“Allow Their Accounts to Be Scrutinised”: Christian Business Leaders Tell Churches to Open Their Books

• Christian business leaders at an Observer Press Club forum urged churches to accept financial scrutiny
• Wycliffe Bible Translators Caribbean chairman Oral McCook linked the call to Jamaica’s new Charities Act
• He said churches that enjoy tax exemption should keep their accounts up to date
• Speakers pointed to the growing number of independent churches with little oversight

In February 2015 a group of Christian business people used a Jamaica Observer Press Club forum to make a request many pastors would find uncomfortable: open the church books. The panel included Oral McCook, chairman of Wycliffe Bible Translators Caribbean; its executive director, John Roomes; South African businessman Graham Power; Jamaica Broilers chairman Robert Levy; and Michael Jones, a Scotiabank vice-president who is also a pastor at Christian Life Fellowship.

McCook tied the call to new legislation. “More and more we are going to be asking the churches to allow their accounts to be scrutinised,” he said, adding that the new Charities Act would put much of that in place. According to the Observer, he argued that churches benefiting from tax exemption should be able to show accountability, with accounts kept up to date and funds not misused.

Power framed the issue as one of leadership temptation, saying the challenges facing men in leadership were “money, sex and power”, and noted that some regulation was needed to stop entities improperly claiming charitable status. Jones called on the church to set the example by admitting its failures, describing a church that “leads the way in putting up its hands and say we are sorry”.

The backdrop, the speakers said, was the rapid growth of independent congregations that answer to no wider denomination, so that no one outside the leadership checks how offerings, building funds or property are handled.

A decade on, the argument still matters. Churches in Jamaica hold land, buildings and investments, and many enjoy tax relief on the basis that they serve the public. That benefit rests on trust. For members at home and in the diaspora who give to building projects or send money for church land, audited accounts and clear registration are the simplest proof that their gifts are being managed well. For church leaders, good books are also what banks, donors and government agencies will ask for before they lend, give or partner.

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