OPINION: KICC, Pastor Ashimolowo and the love of money, by Samuel Yerokun
Written by Samuel Yerokun…
The UK Charity regulator’s report on Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC) came out just before the end of year 2015. It is already in the public domain.
The nucleus of the report is a £5m investment KICC trustees made and which ended in a loss of £3.9m.
Where did the money come from?
The £5m is the combination of the contribution of the members and the money paid by the government because of the paying tax payers in the fellowship.
Why would the government pay a church organisation money?
A church is considered as a fabric of the community, a congregation of the community members and the government pays some units back from the tax paid by a contributing member. The purpose of the money is to enable the church to serve the community better. However, only the churches which are registered with the Charity commission have access to this fund and have the obligation to submit its account to the commission every year.
What sort of things is the money used for?
The money could be used to pay rent or maintain the church building, pay staffs and provide affordable services for the members. We’ve seen those setting up affordable creche and nursery for their members’ kids etc. And, while a member could be helped financially, the money is not meant to just be distributed to the members.
The complexity of KICC action
It is very wrong, although some would challenge this, for a church organisation to be investing in a profit making venture – church is not a business. Members could be assisted to set up business through a zero-interest loans (some Western churches have set up Housing Associations (which are cheaper to rent and with accommodation for the homeless) but not a church putting fund given to serve its members into a profit-oriented scheme. Such a church is robbing the Lord’s sheep.
I asked these few question after reading the report:
a) Were the members told that their contribution is being invested into a profit-oriented venture?
b) Were they told that they are shareholders?
c) Were they told as shareholders, what profit to expect at the end of the year?
If not, what KICC had done is not different from the churches in Nigeria which take money from the people in the name of God, invest it into educational institutions like universities and the contributing members cannot afford to send their kids there, and those pastors using jets while some of their contributing members cannot afford three square meals in a day.
You cannot but attribute KICC’s action to absolute greed when you consider its choice of an investment purposed to have about 55% returns/profit. What war chest were the trustee members thinking about? Is church meant for selling and buying? Have the members’ needs been met?
Malachi 3:8-12 stated the mind of God on church contribution – so that there may be meat in my house. Meat is sustenance and not luxury or running after the gains of this world. How many members’ needs are KICC sustaining? How many immigrant has KICC provided pro bono for their cases with the UK immigration? Where’s KICC’s homeless housing, etc?
The senior pastor?
Pastor Ashimolowo according to reports has claimed he was not involved directly as a charity organisation is expected to be run by trustees.
He’s right about the procedure but those of us that have worked with pastors especially from Africa know that the senior pastor calls the short, the senior pastor dictates the tune. So, those of us who knows these things will not accept that excuse. There’s no way he would not have heard about it and there was no record that he made any objection. Even some of us as workers have stood up against some pastoral/trustees decision in the past.
I could remember vividly when I was with a ministry and the senior pastor was going to raise fund for a church building by distributing envelops. At the meeting when the floor was opened, everyone present kept quiet until I spoke against the proposal then others began to talk too.
Meanwhile, we did not even know there was a covenant against such activities from the foundation of the ministry. Anyway, the senior pastor used his authority and went ahead and at the end of the day, the money he got was less than the cost price of setting up the event and the envelops.
What I am saying here is Pastor Ashimolowo cannot say he was not aware of the process leading to the decision and I personally will not believe that he did not play a major role in the decision.
So, what happens to the £1.1m that is left from the greedy misadventure?
The regulator’s report indicated that a management team is now in charge of KICC and we hope that this team will be able to steer the ship in the course of the cause of the Gospel of Jesus Christ who KICC embraced as its foundational faith and minister to the needs of the people who have faithfully stand behind the establishment rather than chasing after worldly profits.
