Restoring The Faith
Let me express my sincere condolences to the families who lost their loved ones when The Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos, Nigeria, collapsed two weeks ago. It has been a tough time for the families and for everyone involved.
I commend our government for the role it played in communicating about the tragedy as best as it could and for helping to repatriate the deceased and survivors back home. We do not know what led to the collapse of the building and we hope for a full investigation. However; the incident has raised a number of - and lessons - for church generally and in South Africa in particular: Also, it challenges our government to pause and reflect on what is happening in the religious landscape.
First the lessons. Informational globalisation has made it possible for churches to be known beyond their countries' borders. Equally, it has made it complicated for churches to construct and maintain relations with global audiences, particularly because events at home can, within seconds, be known all over the world and affect a church's image or reputation.
Because of this, churches must aim to become flexible and innovative in managing their reputation and communication, especially in times of crisis. I am on record as saying communication following the tragedy in Nigeria could have been handled better. A crisis centre was supposed to be established soon after the incident, with regular media briefings being given. What initially looked like an information blackout (South Africans got to know the full scale of the tragedy three days after it happened) was unfortunate and insensitive to the anxious families eager to know what could have happened to their loved ones.
One hopes that churches and religious institutions have learnt from this unfortunate incident how not to handle a crisis. Then there is the issue of the government and its role in regulating a country;s affairs and protecting its citizens. Lest I am misunderstood, let me state upfront that governments have no business trying to regulate what religious beliefs their citizens should follow. Also, I am all for church expansion even beyond the borders of a church's country of origin.
What we have been witnessing in the past couple of years with foreign churches mushrooming is worrying. Stories have been told of some of the churches taking advantage of the poor and desperate, setting up in buildings that do not comply with safety standards and receiving money from the public without there being any form of accountability.
This is where I call for government intervention. It should be standard procedure that any religious institutions should be properly registered, especially when it receives money from the public. In South Africa, we have a preferential tax regime for not-for-profit organisations, such as churches. However, this preferential treatment is not automatic. A church must meet the requirements set out in the Income Tax Act and must apply for exemption. If the exemption has been granted by the SA Revenue Service (SARS), the church is registered as a Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) and allocated a PBO registration number.
Approved PBOs are then expected to submit their annual tax returns and comply with all related legislation, including making sure funds are used responsibly and solely for their stated objectives. I should know. We do this annually and SARS keeps an eye on us. But I worry about how universal this is in our country. The government has the responsibility to protect citizens, even from those masquerading as churches and PBOs when their activities are pointing to the contrary.
The responsibility is even greater now that our borders are open for anyone to come and set up a church. We need proper controls before the situation gets completely out of hand. These controls should include annual general meetings and publishing annual reports. Churches must embrace these if we are to maintain our credibility with society and those whom we serve.
As alluded above, it is not desirable for governments to meddle in peoples' religious beliefs, but when it comes to the corporate or public affairs of religious institutions, certain minimum standards ought to be expected and the government has a role in setting these. Reflecting on how the church handled the collapse of the building and on what is happening with corporate affairs in many churches, it is evident that siginificant work must be done to appreciate the ramifications on a church's reputation as a result of the things we do or don't do. We as church leaders, must speak up and hold one another accountable when things go wrong.
