 Okay Good morning everyone to Cost it's to be 310 on church and the ministry administration For those of you who are here in person and for those of you Who are online? Good morning. Welcome. Let's pray and we get started Father we thank you that we could gather together this morning To take time to learn study and be equipped To serve you to serve your people and to serve the purposes of your kingdom God we ask for the anointing of your spirit. We pray that holy spirit will be our teacher well equip us and Import to us wisdom Understanding and grace that we may serve you in Jesus name Okay, good morning everyone once again So we started this course last week on church and ministry administration. I'm just going to quickly quickly review some other things we covered last week and then take things forward so Let me just go ahead and share the post notes which is available in the classwork section and Then we will go forward from where we post So we gave an overview of what they're going to cover in this course and We we began with lesson one where we wanted to Emphasize the importance of good administration for church or ministry and We looked at it from a biblical perspective. We also looked at it from a practical perspective From a biblical perspective. We said that God is a God of order and design and organization, right? So that is God himself is very organized He this isn't you know, let things happen Chaotically, no, he's very He's a God of plan. He's a God of order and We see in them in the throughout the Bible in the way he related to his people He actually put order in place. So we look at some biblical examples Office then from a practical perspective. Also, we said that in the world today People expect us to be organized Yeah, because that is the way people live it people are living they when they go somewhere They want everything to be organized. They want everything to happen function very problem very well And so they expect the same thing from the church from the Christian ministry Things should be organized. So even people are expecting that and if we don't do things in organized way, they will Stay away. They don't want to waste their time. They don't want to interact with us So so we have to understand from practical perspective. Also, it's very important And then we looked at some excuses people make And some in how do we respond to some of those excuses? That was on page five. Then we went into chapter or lesson number two Which is What are some of the objectives of good administration? So when we are saying, okay, we want our church Or our Christian ministry. We want to have good administration. What are some of the things we want to achieve? So as a background to that, we said that administration is a spiritual ministry And even administration, it is actually a gifting from God Some people have been gifted by God to To be leaders, Organizers, administrators, just like we say, okay, some people are gifted by God, are called and gifted by God to be a pastor To be a teacher, to be a pastor or a prophet The Bible also says that there are people who have been Gifted by God, given the grace of God, the anointing of God, to be the administrative helps and administrations That is they're calling They're called by God to do that. So that means we have to give them the opportunity In the church to fulfill that call. Come to serve God By being in the administrative helps and administrations So administration is an art. It's a science and it's a spiritual gift. That means God gives a gift But we also can do our part to learn it So it's the art and the science of it. We can learn that by practice. We can get better And how we organize, how we plan God gives the grace, but we have to develop the skills. So it's a combination of books Then we also Look at the terms leadership management Administration So really leadership management administration are doing different things typical in the organization The leadership has to deal with the vision direction Management deals with more of the organization. The administration deals with more of the day-to-day execution of things But in this course, we will combine all three So we will touch on all aspects. We combine all three will not be focusing only on one We'll combine all three and then page number seven We Kind of summarized. What are the objectives? Are you in good administration? You have to develop people You have to establish systems We have to fine-tune processes They have to allocate resources. So that is the main thing, you know, people should keep on growing developing their skills You have to have good systems in place how things are happening And within the systems how these processes are happening and how funds are being used resources and all that have been used We have to But take care of that so that There will be alignment efficiency and productivity. We must stay aligned to the vision We must be efficient And we must be productive Then we can achieve our goals and overall vision of the church and the ministry So that is the big picture that we are trying to achieve In in having good administration Then we also said for good administration, we need human skill. We need concept organizational skills. We need executions So we have to bring all this together Page eight seven bottom of page seven. So we have to bring people skills organizational skills Executions So we need to know how to work with people How to nurture them develop them guide them all that You also need to know how to organize Putting things in place all of that And then we also need to know how to execute how to make it happen how to Manage things properly and so on So these are all of these things and we're going to talk about many of these things as we go through the course Lesson number three is where We just kind of introduced it And then I said I will share an example of our APC trustee, so We will get to it So the first thing When you want to start a church order ministry is To create a legal entity That's the first thing Many first thing is one of the first important steps, of course We are assuming what is called us to do the ministry You know what is called you to start a church or a ministry that is the most important thing first Something first means the practical step, right? So okay, assume we are saying what is called somebody to start a church Or start a Christian ministry that is there So one of the earliest things we need to do is form a legal entity And there are many reasons why we said that is important. We said we want to be submitted To civic authorities now. We want don't want to do anything that is, you know, not legal So for example, at least in India, you know Sometimes people start a church in the house and They don't register the entity Then when the police come or some problem, they say, what are you doing? You're running a church. You're collecting money. You're doing all this Are you legal? You know, no, of course To me to pray we can do that if we're just a prayer or a fire this week can always do that But if you're running it like an organization Then you have to be like a legal entity and that's where people get into trouble that If we are running an organization, but it's not registered then when there are matters especially in colleagues money Renting buildings this that We can get into trouble if you don't if you're not a registered legal entity. There isn't the law can't protect us But if we are then the moment you're a registered legal entity you Are legally allowed to do many things the law is on your side And you can go and rent a building. You can have a bank account. You can have events conferences all these things you can You're legally allowed to do So the law is on your side so We want to be submittal big authorities. We want to conduct ourselves Lamelessly, we want to be honorable in how we handle finances And also we need to keep a clear conscience when we are doing all these things so The importance of forming a legal entity we went through this It gives you credibility before people so even people when they want to give money They they would definitely ask, you know, is this money going to somebody's personal account or is it going to that organization? So when you have a legal entity, it's going to that organization. It's going to be used of the ministry there's You can have a separate entity status that means can have bank accounts everything in the name of that organization It also protects the people You know, so because you have a separate entity. It's people are don't Are not going to be liable if I name anything that happens You can enlist professional services in in some Places you have tax exempt status And you can also access to So Let's start from here, right? So this is we are now on page nine When to form a legal entity, what would be a good time to form a legal entity? So as soon as your work gets started So for example, maybe see we started meeting in february By april of that year 2001 we formed the legal entity. So February, March, April So within about two months We formed we went and officially registered and so we were still very small only 12 or 15 people But because we have officially started as a church It is good to have an entity and of course we're planning to You know build serve the people get so So as soon as you start you get the momentum going Uh, you form the legal entity Of course, you need to have a code team and I will mention a little bit on how to select the people You need to gather enough money for the initial expense to register the trust. You need some money You have to engage a charter accountant and all of those things. So You have to pay them so have enough money and Finalize the articles of incorporation. So I'll just go through the articles of incorporation for all people's church shortly So today nowadays now we have helped a few people In recent times other other people who are starting ministries We have helped them form their organization that costs about in indian rupees 15 000 rupees. That's it Uh, so This is basically mainly the lawyer's piece. The lawyer takes the money. He will form the Articles and then he will go to the registrar's office with this person and they will register They'll sign up. So the whole thing about 15 000 rupees registered you know, so that's about the money you need to register your organization get it started And with that you can legally go and open an account back account. You can publish the name People can contribute offerings in the name of that Ministry everything is legal Nobody can say we are Doing anything at all. And so that's kind of the cost now when we did it it cost 500 rupees This is in 2001 So it's become about 30 times more today Those days only cost 500 rupees to register a trust today. It's 15 000 rupees Yeah, times have changed. It's 20 years ago Now When you're going to form a legal entity You need a court Minimum you need three people You need to join to form that entity and they are referred to as the directors or the trustee So the mentors whatever language and different parts of the world are used different language now How do you select these three very important? You have to select people who are aligned to the vision and mission So don't just randomly choose somebody Because later on it will cause a lot of problems It's very important that you select people who are aligned to the vision Of the church or the minister. They are also committed to the vision Okay Second you must look for people are willing to serve. They're not interested in a position I want to be treacherous. I want to be secretary. They're not looking for a position They're just willing to serve And also you need people that you should have a good relationship and trust And because you're going to be working together day in and day out You're going to be making decisions Small decisions big decisions. They're going to be making so you need people with good understanding So when we started in 2001 So just Amy myself And then there was another couple who we were friends with So the Georgian choice so four of us Be formed And they were also they also just started attending I knew Georgie from school days So he was in school He was my junior in school So our friendship went back for many years from school days. We knew each other. We were serving God and he used to play and worship So they were the initial trustees. So we had good relations. Good then Then in in 2000 I forget which year but around 2012 or something they they relocated they went abroad They went to uk and then they moved to the us So because they have relocated they are no longer directly involved So we made the change so I think Again, I forget exactly here, but I think in 2019 We requested them to resign. It's okay because you're living abroad. You're not you can't be involved in this thing So they resigned and then we added three other people for here locally. So first jay kumar Vinny Vinny jay kum. So jay kum Matthew And milky select jay kumar three of them. So they joined they came as the trust. So now we have five trustees The two of the original people because they have gone abroad. They settled abroad They are not They resigned and we added so you can do that in the future like if you need to change You can say for practical reasons. So our goal was it's better to have somebody local Then we can always have meetings we can discuss. They know what's going on Uh, whereas if they're, you know, George enjoys their far away in the US, then it's practically So we made the change. So today we have five trustees All five are part of the church Okay, this they're all They know what's going on. They're all alive So all important decisions, you know, we discuss we can make very quick decisions just email what's up Discuss or we meet Make decisions So that is the biggest now just an example One of the early years We sent One of one of the pastors were working with us. He worked with us one of the years then he said I wanted He wanted to go and start a church in Yeah, or is So he went Now he's a young young man Uh, he finished bible college here. I mean in van low he worked with us for one or two years Then he decided to go and start his own the apc church So I remember that time He went there He'd been there only couple of months He's just getting started And someone came To him they found out what he was doing. They said hey, we will form the trust. I will I want to be on the trust It's almost like a stranger. He doesn't know this. So he called me. He said, you know After this happened We want to form a trust but this person has come he said he wants to be on the trust and I said Just say no Because you don't know this person And Only being on the trust means you have a say in everything and if you're not in agreement There can be a lot of problems. They said don't be in a hurry. Just say no, you wait You start your work So he said no, sorry. He started when he said that person left The person was not really committed to the vision and mission And he only wanted a position So anyway, he started his work and then later on he He formed the right people Comfortable to start a form of trust So to be very careful Because if if people come in there just for position Inside that and there is problems on the trust and the whole organization gets affected So to choose the the members very very careful Now the next important thing Once you select the members you're ready to form the legal entity The next important thing is The what is referred to as the articles of incorporation of the trust deed Right, what is going to be there in the Document in the trust deed Right, so I'm going to share online The trust deed for apc and I will put it up in the classwork section and So you can download it from there but I'm sorry. I didn't I haven't given this painting Can you see it? Let's see Okay, I'm sorry. I did not give Give up But okay, no problem. I'll put it up in the classroom classroom So So this just this is a sample right you can modify it you can change it But I want to highlight a few things. So this is for all people's church So we had four people You can have when you leave minimum of three people Right, so we had four you can add four or five some people have seven people Whatever number you want But minimum is three and then You say who's the main person? so The the Settler that is the main person You know his the name will be then then initially you put some money, you know 5,000 fine and whatever to start get things started right So you put some amount To get things started and then the name of the trust So what is the name of that's where we say it is all people's church Or what are the name of the minister, you know John the Baptist minister is That's that's your legal name Right, so the bank account will be in that name and people try to check it'll be in that name So whatever that name you feel God has called you and the name is entirely up to you Of course, um, it should be a name that is Not confused with some some existing minister, so that way When you submit this The registrar will do a check right if somebody there's already another organization with the same exact same name They'll come back and say hey you have to change the name So you can't use the exact same name as somebody who's already there in that Region you know, they're another part of the world. It's okay, but if you're registering in Bangalore Example you're registering in Bangalore and you go to the registrar here. They will check that it's a unique name At least in some way it has to be different Then you start you have to mention what are the aims and objectives of the trust Now this is where it is important because in the future When you're starting any ministry This should be legally held you'll be held legally held to follow this aims and objectives, right? so example If your aim and objective is to have churches Bible colleges you can't go and start You know Some call center or some some business in the name of this. No, you have said this this trust is for the purpose for religious work So you can't go and start a business that is not aligned to The objectives of the trust that is not allowed So you have to carefully state what you want to do. So We said We are here to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. So it is very clear Now we are here for the gospel of the service. This is a christian Trust it is not general NGO type So we are a religious trust. They're here to Promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's very clear right and We can then the other thing we did was make it as broad as Because we cannot foresee everything we may do So make it broad any kind of ministry We should be a christian ministry And i'm not saying Send any kind of christian work We should be able to do through this trust Right now, maybe we are only 12 people. We are meeting for worship and prayer But you know in the future suppose we want to Start a bible college Suppose we want to print books or we want to have tv minutes this this this this it should it should allow us So The goal is Keep the articles broad enough To accommodate whatever kind of christian work you may do in the future Unless you know, this is the only thing I will do Example I will run a christian home for children Okay, if you're sure that this Trust is that's the only thing you're going to do. Okay, fine. So it will be very simple Articles have been coming. We are running a christian home for underprivileged children And then you mentioned, you know, okay between this age to this age, we will provide them food shelter education Those things very focused Okay, but That kind of An article of incorporation or trustee in the future If you want to start a christian school For these same children It may be difficult because it is not stated Then you said we only we will only run a christian home for children They give them food and this but it's not stating that if you want to Start a school or a vocational school vocational training if it's not mentioned Under that same trust it could be difficult. I'm not saying, you know, you can you can always amend it That means the trustees can come and say, okay, we are making a change That means but we are saying We will add this aspect to the trust. So you have to go through the process You have to the trustees have to come they make an amendment You go back to the registrar's office and say hey when we form the trust He said we will only run a children's home Now we feel we want to start a school We want to do set up a vocational training Etc. Etc. So we're amending the trust to give it to amend the trust then you can Start Right So it is better in the beginning itself, you know to state whatever you want So we've stated all kinds of things, you know To provide say relief work Charitable work for all kinds of people To printing work books Whatever is which is what we are doing with Christian literature Videos so digital work in those days. We only had do you think, you know, we could think of text audio and video We didn't think of the internet as a big thing, but it kind of comes under that digital work We can you know, organize churches We can establish local churches, which is again what we're doing We can set up institutes and seminaries, which is Bible College, which is what we are doing We can establish 10 Bible teachers seminaries colleges Schools and churches You have to prepare We can run We can bring people we can hold conferences We can conduct seminars workshops conferences We can even undertake in Christian related research in a Christian research work We can explore experiment with different field work We can set up different groups across the country We can work all across the country We can also work with other Christian organizations, you know, so we can build partnerships with other organizations We can buy land We can work with Take the services of other organizations. We can buy land or lease property We can fire and build buildings Do those kinds of things We make use of the money in a way That Of course, we will not put the money of the people at risk but make wise investments with that And so so we can again Pay people for the work they do for us We can give donations to other organizations. We can open branches anywhere in India We can provide residential accommodation, you know for people who come for training so on We can do All deeds and activities that are in line with the objectives of the trust We cannot use the money for profit what money comes into the trust we cannot Use it for business things basically right and We are going to we'll keep accurate accounts And we will follow the income tax act in our country And this is the powers of the trust what they will do the trustees. What will they do on behalf of the trust? So these are the roles and responsibilities of the office bearers Right, so they they're allowed to do all these activities on behalf of the trust. This is what they can do so That is their responsibilities and so on so All this is here, you know, and these are these are typically Right, I mean, this is what you will typically have in an article of incorporation But it covers everything what the trust will do. What will the Directors what are they allowed to do for on behalf of the trust Uh, if there anything that they should not be able to do you mention it And we also have the opportunity to change trustees and so on Right, so this is just a sample. I will put it up on the classwork section And you can, you know, look at this and then Adapt this for whatever you are doing that I'm saying you should Copy this exactly. This is for the church Now if you're starting a church, obviously you can use the same thing But if you're starting a different kind of Christian ministry, you just modify this to match The objectives of what you want to do and how you want to run the organization Okay So let me just see if there are any questions from people on the chat any Irons following any questions here so far? Yeah, um, go ahead So the question here If you ask the question is are there any qualifications for the trustees? The only thing is they should be an adult That means like about 18 or better about anyone. That's it Nothing else So uh above 18 and uh Yeah, and the other qualifications are more like like what we said first like they should have the same vision They should be aligned to the thing so but legally only requirement is They are above if they're not adults to be part of the trust and they Yeah, in terms of citizenship. So for in India example, we're forming the legal entity uh, I I I don't think there's a restriction that you know, you should be a citizen of India like you So you have to be an adult now in the us example If we are forming a nonprofit organization in the us Uh, in certain states, there is a rule that they cannot be family members So they have to be non related people any adults But they shouldn't be like you know family members certain states have certain rules like that So I think in different parts of all they may have some requirement generally it is you're an adult and you're able to fulfill the duties of the first no no other Yeah Yeah Yeah, so the trust trustee or the articles of info. So the question is we have mentioned christian school Can we start a regular christian school? So that is one of the plans we have to start a regular christian school I mean that will teach, you know, like the king bridge syllabus or something Uh, so that's one of the plans but so As the because the trust allows us to do we can start But we will need to get all the other licenses So we are permitted to start But we have to get all the other government licenses or accreditation example Depending on what syllabus you want to do if it's The indian syllabus icsc or the icc or any of the foreign syllabus Uh, you'll have to get that accreditation those things we have to So that comes so the trust allows us to start a school But in order to start the school there will be all other requirements given by other agencies So we have to meet those requirements So that will be a separate process. Yeah You know, they will need teachers quite all qualified You need whatever so many things Correct Yes for those licenses Correct based on the trust people. So the trust allows us to start But in order to start that You'll have to have Almost other life So for example apc bible college The trust allows us to start apc bible college. So we've started apc bible college but apc bible college right now is not a credit Like with any of the The challenge there are several challenges one is When we started apc bible college, we wanted to run our own curriculum It means we designed the courses The course content is what we have developed The moment we go to some accreditation. He said in india we go to a ta And we say we want to get accredited Part of the requirements we have to run some of their courses, which we don't want to do Because we don't see value Completely in that. We want to run our courses because this is what we feel People need So that is a struggle like, you know To get that accreditation you to run those courses, but we don't want to run those courses We don't necessarily see value that like for example, if we are teaching bro and greek Where we are going to get And what is the real Value in those things So we have decided that okay, we will remain Non-accredited for because of these reasons But we want the quality of our education itself to be the basis on which people will come and study with us Otherwise we can we can teach those courses just to get the label But then our heart does not annex We don't see value in that. We see value in the other courses, which we have designed three years of so That's why we're still not accredited But students will study with us because of What we the content we and how we train them what we give them to them. So that's Because anytime we want accreditation they have their requirements You have to teach these courses. You have to do like this and if you don't comply we Yeah Okay, so any questions from our online students any other questions Okay So the articles are in conversation. I'll put it up in the class. Are that what we use for apc you can modify it feel free to Adapt if you want and also locally in your article world You know things may be a little different in terms of these articles of incorporation but You can use ours now. Just to give you an idea So Because we are registered in Bangalore India we can operate anywhere in India. We are legally allowed to do anywhere within the country Now when we start it when we sent Pastors out like our students who graduated When they want to work with us and They want to go and start at church from there We say initially you can start just as under us like as apc you're abroad But we always tell them as soon as possible You register your own ministry in that list So that you can have full ownership of that ministry Some of them have done it some other have not done it, you know, just whatever they're comfortable if you don't force so, you know now out of I think about 11 church plans outside all of the mosques have studied with us. They have gone. They've started Uh, I think only Two of them. I think only two of them have actually formed their own trust apc Barangpur And apc Kalyan So Uh, so apc Barangpur, they used the name apc Barangpur in Kalyan. He used a different name whatever name he likes, which is mine But they are part of apc. So It is apc Kalyan apc Barangpur But the trustee they have registered As like one has registered, you know, it's called living bird trust or something But they're functioning as apc Kalyan And One is I think it's registered as apc Barangpur The all the others are just operating as an extension of apc Bangalore But they use the local name like apc Balotabh Bazaar apc Rahim Which is okay. So we give them a letter say, okay, they are a branch of apc Bangalore And this is the name that they are operating in Or if you see Bangalore But they are they are operating as part of this main entity They are not registered as a separated being we encourage them as whenever you're ready you form it But the thing is the moment you form an entity You also have responsibility legal responsibility you have to file Your income all those papers would be filed with it So if they're not in a position to do that, then they just operate under apc Bangalore because we take care of All that work here So it's comfortable for them. They can just concentrate on the ministry to the least And But so we we've kept those options open If you want to have your own legal entity, it's fine. If you want to operate under apc Bangalore, that's fine So the moment You form a legal entity You would also have to follow all the Regulatory finance for the government that means every year Every year actually you do this Every year, but also you do throughout the year you have to file Your income what is the money coming into your organisms? You file that with the government And if you are Having staff Then you have to and you're paying them salaries. You have to deduct the tax the professional tax And you have to give that to the government And you have to file it for the government. So it's it the moment you form a legal entity. There is some hope to do As far as the government is concerned that So now And accountants will help you do all that work. So we don't have to personally do it An accountant chartered accountants will come They will help you do all this they will file on behalf of the Organization they will file all the paperwork with the So they take care of all the work, but it has to be done every year And every month we deduct the professional tax And that tax has to be given back to them So that happens, you know, I think once we keep paying that money back So these are things that come into place When you form a legal entity, but that is what gives us the right to operate legally in the country When we follow the the rules and regulations Okay, so let's pause here And we will continue this after the break Those of you online feel free to ask questions. These are just some practical things. I hope it's being useful and you know Gives you an understanding of How the church runs and so we'll meet in 10 minutes after the break