At a time when allegations of financial impropriety have fuelled public debate about accountability in some churches, Very Rev Dr Phyllis Bernice Kwarteng Donkor says the Methodist Church Ghana has established financial controls designed to make the misappropriation of church funds difficult.

In an interview on Behind the Pulpit, Rev Dr Donkor said the denomination's governance system deliberately separates the collection, counting, approval and banking of church funds, making it difficult for any one individual to exercise unchecked control over church finances.

"You have to be truly criminal," she remarked, when asked whether the Church's systems could be manipulated to enrich individuals.

According to her, ministers do not have sole authority over church funds, with financial decisions involving multiple officers and approval processes.

"I don't sign cheques," she said, explaining that requests for expenditure must be formally documented before funds are released. You write a voucher stating what you need, and the superintendent minister signs before the money is taken out," she added.

Rev Dr Donkor further explained that all monies collected during church services are banked, while different officials are responsible for counting offerings and depositing them, reducing opportunities for financial abuse.

"The people who count the money are not the same people who receive it," she said.

Although she acknowledged that no financial system is completely immune from misconduct, she maintained that the Methodist Church's internal controls make large-scale financial abuse difficult.

"There are a few clergy and lay people who know how to manipulate the system," she said. "But it's not widespread enough because we have systems."

Rev Dr Donkor also explained that the Methodist Church Ghana operates a connectional governance structure under which local congregations remit an agreed percentage of their income to support the wider Church.

She said the national church uses those contributions to fund its administrative structures and pay the salaries of ministers and lay staff.

The senior minister further noted that all properties developed in the name of the Methodist Church Ghana are legally vested in the denomination's Board of Trustees rather than individual congregations or ministers.

"The moment you put up a building in the name of the Methodist Church Ghana, it belongs to the Board of Trustees," she explained.

According to Rev Dr Donkor, the arrangement not only safeguards church assets but also protects individual ministers, as legal disputes involving church property are handled by the Board of Trustees instead of the clergy serving at the local level.

She said the financial and administrative structures reflect the Methodist Church Ghana's commitment to transparency, accountability and responsible stewardship of resources entrusted to it by members.

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