Are you bribing people to attend church? Look, I know that’s a harsh question. Your heart is probably in the right place. You genuinely want people to hear about Jesus, and you’re willing to do whatever it takes to get them through the door. I get it. But if you’re handing out rice, offering scholarships with religious strings attached, or providing any material benefit tied to church attendance, we need to talk. What you’re doing isn’t working the way you think it is.
Here’s the truth: when you give people stuff to show up, you’re not making disciples. You’re making a deal. Deals don’t change lives—Jesus does.
Let’s be honest about what’s happening in some churches and mission organizations around the world. Missionaries and church planters hand out 2-5 kilos of rice to people who attend their services. The motivation varies. Some genuinely believe people will encounter Jesus while they’re there. Others are trying to impress donors with big numbers. Either way, the result is the same: you end up with what’s been called “rice Christians” for over a century—people who show up for the benefits, not for Jesus.
I’m not questioning your heart. Most people doing this really do love Jesus and want others to know Him. Loving Jesus and using effective methods aren’t always the same thing, though. Sometimes our best intentions create our biggest problems.
What Actually Happens When You Pay People to Show Up
Here’s the reality. When you attach material benefits to church attendance, people figure it out fast. They’re not stupid. People see the deal: show up, get rice. They’ll come. They’ll smile. Some might even sing along. But that doesn’t mean they’re with you.
Think about it this way. If someone only spends time with you because you’re buying dinner, are they really your friend? Of course not. The same thing applies here. When people only come to your church because of what they get, they’re not really seeking Jesus—they’re seeking benefits.
You end up teaching people that following Jesus is about the perks. Every person who walks through your door for rice learns the wrong lesson. Christianity starts looking like it comes with material advantages. You’re accidentally training them to evaluate faith based on what it provides rather than who Jesus is. When the benefits stop—and eventually they will—watch how fast people disappear.
You create a system where you can’t tell who’s real. Stop giving rice tomorrow and see what happens. Your attendance will tank. Keep giving rice and you’ll never know who actually believes versus who’s just picking up their weekly supply. Either way, you lose. Genuine faith becomes impossible to identify when you’ve trapped yourself in this situation.
You make it harder for other churches doing it right. Churches that refuse to bribe people suddenly look less attractive. Why go to the church down the street when this one gives you free stuff? Ministry has been turned into a competition based on benefits rather than the gospel. That’s not advancing the kingdom—that’s destroying it.
The Scholarship Version: Same Problem, Fancier Packaging
Some organizations have gotten more sophisticated. Instead of handing out rice, they offer “scholarships.” Sounds better, right? More noble. More legitimate.
Except it’s the same thing with a different label.
Here’s how it works. An organization offers to help pay for a student’s education. Great! Then the requirements show up. Students have to attend weekly classes with a pastor they don’t know—who might teach completely different stuff than their own church. Required participation in weekly outreach becomes mandatory. Miss any of this, and the money disappears.
That’s not a scholarship. It’s a bribe with paperwork.
Look, I understand the logic. You’re thinking, “If we help them financially, they’ll stick around long enough to really hear the gospel.” I get it. But think about what you’re actually doing to these students.
They’re already drowning. Homework piles up. Family responsibilities demand attention. Maybe a part-time job consumes their evenings. Many of them are already connected to a church. Now you’re adding mandatory religious activities that have nothing to do with their education, and you’re threatening their ability to stay in school if they don’t comply.
These students deserve better. Dignity should be their right. Help without manipulation is what they need. If you really want to help students afford education, help them. Period. No mandatory church stuff. No required doctrine classes. Weekly outreach obligations shouldn’t be part of the deal.
If a student wants to check out your ministry, they will. Holding their tuition hostage isn’t necessary to make that decision happen.
The worst part? Many of these students are already part of a church. Forcing them to choose between their faith community and their education is cruel. Making them sit under teaching that might contradict their own pastor creates unnecessary conflict. That’s not ministry—that’s spiritual manipulation.
Can we be honest about why these programs exist? Education isn’t primarily the goal. Numbers are what matter. Having students in your programs looks successful. If education was really the priority, grades would be the only requirement. But they’re not. Attendance is what matters. Participation is what gets measured.
Real scholarships help students succeed academically. Combining financial help with discipleship is fine—but be upfront about it. Say, “We’re offering scholarships to students who want to be part of our discipleship program.” Let them choose. Hiding religious requirements inside something you’re calling an educational scholarship is deceptive.
The Pressure to Show Results
Let’s talk about the real issue driving a lot of this: donor pressure. I’ve been in ministry long enough to know how this works. Donors want to see results. Numbers make them feel good. Feeling like their money is making a difference matters to them.
So you send back pictures of a packed room. Impressive attendance figures go into your reports. Revival sounds like it’s breaking out when you describe it. Technically, you’re not lying—those people did show up. Leaving out the part about why they showed up is where the dishonesty comes in.
That’s wrong. I don’t care how much you need the funding. When you report attendance numbers without mentioning they’re driven by material incentives, you’re misrepresenting your ministry. Your donors think they’re funding gospel advancement. Actually, they’re funding a distribution program with a sermon attached.
I know the pressure is real. Funding is hard. Resources are necessary to keep going. But manipulating your results to keep donors happy isn’t the answer. Something is fundamentally broken if your ministry only works when you’re bribing people to attend.
“But They’ll Hear the Gospel While They’re Here”
This is the defense I hear most often. “Yes, they come for the rice. But while they’re here, they hear about Jesus. Some of them might actually believe.”
I understand the logic. Really, I do. But it’s flawed.
First, you’re saying the ends justify the means. Manipulating people with material incentives becomes acceptable as long as some of them might genuinely convert. That’s not how this works. The Bible never tells us to be manipulative in evangelism, even if it might produce results.
Second, you’re actually making it harder for people to understand the real gospel. When people associate Christianity with material benefits, that’s how they interpret everything else you say. The gospel stops being about dying to self and following Christ. Another prosperity promise is what it becomes. You think you’re helping people understand Jesus, but you’re actually confusing the message.
Third, you can’t disciple people you bribed to show up. Discipleship requires someone who actually wants to follow Jesus. Bought and paid for attendance means you have no idea who’s genuinely interested versus who just wants the benefits. Time and energy get wasted trying to disciple people who were never really seeking Jesus in the first place.
This Isn’t New—We Should Know Better
The term “rice Christians” has been around for over a century. Asia is where it started when missionaries noticed people “converting” primarily for the material benefits—food, education, medical care, jobs. Even back then, they recognized the problem: conversions motivated by material gain aren’t real conversions.
Those “rice Christians” created huge problems. Churches filled up with people who didn’t actually believe. Christianity looked like a foreign scam tied to economic advantage. When the benefits dried up—through economic changes, political upheaval, or missions pulling out—the “rice Christians” vanished. Their “faith” was proven to have never been real.
We should have learned from that history. Instead, we’re repeating the exact same mistakes. Better pictures and social media posts are just the modern wrapping.
What Real Compassion Actually Looks Like
Here’s what needs to be said: there’s nothing wrong with helping people. Jesus fed people. The early church took care of widows and orphans. Compassion is biblical. Meeting needs should be part of who we are.
But there’s a massive difference between compassion and manipulation.
Real compassion serves people regardless of whether they ever come to your church. Hungry people get fed because they’re hungry. Your desire to fill seats has nothing to do with it. If someone gets help from you and never shows up on Sunday, you still count that as a win—because you actually helped them.
Real compassion doesn’t attach religious requirements to aid. Making people sit through a sermon to get food isn’t love. Checking their attendance record before helping them isn’t service. Serving them because they need help, period—that’s what matters.
Real compassion builds trust that creates opportunities. When people experience genuine love without strings attached, many of them will ask why you’re helping. That’s when you get to talk about Jesus—not because they’re economically pressured, but because they’re genuinely curious.
Here’s What You Should Do Instead
If you’re currently incentivizing attendance, I’m not asking you to stop caring about people. Caring about them in a way that actually works is what I’m asking for.
Separate your service ministry from your church attendance. Help people on Tuesday. Expecting them on Sunday creates the wrong dynamic. When there’s no connection between the help and the attendance, your compassion becomes credible.
Focus on actual life change, not attendance numbers. Would you rather have 200 people show up for rice or 12 people who are genuinely following Jesus? I know which one matters more. So do you.
Be honest with your donors. If your attendance is driven by incentives, tell them. Real donors care about real ministry. Honesty will be appreciated by them. Donors who only want impressive numbers aren’t supporting the right things anyway.
Build real relationships instead of running transactions. Ministry happens through relationships built over time, not through weekly deals. Find people who are genuinely interested and invest deeply in them.
If the community has real poverty, address it through proper channels. Community development makes sense. Job training changes lives. Economic empowerment creates lasting impact. Partner with legitimate organizations. Using people’s desperation to boost your attendance is never acceptable.
Good Intentions but…
Look, I know most people doing this have good hearts. Loving Jesus is real for you. Wanting others to know Him drives you. Trying to help is your genuine motivation. I believe that.
But good intentions don’t always produce good results. Giving people rice or money or scholarships to get them to show up doesn’t make disciples. A transaction is what you’re creating. Transactions don’t transform lives.
People who only come for the benefits aren’t really there. Reaching them hasn’t happened—you’ve hired them. When you stand before Jesus and give an account of your ministry, those impressive numbers won’t matter if the people were never genuinely reached.
So stop the bribes. Start serving without strings attached. Focus on the people who actually want to follow Jesus.
The gospel is powerful enough on its own. Rice isn’t needed to make it work.
Jeff Hoglen is the author of Church Planting Done Different and has been planting and coaching churches for over two decades in the USA, Asia and Africa. He serves as CEO of churchplanting.com and leads RockFish Church – Philippines.
