Where Does The Money Go?

World Mission Society Church Of God members, although many will not admit to it, give 10% of their gross pay to the organization in addition to other “free will offerings”.  The few members that admit that there is a 10% tithe requirement say that they give it because it is God’s law.  Interestingly I can not find this requirement in the New Testament.  The Apostle Paul writes:

On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.

1 Corinthians 16:2

So where is 10% in the New Testament?  It simply isn’t there.  That went away with the Old Law when Christ instituted the New Covenant.

When I was a member, there was no financial transparency at the WMSCOG.  The WMSCOG did not distribute an annual statement to members consisting of donations and how the funds were allocated like many other churches do.  So how do the members know how their money is being spent?  When I was a member of the WMSCOG, the members paid for and cooked the food served on the Sabbath and other days of the week.  The members also paid for their own trips to Korea and other “preaching mission” (recruiting) trips.  The WMSCOG also claimed that they did not pay any of the pastors, deacons, or missionaries a salary, but the California application for tax exempt status says otherwise.   The lack of financial transparency was definitely a problem for me and many other former members.

Update:  In 2015, the World Mission Society Church of God in New Jersey was ordered by the Court to produce financial statements.  To view these statements click here.

*The photo above is licensed under the Creative Commons license, available here.

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14 Comments
  1. Beb says

    This is the reason why I left WMSCOG.

    They say all the tithes (green envelope) and the service offering (blue envelope) goes to mother, and the offerings (brown envelope) goes to the local zion. And if you are an active member (like, you hold a team) there is another monthly monetary contribution for the food, electricity, water, etc. And in the zion I went to, there is still another monetary contribution for the construction of a new building (like, AREN’T ALL THE OFFERINGS ENOUGH?. Even the Pastor’s phone bill is passed to us active members! And yes, if you want to go to Korea, you pay for your own expenses.

    And they absolutely HATE it when someone gives coins for offerings. One deaconness told us that mother doesn’t want our coins. It always has to be paper bill. The bigger amount, the better.

    1. Renita says

      I remember the construction offering, the food contribution, the picnic contribution.. The Zion offering is for the local Zion and it’s branches. So why is there a separate contruction contribution?? Whenever I said I didn’t have any cash left they would tell me to go to the ATM down the street. It’s ok to leave Zion on the Sabbath to go get money. If you left to go get food or a new member or something other than money, you might DIE. Right.. Right..

    2. BlessedButterfly says

      I recently left. Very recently. I still have family that attend, not sure how it’s going to work out yet. But, I was just thinking about this the other day. There is the 10% Tithing, and it’s on EVERYTHING. I was taught you give 10% of All Income, Bonuses, Taxes, even Gifts. If you were given a Gift Card, you give 10% of the Amount of the Card or if a Regulat Gift, Find it’s Value & out of your money give 10% of the Value. You’re taught that it is all Gods, & all he asks for is 10% so if you don’t Tithe, you are stealing from God.
      You are also expected to give an Offering at every Service, it adds up Fast, especially during the feasts.
      We also had to buy all our books, veils. Groups took turns buying & making meals. I found out recently even the big flower displays are paid for by a brother or sister who has been blessed with the honor of picking out & buying the flowers for that weeks display. They took donations, always calling it an honor or blessing, to make renovations for the new church building.
      I wondered often about how much they make with all the tithing, offering and ‘blessings’ and what they do with it.

    3. ann says

      i am thinking of leaving the church. I see the leaders buying $600 suits, $150 shoes, new cars (Leaders financially supported by mother) then they turn around and ask the members: buy the food, buy the cleaning supplies, give me $ for construction, give me $ for utilities, buy all the kitchen supplies, give me $ to give to pastor for the future house churches or you will die for keeping an idol in your heart. You will not go to heaven. Children’s teachers buy all the supplies for your class, bible teachers ask all the members in your group for money to give for food during the week. Its sad. The leaders only give a little to house church, and their tithe and offering on sabbath and feasts. They were taught to make the members pay for everything.Its disgusting.

      1. Untouchable J says

        My family left last week. We were therr for 4 years. Our first overseer was a very Odd man, as he was in his mid twenties, but looked almost 40 (all Ovrrseers are even taught to look the same). He was excommunicated, but we were told, “Mother wants him to go to Chicago Zion”. We found out that he had been making advances to the female members. We then had a deacon who was really common sense, become overseer. He was generally a good guy,would talk about “regular” things, including his fav sports team. Then…we switched him with a Korean overseer. We had been warned. He would make racial comments, jokes etc. Rude “harsh” jokes toward brothers and sisters. He would always pass it off as, “Isnt this how family talks?”. Ive seen him scream at members etc. Not to long ago, he purchased a very high end SUV. Shortly after he came, we moved into a new building. Our church could barely pay for ita own Oil bill in the old building….but we moved to a new big zion with a 7k a month oil bill in the cold months. BUT….we were encouraged to “Pay our own oil bill”. Whenevr we bought something, it had to be “New”. Even tools that you could buy used, or at a consignment shop…no. New.

        1. Peter says

          It’s all your own thoughts. You wasted your salvation because of non-sense reasons.

          1. UntouchableJ says

            Wasted? There wasn’t an ounce of Salvation in that place. Stop hearing what you want from exmembers stories. Look at the big picture

  2. reza says

    How the f#%@ did you guys fall for this lol? Hahaha… I’m sorry, but how do people fall for this crap?

    Then again, I suppose I should feel lucky that my circumstances are such that I didn’t have the experiences that would lead me to these ‘places’… For example, I was always extremely curious about the world, always asking questions, and having access to youtube/google made the world of a difference when it came to finding out that god doesn’t exist/religion is bullshit and it poisons everything(christopher hitchens), and I suppose that my parents weren’t terribly religious, although I was raised as a muslim. But seriously… I need to do more research on this. How do people fall for this crap?

    Anyways, congratulations on getting out and helping others make a difference. I mean, if the money truly goes to ‘helping’ there shouldn’t be any worries about releasing a financial statement should there? The problem is it’s going to ‘mcmansions’ and bentlys while innocent money struggling people are supporting this while thinking it’s going to their internal salvation… It’s horrible, horrible, horrible…and I’m glad, again, people like you are doing something about it.

  3. remco9519 says

    And not only that, those innocent struggling people are also supporting the businesses of WMSCOG.

  4. Tania says

    My nephew has joined the church for about two months, he lives with me and my family because his mother passed away 8 months ago. He behavior has changed since, he is being aggressive, calling us aunts names, he believes now that his mothers is in hell. He is a very weak kid, he went through so many struggles, and the leaders are taking advantage of this, they destroying our relationship with my nephew, they are making his life more miserable than it was before, they are taking our peace away.

  5. Montana says

    I joined the church a year and a half ago and I saw the truth about WMSCOG. The church requires members to contribute tithe and offering for every worship but there are members required to pay expenses for the church. I wonder where the money goes and why isn’t the offering enough. There are many controversies in their doctrine which the members refuse to explain or find out the answers when asked but divert it to another verse to avoid answering. I realized that this church has taken you much of my time. I intend to leave this church but don’t know how to. I’m worried about the subsequent consequences I would face from the members and church leaders after leaving it. Can anyone help me?

  6. Rashidun says

    If you give a 20php as tithe the korean girl will approach you and tells you that 50php or 100php could be better…. Astagfirullah! I am still a student that time if i am a son of a rich man maybe i will give them 1000php every saturday but who the hell are they?

  7. Jet Black Wing says

    For me they are very nice people. I do not know if real members asked you money or the pretending ones. I recently joined its been 2 months and there is no talk about money but instead they offer me food. So I do not know wtf u joined. But pls do not let yr faith be destroyed because of stupid reasons. U are only asked to keep the passover and prayers so dont overdo it.

  8. Bushwa says

    This religion, church, cult or whatever you want to call it is a complete sham; virtually hypnotizing people. Please read the very bible that they use to contaminate the truth with lies. For starters, they say some commandments are to be kept, but not others, some traditions are to be kept but not others from tithing to sacrificies. Not one God but many gods, even a female god; not one Christ Jesus, but two christ. And the one they claim is christ or god never made the claim that he was god or chirst. Why is everything a secret? You have to have a code for bible study? You can’t ask question. You can’t watch TV or get on the internet. My question is: How is it possible not to see this sham for yourself

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