5 Religious Groups Got $130 Million
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The Straits Times carried this report in Home section. There was a similar post in EH by another forumer. But strangely that thread was deleted. I wonder aloud here whether the same would happen here too. Some one may think I am shooting my mouth and not being civil. But can Buddhists face the truth? Why is KMSPKS not revealing its annual income when ST queried? And so is the other temple Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho.
Why so secretive? -
Just 2 questions
1) Do they have any legal obligation to reveal their annual income to ST?
2) Can't you just wait for the audit? Surely you will live to the day that the audit results are out right? -
due to EH mods deleting all her topics.
Oct 29, 2007
CHARITY WATCHDOG TO REVIEW 7 BODIES
5 religious groups got $130m last year
Worshippers say checks will reassure public that things are done properly
By Theresa Tan & Arlina Arshad
GOD and giving go together. And five of the richest religious groups here collected about $130 million in donations last year.
Leading the pack is the independent New Creation Church, with an income of $42.8 million for its financial year that ended in March.
Besides the New Creation Church, six other religious groups made the news last week when the Commissioner of Charities (COC) announced that he is sending auditors to check on them.
The seven - all with annual incomes of over $10 million - were chosen for the COC's first 'governance review' as they had the largest income among the charities under the COC's direct purview.
The COC said the review, which is expected to be completed by June next year, is part of an ongoing effort to regularly assess charities and improve the way they are run.
The move is significant because this is the first time the COC is focusing such attention on religious groups.
The seven are: Campus Crusade Asia Limited, City Harvest Church, Faith Community Baptist Church, Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery, Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple, New Creation Church and Trinity Christian Centre.
Of the seven groups, only the Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery at Bright Hill Road did not reply to The Straits Times' queries.
The Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple at Waterloo Street declined to reveal its income, but said it has 'extensive' security measures to guard donations.
On Thursday, when The Straits Times visited the temple, there were at least four security guards watching over donation boxes at the temple.
The temple also stands out as it donates at least 80 per cent of its income to charitable causes, such as funding bursaries.
One of its trustees, Mr Anand Karthigesu, told The Straits Times that the temple's expenses form 'a very small fraction' of income.
Meanwhile, money collected by the churches interviewed goes to funding church activities and operations.
Some of these churches have over 100 staff. For instance, the Trinity Christian Centre has about 160 staff.
Believers such as Mr Ian Tham, who attends the New Creation Church, welcome the review.
He said: 'Such reviews would give the public and church members confidence that things are done properly. If there are any lapses or blind-spots, we can fix them.'
Some churches recently urged the Charity Council, which advises the COC, to let them be governed separately from secular charities.
In particular, they were concerned about a new draft code of governance that asks them to separate their board and management staff.
These churches also argued that offerings by members were not equivalent to public donations.
Separately, the Education Ministry is also conducting a similar review on educational groups under its charge.
It has hired Ernst & Young Associates to look into the internal controls, among other areas, at the Singapore Institute of Management and the Management Development Institute of Singapore.
[email protected]
[email protected]
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UNDER REVIEW
KWAN IM THONG HOOD CHO TEMPLE
Location: Waterloo Street.
History: Opened in 1884 and was re-built in 1895.
Led by: Dr Tan Choon Kim, a 64-year-old retired university professor, who leads a 10-member board of trustees.
Income: The temple declined to reveal this.
Income source: Public donations.
NEW CREATION CHURCH
Location: Worships at the Rock Auditorium in Suntec City Mall.
History: Founded in 1984 by a small group of young believers who wanted an independent, non-denominational church. From 25 members, the congregation has grown to 16,000 now.
Led by: Senior Pastor Joseph Prince, a Singaporean in his 40s.
Income: $42.8 million for its financial year ended this March.
Income source: Tithes and offerings, sales of goods, income from interest
Business arm: Rock Productions has invested about $280 million in a tie-up with property giant CapitaLand to develop a $660 million lifestyle hub in Buona Vista. In 2001, Rock Productions bought Marine Cove, a cluster of food and beverage outlets in East Coast Park, for about $10 million. -
Why are you so legalistic? It is of public interest and ST is doing a good job to inform the public. My question is why so secretive?Originally posted by eagle:Just 2 questions
1) Do they have any legal obligation to reveal their annual income to ST?
2) Can't you just wait for the audit? Surely you will live to the day that the audit results are out right?
Since an audit is going to reveal the annual income, does it make any difference not to answer the ST's query? I can sense insincerity here as well as not being forthright! -
FAITH COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH
Location: Holds its services at the Singapore Expo and Marine Parade Central.
History: Founded in 1986 by Pastor Lawrence Khong.
Led by: Senior Pastor Khong, who was awarded the Public Service medal at the National Day Awards in 1998.
Member strength: Close to 10,000.
Income: $27 million last year.
Income source: Tithes and offerings.
TRINITY CHRISTIAN CENTRE
Location: Adam Road and Paya Lebar Road.
History: Founded by American missionaries Reverend Glen Stafford and his wife in 1969 with 10 people.
The church now has a congregation of about 5,500.
Led by: Reverend Dominic Yeo, 46, who chairs the centre's eight-member board.
Income: $14.2 million last year.
Income source: Tithes and offerings by congregation.
CITY HARVEST CHURCH
Location: Jurong West Street 91.
History: Founded in 1989 by Reverend Kong Hee.
Led by: Reverend Kong, 43, is married to pop singer Ho Yeow Sun.
Congregation size: About 23,000
Income: $30.9 million last year.
Income source: Tithes and offerings from church members.
CAMPUS CRUSADE ASIA LIMITED
Location: Offices in various locations in Singapore. Campus Crusade Asia Limited is a charity that partners churches and other Christian groups to provide Christian counselling and training.
History: Set up in 1972.
Led by: Its four-member board of directors comprises Mr Jeong Insoo, Mr Chan Chong Hiok, Mr Lam Kok Hiang and Mr Chen Hui Lin.
Income: About $15 million last year from local donations.
Income source: Donations from well-wishers and churches, conference fees and sale of literature and Christian resources.
Copyright © 2007 Singapore Press Holdings. All rights reserved. -
Kuan Yin Temple is actually a Chinese folks temple, not a Buddhist monastery or a dharma center.Originally posted by TheGoodEarth:The Straits Times carried this report in Home section. There was a similar post in EH by another forumer. But strangely that thread was deleted. I wonder aloud here whether the same would happen here too. Some one may think I am shooting my mouth and not being civil. But can Buddhists face the truth? Why is KMSPKS not revealing its annual income when ST queried? And so is the other temple Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho.
Why so secretive?
update: oh i see wrongly -
Papers stated religious organisations with annual income of $10 million above being reviewed. Actually 7 bodies from 5 different groups were picked for review.Originally posted by An Eternal Now:I thought KMSPKS revealed? (10 million or something, might be wrong)
Kuan Yin Temple is actually a Chinese folks temple, not a Buddhist monastery or a dharma center. -
Religious clergies are nowadays earning quite a huge sums too. I am not familiar with what a pastor of a christian-faith suppose to do but for buddhists monks, I can only see that more money are been wasted on unimportant issues.
Once, a friend of mine told me he saw an abbot from a particular big monastry in Singapore driving a Mercedez E-class (or C-class? I'm not sure with the car model but I was told it is an expensive car). He asked some of the people in the monastry is the abbot earning big money, they said no, but the car is provided by the temple. But apparently, only the abbot is the only one driving the car.
More money should be channelled into grooming buddhist workers and/or leaders in doing propogation work. Instead of just building mock relic stupa or just bigger statues. More active activities should be planned in order to attract youth and young working adults.
Like Campus Crusade (CC), if I'm not wrong, they are the ones supporting all these Campus Crusade for Christ in the various tertiary instituitions in Singapore. I will say that the money is well raised and used as I believe the CC would have groomed and trained appropriate christian workers to spread the Word of God.