9th Update to CC Members

SP’S ELABORATION OF 40TH ANNIVERSARY DINNER

The previous Sunday at DH, Senior Pastor attempted to elaborate on the forthcoming 40th Anniversary Thanksgiving Dinner at Sunway Lagoon hotel. He started by poking fun at the AG Singapore for celebrating their 80th anniversary this year when they have been in existence for less than 80 years. He explained that when AG was first established in Malaya, Singapore was then part of Malaya. Singapore then separated from the Federation of Malaya and formed their own AG. Therefore if AG Malaysia is 74 years old, then AG Singapore cannot be 80 years old. Yet they chose to "add a few years" and celebrate the 80th anniversary.

SP certainly made a boo-boo with this anecdote because it is a case of the pot calling the kettle black. As you all know, he has mandated that our church celebrate the 40th anniversary instead of our actual 47th anniversary if we compute from the year Calvary Church was “born” which was in 1961.

He encourage the congregation to join the dinner to show gratitude and appreciation for God’s faithfulness to our church for the last 40 years. He is either implying that God had not been faithful in our first 7 years of history or he is saying that God doesn’t deserve any gratitude or appreciation from us for the first 7 years. If you had read Hong Meng’s article in this blog on the history of our church or spoke to the pioneer members like Robert Ng, Jenny Low or Tony Lee, you will know that the early years of our existence were not easy days. The church faced much persecution and hardship but during those 7 years of struggles, our founding fathers led by Dr Guynes and his team witnessed the deliverance, miracles and faithfulness of God.

Therefore, by celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Calvary Church, are we then not ROBBING God of 7 years of His glory? Please consider this before any of you happily join the celebrations. Give God His due Glory and declare to the world that He has been faithful for 47 years!

DECEIT AND HALF-TRUTHS

Deceit #1 – Thanksgiving or Fund-raising Dinner?

SP and his pastors have been promoting the above dinner as a celebration of our 40th Anniversary. If you study the dinner registration form carefully, you will note that all cheque payments for the RM85 per head dinner are to be made payable to the CCC.

The question that comes to mind is – Is this a celebration dinner of the church or a fund-raising dinner for CCC? There is no compelling reason why payments for the dinner should be made out to the CCC unless it is actually a fund-raising dinner for the CCC.

We heard through the grapevine that due to the poor response, our pastors and church staff have been desperately calling all leaders, ex-staff and our outreach churches (including those which are now independent) to join the dinner. One such church told one of our pastors that they don’t feel right joining our anniversary celebration and that church’s pastor was promptly told by our said pastor that it is actually a fund-raising dinner for our CCC!

Some of you may also recall that sometime last year, the CCC fund-raising committee had made mention of this forthcoming dinners on 22nd and 25th as part of their fund-raising program.

What we cannot fathom is why our pastors, deacons and SP have to resort to such deceit?
Or have they come to a point that telling half-truths, lies or being deceitful has become a part of them that they no longer have the conscience or discernment to differentiate right from wrong? Where is their honesty and integrity?

Deceit #2 – Congregation of 3,000 or 10,200?

This is extracted from Calvary Church’s website:-

CALVARY CHURCH was dedicated to the glory of God on 11 February 1968 through the efforts of dedicated missionaries. Rev. Tan Sri (Dr) Prince and Puan Sri (Dr) Petrina Guneratnam was the first Malaysian couple to pastor the Church. From a congregation of about 120 in 1968, the Church has grown, pioneered and established 32 daughter churches. Today, Calvary Church and her outreaches minister to more than 10,200 people.

Note that our church now purports to minister to 10,200 people. There were some debates in our blog on how SP can tell the world that we have 8,000 worshippers. None of our blog mathematicians could arrive at such a number. Now this declaration to the world takes the cake. All of you know that including all our supported outreaches and satellites, at most, we have a regular crowd of 2,500 to 3,000 people only, and the number is rapidly dropping.

At our last AGM, SP tried to explain that it is matter of perception. He argued that the then quoted number of 8,400 people included members of our outreaches which have since become independent. It is an illogical argument, to say the least. When an outreach has become independent and is no longer part of us, we cannot include their numbers to our own. If that ridiculous argument is accepted, then the First Assembly of God church in Jalan Sayur being our mother church will be the largest congregation in Malaysia. Calvary may not even come close to being in the 2nd spot since a few others have overtaken us.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?

We know this is on the minds of all of you who are deeply concerned with the current crisis in our church. When we started this blog, we had hoped that in our dissemination of information to you, all of you will respond with your views, comments and suggestions on the various issues raised and how to move forward. This, we must salute you, because you have done well. Of course, in any debate, there is bound to be some strong differing views and comments. Some comments by some of you may appear to be ”malicious” and “personal” but this is arguable. Using the words of our pastors, it’s a matter of perception. However, we believe that some of the indeed malicious comments are, although unproven, the work of certain church staff, deacons or pastors using pseudo names. Their intention is purely to discredit the integrity of the TT supporters. But we are not worried. We believe that all our fellow Calvarites are mature Christians who are spirit-filled and have the discernment to make the right judgment.

Coming to the action plans, the following are what we, either collectively, individually or as a small group, have done or considered doing or proposed to do:-

1. Stop Giving. Right after the EGM, we received many SMSes, emails and verbal comments from members that they will stop giving offerings, tithes, faith promises and CCC pledges. It is said that when church members are unhappy, they vote with their feet (go to another church) or vote with their wallets (stop giving). To this, we say, please don’t leave the church but you may stop giving, if you wish. But as to whether you should stop giving offerings or tithes or CCC pledges, we leave it to you and your conviction. Seek God for wisdom. We know of a number of members who have made themselves ‘Missions directors’ and they are using their funds well and personally touching lives. Of course, if God asks you to continue giving to Calvary, please do so.

2. Report to the Police. Several of us have met and spoken to the police. We have found out the reporting procedures, the investigation and prosecution process. We have been informed that we do have a case to take up but we have not put in a formal complaint. We feel this is an option of last resort and all of us are praying and seeking God for direction.

3. Report to the IRD. Similar to item 2, we have gotten the procedures and are now awaiting for one final piece of puzzle before we act.

4. Report to AG Council, NECF and WAGRA. We have been in touch with these bodies and are now awaiting their responses and debating on our next move.

5. Legal action. We have consulted lawyers on the various options available to us and will take the appropriate action in due course.

6. Publicize our cause. This is akin to “washing dirty linen in public” . There are 2 proposals namely holding a press conference or organizing a placard demo at the dinner venues in Sunway and Prince Hotel during the dinner times on 22nd and 25th October. These are not the most ideal options but may be worth considering. Bear in mind that it was the “washing dirty linen in public” which brought down great but fallen men of God like Jimmy Swaggart , Jim Bakker and many others. God needs to cleanse His church before revival can come .

7. Petition. This involves the gathering of signatures of voting members to requisite an EGM to remove SP and or the deacons. This could possibly be the most “cleanest” and least damaging option available to us. We plan to put this into action next month.

Some of you have expressed concern that the above actions may cause a split in our church. We wish to say that our church is already split and many have already left for another church. But God is the great Restorer, He will not fail us. Anyhow, we need to find a quick solution to the problem and therefore, we urge you to pray along with us and for God’s wisdom and direction so that we will make the right decision and bring an end to this saga.

God Bless.