Israel Nkate

Israel Nkate

Pastor Modise Olebogeng of the Doers of God's Word Church in Phokeng, Rustenburg, yesterday led a service on offerings and tithes.

Olebogeng told Sowetan: "The church dedicated the service to teaching the congregants about the importance of offerings and tithes.

"It is also clear that people fail to differentiate between the two.

"Offerings is the normal collection the congregation donates during a service and tithe is 10percent of one's salary donated to the church voluntarily by members of the congregation," Olebogeng said.

He said the church used the money gained from offerings and tithes to either build new structures or improve on existing ones, or to support orphans and the aged in the community.

He said it was important that people understood why they make offerings in church.

In most cases, he said, people did not understand and believed that the money was used to support the priests and pastors.