There're 'fraudsters, thieves' in church - Agyin-Asare

Fraudsters, thieves and robbers have craftily found their way into the Church, Bishop Charles Agyin-Asare of Perez Chapel International (PCI) has said.

Preaching to his congregation at the Perez Dome, Dzorwulu in Accra on Sunday, 5 February the month of loyalty and love for PCI the Presiding Bishop said: There are some who come into the church and they are thieves;their purpose is to steal.In fact there are church members who come in [to steal].

Citing an example to buttress his point, Bishop Agyin-Asare recounted how a married couple in PCI defrauded him and other church members and later bolted to join a different church.

Recently I had to call a pastor and I gave him a name; I said Mr So So & So and his wife, they are from my church, I leant they are in your church, they are fraudsters, they defrauded me and they defrauded other church members, and, so, be very careful about them and when the issue comes up, call my name and say I said so, he narrated.

He said such fraudsters normally took advantage of their association with the head pastor to perpetrate their crime. While some of them continually shake hands with the head pastor after church service to create the impression that they are close friends of his, others also use photo opportunities to craft that same impression and subsequently exploit it for parochial and criminal purposes.

They start going from one church member to the other and they start borrowing money and they don't pay; they start defrauding other church members, he explained.

He said there was the need for the Church to expose such fraudsters, thus, his decision to warn his fellow pastor of the fraudulent activities of the fraudster couple.

When I called the pastor he said: Wow, he came to see me, I led him to one of my church members, he has taken money from three people already and he keeps giving them stories. And I said some of these things must stop in the body of Christ, so, there are some people who come into the church, they come as sheep but they are wolves in sheep's clothing,Bishop Agyin-Asare added.