4th Update to CC Members (10.06.08)

Dear Calvarites,

On behalf of our group of teh tarik members, we wish to put on record our appreciation of your kind words of encouragement and support which we have received from many of you via email as well as personally. Many of you have boldly approached us at different times before and after church services to thank us and encourage us in our struggle to bring about greater transparency and accountability in our beloved church and leadership.

We acknowledge that it has not been easy to convince our leaders of the need to change for the greater good of our church. You can see for yourselves how the pulpit is misused to continously whacked the "opposition" camp. Yesterday's sermon at DH during the 2nd service was a good example. The Senior Pastor, during his sermon on kings and priests, told the congregation to the effect that whoever says he is preaching prosperity gospel, should go and jump into the lake. This is one of the most shocking statements we never imagined can come from his mouth. Who can ever believe that our Senior Pastor is capable of saying such a vicious, vindictive, hateful comment to his sheep. Of course, in Luke 6:45, the Bible says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So by making that condemning statement, we can clearly see what is in his heart which is certainly not good things. He also made a remark that all men are liars which is not totally wrong but we hope he realises that he is also included in that category.

We also wish to address allegations that we are the enemies who are trying to break up our church. On the contrary, if you had witnessed the way the recent AGM was conducted, the witch-hunt that took place thereafter, the lies the 'supporters" of the leadership are now spreading, the unholy remarks from the pulpit like the one mentioned above, you can easily make your own judgment as to who the real enemy of our church is, who is causing a division in our church.

By now, you would have heard of Senior Pastor's "Tan Sri" award. One member, on hearing the news, sms me that "it sucks". While some of you may agree that "it sucks", you must also remember that the higher one climbs, the harder the fall. We heard about his getting the award a few weeks ago and we could have easily stop it then but we were not sure whether it was the right thing to do. On hindsight, perhaps we should have stopped it but let the past be the past. May God forgive us if we have failed.

Anyway, the purpose of today's email is to update you on what transpired at last Saturday's meeting between the Board of Deacons, Pastor Peter and four of us. It was a three and a half hour meeting. We brought out many issues that our church is facing today which are threatening to break up our church. A copy of our letter to the deacons on the current state of our church is attached herewith.

One deacon remarked that we should let God be God. We (or at least I was) were dumb-struck by this remark. Doesn't that deacon realised that if the pastors and deacons have let God be God all these years, our church would not be in this troubled state now. If they have let God be God and not allowed God to be overshadowed by someone or something, we would now be a true fountain-head church, vibrant, spirit-filled, growing and touching lives, not a dwindling, lifeless, dying church that is totally oblivious to the revival happening all around us. While we are pursuing the CCC vision, the churches out there are growing by leaps and bounds. We need to dig up the dirt that has blocked our fountain spout so that our water can flow again and begin bringing in the souls like we used to in our earlier years.

When will our pastors and deacons wake up and realise that God can also be talking to us, that we could be right. Anyway, how can they say we are wrong and deemed as enemies when all we asked for is that the leadership practice good stewardship, governance, accountability and transparency. These are virtues all Christians should strive for.

For your info, we set below the major or crucial issues which were discussed at the meeting and our proposals to resolve them:-

CALVARY INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES (CIM)

We had earlier discovered, to our shock that for several years now, our Missions Dept has transferred RM200,000 a year to CIM from the faith promise pledges made by members. We told the deacons that this is an outright misappropriation of funds or CBT and an obvious conflict of interest. It is misappropriation because the members have never been informed of this. In all our faith promise budgets and accounts over the years, this contribution to SP's personal ministry has never been declared and members' approval has never been sought. It is a conflict because SP is the head of Missions Dept (as stated in the Missions Manual) and sole founder and owner of CIM.

We also informed the deacons that while SP and deacons proclaim CIM as a personal ministry of SP, the NECF deemed CIM as a part of Calvary Church. This is an obvious misrepresentation especially when it carries the "Calvary" name. It can easily lead other churches to believe that they are contributing to a ministry of Calvary Church when it is actually a personal ministry. We proposed that CIM be dissolved immediately and all balance funds be returned to Calvary Church.

CHURCH CONSTITUTION

We proposed various changes to the constitution concerning the position, tenure, authority, roles and responsibilities of the Senior Pastor (referring to the office, not the individual) and the appointment of deacons and Elders. We also pointed out a few possible breaches of the Church constitution relating to the appointment of associate pastors and assistant pastors. Our constitution does not provide for the positions or offices of assistant pastors, Senior Executive Pastor, Executive Pastor and Executive Administrator, all of which are filled by various individuals presently.

CALVARYLAND

We proposed that if the ownership of the property has indeed been transferred to Calvaryland as a separate entity, then an EGM must be convened to seek members' approval to ratify the transfer. We also proposed that the accounts of Calvaryland be consolidated into the main Church accounts, that a definitive plan for this project be presented to the members as it now appears to be a failure and that the person who came out with this vision seek the church for forgiveness for this debacle.

CALVARY CONVENTION CENTRE

We questioned whether this CCC project is a man's vision or God's vision. Many years ago, the leadership was convinced of God's vision to build a 5,000 seating church in Sri Hartamas which did not materalised. Then, they had a vision of a new sanctuary at our present Damansara Heights site using a horse-shoe design, which again was not approved by the authorities. Including Calvaryland, we have had three failed visions. Thus arose the question on the CCC project. Our contention is that a project which is approved based on a lie (we told the authorities that we are building a convention centre when it is actually a church), designed by a Freemason, proceeded without proper members' approval and where members are constantly told half-truths about the costs, cannot be in the will of God. If the CCC is the vision of God, He will surely open the gates of heaven and pour out His blessings. There will be no need to sell paper bricks and certainly, no need to appeal to members to fulfill their Leap of Faith pledges.

We requested this project be re-evaluated and an EGM be convened to get proper members' approval by secret ballot. This will allow the leadership to gauge the actual number of supporters for the CCC. What is happening now is that they are pushing ahead in the belief that the whole church is behind them when it is not so.

SENIOR PASTOR'S POSITION

We highlighted various examples of SP's unscriptural conduct and requested that the deacons advise him to retire in the best interest of the church and perhaps, go full time to fulfil God's calling upon his life to do world evangelism as revealed to us by one of the deacons. Alternatively, they may consider a proposal by Bro Wong Hong Meng for the setting up of an Independent Truth Committee to investigate all the allegations of wrong doing. This way, if SP is innocent, he will be cleared of all allegations and rumours which are going around. We emphasised that the deacons should take immediate action to address the above matters as the present state of affairs in our church is unhealthy and worrisome and could destroy our 47-year old church, if left unchecked.

Only the deacons have the mandate and authority to act to save what Dr Guynes (our church founder) started 47 years ago. We, the teh tarik members, can do nothing except be that mouth-piece for God and pray.

God bless,

KC, Karen & some Teh Tarik members

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ADDENDUM

PRESENT STATE OF CALVARY CHURCH
(This article by Bro KC was attached to the 4th Update to members)

There has been a growing discontent among the members over the past few years. What is happening in our church today did not spring forth overnight. The emotions which are riding high among the growing group of ‘unhappy’ members were not because they attended a ‘teh tarik’ session or swayed by a circulating juicy story.

The flurry of emails, allegations and rumours making its rounds in cyberspace
among members and also non-members are the expressions of frustrations residing deep in their hearts which are now gradually coming out.

For many years now, many members has felt a sense of ‘something wrong’ in our church, be it in the sermons preached from the pulpit, the way our pastors treat those serving in various ministries, the pride and arrogance seen in our Senior Pastor and Sister, the way they are served like gods rather than being the servant, their display of wealth and lavishness of their lifestyle, the rapid rise of the Guneratnam children and their spouses in the church hierarchy, the unfriendliness of the church staff, the unhappiness of those staff who have left, the dryness in our worship services, the almost non-existent words of prophesy, signs and miracles in our services that we used to see, the failure and closure of various ministries, the departure of many faithful and talented leaders and members to other churches, the gradual transformation of an charismatic, lively, tongue-speaking congregation into a solemn, quiet, ‘dead’ group of pew-sitters and countless other examples and personal experiences. Being Christian-like, everyone has kept their thoughts and feelings to themselves, not realizing that they are not alone in their thinking.

What then brought about this change of assertion and mindset which now threatens to cause a rift in our church and destroy a work started 47 years ago?

The introduction of the CCC was the first major pebble cast into the calm waters. The ripple caused by the pebble grew wider as the members were continuously, to put it bluntly, lied to or told half-truths about the costs of the CCC and the shoving down their throats of the extravagant design of the majestic monument that will, in the minds of the members, serve only to bring great glory to him, not Him. The push to proceed with the project despite not obtaining a legal valid approval from the members worsen the situation.

The second event that triggered the change in the member’s attitude was the political change in our country. The demand for transparency and good governance broke the stronghold of Barisan Nasional. The call for transparency and corporate governance has been slowly evolving in the corporate world and the world at large. The mentality of this new generation has changed. Transparency, accountability and governance are the keywords of today and our members are beginning to move with the trend. The members now realized that these keywords are the true definition of good Christian stewardship, a role they have previously taken lightly.

The third significant trigger was what transpired at the recent AGM and the ‘witch-hunt’ that took place immediately after the AGM. The conduct of Senior Pastor during the AGM and his open rebuke of the ‘teh tarik’ members did not go well with the members. The removal of leaders after the AGM again made matters worse. The leadership has tried to justify their actions but the members can no longer be fooled. They have not witnessed the forgiveness and love that the pastors preached about but only saw vengefulness in the leaders’ actions.

Presently, there is no one single ‘opposition’ camp. Instead, there are several different groups and individuals, all handling the situation in their own respective or personal ways. Some choose the soft approach by writing letters to the leadership, some stay in the cyberworld and speak their minds, some fast and pray while others are waiting to report to the authorities.

This present situation now calls for immediate action on the part of the Board of Deacons. Only the deacons can rectify and turn around the situation by addressing the issues and concerns raised by the members. The ball is now at the Deacons’ feet and time, unfortunately, is not on our side.

The BOD must accept that they have failed miserably in the discharge of their duties to ensure good stewardship of monies given by the members, good and proper governance of church matters, the welfare of the body of Christ and the spiritual well-being of the members.

SP and the BOD must take full responsibility for the mess our Church is in, the confusion and division they have caused, the hurt they have brought to the members.