MEGA CHURCH: S'pore's booming multi-million dollar church and its charismatic leader," But I don't get mega pay"

MEGA CHURCH:

S'pore's booming multi-million dollar church and its charismatic leader," But I don't get mega pay"

by Chang May Choon and Andre Yeo (The Electric New Paper, 27 December 2005)

This church gets big bucks in donations
Million-Dollar sums are routine for this church.

Last year alone, City Harvest Church (CHC) received $25.2 million in donations and spent $21.6m on operations, administrative work, charity work, mission support and staff salaries.

The church has built a $47m church and is in process of building another, costing between $40m and $45m. It is also eyeing a plot of land for a 3rd church. But its charismatic founder Rev Kong Hee is shunning money for himself.

Rev Kong told The Electric New Paper he has removed himself from the CHC payroll since 1 November 2005 to help the church save money. He revealed his last drawn salary was $8,000 a month. He's still the chairman of the CHC management board, and still works 16 hours seven days a week. But he is senior pastor on honorary and voluntary basis. "It's only right that I should lead by example and help cut cost by not being in payroll."


The biggest expenditure last year was $4.79m on operations and $4.78m on wages for 137 staff members. The church now employs 160 staff. Rev Kong said salaries are pegged closely to that of Ministry Of Education, as many teachers are known become church workers after leaving the education profession.


CHC also offers 13th month bonus and annual increments following guidelines set by the National Wage Council. For instance, staff will get a 2 per cent increment next year, said Rev Kong. "When an organisation gets big, we need capable people (to run the organisation), so we need to be able to pay them well. They can do it for religious reasons but what about their families?"

Heightened concern over the accounting of money from donations arose from the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) saga. The church garnered its fair share of critics after it moved out of its modest premises in an old cinema in Katong to the $47m one in Jurong. There have also been Christians who criticised him and his wife, pastor-turned-pop singer Sun Ho, for her showbiz career and their snazzy lifestyle - they live in a million dollar apartment in town.


Rev Kong said they manage because he still earns royalties from the sales of his books and sermon tapes, and dabbles in motivational speaking. He said he travels twice a month to speak at international conferences, and in the US, he can be paid around US$5,000 ($8,300) to lecture for an hour. The money used to go to CHC, but is now addressed to him.


He said his wife, Sun, who is now based in Los Angeles with their 11-month-old son to pursue a English pop music career, brings home enough royalties from performances and album releases. She also opened two boutiques - Skin at Marina Square and Ed Hardy at The Heeren - this year, and he helps out whenever he can. "From day one it's been my ultimate dream to do this (religious work) for free. It's a wonderful feeling."


So how does City Harvest Church (CHC) remain transparent and accountable to its members? And how does it ensure proper governance and prevent funds from being abused? Rev Kong acknowledged that 'religion deals with a lot of money', but said CHC has always strived to be transparent. "We talk about transparency on two levels. First, we make sure there is no wastage of money on projects of no benefit, and we fulfil the mission of the church."


"Second, we make sure our paid staff are not abusing their rights." Rev Kong said he does not micro-manage, but he chairs a management board of 10 people that oversees other sub-committees that run the church. He also works with a board of trustees, an appointed external auditor and a top law firm.

CHC is run like a multi-million dollar business, with a human resource department, a finance department and an IT department. It also has a website that has an online religious bookstore, a secure credit card donation service, radio broadcasts of its sermons and four live webcasts of its worship service every weekend. The church holds an annual general meeting once a year, and posts its audited financial statement on its website.


Rev Kong said some church members - especially a highly vocal group comprising CEOs, bankers and entrepreneurs - act as watchdogs and will be quick to respond to any sign of abuse.
"People vote with their feet. Singaporeans are not dumb." Questions were raised when Rev Kong's wife, Sun, embarked on a secular music career in 2002, and there was talk of the church funding her showbiz venture.


But Rev Kong said the audited accounts proved otherwise, and anyone can log on to the CHC website to view its financial statement. They have to run a tight ship because they can't expect church members to give generously all the time, he said. "There is a bit of donation fatigue and we cannot go to the public. We can only rely on our congregation but they are committed to other charities as well."


Checks are in place, say religious groups


Religious groups said that they monitor their finances closely to prevent abuse.


Some, like New Creation Church, even hire armed guards to transport money to the bank. New Creation does not have its own building yet. It rents the Rock Auditorium in Suntec City Mall where its 12,000-strong congregation meet every Sunday.


Honorary secretary of its church council Deacon Matthew Kang said its accounting system monitors and approves budget proposals submitted by each department. All purchases $500 and above must be substantiated with a minimum of two quotes for cost comparison. Purchases $100,000 and above are subject to a tender system.


The church also engages an external auditing firm to monitor the way money is collected. Said Deacon Kang: "We select members who are financially sound and, while on counting duty, they are required to leave their personal belongings aside and wear pocket-less aprons."


At the Tian De Gong Taoist temple, cheques are signed by the president and counter-signed by the treasurer to ensure transparency. All eight members of the temple's committee are volunteers.


Perdaus is a voluntary welfare organisation which runs three madrasah centres, childcare centres, before-and-after school care centres and youth programmes. Its president, Mr Masagos Zulkifli Masagos Mohd, 42, said they have a 13-member executive committee. All are volunteers. Because there are so many people involved, there is less chance of an individual abusing his or her position for monetary gain, he said.


And this is open to scrutiny at the annual general meeting or through the executive committee members. Expenses must be recorded and accounts are audited annually by an external auditor and submitted to the Registry of Societies. He added they raise their own funds, most of which come from school fees from their madrasah and childcare centres. Said Mr Masagos: "Proper governance is something we have always been concerned about because some of our funds comes from the public. Our reputation is at stake."


P/S:
The City Harvest Church (CHC), located in the western part of Singapura, and the New Creation Church (NCC), located in the southern part of Singapura, are 2 of most notorious Charismatic churches belonging to the Theistic Religions. They present 2 big threats to the survival of the Buddhist in Singapura due to their fundamentalist and extremist nature towards Buddhism. They also embarks on huge Proselytism outreaches to Buddhist youth to crack their faith. We, Buddhists, must wake up ourselves to these Challenges from Theistic Religions for our survival.