I think people need to seriously consider revising this phrase after they read the article below.
SINGAPORE (AFP) – - A Singapore-based church paid one of its leaders more than 500,000 dollars (329,000 US) in its last financial year, a report said Monday.
The New Creation Church, which raised 19 million Singapore dollars in just one day in February for the construction of its new premises, paid one employee between 500,001 and 550,000 dollars in the financial year ended March 31, 2008, the Straits Times said.
It said the church did not confirm if the money was paid to its leader, Senior Pastor Joseph Prince.
But New Creation’s honorary secretary, Deacon Matthew Kang, was quoted by the newspaper as saying it was the church’s policy to “recognise and reward key contributors… and Senior Pastor Prince is the main pillar of our church’s growth and revenue.”
Kang also described Prince as “the key man responsible for bringing in about 95 percent of our church’s income,” and added “he has enriched the church and not the other way around.”
Two other employees of the church were paid between 150,001 and 200,000 dollars, but no names were given, the report said.
One of Singapore’s fastest growing churches, New Creation had an income of 55.4 million dollars and net assets of 143.36 million dollars in its last financial year, according to its website.
Full Reply By New Creation Church To The Straits Times Query On Staff Remuneration
New Creation Church (NCC) is not a public charity organisation. Therefore, we donot raise donations or funds from the general public. In October 2007, NCC was reviewed by the Commissioner of Charities (CoC) and we passed the review.Additionally, we have submitted the online governance evaluation checklist and complied fully with the requirements of the Code of Governance for charities to disclose the salary bands of our top three executives in our annual report as well as to our members at our Annual General Meeting.
NCC has a remuneration committee (RC) chaired by independent Church Council members who are not staff of NCC. The RC reviews the remuneration terms and conditions of the church’s senior management and also has the discretion to review the remuneration package of all levels of staff. In addition, the RC reviews and approves the annual staff salary adjustment and staff bonus payments.
As the RC believes in attracting and retaining strong, able leaders with the right values and passion for the church, staff members who perform well are rewarded and paid competitive salaries. This remuneration approach is in line with the principle found in the Bible in the Book of First Timothy chapter five verse 17, which in Greek (the original language that the New Testament was written in) says, “Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double wages, especially those who labour in word and doctrine.”
In March 2006, our Senior Pastor, Joseph Prince, informed the church that he approached the Church Council to consider his request to go on a no-pay scheme. On 16 April 2006, Deacon Matthew Kang, Honorary Secretary and Lead Independent Council Member of NCC, announced at all four services of the church that the Church Council unanimously decided to turn down Senior Pastor Prince’s request after much deliberation.
Deacon Matthew Kang explains, “It is the RC’s policy to recognise and reward key contributors to the church, and Senior Pastor Prince is the main pillar for our church’s growth and revenue. Senior Pastor Prince is the keyman responsible for bringing in about 95% of our church’s income. I must concede that Senior Pastor Prince has enriched the church and not the other way round. Above all, through Senior Pastor Prince’s ministry, many people have experienced the grace and love of our Lord Jesus for themselves, and seen how their lives have been transformed and marriages restored.”
About more than a month ago, Senior Pastor Prince raised his request to go on a no-pay scheme with the Council again. The Council has yet to give him a reply.
Heard from a friend from NCC that besides his monthly salary, members also blessed Pastor Prince monetarily. Also, being the writer of Destined To Reign which is such a successful publication, I believe the remuneration is also quite significant. And all those overseas conferences and assignments. So all these simply adds up to more S$500K PER MONTH!
Maybe I can consider taking up a pastoral degree too if i can’t find a job after graduation. Okay, don’t stone me, i am just kidding. 
Jokes aside, could it be that ST is trying to sensationalize this whole matter? After all, the church is so big. The pastors basically draw their salary from the tithes given freely by the members. So logically there ain’t anything wrong with it. Maybe, maybe not?
I would really love to hear your valued views on this matter. So guys, drop me a comment while refrain from spamming me with unconstructive junks ya. Thanks and loves
I thought I read somewhere and if I’m not wrong, Pastor Prince does not touch any money generated by Destined To Reign. The funds are used for missions by Joseph Prince Minitries.
The 1st thing that comes to my mind when reading such issues would be to find out what has God says in relation to it.
NCC, CH or FCBC are all known to be mega churches in SG that have strong and blessed contributions made by tithes from its members. It has always been a debatable subject when it comes to how these churches should be spending the amount of money they are blessed with. Let’s 1st see what God has to say about handling money.
If we do a search on money, we will see that that God has taught us how to manage money through the old testament and the new testament. We are to be masters of money then to be its slave, not to love money and how to manage it wisely. http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/index.php?search=money&version1=31&searchtype=allstartnumber=101&startnumber=51
Now, if we go through the verses and teachings, we will not find a specific verse that pinpoints what the mega churches are doing now are either right or wrong. Where the bible is silent and does not specifically depict whether an action is right or wrong, it falls into the category of whether it is wise or unwise to do or live that way.
I would then explore the role, responsibility, function and the purpose of the church, to see if it’s biblical. The church is not a building, but the body of Christ consisting of us Christian believers. And us as believers, I see basically that we are to do two things in our earthly lives;
1) to live a live holy and pleasing to God
Romans 12:1-2
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
And
2) to proclaim the kingdom of God, so that people will come to believe in Christ.
1 Timothy 4:14
Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.
For one thing, we are in no position to judge the members of another church or the church itself, unless we see that they are explicitly doing something that is against the bible. In that case, we are to rebuke them in the way God has taught us how. That said we must however in our God given wisdom, that is based on our understanding of His word, test and see if the fundamental beliefs and theology of church is biblical. Getting to know the members of the church will give us an impression of what the church believes are as well, but never absolute as I have found believers atthending churches where they do disagree with parts of the church’s believes or practice.
I find the teaching of the church to be fundamental. With NCC and CH, there is a part of their teaching which if I may go as far as to say, misleading.
I always wonder how these churches receive constant large tithes contributions from its members. It’s either the church has many members that contributes regularly or a majority of them give generously. If you do the math, observing how the church has such finance capability to run the church like a corporate organisation, you have to conclude that its members are giving generously.
The biblical way is to remind ourselves as a church, how God has graciously saved us from His wrath that while we were still sinners, God has send His one and only Son, to suffer and pay the price of our rebellion against Him, so that we may have a relationship with Him now. In response, we should live our lives as a living sacrifice and to be generous to Him with everything we have, and part of that is our monetary contributions.
If you have visited NCC and CH, you will realise that they have conveniently tied God’s blessing to monetary giving, sometimes subtle and sometimes explicit. Once in one of the churches, the pastor was giving an illustration about how a student’s hard work will be rewarded with good results, and that is how it is for tithes, for God will bless a generous giver. In that sermon, the blessing subtly refers to material or physical blessings, the way it was preached will inevitably leave many members think that way.
1st, God’s will for our lives is to be Holy. This could mean facing many trials in our lives, so that we may come to depend and trust in Him, and as a result setting ourselves apart for Him. Being generous to God may or may not result in God’s blessing us with material or physical blessings. That is not part of God’s will for our lives.
2nd, God’s did not promise us a life that is a bed of roses. In fact, we are asked to take up the Cross and were warned that we will face trials of many kinds & sufferings, which often is the result of living differently from the world, not conforming to the ways of this world, and standing up for the gospel. Being generous to God may not result in a comfortable life and it may quite well be the opposite.
The motivation for our generous giving has to be right.
In these mega churches, one important question that has to been raised multiple times is if the church is spending the money wisely. For example, could the church have spent more money on evangelism in other ways instead of building a huge modern church building? After all, the church is not about the building but its people. And should the building be used as a tool to attract more people? As it may imply or suggests that the power of the Gospel preached by God’s people at the ground level lacking effectiveness.
As for the subject if the pastor should be rewarded generously monetarily, there is this verse that I can’t exactly remember where it is. But it is said that we should ask God not too make us too rich so that we will be tempted, and not to make us too poor that we may be tempted to steal, but that we will have enough to eat and live so that we will not be tempted. If you know which verse I’m referring to, do let me know.. just can’t remember where that that versem is!!
Here are two other verses that are food for thought on this subject:
1 Timothy 6:7-9
7For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction.
Hebrews 13:5
5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
Calvin
my stand is the same with regards to spore paying high amts to the ruling party -> a big NO.
i may be ignorant of the structure in church or wadso ever but I always feel that if you are committed to a cause or an organization,there is no need to pay such high salaries to reward a person.
a person who dedicates his life to the benefit of his community or country should not(in my honest opinion)be evening accepting such high salary,especially in the midst of economic crisis.
if someone is committed,monetary benefits should be the least of concern as I assume, if someone is deeply involved in something,he is willingly to do so,sacrifice his time n effort.there is no need to pay such high sums.
enough said.I might be wrong.thats just my 2 cents worth.I am not against any particular religion.If such things happen in a Buddhist temple organization,a mosque or Indian temple,my reaction will still be the same.
Peace =)
Hi all,
I agree with what calvin said.Can you tell me a good church I should attend in Singapore that will not bring misleading in my life.
GBU
Hi Angie,
A good church must be biblical. Its not about the building, the size of the church, the quality of the singing or music, or even how exciting is the worship session or sermon. It is about how faithful are God’s people in that church, if lives have been trasnsformed to become more like christ and most importantly if the teachers/pastors are teaching God’s word truthfully and clearly.
Do pray and ask God to lead you to a church that is teaching His word faithfully.
Looking at the life of Bethia and the blogs she has written, I suspect she should be attending a good church. She attends Covenant Evangelical Free Church if I am not wrong. I would love to visit the church to find out for myself, and it will be fabulous if we are to be invited by her ;p I wouldn’t mind poping down one day ourselves if you like to =)
Are you attending any churches at the moment?
If you like, you can visit my church as well. I am attending Adam Road Presbyterian Church which is along Adam Road. I would be most glad to bring you to one of the church’ services and introduce you around if you like. You can find out a little more of our church here: http://www.arpc.net/
May God guide you and lead you to a Church that is faithful to Him & His Word
Calvin
the truth shall prevail.
the truth is in the government hands now. they know the discrepancies in these churches. they know the abuses of donation monies.
it is now up to them to put these leaders on the spot preferably in court like it was done to durai and ming yi.
open up their financial books and expose their ostentatious lifestyle to the public.
let the public decide on their fate or unless, the government leaders(some) want to keep the lip covered less they bring shame to their religion?
Pastor Joseph Prince made an official statement on Sunday that he no longer draws a salary from the Church. Hallelujah! =) He had been pressing his leaders to let him stop taking pay for so long, and finally it has happened. =)