Saturday, November 19, 2005

The Shepherds on trial (Part Two)

I think the sheep needs to be reminded that they are not the jury. There is only one Judge and He is God. AGM & other governance frameworks are good and essential to uphold integrity in a corrupt world, but these must be done with wisdom and the right spirit.

How can we do it right?

1. Jesus can afford to feed 5000 people EVERYDAY if He wants but he did not do it. Needs are all around us. People of different agendas, priorities and pet projects. Look at Jesus. He & his disciples alone are entrusted to carry out the mission of God. They did not consult with the people to see what they like; populist culture is not for the church. Instead, they diligently seek God and strive to do God's will. The rest of us is to support them and trust in God's plan & provision. Trust is difficult in this world without control, but when our trust is in God and the control rests with the Holy Spirit, it is possible. The church should plan her budget according to the will of God, not the needs of the people. This is a subtle difference but it's important.

2. Returns should not be measured by a fund or asset manager's standards. Everyone will have a different opinion of how money should be spent, but think about it: shouldn't God be even more concerned since everything we have & are given are HIS in the first place? What's needed again is prayer, wisdom and trust. The focus should not be on whether spending is optimised in monetary terms but on whether it is in line with God's will. Pouring one year's salary away is something most people cannot accept but it happens to be in line with God's will in the case of the woman in the Bible.

3. The fact that the congregation tithes doesn't give it the right to decide how the money should be spent. Tithes and offering, if we look at the bible, are an expression of gratitude to God for His provisions. We don't give back to God what He has given us, and then TELL Him how He should spend it; He might as well not have blessed us with so much in the first place.

4. Checks and balances should be done with the aim of preventing or uncovering fraud & abuse, not to question priorities of spending. As I said, everyone has a different set of priorities, and not all priorities are in line with God's. We need to have faith in God's appointed servants to spend God's money wisely.

5. If we ask for a very transparent financial reporting from the church so as to scrutinize it, are we prepared to let the church scrutinize every aspect of our life, especially the financial aspects? Wisdom sometimes means moderation, not transparency. Financial reporting is for accountability. The congregation doesn't run the church; the Pastor does. He has the authority & responsibility to account for God's resources & use them wisely. In fact, the Pastor has authority to help enforce tithing but he doesn't because he is trusting God to provide the necessary; shouldn't the congregation learn to trust more?

6. A good governance system is in on-going control and execution, not judgmental questioning one year after. Professional members of the church should provide on-going services as part of their tithing to advise or be
consulted on in certain transactions & projects. I believe that if we do it this way, AGMs will be less stressful, more productive, and forward-looking.

God bless you readers,


Thomas Tan



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