The Myjoyonline web site is reporting that the Rt. Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong-Manso, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), has encouraged additional sources of denominational funding.  From the article it appears that he was speaking in a sermon at a worship service to celebrate the “elevation” of the Samreboi sub-district of the PCG to a full district in the Wassa Amenfi District of the Western Region.

Rev. Frimpong-Manso is quoted as saying:

[T]he church could no longer continue to rely solely on assessment payments for the smooth running of the church.

“As a step in this direction”,he stated: “I humbly appeal to you to find ways and means of raising funds from within and outside your congregation for the development of church infrastructure, evangelism and social services”.

and later the article says

The Moderator said the church needed to improve its financial base so as to move away from the ever dependence on the annual assessment, offering and annual harvests, into finding new ways of funding the church, adding: “We need money and this should come out of viable projects and investments”.

From my PC(USA) perspective I would read the “assessment” as something like per-capita and it sounds like the “offering and annual harvests” are like our special offerings.  However, what the moderator seems to be encouraging is not like our additional congregational gifts to higher governing bodies that we call “mission giving” but other sources like revenue from projects and investing in something.

What is clear, from his list of priorities (the development of church infrastructure, evangelism and social services), is that this is for the expansion of the church and its mission, not just the maintenance of the institution.

I also found it interesting the appeal for necessary transportation:

The Resident Pastor appealed to the Head Office of the church to replace the eight-year-old incapacitated Suzuki motorcycle with a strong vehicle, in order to promote evangelism and social services in the hinterland where the road network was in a mess.