lot in many deprived areas in Ghana.
Now to the two regular monetary offering towards mission work in The Church of Pentecost. As stated earlier, one is the MONTHLY MISSIONS OFFERING. This is taken in every local assembly once a month on THE FIRST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH (which is Communion Sunday). It is the Monthly Missions Offering that is sent to support missionaries in the various nations, to acquire places of worship and to support those in need such as the recent evacuation of those caught in the midst of the Russia-Ukraine conflicts.
In the nations outside Ghana, the Monthly Missions Offering is kept in an account in the nation and used for similar purposes periodically in the nation or in support of other nations with permission from the International Missions Director (IMD). The purpose behind the Monthly Missions Offering especially for nations outside Ghana is for members in those nations to also contribute towards mission work in other nations else it will appear that members in those nations are only receiving for their mission work and not being self-supporting or supporting of mission work in other nations. For instance, during the landslides in Sierra Leone few years back, whiles I served as a missionary in Seychelles, The Church of Pentecost in Seychelles made a donation of $300 to the church in Sierra Leone.
The other type of regular monetary offering towards mission is the yearly McKeown Missions Offering. The second week in March of every year is designated in The Church of Pentecost globally as the McKeown Missions Week, climaxing on the second Sunday of March. As you may be aware, Reverend James McKeown and his wife Sophia arrived in Ghana in 1937 to begin their missionary work which eventually led to the formation of The Church of Pentecost. Thus, every year, we revisit the records of the missionary work of the McKeowns to draw lessons and to be inspired to pray for nations, for global mission work, for the mission enterprise of the Church of Pentecost, and for missionaries. During this week, all of us are encouraged to give the McKeown Missions Offering and also get in touch with a missionary and encourage them. On the Sunday, we watch and discuss a documentary on the mission work of The Church of Pentecost around the world. The video link for the 2022 McKeown Missions Week is below:
While the monthly Missions Offering is kept in the various nations and used by the nation for their mission work or to support other nations with permission from the IMD with the aim to instil self-supporting attitude in the members within the nation, the yearly McKeown Missions Offering is a joint global contribution into one pool to push the mission enterprise of The Church of Pentecost, especially in breaking new grounds. Between September 2021 to date, The Church of Pentecost has moved into 27 new nations and we have listed many more to move into this year. It is the McKeown Missions Offering, together with tithes, which helps in fulfilling this work.
The philosophy behind the McKeown Missions Offering is for all members in all nations to have a sense of belonging in the overall centrally-joined missions work of The Church of Pentecost as a body so that members in individual nations do not see themselves as doing their own mission work in the nation and not part of the overall picture. Hence, no amount is too small.
All these said, a group of people can also come together in each local assembly around the world and call themselves “Friends of Missions” and decide to contribute a certain fixed amount as a group or as individuals (or individuals within the group) to make donations to the Missions Office on routine basis – weekly, monthly, quarterly etc.
In case you have any question or enquiry, kindly contact me on WhatsApp number +254790259944.
God bless you and thank you for reading this piece.
S. K. Fianko-Larbi (Apostle)
[Missionary & National Head for The Church of Pentecost, Kenya]
[Coordinator for The Church of Pentecost Mission in East Africa]
