June 2013 Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, We are writing to keep you informed of our current concerns regarding the situation at the Chinese Methodist Church of Australia (CMCA) and the Eight Mile Plains Methodist Church (EMP MC). Concerns regarding finances of the CMCA In April 2013, the Bishop and the Board of Finance ministers were at EMP MC to explain to the members about the new collection system to fund the CMCA. The vision is for each congregation member to contribute $15 a month to the Annual Conference for special project ministry funds. It appears that the first headquarters, the Methodist House which is heritage listed and located in Melbourne is currently vacant and in need of extensive renovation which will cost at least $500,000. Renovations of a heritage listed building need to adhere to strict guidelines, meaning any work will be much more expensive. The second headquarters building is currently for sale for $500,000. We question what the current market value of this property is. We understand that CMCA has a $1 million bank overdraft facility and that CMCA has appeared to have withdrawn more than $500,000 from this facility. If this is the case, then CMCA is incurring about $40,000 per annum in interest only. Also, it has come to our attention that there is a fund set aside to provide for the sick and study leave for our ministers and pastors, collected on behalf of various churches over the past years. We question how much is still remaining in this fund or whether it has been used up in the purchase of the second headquarters building. We question the financial management of the CMCA. Before a system of member levy is introduced, all church members need to know the full details of the financial commitments of the CMCA, at present and into the future. We ask that the true state of the CMCA finances be made public to the members for perusal. It is also time for an external independent auditor to be appointed to examine the accounts of CMCA. Unresolved concerns regarding the transfer out of our English speaking (ES) minister Our much loved and respected ES minister was transferred to Kingsway Church in Perth at the end of February 2013. The congregation had no knowledge about the impending transfer decision until it was already made and then announced on Sunday, 9 December 2012, by our beloved ES minister himself. We have deep concerns regarding the decision process at the Annual Conference in December 2012 to transfer him out of EMP MC. We feel that the decision to transfer our ES minister was grossly unfair to both the minister and the congregation. The plan to transfer has been unjustly kept from the congregation. That this is not right is evident in the resulting widespread disbelief, pain, anguish and turmoil within the EMP MC upon receiving this information. We are left with no full time mature ES minister, and having to rely on the services of a respected but semi-retired honorary minister who is in this 70s to shoulder the responsibilities. A petition to retain our ES minister organised in December 2012 obtained 132 signatures. This petition was forwarded to the Bishop, Board of Appointments (BoA) and core leaders of EMP MC.The Bishop responded that the decision was a ‘corporate decision’ and not of his own. He stated that the decision to transfer is final and it was based on the greater ‘real’ need in another church i.e. Kingsway Church. We were told that Kingsway MC was in turmoil and needed a caring pastor. However, this decision to transfer our ES minister has now caused deep turmoil at EMP MC. This decision seems unwise and poorly thought through, and has created a problem in the EMP MC without there being any certainty that the intractable problems at Kingsway MC is able to be resolved with this transfer. Potentially, we will have two churches in turmoil for many years to come. It is a widely known within the EMP MC that the Senior minister and the ES minister did not enjoy a harmonious working relationship. It is from the observations of various members that the Senior minister has extended control over many activities of the church. Both the English speaking ministers have been sidelined and not been fully engaged, to the detriment of the English speaking congregation. Our ES minister had been excluded from a number of significant church events, such as the CMCA Annual Conference organised by EMP MC in 2011, the Preaching Point Management Committee, and the Nomination Committee. The following events have occurred prior to the transfer decision: 1) The motion to retain the pastors was omitted during the Annual Local Conference Meeting of the EMP MC in 2012. 2) An English speaking youth pastor aged in the 20s was appointed locally during the year by the EMP MC. 3) Our ES minister was not included as part of the representation team of the English congregation of EMP MC at the 2012 Annual Conference. 4) The representation from the EMP MC at the 2012 Annual Conference before the BoA was vested in only two husband and wife couples, and the Senior minister responsible for the Chinese congregation. The members representing EMP MC were: a) Chairman’s wife (EMP MC Chairman is one of the members of the BoA) b) Vice Chairman and his wife, who belong to the Chinese congregation of EMP MC; and c) Senior minister who is the pastor for the Chinese congregation and has no real connection with the English congregation. There was no one properly representing the voice of the English congregation to convey the true wishes and needs of the EMP MC. In December, the following list of concerns were forwarded to the Bishop, BoA and core leaders of EMP MC: Q1) Why is Kingsway MC’s need greater? Q2) Can you honestly believe our ES minister’s transfer decision is right in God’s eyes when this decision brings no peace but has caused so much unrest and turmoil at the EMP MC? Q3) Can you honestly justify that the processof making the decision to transfer our ES minister has been dealt with fairly and was done according to God’s way? Q4) Can the EMP MC leaders truthfully and honestly declare before God that they have no knowledge of the plan to transfer our ES minister prior to the Annual Conference? Q5)Why was there no firm decision on who will be ministering at EMP MC English congregation at the time of the decision of transfer Q6) Why have the BoA and EMP MC leaders not done anything to resolve the turmoil at EMP MC caused by the decision? We have repeatedly sought a meeting with our core leaders and Senior minister at EMP MC to clarify our concerns. To date, the core leaders and Senior minister at EMP MC have ignored the repeated requests. They have not done anything to explain to the 132 church attendees who signed the petition to retain our ES minister in December 2012. We then tried to seek resolution through the Bishop. The Bishop and our District Superintendent (DS) met with us in January 2013. They acknowledged that there were issues and made some proposals to resolve them. However, a subsequent planned second meeting did not eventuate. We were instead informed by the Bishop to take our concerns to our local church leaders, the same people who have ignored the issues. We reminded the Bishop that he has the authority and obligation to correct any wrongdoing and rebuke church leaders for any misconduct, but there has been no response to date. We question why the EMP MC core leaders, Senior minister and even the Bishop seem to avoid addressing the issues. If their actions were justified, they should welcome the opportunity to provide the explanations to their church members. We sincerely ask that the EMP MC core leaders and CMCA leadership to uphold their duty and responsibility towards the members of the church. The lack of regard and planning for the EMP MC is even more evident now. It is sad to see that despite us having 3 full-time salaried ministers (a Chinese speaking Senior minister, a Chinese speaking assistant pastor and an ES youth pastor) and 2 voluntary semi-retired ministers (one English and one Chinese speaking), we continue to depend on regular visiting speakers to preach the sermons on Sundays. We still do not have an appropriate, mature English speaking minister administering to the needs of the English congregation where at least half of the worshippers are more than 30 years of age. In Him we trust, Concerned members of the EMP MC James 4:17 Anyone then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. Ecclesiastes 12:14 For God will bring every deed into judgement, including every hidden thing whether it is good or evil.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 13:41:47 +0000
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