ABSTRACT
This chapter explores exchange practices and experiences of social intimacy among fellow believers in Destiny House. It describes acts of mutual assistance and care, such as the sharing of childcare, the exchange of money, and the circulation of advice on the immigration system, housing, and the labour market. Generous and unconditional giving was seen by prosperity Christians as an expression of a godly nature – a material manifestation of being filled with the Holy Spirit – while to receive was to encounter God himself, who works in the world through the actions of the faithful. In these ways, trust-making processes in God were mutually constituted with social trust in such a way that cemented the appeal of the prosperity gospel for these believers, particularly within the broader context of the everyday social and economic needs that had arisen through migration. At the same time, such exchanges were intrinsically morally risky, as they risked conflating social giving with divine giving. The second part of the chapter looks at how Pentecostals tried to manage the moral risks generated by networks of trust breaking down or no longer working in ways that they expected.
