First thoughts on the City Harvest verdict

First thoughts on the City Harvest verdict

After a lengthy trial, the verdict is in and those charged with various fraud activities in the City Harvest trial are found guilty. The nature of the charges, the identity of those involved and the prominence of the church make this a must-follow judicial event. The text of the oral judgment is at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3A-00dAvijTNXAyaGEyLUtZdW8/view

The matter remains ‘open’ until sentencing and appeals finish. However, there is already plenty of conversation and commentary. What can now be said from a Christian perspective?

Church and state

How does the relationship of church and state plays out in such matters?

At times the Christian church has sought to distance itself from the state and claim independence from its processes. The parallel legal systems of canon and civil law in the pre-Reformation church are an example of this.

This is not where the Bible takes us. It teaches that civil government is a God-given institution to which ‘every person’ is subjected (Rom 13:1a). The state is the means of God’s judgement on wrongdoers (Rom 13:4). To resist the civil authorities is to resist God (Rom 13:2). Rome’s rulers were anti-Christian when these words were written, unlike the religiously neutral authorities in Singapore.

What does this mean for churches and their leaders? Churches and leaders are not above civil scrutiny. They are to be willingly accountable and submissive to civil authorities. The state does not have a God-given mandate to interfere in the teachings or spiritual governance and ministry of a church, but it does have a mandate with criminal matters.  It is therefore right that charges of criminal activities inside churches come before civil courts to try the accused and punish the guilty.

It is not persecution for the civil authorities to try church leaders for alleged fraud.  Providing due judicial process is observed, it is God’s justice in action through his appointed servant. Even in secular Singapore, the civil courts are the instruments of God’s blessing of justice. Fraud is criminal, no matter who does it and to what end.

Church leadership

The City Harvest trial was of church leaders.

The Bible teaches that church leaders are to be honoured (1 Th 5:12-13; 1 Tim 5:17; Heb 13:7). High standards are set for them and exemplary behaviour is expected from them. They must be above suspicion and reproach and of good public reputation (eg 1 Tim 3:1-13). The welfare of a church and the reputation of Christ in the wider community depend much on the behaviour of church leaders (Zech 13:7; Ezek 34:1-6).

And there’s the problem. Church leaders are like every other Christian person. They are created in God’s image (Gen 1:26-28) and fall short of God’s glory (Rom 3:9-23). They are people who have been justified by Christ and are indwelt by his Spirit (eg 1 Cor 6:11). However, this sanctification is yet incomplete and remains so until Christ completes his work of new creation (2 Cor 5:17). The struggle recorded in Rom 7:14-25 is normal for every Christian person and this includes church leaders.

So, church leaders share in the frailty that comes to every Christian. As such they need understanding, forgiveness on confession of sin, prayer, support and accountability mechanisms. That is true for the leaders of City Harvest as much as every other believer.

Church leaders share additional temptations. It is a heady thing to lead a congregation and especially to stand before a large group of people who see you as God’s spokesperson. You are trusted with people’s lives, intimate secrets and eternal welfare. It is very easy for leaders to lose perspective, succumb to pride and to believe that they are someone ‘special’ who is above normal standards.

Given this powerful mix of human sinfulness and the leader’s position, it is clear that no church leader should be trusted absolutely, given absolute power or be exempted from accountability.

These special temptations require special preventative measures.

Plurality of leadership is an important preventative measure. Jesus trained a group of 12 leaders to be apostles together and the eldership is spoken of in the plural (eg Tit 1:5). Acts 15 shows how a difficult issue in the early church was decided by leaders meeting, discussing and deciding together. Where much authority is vested in a single leader, it is almost inevitable that they will stumble. (The history of the medieval papacy is a tragic example of this.) Plural leadership should provide a mutually restraining influence that stops any individual gaining much power and falling to its temptations.

A Presbyterian style of polity exemplifies this. The Moderator of a Session, Presbytery or Synod has very little power. The emphasis is on group decisions, not individual. The theological foundation of this is a strong belief in total depravity and a consequential refusal to trust none but Jesus absolutely. The separation of powers and bi-cameral parliamentary structures that some constitutions are built on the same principles and, in the case of the US constitution, are directly attributable to Presbyterian influences. Churches with apostolic or Episcopal structures face particular challenges here. These challenges are increased when an individual leader is further elevated and called ‘prophet’ or ‘apostle’.

Transparency is also important. It is good if the diaries and financial affairs of church leaders are open to (at least) other leaders and perhaps to a wider circle of appropriate people.

‘Appropriate’ is a key word here. A leader who has been responsible for the conversions and Christian growth of church members and has been of significant help to them has great power over them. This increases if the church has risen from small beginnings to large numbers. Who will question the leader to whom they ‘owe’ so much?

From an outsider’s view, some of these issues seem to have been factors in City Harvest’s recent problems.

What to do now?

It is one thing to say how such problems as those judicially found in City Harvest could have been prevented, but what should happen now that the verdicts are in?

Ministry to those found guilty. Those found guilty need good pastoring by people who will speak God’s truth in love, seek confession and repentance where it is needed and speak of Christ’s forgiveness. Matt 18:15-19; Gal 6:1-2; 1 Cor 5:5 are just a few of the passages that speak of this process and its goals. Good church discipline reflects God’s character in seeking truth, doing justice to the guilty, protecting his flock and showing mercy to the repentant.

Prayer: This is a time to pray. Pray for those found guilty that they will be open to God’s dealings with them and not hide behind the language of ‘persecution’. Pray for City Harvest Church as it rebuilds and for its members who are apt to feel a mixture of confusion, betrayal, defensiveness and more. Pray also for the reputation of Christ in Singapore – that his name is not shamed by the misbehaviour of some of his followers.

Reframe: It is a dismal truth that any person and any church leader can let us down. The only leader who will not do so is Jesus. He alone perfectly bears God’s creational image and exercises kingly stewardship without being prone to sin (eg 2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15). He alone is worthy of unquestioning loyalty and trust.