Tithes, first fruits are for church leaders — Pastor Ituah Ighodalo

Ituah Ighodalo, senior pastor of Trinity House Church in Lagos, has stated that Christians should pay their tithes and first fruits so that church leaders can meet their own needs.

Speaking with PUNCH in an interview published on Saturday, the cleric stated that tithes and first fruits paid by Christians are God’s way of compensating full-time church leaders.

According to him, when a person pays his tithe and first fruit, God is obligated to keep the source from running dry.

“The tithes and the first fruit belong to the priests; that is God’s way of compensating them for their commitment and dedication to the work of God. So when you pay your tithe, your tithe goes to sort out the welfare of the priests; both the high priest, the priest, and the sons of Levi, the musicians, and all that,” he said.

Ighodalo noted that some portions may go to the welfare cases, the poor, or church building.

Explaining what first fruit means in the modern day, the 62-year-old said it is the first salary that one earns or the first income one generates from a business.

He also explained another angle of first fruit using this analogy that if one gets a salary increase from N100,000 to N150,000, the additional N50,000 one gets the first time one earns that N150,000, becomes the first fruit of one’s increase.

Ighodalo, whose wife Ibidunni died in 2020, said paying first fruit is to ensure that the increase doesn’t fail and that it continues.

According to him, paying tithes and first fruits do not mean that everything will work out fine for a Christian. He said sin and generational curses can also be stumbling blocks to one’s progress.