“Lighthouse pastors were not employees” – SSNIT rules

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Rev. Seth Duncan resigned his job as a seaman with Ghana’s navy in 2005, trained as a pastor at Anagkazo Bible College, which is owned by his church, Lighthouse Chapel International.

After three years of training, the church sent him into full-time ministry in 2008. He was first posted to Paga in the Upper East Region and later to Tamale and Kasoa in the Northern and Central regions respectively. But he resigned after planting and administering churches for 10 years.

Within the period, the church did not pay his pension contribution for the 120 months of work. When he petitioned Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to seek redress, SSNIT said in a letter dated August 20, 2021, that LCI had done no wrong in not paying his social security contributions.

According to the records currently available to us, we could not establish an employer/employee relationship between LCI Ghana and your good self for the period December 2008 and October 2018 as claimed in your petition,” SSNIT’s Compliance Manager, Felix Cudjoe Ahiable, stated in the letter.

Rev. Duncan, who was ordained by Lighthouse Chapel as a “reverend minister” after working for some time said he wonders what he was doing because his service as a pastor cannot be denied because he was not offered an employment letter.

seth
Ordination certificate confirming the employer/employee relationship the church had with Rev. Seth Duncan

This conclusion is similar to those of five other former LCI ministers which SSNIT has reached after more than six months of “independent investigations” into their claims. They are Bishop Larry Odonkor, Bishop Emmanuel Oko Mensah, Rev. Edward Laryea, Rev. Edem Amankwa, and Pastor Faith Makafui Fiakojo.

SSNIT
A summary of the working life of six former employees of LCI who have since sued the church

But the pastors say they provided enough evidence to SSNIT to prove there were employer/employee relationships between them and the church for the periods stated.

They had petitioned SSNIT in February 2021, to compel the church to comply with “basic labour laws.” After a cumulative 70years of work in the church, LCI had not paid their social security contributions for a total of 42 years and five months.

SSNIT said it had met representatives of the church who explained to them the church’s administrative structures and HR policies regarding “appointments, trainings, career progression, transfers, dismissals, payment of salaries and other emoluments of staff.”

The state’s pension-collecting company  said it had found out that there is no evidence that the six former bishops and pastors were employees of the church at the times when they claimed the church had defaulted in the mandatory payment towards their retirement.

SSNIT maintained that because of this, it cannot compel Lighthouse Chapel International to pay its outstanding pension contribution.

SSNIT had, in the course of the investigation, asked the pastors to provide documents such as employment letters, pay slips, bank statements showing money the pastors transferred from their branches to the headquarters of Lighthouse Church International, or evidence of money transferred to the pastors from the headquarters.

The pastors had earlier told The Fourth Estate that their engagement with the church was on the basis of trust. Some of them started following the founder, Bishop Dag Heward-Mills, from their university campuses and considered him as a father.

When they were engaged, there were no employment contracts and some of the decisions concerning their employment were done through word of mouth. They also said there were instances they were made to sign documents but they were not given copies.

As to whether they worked in the church or not, according to the pastors are public records because they worked openly and opened branches for the church.

SSNIT also ruled that those who were employed by Lighthouse Chapel International and transferred to the church’s branches outside of Ghana were not entitled to paid SSNIT contribution by the headquarters of Lighthouse Church International.

The pastors say this was not an agreement that was communicated to them before they left Ghana. Besides, some of the churches they opened as missionaries and pastored outside were struggling and were not in the position to have shouldered these responsibilities.

Bishop Larry Odonkor worked for 19 years, according to the church’s own records. But it paid SSNIT for only five years from 2005 to 2010. Here is his employment history with Lighthouse Chapel International and its branches where he worked, according to the Lighthouse Church International’s own records in a letter the church wrote to Larry Odonkor when he first petitioned the church about his SSNIT payment:

December 2001 to July 2002: Ethiopia

September 2002 to November: Central Africa Republic.

January 2003 to January 2004: Suhum.

January to October 2004: South Africa.

January 2005 to June 2010: Ghana

June 2010 to May 2018: South Africa

June 2018 to January 2020: Madagascar

January 2020 to April 2020: Ghana.

But in response to his petition, SSNIT affirmed the church’s position that Larry Odonkor was not an employee of LCI Ghana for nearly 14 out of 19 years of service.

The tier-one-pension collector said, “According to the records currently available to us, it is important to state that LCI Ghana paid all social security contributions due you for the period June 2005 to June 2010, and January 2020 to April 2020 when you were in the employment of LCI Ghana.”

SSNIT continued, “From our independent investigations, we could not establish an employer/employee relationship between LCI Ghana and your good self for the periods November 2001 to May 2005 (in Ghana) and September 2010 to December 2019 (in South Africa and Madagascar).”

Larry Odonkor has stated that throughout his 19 years at the church, there was nothing like LCI Ghana. He said there was only one Lighthouse Church International, which had branches outside the country and headquartered in Ghana.

He said when he was being transferred to South Africa, it was treated as an “intra-company” transfer and the visa was applied for him by Lighthouse Church International to that effect.

pretoria LCI
A visa for Larry Odonkor indicating that LCI had transferred him to South Africa to work within the same organisation.

He said the name “LCI Ghana” only started coming up when they asked that their SSNIT contributions be paid.

Here are the rest of the pastors, their petitions, and the responses from SSNIT:

Bishop Emmanuel Oko Mensah: Lighthouse Chapel International paid his SSNIT contributions from August 2003 to November 2018, but the church did not pay from December 2018 to April 2019 – five months.

SSNIT’s response: “In our opinion, LCI Ghana is not liable for your social security contributions for the period December 2018 and April 2019 since you were in the employment of LCI Burkina Faso. We also do not have the powers to enforce compliance in a foreign jurisdiction like Burkina Faso…”

Rev. Edward Laryea: Worked from 2005 to March 2017. But his social security contributions were not paid between 2005 to 2008.

SSNIT’s response: “We could not establish an employer/employee relationship between LCI Ghana and your good self for the period July 2005 to July 2008 as you claimed in your petition.”

During this period, Rev. Edward Laryea was stationed at Kade in the Eastern region where, together with his wife, he planted churches in several communities.

A letter from LCI to Rev. Edward Laryea dated June 5, 2008, confirmed that the church knew it had employed Rev. Edward Laryea, who started the Kade Mission as far back as 2005.

WhatsApp Image 2021 08 25 at 11.00.13

Rev. Edward Laryea started the Kade Mission or branch of LCI from the scratch. In June 2008, this email from the LCI about the new policy confirmed how long the mission had existed there. SSNIT, however, says there was no employer/employee relationship between him and LCI from 2005 to July 2008 despite seeing this evidence. He said following this directive, his salary was paid at the Kade branch and that’s when he insisted that his SSNIT contribution be paid. His SSNIT payment took effect from August 2008.

According to the former minister, this letter was part of documents he supplied to SSNIT during the course of its investigations, and yet the pensions collecting organisation still reached a conclusion that Rev. Edward Laryea was not an employee of LCI within the period in which he claimed his social security contributions were not paid.

4TH
Rev. Edward Laryea welcoming Bishop Dag Heward Mills who had come for a Healing Jesus Crusade in April 2007 when Mr. Laryea was in charge of the Kade mission of the church

Pastor Faith Makafui Fiakojo Graduated from Anagkazo Bible College and was posted to Fumbisi in the Upper East Region, where he worked from November 2013 to December 2019. The church did not pay his SSNIT contribution at all.

SSNIT’s response: There’s no evidence that he was employed to do this work.

Edem Amankwah: Worked for 11 years, in Nigeria and toiled in Liberia during the Ebola crisis.

SSNIT’s response: Again, there is “no evidence” that he was employed for the entire period that he worked from November 2007 to November 2018.

In all six cases, SSNIT said the petitioners “could also not provide evidence of being in the employment of LCI Ghana for the period and by extension, any salaries earned on which social security contributions were paid.”

The Lighthouse Chapel International has said the ministers of the gospel were either volunteers (for the periods they worked in Ghana without their SSNIT being paid) or were working for a foreign branch of the church, which is “financially, governmentally, administratively” different from the mother church, LCI Ghana.

The six former pastors and bishops of the church, in summary, have explained that they do not have letters of employment because the basis for their recruitment was like a “father-son” relationship. They also explained that in the church, there were many times during which official correspondence to them was given to them to only read and sign, acknowledging that they had read it. But they are never given a copy of the letters that were addressed to them.

“My appointment letter was given to me, I signed it and they were taken away,” Oko Mensah gave an example of this ‘only see-and-sign’ tactics of the church.

We lost confidence in SSNIT along the way – Counsel for petitioners

Pastors 02
L-R: Larry Odonkor, Emmanuel Oko Mensah, Edem Kofi Amankwa, Seth Sarpong Duncan, Edward Laryea, and Faith Fiakojo. They have resigned from Lighthouse and have sued the church for violating their rights

Kofi Bentil, who is the lawyer for the six former employees of the church, told The Fourth Estate that they had “lost confidence” in SSNIT after they noticed a change in its posturing towards his clients.

He explained that on June 2, 2021, SSNIT called for a meeting after receiving documents backing their petitions. The Head of Prosecution at SSNIT, Emmanuel Baidoo, was present.

During that meeting, the six former employees said they took SSNIT through their documents that prove they were employees and were therefore entitled to the payment of all outstanding pension contributions. But they also explained that they did not have some of the documents such as payslips.

“Nobody has payslips in Lighthouse,” Bishop Larry Odonkor explained. His compatriot Rev. Edward Laryea confirmed this.

He said SSNIT also told them that they had asked LCI for payslips but the church had responded that they don’t give payslips.

Rev. Edward Laryea, for example, had presented bank statements showing payment of his salaries as well as his letter of resignation in 2017. Bishop Larry Odonkor had presented emails from LCI headquarters in Ghana telling him what to do in South Africa and also scheduling his leave.

Bishop Larry Odonkor said the kind of questions SSNIT was asking during the meetings, “we realized that they were not doing something right. They were just going back and forth.”

He said his worry about the posture of SSNIT was confirmed when two days after this meeting, SSNIT wrote a letter dated June 4, 2021, asking for the following documents which they had already provided and documents that they had already explained they could not provide. SSNIT asked for:

  1. Payslips/bank statements confirming salaries paid them by LCI
  2. Evidence of transfer of funds from LCI to you for church activities and from you to LCI as proceeds from a branch of the church
  3. Evidence of correspondence between LCI and you in respect of church activities
  4. Appointment letter/letter of engagement as an employee of LCI and
  5. Letter of disengagement if any

In the letter dated June 1, 2021 ( a date before their meeting with SSNIT to address the same issues) and sighted by The Fourth Estate, SSNIT left the former ministers with 24 hours to supply the information.

“We were taken aback,” Rev. Edward Laryea recalled his reaction after receiving the letter,  “because we had served them with some of those documents already.”

“The others [documents] that they had not given to SSNIT, they had told them that Lighthouse has a culture of you sign the thing and then they take it back,”  Kofi Bentil said.

Nonetheless, the petitioners presented some of these documents again.

Bishop Larry Odonkor said he gave SSNIT two out of the five documents requested, including some of the more than 120 emails of correspondence between him and the church from 2010 to 2020 while he was working in Madagascar and South Africa.

“How do I get a bank statement from South Africa?” he said, explaining he had closed his account after he left the country.

Rev. Edward Laryea said he gave three out of the five documents. He could not provide an appointment letter or payslips. But he provided an “overwhelming” number of emails from LCI directing them to come for full-timers camps when to go on leave among several others which he said established an employer/employee relationship.

“I even presented my resignation letter and the acceptance letter from the HR at that time, Bishop Sackey. They have all,” he said.

Rev. Edward Laryea said SSNIT nonetheless took a decision against their petition because “they just decided not to embarrass Lighthouse Chapel International.”

Edward Laryea said he is convinced that “SSNIT used what LCI is telling them and they are not using the laws of Ghana.”

“What is the law of Ghana saying?” he expressed disappointment.

Has SSNIT been inconsistent?

SSNIT Emmanuel Badoo
Mr. Emmanuel Baidoo is the head of prosecutions at SSNIT

When the former pastors petitioned SSNIT on February 1, 2021, SSNIT wrote in a letter addressed to Lighthouse Chapel International dated May 5, 2021, in which SSNIT laid down the law.

In a three-page letter, SSNIT said, “The LCI is an organization registered under Act 766 hence had a responsibility and obligation under the law to ensure that all workers were registered and contributions paid on their behalf at all times, whether they were in Ghana or outside the country.”

SSNIT, for the avoidance of doubt on whether the former pastors could be categorized as workers, quoted the law’s definition of a worker. SSNIT in that letter said,

“A ‘worker’ includes a person who is employed for salary in any kind of work, manual or otherwise, in or in connection with the work of an establishment, and who gets his salary, directly or indirectly from the employer, and any person employed ….. (ii) outside Ghana but employed by an employer in Ghana.”

SSNIT, in that letter which The Fourth Estate sighted, said it had done preliminary investigations and found that the petitioners were workers. SSNIT gave at least three reasons:

  1. “The central church decided when and where a pastor should be moved at any point and took all decisions as an employer in the regulations of the activities of the pastors.”
  2. “It was also the case that the affected pastors worked and reported at all material times to the headquarters of the church in Accra. The various branches of LCI were not independent of the mother church in Accra and that regular policy directives were issued to these pastors on the running of their branches”
  3. “The leave days of the pastors were also scheduled by the Human Resource office of the LCI.”

SSNIT said that in the light of the above, “an employer and employee relationship had been established between the pastors and LCI, taking into consideration all the factors and circumstances relating to their engagement and the conduct of that relationship.”

In its final decision, however, the SSNIT concluded that it found no evidence of this relationship between LCI and the pastors during certain periods of their working lives, especially when they worked outside the church’s branches outside Ghana.

It concluded, for instance, that Larry Odonkor could not be paid his SSNIT because he was employed by the church in South Africa and not LCI Ghana. But Larry Odonkor said he never resigned from LCI in Ghana to go take up employment in LCI in South Africa or LCI on Madagascar nor did he resign from these foreign branches of the church to take up new employment with LCI in Ghana when he returned in 2018.

Kofi Bentil said he was not surprised by the decision of SSNIT because he had noticed some “strange” posture during the June 2 meeting with SSNIT.

He said all that SSNIT needed to confirm were two things. “That they were employees of Lighthouse Chapel International and that their SSNIT payments were not up to date.”

Bentil accused SSNIT of partiality and said he wrote to the pension body questioning the spirit of their request for more information when the pastors had already provided some and explained the non-availability of others.

In his last correspondence to SSNIT dated June 7, 2021, Kofi Bentil cautioned that  SSNIT would be “watched carefully for the outcomes which clearly will be a precedent for others. We will all be carefully watched and our actions scrutinised both by the persons immediately concerned and the larger public as a whole.”

You can reach the writer of this story, Edwin Appiah, via email at [email protected]. You can follow him on @edwinologyLB

You can also read:

Darkness in a lighthouse: Pastors recount abuse and trauma (Pt.1)

Darkness in a lighthouse Part 2: “Suicide attempts, begging pastors”

Darkness in a lighthouse (Part 3): “Bishop Dag prayed for strength for me to divorce my wife”

They deserve pension – SSNIT tells Lighthouse as it begins investigations

Serving Lighthouse pastor standing “against disloyalty” was paid £300,000 as ex-gratia

Lighthouse begs court for more time to file defence  

Lighthouse Case: Court strikes out chunk of church’s defence against Larry Odonkor

74 COMMENTS

    • You are talking about what you have no knowledge about. You don’t even understand the issues. Who told you ordination certificate means you are employed by the church? Don’t pay your employees ssnit and be there talking about what you do know.

      Any the Bible said.
      Hosea 4:6
      My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:
      because thou hast rejected knowledge,
      I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me:
      seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God,
      I will also forget thy children.

  1. Inconsistencies in their work
    For all you care,the people in Ssnit received some cash.? what happened to their first letter?what changed

    • What changed was counter evidence provided by the defendant! You can’t rule by listening to only a plaintiff in a case and that is common sense. As soon someone complains and you haven’t listened and had contrary evidence you will think “their matter is sweet”.

    • TheFourthEstate, please a Certificate of Ordination is not an employment letter. And by the way this same Certificate of Ordination is given to both lay pastors (who are not employees and are not paid by the church) and full-time pastors when they are ordained to confer on the ordained minister the privileges and authority to officiate weddings, burials etc (which are clearly stated on the certificate). It is NOT given to an ordained minister as a sign of employment. Ask any Reverend minister including Lay Reverend ministers and they will tell you that what I’m saying is true.

      So how can TheFourthEstate write that a Certificate of Ordination is a letter of employment? Does that mean the many Lay Pastors who were also ordained and given this same certificates have also become employees of LCI? It cannot be and it is not so!

  2. God sees, lighthouse should rather be ashamed of itself not rejoice. As long as the whole world now knows LCI is a CULT—that’s enough. Expastors rejoice and move on! The younger ones joining them should take cover!

    • The world doesn’t see lighthouse as a cult.
      If what the ex pastors are saying is true then they should provide valid evidence.
      How can you side with these ex pastors …. can you not see they are trying to tear down a church because of money Ei

      • That sounds a bit dumb! How many drug dealers are out there destroying lives but they aren’t getting arrested because there’s no valid evidence? How many women are being harassed but no justice is served because there’s no valid evidence to provide? That type of reasoning is poor. The church could be absolutely wrong & the ex pastors right but simply because there’s no “valid evidence” , they won’t get compensated as they should. You’re commenting out of emotions instead of common sense & that’s called cognitive dissonance. You can’t honestly say that you don’t see how the church is being unfair to those pastors. You can’t say the church is unable to at least compensate them for all the years they’ve served loyally & faithfully.

        Now that they’re asking for compensation, all the years of their loyalty towards the church & it’s leaders is forgotten?! It’s only now that they’re being seen as money-loving disloyal Orangus?! What happened to the years of loyalty? Why is the church fighting so hard to not part with money? Who really loves money here? The ones rightfully asking for compensation or the church that’s not willing to part with it??? Put emotions aside & you’ll see what’s really going on with the church here!

    • A cult? You people take cover? How on earth can you reach such a conclusion. Just be honest that you do not like the church of God and would love to see it burn. But by his grace it can’t and shall not.

      I thank God for faithful pastors. If I was to follow your advice I wouldn’t do so well.

    • You are not serious at all…. I don’t even know how to describe you… Do you know what a cult is… Join one before you come and tell us ookay

  3. So all the big pastors in Ghana cannot speak Truth to Dag and his empire that he’s built a “successful” CULT that’s destroying the youth especially?

    • Do you know what a cult is? Why are you envious because Bishop is successful and his ministry flourishing. Do you have an idea of what it takes to start one church? Do talk about what you don’t know

      • You people get so uncomfortable when CULTS are mentioned. Maybe you should read on it. Your Dag ticks all the characteristics of a cult leader and someone with a personality disorder. Read on it and see for yourself. All cults look successful until you the followers start reasoning.

    • You of all people in your Switzerland should know that everyone has the freedom to associate with what they want; that extends to members of any so-called cult as well. I suggest you keep your ill-informed opinions to a personal level boss. This is a public platform not meant for personal idiosyncrasies.

    • Cult you said ? Truth that these rebels are trying to rob the church in broad daylight? You must have gone berserk to even suggest this nonsense . Go and ask them to publish all the employer and employee documents they possess on social media including their missionary consent forms and let’s all read what’s in there. Until then , don’t make those ludicrous claims you are making.

    • Maybe you should write your own books for us to read. What sort of life too is this? A reputable institution issues a report and now WHAT? They’ve joined the dogs? Haba?

    • You are VERY WRONG Kelly! In fact if I may ask, how many of Bishop Dag’s books have you read personally? Mention the title and quote the poison you saw in that book.
      How can spiritual books that has brought people to Christ and made some of us become more serious with God and the things of God be classified as poisonous? Do you know the lives that have genuinely changed because of these books? Please don’t talk about things you know nothing about.

    • Completely agree. In fact his book titled ‘Victory Secrets ‘ is the most misogynistic book I’ve ever read and I read a lot of books. He spews so much against women in that book you wouldn’t think he was born of a woman or married to one!!! Absolutely shameful book to have ever been published in black and white!!! If you are a woman still attending LCI I encourage you to pick up a copy of that book and read it from cover to cover and I truly doubt you will ever set foot in that CULT.

  4. At least it should be obvious that there is no such thing as employed full time ministry. So you work 14 years so hard assuming you are employed, only to realise how much of a slave you have been. No rights whatsoever.

    • Who is the church?
      What is the church?
      If you’re working in church doing whatever you are doing then you should know the it is God’s business on earth with humans as his representatives and you must expect your pay,rewards and any other benefits from God. The church is for God and the church is God. If you have different motives towards the God then mercy on you

    • Do you know how many people this ‘institution’ employs? Have they complained to you that they don’t know they’re employed?

  5. Let God’s will be done. If the court rules in favor of Lighthouse, fine. If ruled in the favor of the pastors, fine. I just wish the back and forth on both sides would stop. Let us focus on winning souls for Christ.

  6. How can a whole graduate say you were given employment and u don’t have a copy. U guys are a disgrace to Christian. Bishop Dag is a good man. See the impact he had made in all churches and evangelism in winning souls.
    Tell me which pastor in Africa does huge crusade now apart from Reinhard Bonkee… He believes in evangelism and he is taking the gospel to places
    What has he done against these pastors. Tell me
    Let’s learn to appreciate few chosen men of God of our time.

    • Worked based on TRUST, bro. Which is normal. Now seems this trust has been broken.

      And also the fact someone is WINNING souls for God does not mean the medium he’s using is right & approved of by God.

    • I’ve read enough to know Dag is not a man of God. Open your eyes. He scammed these men and has refused to take responsibility for it. This matter should never have reached a point where they had to go to court. Once this oversight was noted, it should have been corrected. The claim by the Church that these men were not employees is laughable. So what the hell were they doing over there for 2 decades establishing new branches, hosting radio/tv programmes, ministering? Does this church have any employees at all?

  7. Bisop Dag like MARK DRISCOLL – (the Rise & Fall of Mars Hill Church) has built a toxic system of church GOVERNANCE which seems to ONLY thrive on the “advancement of mission” to the DETRIMENT of care & CONCERN for the “advancers” of the mission. LCI may not fall apart like that of Mars Hill Church, Seattle, USA but the culture of TOXICITY will follow it forever if they do not REPENT & do the needful. It’s NOT what we build for God; but HOW it was built.

    Bishop Dag is a great guy; but he got it wrong on church POLITY. He’s too dominant in the organization. What he needs here is HUMILITY & reflection, not legal tussles with his former co-laborers. How much is the cumulative SSNIT that these former employees are asking for that LCI cannot pay judging from the amount of resources that flows into the church & the
    near death SACRIFICES & Experiences this workers have endured for his course. The posture of LCI is telling the upcoming ones in LCI that if you die & sacrifice for the organization it’s WORTHLESS. I don’t think that’s the message LCI wants to send out there since it thrives on PEOPLE to get it’s MISSIONS accomplished. I love Jesus & would do anything for Him & His COURSE but surely not the way LCI is going about it.

    The lawsuit may be a wake up CALL for Bishop Dag & LCI but it’s up to him & LCI whether he’ll listen or not to the VOICE of the Christ he soo dearly loved & have sacrificed the lives of this former pastors for. Other PASTORS have even died for him & his course leaving the parents of these deacesed pastors comfortless. LCI can do better for them. I love LCI but will not support it in it’s abusive style of getting it’s mission accomplished.

    • Wow. Interesting use of the English language. I’m sure you were very excited to use these words and place them in caps. I applaud your efforts at sounding intelligent and so enlightened on the issues of light house and Bishop Dag’s character. Finally you have made it life

    • KAMX don’t blow hot and cold. Don’t insult the intelligence and the sacrifices these missionaries. They chose to serve Christ, and Him they’re prepared to do anything for.

  8. Which organization gives it’s workers binding documents to SIGN & take it back WITHOUT giving them a COPY for keeps. Only PEOPLE with nefarious motives does that.

    SSNIT has changed it’s posture whether genuine or not, we live to see. In all these it’s CHRIST who must win, not LCI. For we’re nothing without Him.

    • Look at you. KAMX. You can’t hide your true intentions. A grown up man/woman reads a document, signs it, and you say what? Please please please don’t insult the respectable, educated, God loving pastors and leaders of this beautiful church

    • You are too hasty with your assertions. If they want a copy they can always use the right procedures to force a copy to be given to them or for purposes of the court proceedings. This is not rocket science. There are several organizations that do that , what you should zero in on here is why you would think that supposed graduates will sign anything that is detrimental to their wellbeing. You should just be a little discerning to see the gaps in your assertions. These guys signed what they felt they were ready for , it wasn’t by force or under oath. They wanted to be missionaries and signed up. Thousands more signed the same document and are happily living their lives. To think that something weird is being hidden from pastors in lighthouse in those documents is childish and naive. People like you are at best , haters

  9. So if all documents demanded were gotten and the rulling was that thier ssnit should be paid how would it have been an embarrasment to the chuech?

  10. http://cultresearch.org/help/characteristics-associated-with-cults/

    Check out the definition of a CULT and keep your views respectful. Notice that my use of “successful” is in quote meaning it is not the true definition of success ok? What they are doing in lighthouse doesn’t please God if you care to know because they’re violate the moral fibre of humanity to establish their own end goals.
    Good luck and continue to be “loyal” to a man ok?

    • Don’t make judgement based on what you hear in public domain from unscrupulous people. How come Oko Mensah never complained until he was transferred from the Qodesh. How come Larry never complained until he was transferred from Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. Let’s be careful with our comments because it is not as it is.

    • Loyal to a man you said. Well, Hebrews 3:2 tells us to loyal to those who appointed us. God calls us through people he expects us to be loyal to. One day , may your children not be loyal to you but to another family member. After all, loyalty to you as their father doesn’t matter but it is the family loyalty that matters. You propound such absurdity to your own hurt.

    • Dear David, save your 5ime and your breath on advising any human from that church. They have imbibed the cult teaching through and through. They see nothing unless God Himself shows it to them.. By the way, I have no doubt the court will compel SSNIT to pay what is due them, by which time whoever took the brie from the church would have spent it on a property in the city already. I know how that church operates. They are paying everybody.

  11. so all those insulting Bishop Dag and the church, do you pray to God before sleeping or do you even worship God, Do YOU READ THE SAME BIBLE WE ALL READ? Is that what your Pastor in your church you attend teaches you? You should becareful, whether he is a man of God or not, the bible says Touch not my anointed, whether the church is a cult or not, the bible say God will build His church , please think well before you come and comment!

  12. the relationship was a father and son relationship, why are these guys fighting the one the call a father, let’s be serious

  13. Those to be ashamed are the ex-pastors who want to drag the name of Lighthouse into the mud. I don’t think this is the first time SSNIT has to deal with a case of this nature so let’s credit SSNIT with some fairness. Your opinion does not change the fact that SSNIT has exonerated Lighthouse, period

  14. Bishop Dag Heward-MIlls is one of the greatest things that happened to the kingdom in recent times. thank you for giving us an opportunity to serve God with our lives.

  15. This is indeed laughable.
    See people talking about what they have no knowledge about. Who told you ordination certificate means you are employed by the church? When a school gives you a certificate, does that mean the school has employed you and for that matter you can request for salary from them. It is obvious the devil has taken the key of knowledge from them that he wants to destroy.
    Anyway the Bible said it.
    Hosea 4:6
    My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:
    because thou hast rejected knowledge,
    I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me:
    seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God,
    I will also forget thy children.

  16. I am not happy at all when the church is taken to court. It does not speak too well, whether the church is right or wrong. Let’s assume those pastors were spewing lies or not speaking the truth. They are saying light house owes them. Is it possible for the church to pay them off? I think the church is there for peace and it must pursue that. Let’s just pay them and put all these court issues behind us and continue with the good work of winning souls. The church is more able to pay them 10x what they are asking for. Let’s allow God to speak for us, if we are truly following him. Jesus employs us to make peace with all men. If we fully the teachings of Jesus and apply some of his principles, we will not get to this stage. We will pay them off and leave God to church the rest. Churches must learn from some of these things and make sure our actions and inactions will not lead to any legal battle.

  17. I’m not against young people taking up missionary work, but totally against the luxurious lifestyles of many of these founders. The through church is the one we truly lack, the church of Love. These founders children have started pastoring to confirm their inheritance whiles their fathers are alive when their not even called to the ordained ministry by the Holy spirit. Africans are currently intuned with western religious madness and advancement of modern technologies to develop.

  18. Ato now it’s longer SSNIT. If there’s such money and luxury in starting and pastoring churches why don’t you start one and will it to your children? If your child is ready to be a pastor let him come and see me. Anyway you’re not the first to say this and you’re not going to be the last…yet the CHURCH OF JESUS STILL MARCHES ON.

  19. Bishop DAG,
    Please seek God’s direction in this matter. I think the pastors were full-time workers of the church and You need to show them love even as they leave LCI. The members’ of the church are willing to pay anything to ensure that there is unity in the body of CHRIST.
    THE LORD IS WATCHING!!!

    • Dont start. Now that they case is useless dont start with advising bishop to walk in love. You dont know the love he has shown, even now, so dont start.

  20. What is happening within the body of Christ, is Bishop Dag aware of what is going on in his Church? Did he establish the church to win souls or to acquire wealth? Why should he the founder sit down and watch this drama? If there are no funds in the Church he should let us know, so that we can contribute to paying those former pastors because it is so shameful for the Bishop to sit down for the Body of Christ to be disgraced.

  21. Dag knows very well in the Bible that you should give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But why is he not ready to settle them? Because Money is what is his focus and nothing else. If not he should prove us wrong by dashing then their claims as his Bible tells him. What a shame on LCI

  22. Judas left everything and followed Jesus but because of money he betrayed the Lord. Over the years they stayed with the Lord they were not paid but did not lack anything. God support us in mysterious ways I am a living testimony of this. I work earn my own money and contribute my time and my money to support the work of God.

    The work of the Church is about Faith it does not make sense to natural minds like yours.

    No matter what you publish or say because you are unsaved and your minds are desperately wicked you will never understand. May the Lord use you one day. It’s an honor not everything is about money. No one can serve two masters.

  23. But the natural, nonspiritual man does not accept or welcome or admit into his heart the gifts and teachings and revelations of the Spirit of God, for they are folly (meaningless nonsense) to him; and he is incapable of knowing them [of progressively recognizing, understanding, and becoming better acquainted with them] because they are spiritually discerned and estimated and appreciated.

  24. Nobody is seeing what has happend to these pastors for what it is… it looks more like the church is worried about money than the well-being of their pastors

    These Pastors pulled out receipts…how can so many people who have left this cult relate to their experiences….they where just brave enough to expose you!!!

    I have been in meetings in this cult where we signed NDA’s confirming that we give permission to be ‘humiliated, insulted and embarrassed” in the name of “we’re sons and daughters of the house” you people are sick but you cant even see it

    Its such a lazy and easy tactic to say they all want money with no evidence other than paying off a media out-let to drive the propaganda.

    When your pastor is sending instructions on group chats to slander these guys is the lowest thing the followers of this cult culture could ever do…Jesus was accused of a lie and didnt say a word!

    However, I’m not mad…these current pastors defending this injustice to these pastors need to feed their children and lifestyle so they need this financial pyramid scheme to continue to sustain itself through lies because they aint worked a secular job since 1985

    Corruption in Africa allowed LCI go get away with this

  25. But, wait oo, either LCI, Ghana or LCI international is there a doubt that, Pastor Dag is the overseer of all the branches?

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