News & Events
Christians Challenged to Administer Excellently
It is not enough for Christians to be doing good well; they need to learn to do it excellently.
This was the conviction of leaders who led a seminar on 14 November 2009 geared toward helping church and charity leaders not just to marginally pass but to excel in the area of governance so that the public might be drawn to Christ through the work that they do.
The seminar was jointly organised by the Evangelical Fellowship of Singapore (EFOS) and LCF (a sectional group in the Graduates’ Christian Fellowship). There were 210 pastors and ministry leaders from 61 churches and 19 para-church organisations in attendance.
Chairman of the Charity Council Mrs Fang Ai Lian who graced the event as its Guest-of-Honour said, “It is important to uphold good governance because it lays a foundation for more people to do good excellently.”
There is a sense of good governance among Christian charities in Singapore.
When the Commissioner of Charities conducted a governance review on the seven largest religious charities, five of them churches and Christian ministries, in October 2007, the body found them to be “largely in compliance with regulatory requirements and the code of governance”, noted Rev Derek Dunn in his presentation as one of the plenary speakers.
The executive pastor of City Harvest Church, one of the churches in the list, emphasised the importance of taking good minutes and comprehensive, administrative documentation in his sharing the journey and lessons learned from leading the Christian charity.
Speakers (Mr Paul Martin, Mr Gregory Vijayendran, and Rev Derek Dunn) addressed various other subjects such as godliness in the governing board and salient features of charity law and procedure.
It was highlighted during the seminar that the Code of Governance sets out principles and best practices in key areas of governance and management and adopts the principle of “comply or explain”.
Four expert panelists (Elder Laurence Wee, Mr John Teo, Ms Pauline Ang, and Deacon Matthew Kang) from diverse denominational and professional backgrounds formulated questions for speakers on behalf of the gathering.
One of the topics that dominated discussions was that of whether the senior pastor of a church or chief executive of a ministry should be allowed to serve as the chairman of the board of trustees.
In his response, charity governance guru Paul Martin’s personal view is negative. This is because of the potential for a conflict of interest for an individual holding both roles concurrently.
It is understandable that a pioneering pastor who has started the church from scratch would want to be the chairman of the board as well.
However, he said that a different set of skills is needed to bring the church or organisation to further development after the pioneering stages and the administrative foundations have been laid.
An ideal situation would be where an entrepreneur brings the organisation ‘up’ and, when that is achieved, for him to team up with those having the expertise to govern its administrative setup.
“It’s dangerous for chief executives to be the chairman of the board of trustees,” said the author of 'The Christian Charities Handbook' (IVP, 2008).
In respect of entrepreneur founded churches, Mr Martin said that “In the beginning it may be necessary. But when the organisation has come up on its feet, others should come alongside. There should be accountability” on the part of the founder.
Respondents also discussed the appropriate tenure for a chairman of the board of trustees and a suitable limit to the number of boards on which a particular individual may sit to ensure his effective contribution.
A brother encouraged the public to give to charity because the ‘charity dollar’ is tax-deductible.
“We should behave like a good steward,” he said, citing the parable of the talents and highlighting that the word ‘servant’ as it appears in the story is synonymous with the words ‘steward’ and ‘slave’.
Asked by The Christian Post what he thought is the single most important aspect of governance, the LCF chairman said it is the ‘principle of submission to authority’.
Not referring to extreme cases in which the laws of the land conflict with individual conscience, he said: “I think we are called to submit to these ordinances and these authorities. And so we don’t rebel against it, we don’t find ways to be creative around it or circumvent it, we don’t find ways to just comply with it as a matter of lip service or to be men-pleasers. But we do it because we want to please God who ultimately set up that authority.”
Dr Lawrence Chia, EFOS chairman, said that the success and satisfaction of the seminar was due to the Bible-based sharing of expertise and experiences of the prominent panel of speakers and respondents for God’s glory and the community’s benefit.