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Why is church seeking donations door to door? RECENTLY, I was approached at home by a young teenager soliciting donations. He claimed to be from City Harvest Church. I was surprised as, according to the church’s website, the church has total assets of $65,903,000 as of last year, a figure which has been increasing since 2003. Last year, it received $24 million in donations. Why does the church require its members to go door to door to ask for donations? Lim Shien Wei |
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According to the person who forwarded me this photo, it is taken inside City Harvest’s SunTec City Office, and I originally thought it was a library or someone else’s private ‘Study Room’ I have clearly no clue who took this photo and where so let me qualified by saying that the source and the authenticity is not verified. |
The Chinese have an old saying: 树大招风, which literally translates as, when the tree is too big, it attracts the winds. And this is apparently the case for City Harvest, with erm.. 20000 members the last time I checked? (That was a long time ago anyway.)
First of all, let me point out that this teenager may or may not be a member of this church. After all, it is not unheard of shameless people who goes around soliciting money in the name of temples and gods, or charities, and they are complete frauds.
On the other hand, I am also aware that City Harvest is planning for a new building, and is raising funds for it from its congregation. I have come across an Internet forum in which teenagers, zealous and eager to contribute, are asking where they can get jobs during the holidays so they could also contribute as a testimony of their love and devotion to God.
Therefore it is also possible that one of these teenagers, might have went out to ask for donations on his own, without realising that permits are needed for this, and as a result raised the ire of this Lim person. (Personally, why didn’t Lim just call the church and ask is beyond me!!)
If this teenager belonged to the second group, then from all the postings on the Internet forum, I do personally felt that the church authority and the individual lea-duhs of their member cells, have clearly failed to make it very clear to these teens that their contribution, while definitely valued, is not needed.