A Gentle Plea from a Young Heart

26th Aug 2008

To the Board of Deacons of Calvary Church,

My name is __________ and I have been attending Calvary Church for the past 28 years, ever since I was born. Some of you may know me, some of you may not. I have grown up in this church and in so many ways, Calvary Church has been a big part of my growing up life. From attending nursery as an infant to attending CW and the youth ministry as well as the lifegroup and being involved in our church presentations and ministries, I have grown to love this church and its people. I have also been serving in the Music Ministry for the past 10 years and enjoy serving the Lord through music.

The reason I am writing this letter is to express my discouragement and sadness in many of the decisions made by the Board of Deacons. The issues raised by the Teh Tarik crew are indeed valid and are the truth, and I am pretty sure deep in your hearts and spirits, some of you do realize that these are not just ‘malicious allegations’. These group of men and women from the Teh Tarik crew whom God has raised up to ask for transparency and accountability in the church have nothing whatsoever to gain by raising their concerns; they have everything to lose but yet, they choose to do so because they love God and they love the church and do not want the devil to destroy what God has built.

But somehow, due to your deep sense of loyalty and devotion to one man, you have chosen to disregard the concerns of these church members and instead stood by your ground to defend your pastor regardless of whether he is right or wrong. Loyalty is a good thing but blind loyalty is
nothing to be proud of.

I was shocked to hear that you have chosen to use the ways of the world to shut the church members up during the recent EGM, ie. by employing an external lawyer and accountant to prove that all is right and that there are no irregularities. In a church context, it is not just legal issues that matter, but what is more important are the moral and spiritual issues and this I must say, have been totally neglected by the board of deacons from the way you handled the queries and concerns raised by the Teh Tarik crew and from the poor decisions you have made.

I have been a voting member for the past many years and played a small part in choosing some of you as my board of deacons, as the group of leaders whom I respected, the group of people which many of us have placed confidence in to protect the interest of the church members and to speak up for those of us who are not able to. But to my deepest disappointment, this was not done as evidently seen in the light of all these events arising from the AGM and EGM. I am saddened that the Board of Deacons have instead chosen to cover up for the many irregularities and bad governance practiced by the church for so many years. Even when the accountant declared that there was indeed not enough transparency and accountability in the church accounts and in CIM, not one word of apology was ever heard from the senior pastor or from the deacons for having kept the church members in the dark for so many years, for transferring funds out of the church into a personal ministry, for deceiving the church members into thinking that the hard earned money which we have given to the church all these years was used to help real missions work and to help the needy when in reality, they were used to fund a pastor and his ‘travelling expenses’.

I have since become so disillusioned with the dishonesty of the church leadership and the lack of love from the church leaders that I have decided to stop serving and step down as a musician in Calvary Church. I am sure to many of you, one individual seems totally insignificant in the grand ol’ hierarchy of the Church but I would like to inform you that it has a far deeper meaning for me as a Christian, as a child of God. I love playing music for the Lord and have been doing so for the past many years. But I cannot play anymore under the leadership of a group of people who have betrayed my trust and respect. I cannot serve God anymore in a church which does not care for and which does not love its church members and instead, start witch-hunting and preaching sermons (and even influencing guest speakers to preach sermons) to condemn those who dare to question. I cannot be joyful and be at peace anymore under a pastor who cares more about furthering his own kingdom instead of God’s kingdom. And I cannot be a Christian under a group of deacons who only serve to protect the interest of one man, and not the church as a whole. Calvary Church does not just belong to a single person or his family, it belongs to the few thousand people who attend the church faithfully every week; to grow in the Lord and to worship Him.

And I am sure I have not been the only church member to have been hurt and disillusioned by this turn of events. Many others too are either considering leaving the church and some have become bitter and angry and refuse to even go to church anymore. Those who still choose to attend Calvary to keep up the good fight of faith and righteousness are meanwhile not able to accept any of the sermons being preached anymore from the pulpit as it all seems so fake and hypocritical.

You may ask why I am writing this seemingly trivial letter to you. The reason why I am doing so is to let you all be aware that every decision and action made by the board has severe consequences in the kingdom of God. Your actions are hurting many, many faithful church members – both young and old, people who just want to serve God but are not able to anymore because of the decisions you have made. Your very actions are hindering Calvarites in reaching their true potential for the Lord.

I do not in any way mean to be disrespectful by writing this letter but I am sure this is not the first letter received by the Board on such matters and I am sure this will not be the last. You can choose to disregard and throw this letter away as you did the petition signed by so many of us faithful church members but I hope and pray with all my heart that God will open your eyes so that you may see the truth and not be blinded anymore.

Lastly, I hope you will forgive me if you feel that I have been too harsh in this letter or that I am being disrespectful to any of you. Nevertheless, thank you for taking the time to read this letter and I pray that you will indeed be faithful to your calling and do the right thing for the church members and the future generations of Calvary Church.

Regards,

(The writer of this letter is one of the young working adults in the church. As such, we have chosen to withold the identity of this writer to protect this writer's interest)