An Open Letter to Pastors and Christian Leaders

To brothers and sisters from other churches, especially from AOG churches, please PRINT A COPY for your Pastors and Leaders to read.

This is an Open Letter addressed to Pastors and Christian Leaders. By now we believe the Calvary Church Crisis (CCC) is no longer confined to Calvary Church members and friends alone. It is now known all over Malaysia and abroad. While we have received many encouragements and support from the general Christian community, we also understand that there are many Pastors and Christian Leaders who does not agreed with the TTG people for using the public channel to seek justice for Calvary Church members. Our appeal to you is that you will read this Letter with an open mind and answer the questions  with all honesty as unto God.  

AFTER THAT, try to place yourself in our shoes as Ordinary Members in the Church, who have supported the Church with your TIME, your TALENTS and your FINANCES and to find your Pastors have abused your trust and have lied to you - WOULD YOU HAVE DONE THE SAME? 

If for the past two years you have run around looking for help from Pastors, Christian Leaders and even looked to the Christian Organizations in and out of the country to help but no one cared enough to do something - WHO ELSE CAN YOU GO TO?

If you are just an Ordinary Member who have been serving and supporting your Church and your Pastors since becoming a Christian, then together with other faithful Christian brothers and sisters many whom you did not know before, feel this strong passion in your heart to stand up for what is right - not just as a Christian but as a person in general living in a community - WOULD YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE SATANIC?

If all you are asking for is that Truth, Transparency and Good (Godly)  Governance is practiced in the Church - DO YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE PLANNING TO BECOME THE NEXT PASTOR? 

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Dear Pastors and Christian Leaders in Malaysia,

What is happening in Calvary Church must grieve our Lord Jesus and you, as a pastor, must be deeply saddened too.  But before you throw bricks at the concerned members perhaps you should ask why and how this came about.  What is this really all about?  Some have condemned us for bringing Christianity into disrepute.  Are Christians to cover up our internal wrongdoings and sins or are we to deal with it openly, decisively and righteously?  The Catholic Church covered up the sexual abuses within their Church for more than 30 years.  Well, it is now fully exposed and the cover up made it all the more sordid.  Just as we would not judge all pastors by what we have experienced, we ask that pastors not judge us without knowing what we have gone through. 

This Open Letter is to set the record straight and to give pastors a better understanding of the situation in Calvary Church.  A complete chronology of events is beyond the scope of this letter.  However, such information is available either from the worldwide web or from any of the concerned members.  Then you can judge rightly and perhaps more fairly.  

We had not intended to make it public.  We had tried to keep it within the Kingdom of God.  But we discovered that all those who had advised us, to keep it within the Kingdom of God, were more interested to keep things under wraps than solving the underlying problems.  We found no help from the Christian leadership in this country.  The religious establishment is dominated by pastors.  From where can aggrieved members seek help?  Therefore we had to seek redress from the civil court.  When we were “sacked” from membership, we knew we could not hope to get help from any Christian organisation or Christian leader.  We had to make the protest ourselves.

Please allow us to ask you a few questions to put things in perspective.  Would you, as a pastor, do the following?

#1 - Set up a personal ministry, under yours and your family’s control, and then divert funds from missionary offerings into your personal ministry without the knowledge of the members?

#2 - Make a collection from the congregation for an overseas disaster relief and then not send it to the victims but divert the collection into your own personal ministry?

#3 - Misrepresent the nature of your personal ministry to gain membership in NECF?

#4 - Remove key ministries which are integral to the wholeness of the Church from out of the Church ownership, calling them independent, and placing them under the control of your children and their spouses?

#5 - Place your children and their spouses in high positions in these “independent” ministries and remove their job evaluations, salaries and other terms of employment from the purview of the Board of Deacons?

#6 - Remove whole families from the Church membership roll if one of them is deemed to be against you in any way?

#7 - Remove members from serving, some from leadership positions, because they voted for a resolution which you did not favour?

#8 - Require that all other pastors in the Church declare love gifts received and exempt yourself and your wife and children from this requirement?

#9 - Allow yourself and your family special privileges not available to other pastors in the Church?

#10 - Ensure that all copies of the Minutes of the Board of Deacons’ meetings are destroyed except for the copy under your sole custody?

#11- Devise a structure that you would have veto power over all decisions made by the Board of Deacons, Committees and Sub-committees in the Church?

#12 - Devise a process whereby on the surface there is free and fair elections of deacons whereas in effect you control the entire process ensuring that the Board of Deacons is completely under your control?

If you would not, then you can empathise with us on what we are facing.  The main and real issue is about absolute power in one man’s hands and the lack of check and balance in the Church.  Transparency and Good Governance must be practised in our Church.  

If there is no Accountability and Transparency in our Church, then we have no right to ask for the same from the government or the world.  For we would have lost our moral authority to impact the world and to be its transforming agent, and we ought to be cast out and stamped underfoot like salt that has lost its saltiness.

Calvary Church Makes the News Again

Last Saturday, a group of unhappy Calvarites gathered together in Calvary Church Damansara Perdana and handed over a Memorandum to Senior Pastor Prince Guneratnam (PG) to voice their unhappiness over the mass sacking of 400 Church members. The Memorandum, which was signed by more than 100 members, also seek the reinstatement of all the terminated members.

The group of members began gathering in the Indian restaurant across the road from our Calvary Church Damansara Perdana, Church office from as early as 10am. By 10.45am, the group had grown to about 80-90 members. Disappointment, discouragement, bewilderment, sadness, hurt and grief were written on many of the faces. Who can blame them? Many of these faithful worshippers have devoted most of their adult life, several as long as 45-49 years, serving tirelessly in Calvary Church. As one member said, some of them were saved, baptized, found their life partners, gotten married, had their children dedicated and later, witnessed them get married in Calvary. And now, with a stroke of a pen by PG, they have all got kicked out of their Father’s house. That was the price they paid, for just trying to make a change, for merely asking for transparency and accountability from PG and his Deacons.

At 10.50am, an ex-Church leader, Bro Ronnie addressed the crowd to encourage them. At 11.00am sharp, the group stood up and walked out and marched solemnly and peacefully across the road to the Calvary Church Damansara Perdana Church office. To their disappointment, PG did not come out to meet them. Instead he sent his Associate Pastor Steven and his Deacon-lawyer, David Peters to meet the group. After several minutes of discussion and negotiation, three representatives of the group were allowed to enter the Church premises to meet PG to hand over the Memorandum.

The three representatives went in, handed the Memorandum to PG and were out within a few minutes. According to one of the representatives, they invited PG to come out and meet the members but he flatly refused.

The entire historic event was over in 20 minutes, witnessed by the press and under the watchful eyes of the police, whom the group had earlier informed, as a precautionary measure.

The submission of the Memorandum to PG made the news in all the major newspapers namely the The Star, New Straits Times, China Press, Nanyang Siang Pau and Sin Chew Daily the following day.

Click on the images to view the newspaper reports.
                                    

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Associate Pastors Join Hoodwink Game

In a latest development highlighted by a CT reader, Calvary Church's Associate Pastors, namely Pas Steven Kum (SK) and Pas Peter Ong (PO) has join in the hoodwinking game.

In an effort to restore Calvary's brand image, SK and PO have turned to an online marketing and public relations website to publicize their strategy to counter the adverse publicity generated by the recent expose in The Star newspaper on the crisis in our Church.

In an article entitled "Calvary calm on convention centre crisis" , the writer, Deborah Peter talks of Calvary's strategy to "not react strongly to recent allegations in the press about mismanagement of funds".

The article quoted Karthi Palanisamy, managing director of Crush Communications who said,
"Keeping quiet is a wise approach since the focus should be completely on the establishment's members [donors/contributors], solely to whom Calvary is accountable instead of the general public."

Mr Karthi Palanisamy was probably ignorant of the fact that Calvary Church has also received lots of funds from the general public in fund-raising events organised for the CCC project such as carnivals, golf and bowling tournaments, conserts, art auctions placed in a shopping complex and "Buy a brick" campaign as well as collections of donations from the public at Christmas and Easter shows at the stadiums.

CT is of the opinion that in a situation where contributions and donations from the general public have been solicited, the Church must be accountable to the public as well, not just the members.

Here are some statements and claims made in the article by our Associate Pastors :-

1. "Steven Kum, associate pastor of Calvary tells A+M this is the right strategy to pursue in order to restore the brand's image."

(CT never knew that our dear pastors regard "Calvary" as a brand. How snobbish have they become!)

2. "Calvary has not held back money in terms of CCC's building expenses. Also, Calvaryland, our large welfare home ministers to over 20 inmates, not 4," Kum said.

(CT is surprised that the number of inmates has suddenly jumped from 4 to 20. If the 20 are real inmates and not counting the care-givers, cook, gardener, security guards, the home staff and the Church ministerial staff, then it is good. Of course, there's still a lot more work to be done to justify the millions spent on the home.)

3. "Peter Ong, a fellow associate pastor confirmed the Calvary Convention Center (CCC) project has not been abandoned, instead has been temporarily put on hold."

(What cheek! Just a couple of weeks ago, the Church announced over the pulpit that they have served a notice of default and non-completion to the main contractor. Now, PO says the project has been temporarily put on hold. Isn't this called a lie?)

4. "Calvary Church under the leadership of Rev. Datuk Prince Guneratnam has a congregation of 3000 to 3500 (comprising 4 locations) and was established in 1968."

(CT is of the opinion that the pastors should be honest and upfront about the actual numbers of worshippers. At its peak, perhaps our Church had up to 3,500 including babies and toddlers but this is Not the situation now. At most, CT reckons the present number is about 2,500.)

Click here to read full article: Calvary calm on convention centre crisis


This is the statement that PG, BOD and Associate Pastors have constantly used to defend their actions, "Calvary believes situations arising within the church should be handled internally as opposed to having dirty laundry aired publicly."

CT has posted a research article in Berita Calvary which explains why the article in The Star newspaper, cannot tarnish our God's name in Malaysia. It may have rocked the image of Calvary Church KL and our Pastors and Deacons but God's image is unshakable.

Click here to read, "Crisis can Rock CC but cannot Rock God"


The "misleading" article is probably another PR and face-saving exercise, organised by our PG and Deacons.

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PG And DEACONS Continue To Hoodwink

One would have thought that after a major expose on the Calvary saga in a national newspaper (read http://calvarytoday.blogspot.com/2009/11/calvary-crisis-in-star.html), our dear pastors and Board of Deacons (BOD) will get their act together and seek to resolve all the issues facing our Church.

Unfortunately our dear Deacons and Pastors (and PG) are not ordinary God-fearing people. They have proven, once again to be man-fearing people.

In an immediate response to the report in the The Star on 18 November 2009, the Deacons and Pastors issued an announcement through the pulpit on 22 November 2009 as well as through the Church website to reaffirm their confidence in PG and his wife and deny all the "allegations" stated in the newspaper report.

This is an excerpt from the Church website announcement:
"Many of you may have read the article published in Metro section of the Star dated November 18, 2009 titled “Crisis rocks Calvary Church”. We understand that you may be disturbed by the allegations in the article.

These allegations were presented by the Board of Deacons and deliberated at length by the members of Calvary Church at the EGMs on 15 August, 2008 and 4 April, 2009 and AGM on 19 June, 2009. The allegations were investigated thoroughly by the Church’s internal auditors, a renowned firm of Investigative Accountants and a firm of Advocates and Solicitors specializing in criminal practice. These allegations were found to be baseless………..

……..The Deacons and Pastors reaffirm our confidence in Senior Pastor Prince Guneratnam and his leadership. We believe that the Lord will continue to use him and Sister Petrina to enable God’s will and plan for Calvary Church to be fulfilled.

Let us as a church receive the exhortation in Hebrews 10:36 “to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.” Also, let us continue to love and support one another as we stay focused and faithful, praying for our Senior Pastor, Pastors, Deacons and their families for God’s protection, strength and wisdom as they lead and guide the Church.”

It is typical of PG and his deacons to use the word “allegations” to continue to hoodwink the members. What the newspaper has reported are FACTS and not allegations.

IT IS A FACT that RM1.9million was transferred from the Church Missions Fund to CIM without members’ knowledge!

Lawyer KK Wong and Edward Rajasingam (Church Deacon and Treasurer) confirmed this at the EGM held on 15 August 2008. Although KK Wong stated that since the transfers were approved (by ratification) by the BOD and therefore, there were no CBT involved, he later, during question time, qualified his opinion by saying that if we were to give the same set of documents to other lawyers, we would get all different opinions. In answer to a question, he also stated that he has no way of confirming if the documents and minutes given to him by the BOD are genuine.

Another thing to note is that KK Wong made his presentation at the EGM in his personal capacity. He did not represent his firm and therefore, the announcement by the BOD is MISLEADING!

Edward confirmed that the funds were transferred over several years to CIM and the BOD’s approval was obtained (ratified) only after each transfer was done.

Listen to both KK Wong and Edward’s statements by clicking on the audio clips below.

Clip #1 : Lawyer's statements


Clip #2 : Treasurer's Statements



OTHER FACTS:

#1. IT IS A FACT that a gift of US$10,000 was given to Dr Guynes!

#2. IT IS A FACT that the Church paid for the overseas airfare of PG’s grandchild!

#3. IT IS A FACT that the Church gave a scholarship to PG’s children to study in USA!

#4. IT IS A FACT that the Church paid RM40,000 medical fees for PG’s grandchild!

#5. IT IS A FACT that PG’s gym membership was paid for by the Church!

#6. IT IS A FACT that PG has never declared the love offerings he has received!

#7. IT IS A FACT that our Ampang Outreach Pastor was paid a mere RM250 a month previously!

#8. IT IS A FACT that the love offering collected for Pas Phil was not given to him!
(Read Pas Phil’s story at http://calvarytoday.blogspot.com/2009/09/pastor-phils-story.html)

#9. IT IS A FACT that PG appraises his own children and the BOD does not know their increments!

#10. IT IS A FACT that there is poor financial management!

#11. IT IS A FACT that there is a lack of transparency!

#12. IT IS A FACT that Dr Lum was sacked for speaking out!

#13. IT IS A FACT that the CCC’s building cost has ballooned from RM50m to RM150m!

#14. IT IS A FACT that the CCC construction commenced without sufficient funds in hand!

#15. IT IS A FACT that Calvaryland was built to house 200 orphans and homeless but today has only 4 residents, at the last count!

The first 9 facts listed above which were published in the newspaper report were taken verbatim from the Church’s Annual Report 2009. All the 9 items were also investigated by our Internal Auditors and presented to the members at an EGM held on 4 April 2009. ALL the 9 “ allegations” were proven by the Internal Auditors to be TRUE! These were actual transactions and incidences which took place according to accounting records and witnesses which neither PG nor the BOD could deny. Therefore, these items cannot be deemed as "allegations", much as PG and the BOD want all to believe. They even took great pains to ensure that PG's name is not mentioned in the EGM minutes pertaining to this Internal Auditors' presentation. If you have a copy of Calvary Church's 2009 Annual Report, take a look at the EGM minutes and you will see how ridiculous the EGM minutes have appeared. While at it, also take a look at the minutes on lawyer KK Wong's presentation. If you had attended the EGM, you will notice a number of statements in the minutes alluded to KK Wong which he DID NOT say at all. That is creative minuting by PG and the BOD.

Listen to the Internal Auditors’ presentation by clicking on the audio clips below.

Clip #3 : Church Auditors' Statements



The renowned firm of Investigative Accountants which the BOD referred to in their announcement was Ferrier Hodgson. The firm was asked by the BOD to look into the accounts of CIM but this is barking at the wrong tree. They should have been asked to investigate the accounts of the Church because that was where the funds were being channelled from. Therefore, their findings that the accounts of CIM are in order is totally irrelevant.

The BOD knows this and the purpose of their mentioning the appointment of "a renowned firm of Investigative Accountants and a firm of Advocates and Solicitors specializing in criminal practice" in the announcement is merely to hoodwink the church members and the public.


Clip #4 : Forensic Accountant's Statements



The Church website statement also says, "These allegations were presented by the Board of Deacons and deliberated at length by the members of Calvary Church at the EGMs on 15 August, 2008 and 4 April, 2009 and AGM on 19 June, 2009." Listen to Clip 5 to see if this is a true statement. All the AGMs or EGMs so far have always been conducted according to PG's autocratic style. Members' grouses or criticism are always brushed aside, other times promises are made by PG to pacify the members but never intended to be fulfilled. There has not been a single occasion whereby the members' views have been considered as worth listening to, unless the views are in support of PG. It is shocking that one of PG's supporters (Lawyer David Peters) considers fellow church members' request to solve church issues at a General Meeting as HIJACKING THE AGENDA. However, PG & BOD's unscheduled introduction of the church auditors to present their findings without prior notice to members is deemed legitimate.



Clip 5 : "Deliberation" between PG & Members


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Calvary Crisis in The Star

The Star newspaper has today published a report on the on-going crisis in Calvary Church under their Metro Section. You can read the report from The Star online portal by clicking on the following link :

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2009/11/18/central/5118315&sec=central








(Thanks to a church member who sent us this scan copy of the newspaper article. On the right is the scan of report on the issues raised at the EGM found in the newspaper but not found in the Star online portal)

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On another note, CT received this e-mail on 16 November 2009, in which the writer posed a simple question to us. We publish this so that all who are reading and following the CC Saga will ask themselves that one simple question which is recorded in the last paragraph of this e-mail. This is the view of someone outside of Calvary Church.

Hi brothers & sisters in Christ,

I accidentally stumbled upon your blog site "calvarytoday.blogspot.com" when I surfed the net under Calvary Church. I have heard about the grand plan of your church a couple of years ago but did not follow up on the development towards your church's vision until recently when out of the blue I wonder what has taken place since the news of a RM100 million Calvary Church building plan hit the Star newspaper several years ago.

To start off, what your church is experiencing now is not a surprise to me. Mega churches almost always has a hidden agenda. In your case, money mismanagement by the senior pastor, a compliant board of deacons who are hand pick by the senior pastor, a pastor who shove his feet into the face of his sheeps who rebel, an EGM which is manipulated. These are clear signs of a wrong leadership. I want to lend support here to all you who rebel with a cause, as an outsider but a fellow follower of Christ that what you people are doing is a great show of courage, righteousness and wisdom. Your guys are not blind followers. What puzzles me is why is it so diffficult to remove your pastor. He has no business to lead the church now. In fact to allow him to continue, is to be a fellow comrade in crime. Mis-using God's money for one's own selfish purpose is sinning against God. To let your pastor continue to hold on to his post is to continue to allow him to plunder God's money. And to continue allowing him to do, now that the congregation is aware, is to be a partner in crime. Your congregation has all the facts of his abuse already. The right thing to do now is to remove him through a EGM. And following that, all the money embazzled must be recovered. You can write off the money the thieves stole from you but Do not write off the money the thieves stole from the church because the church's money do not belong to you. What your pastor did is a carbon copy of the many churches in USA and many dirty politicians common practice. That's saying one thing but doing another. Not practicing what one preaches. You can call him a false preacher. His crime is the prove.

In conclusion, may I ask this simple question? Do you want to be accused of being a partner in crime with your pastor? If your answer is no, sack him! God will be your supporter. Satan will be your discourager. Who then do you follow? Fear not if you are doing right. The one who should tremble is the criminal.

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LATEST ADDITION!

CT would like to quote this Comment put in by a Calvarite today, 20 November 2009 to address those who have expressed their disappointment that this matter has been made public in the Star newspaper. No one would have wanted things to get this far but since it has, the question that really begs for an answer from the church leadership NOW is :

WHAT PROACTIVE ACTION IS PG AND THE CHURCH DEACONS GOING TO TAKE, TO AVOID THE SITUATION DETERIORATING FURTHER?

Standing Up for Truth said...

In any conflict there will be supporters for both sides. No matter how wrong or unjust one party has been there will be faithful supporters who will fan them and urge them on. We are not surprised that until now there are still fervent supporters to what PG, pastors and BOD have done against and /or failed to do according to Biblical standards.

But we must understand that Truth and Righteousness is never relative. If it is white it has to be white, no matter how people may argue and say it is black or grey according to their interpretation. Those of the people who say how sad they are about the Star Article and that matters has gone public..and how the Christian faith would have been tarnished, it is humbly submitted that all attempts have been made to all levels of Christian leadership in the country on the matters at hand over the past many months. If PG, pastors and BOD had been Christlike and willing to humble themselves then the turn of events would not have come this far.

It is sad that CC leaders were just too arrogant to acknowledge their mistakes and to say they are sorry and to humble themselves and repent....There have been numerous attempts to talk to PG, pastors and BOD but to no avail. So what makes one not wonder that God will not use people to bring about change in CC and that God's fire can come in different forms. Many months back a visiting pastor prophesied that God's fire will descend at the altars in CC. Don't we believe that God is the righteous and holy God and He shares His glory with no one!

I believe God will never compromise on what is the truth, righteousness and justice because He delights in these. I would rather be supporting and stand up for what is right than compromise with what men perceive is not the proper thing to do when the truth is revealed and it hurts and that further, there are negative consequences that will naturally follow due to such exposures.

November 20, 2009 5:09 PM