The Bishop of the Seventh-day Adventist (SDA) Church in Central Uganda Conference (CUC), Samuel Kajoba, has condemned poor people claiming that they find it hard to exercise true Christianity.
In a story run by The New Vision newspaper, the bishop emphasized the need for financial freedom for an individual, family, and Church, sighting that poor Christians obstruct development and the Church’s core mission of evangelism. The bishop made these remarks at the CUC headquarters in Kireka, while opening the seventh virtual Adventist Business Conference (ABC), an annual entrepreneurship and skills development meeting organized by CUC to empower Christians to attain financial independence.
“If a whole church of over 20 families collects Shs3,000 in offertory, how do you expect that church to grow, put up good structures and evangelize? Who would want to join a group of paupers? It is high time each church member asked the pertinent question of “how will I get me out of poverty?” he said.
Kajoba went forth and implored men to put in place strategic ways to get out of poverty. He said he once ministered in a church that asked him to stop sending them guest preachers because they could not raise money for transport.
The bishop further added that the reason why several families were wallowing in poverty is due to the “pull him/her down” syndrome.
“In these kinds of families of over six members, only the father works. The rest remain home to watch TV soaps, clean the house and make phone calls. If the rest of the family depends on one person, how will they develop?” he said.
According to Fred Nkayivu, the Managing Director of Prime radio, the conference was started seven years ago to tackle poverty.
“As the church mouthpiece, we decided to soul search on how best we can help to lift Christians out of poverty. That is how we came up with the Adventist Business Conference which is always hosted in Lugogo. We have resolved to go virtual in adherence to curtail the spread of Covid-19. We are glad that there are a number of testimonies from people who have benefitted from this programme,” he said.
