Destiny’s sweet-smelling fragrance that is acceptable to God

Tuesday, December 9th, 2014

Bishop Brian Tamaki tweeted: “A Sweet-Smelling Fragrance that is Acceptable to God (Phil 4:15-19). My God shall supply all your need”, after church members last weekend showered the stage with high-denomination bills during a church service, boosting church coffers by $100,000.

Destiny Church-affiliated charities received nearly $6million in donations in the last year after self-appointed Bishop Tamaki demanded churchgoers give generously for the so-called “City of God”.

A Herald on Sunday analysis of Destiny’s latest charity statements show its 14 charities received $5.75m in donations in the 2013-14 year, up from $4,610,023 the previous year.

The figures are in financial reports to the Department of Internal Affairs Charities Service. The charities include individual churches, the Destiny School, social services and housing organisations, and receive hundreds of thousand of dollars annually in Government grants.

Charity deed papers show Tamaki has been removed as a trustee from all of the church’s charities, but retains “absolute power of veto of any decision made by the Trust Board” over the Destiny Church Auckland Trust, which received more than $2m in donations last year – the highest for any of the charities.

Hannah Tamaki is a trustee of 11 of the charities.

The Destiny charity statements were uploaded to the Charities Service register in October, after the Herald on Sunday revealed the 14 charities were overdue in filing their returns, in some cases by more than a year.

Destiny receives more than $1m a year in taxpayer funding for its school and social services.

Its trust Te Roto Taone Nui Trust, which provides housing, received $507,158, in Government funding, up from $392,460 the previous year. And the school received a Ministry of Education grant of $269,179, up from $266,400.

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