 Good morning, everyone. Thank you for Joining the class Daryl Steven, Prince, Kanan, Neelam Thank you, and I don't know if others will join us, but we will get started. Let's pray and start good One of us lead in prayer, please No, thank you Lord for this wonderful time that you given as a father We just surrender our lives in this day a father and the class ahead Into your hand a father. I pray a father that you would give his wisdom that you would give his understanding a father as we Step into this this new chapter a new subject for the whatever we we learn a father that we would understand and then Put it into practice a father We just surrender entire The class and student with your mighty hand Bring him Jesus name Amen, thank you Steven All right today's class is going to be a short class. I'm not going to take much time but nonetheless it is an important part of Running a christian organization And you know managing the organization as a as a whole We're going to talk about the legal side of things. So let me just go ahead and Share that little document. I just put a little outline together as More things for us to Be aware of all right, so So we we spent I think Three maybe three or four classes on the accounting part, which is very important Managing the finances and all of that today. I just want to talk a little bit about the legal side of our church and ministry administration What is important, you know, normally when you think about a church or you think about a christian ministry We don't think about the legal side too much. You know, we think well, I'm going to serve god. I'm going to Do I'm going to serve people and as long as I do that everything is fine And it is true for the most part. That's that's that's where our focus is And we serve god we serve people and you know, that's that's fine but We must not forget that We as a church or as a church with the organization as a church or as a ministry has Legal obligations to the government to the civil government Wherever we are and this will of course vary from country to country and so on But we are legally obligated to you know, meet whatever requirements are there We can't say we are a church where a christian organization. So we can do what we want. No right We have to follow the laws there are Different laws set in different countries by which religious organizations have to abide So I just want to bring our attention to that aspect and This is not legal advice or something. I'm not qualified so What what I would encourage You know every church or every organization is find a legal advisor and keep you know have that understanding that They should be available and you will go to them whenever there is a need So we have a church as a church. We have A person who is our legal advisor. He's an advocate a lawyer and he specializes in religious organizations legal matters in religious organizations. So that's One part and he's a local. He's right here in our city Bangalore and we interact with him as and when we need guidance And then there is also a larger Network of lawyers They're based in Delhi, but they are a network. So they cover all across India Who we also have access to And the the reason we need that especially in India is If because we have churches outside of Bangalore, you know, and we have churches different places in the country If something happens there We need help and therefore we reach out to this network, it's called a df and we They they are a network of Christian lawyers Specifically Christian lawyers so that they provide counsel for church and Christian organization related matters And and we actually have to have had to use their services when We had problems in our church Outside in another part of our country, right? So we have both And so something like this is is important So I just want to bring it to your attention and you know when when you when you're running your church or your Christian organization That you keep this also in mind and have a good advocate Um to cover, you know to give you guidance about where you're operating and I just said, you know some examples So so where where where where does this legal advisor come into play? One would be in all matters about the entity itself. So you formed your religious organization whether it's a church or a Some Christian work that you're doing organization In in as far as in the structure and the running of that organization the legal part you go to that person for advice And he or she will tell you, you know, okay, this is how we do some basic things would be in terms of the members of the The trust we call them trusty. So these are the legally these are people are legally obligated for that The running of the trust so here we call them as trustees some places they call them as members So When you when there's a change in the trustees, you know, some people step out some new people come in All this has to be done legally. You can't just arbitrarily change the names of people. You can't be done that way You have to go work go to the the legal advisor the advocate the lawyer fill out the paperwork go to the legal procedure of You know, you have some trustees who are stepping down some trustees who are coming in So everything has to be documented legally and legally filed for the government So the government knows who are the trustees for your organization. So that's something you need the advisor for The other thing is also as part of the running of the organization Uh The meetings and major decisions made by the trustees have to be documented. So And i'm speaking more from here in in india It has to be documented. There's a certain format. You have to record it in a certain way. So this is what the the Legal advisor will tell you you have to record this you have to keep it like this this of your record should be maintained so if any any time There's a question you have something to show and this is the way that it's expected to be right So he will advise us on that he or she will advise us on that So as far as the legal entity is concerned, you need the input of the advocate another very important part is Compliance filing right now, you know in the recent years thousands of Organizations both religious and NGOs. I think the it goes into thousands were shut down by the government in india and You know, I mean, whatever reason but the the bottom line is If an organization did not file the required documents the government took action And that they used that which is a valid reason to say sorry You have to close or in some cases They discontinued Their permission to receive funds from outside india And so ultimately it's just another way of shutting it down because if they don't have money to run Organization has to close So like that's even some major organizations and some of the macristian organizations closed, you know, because They failed to file with the government the Documents now, especially when you have to report your source of income So your religious organization And or if you're an NGO or you know, you're supposed to report with the government where your money is coming from And if you fail to do that then they the government has all the right to say look you fail to file These documents You fail to report Your source of income and contributions and sorry, we can't let you continue, you know they they They can say We have a special permit may not be but organizations would have special permit to receive These contributions and that's withdrawn and then it's just a matter of time before the organization has to close so What I want to say is this Although we are a church Although we are a christian organization. We do have legal obligation to the government And if we fail in our part to you know file Everything annually so there these annual documents that have to be filed If we fail in our part then the government has every right to take action And then there are some christian organizations who have have to go through investigation, you know, they'll come and investigate because They're receiving funds from outside But they haven't reported things so government comes to investigate, you know, and And it becomes a little you know a bad name for the church or the christian organization that the government is invest investigating the organization uh Simply because they failed to file A proper reports for the government Right and and we can't call it persecution. They're not persecuting. They're just you know, you failed to do what you're supposed to do So obviously they're coming now to investigate They're coming now to and they have to draw your permits and so on so So that's very important, you know from a legal standpoint Just two more things here is when it comes to property matters Again, this is something, you know, it kind of goes without saying that Any property that is purchased by the church or the christian organization should be in the name of Legally, it should be in the name of The church or the christian organization And this is where you know sadly sometimes Churches or pastors or they they they Do it wrong They sign it off in their name in their personal name And that's a disaster. That's not the right thing to do and And then it gets gets into a really big legal mess right And so I just wanted to make it very clear here I mean, it's it's it's it's very obvious, but sometimes what is obvious needs to be stated It's very obvious that any property that's purchased using the church money or using the money of The organization or from contributions of the people That property should belong to the organization or the church Not in any individuals personal name that's not allowed. It's a misuse of property The last point here on the legal side is when The church faces persecutions So this is what I mentioned earlier that you know for whatever reason, you know, at least in india we know People attack This religious fundamentalists they attack the church for you know And they use all kinds of excuses so When that happens and this happened on two occasions with our Church in Balut Abbasar in north india so Once they came people came And we had our own church building right so we're not we're not You know doing anything wrong. We are the other people the congregation is meeting inside our own church building our own church land our own property But they came they you know, they somehow I guess they sneaked in came there ever recording things Then they put it on local that local cable TV Trying to instigate people against the church accusing the pastor and the people That there is conversion And the church church should be shut They're converting people etc etc and so Things like this, you know You know it all automatically instigates people In the community they put it on local television And local newspaper And these kinds of things so then you know, you have to respond you have to do something So that's when we contacted the network of lawyers In delhi and we said look this has happened in this town Now in that town there was no proper lawyer to smaller town. There's a police station. There's no court anything So they gave us The the nearest city Where there's a christian lawyer So we had to contact that person And then he immediately helped draft a Document saying, you know, this is what we're doing. These are false accusations Our people are trying to obstruct our service, you know, it's all wrong And this is you know, so he helped draft all of that and then The good thing is We got the support of the pastors other pastors in that town So I think about 10 To 12 pastors got together christian people Leaders and they all went to the police station right and with the help of this lawyer And they submitted this legal leader 10 document objecting what was being done against the local church And filed it We also did something else. We, you know, found the email idea of that police station We told people from our Bangalore to send emails to call Those who could write in hindi those because you know, you you that that person needs to know the police station needs to know that this church is not alone You know, it's it's got support from other parts of the country And and so we told people you give calls to the police station send emails to the police station Let them know that uh, look You know, it's not something that's local that you can't hide it others are watching what's happening and so on So they're you know, so legally we you know, we we got the help of lawyers to do that and From whatever else we could do we did it and so ultimately the police diffused the situation and and other the people who are Trying to create problems against the church realized that look Legally and not supposed to be able to do this that we have taken legal, you know, at least in that city Or in that town there was no court, but we could go to the police station submit a legally written document stating everything And protect and defend ourselves. So Just a situation where In in case in times like persecution attacks We need the help of The lawyers involved we need them involved to help us do things According to the way it's supposed to be done legally the police With the courts and so on Now we've never run into a situation where we needed to get to the court or anything It's been at this level of just with the police station protecting our pastors and so on And There was another situation Varanasi. I think maybe a month A month and a half ago ago But immediately we reached out to, you know, a leader there locally Work with the police take care of our pastor Make sure they're, you know, I think he spent one night in the jail. I think But he came out fine. I mean, you know, we got them out and Everything's safe. So There are these kinds of situations where Things happen and we need the help of lawyers so What I just wanted to say is You know, we are not lawyers. We don't know the law and we don't know the nuances and how we have to follow things so that's why have somebody Who can be a legal advisor right where you are And also if the work you're doing is beyond your own city Like in our cases extending in different places in India Then we need the support of a network of lawyers who can advise us anywhere, you know, which were part of the country situation happens We need people looking lawyers on the ground closes to that city Who'll be able to help us and resolve things protect our people protect the congregation And you know and take action very quick very quick. We have to respond very quickly Inside situations. Okay, so that's about you know, what I just wanted to present here because This is not an area. I personally know a lot about Other than look, this is what we have done And it is good that as a church or organization You have something in place So that you can protect yourself legally with proper input from the lawyer Okay, so We will pause here for today next week. We will get into more of projects and execution. So what what we have left in this course is In church administration. So we're going to talk about projects administration project execution and then some general things about you know, I think I've pronounced things like teamwork and excellence and Preparing for the future, right? So those are kind of the closing pieces that we will cover In this course, you know, how do you budget for a project? How do you plan for a project? How do you execute the project? Then other things as far as the church and ministry is concerned, which is like, you know, you want The people to be a strong team you want to execute You want excellence to be in the team and then finally you want to establish continuity that means You know, there's always not always but from time to time there'll be a movement of leadership All the leaders will have to step out of the way Or give way to new leadership. And so How do you transition? How do you establish continuity because the work has to continue? So those are the things we will be looking at in the remaining lectures and with that we will have a good idea of how to govern or administer A church or a Christian organization Any questions before we dismiss for today? This is a very short lesson just to Bring our attention to the legal side of things and make sure that As an organization we're able to Protect ourselves legally any questions any thoughts? No pastor. Good. Okay. Okay. All right. So That's it today. We'll wrap up early and We'll pick this up next week as we you know cover the remaining chapters remaining topics in this course Okay, somebody can pray and we'll dismiss please Thank you. Lord. Thank you for this wonderful day. Lord Jesus. Thank you for getting together father. God Jesus. Thank you for this lesson today What we learned a lot Jesus. Thank you for the god and always let us be careful to obey our law of our land a lot Jesus also Let us be let us stick to all the rules and regulations that we have in our land a lot Jesus Thank you for the god. Also, let us not open The way for any manipulations of father. Let us be in good order and let's be Organized as an organization as a church of father for Jesus. He uses we are instruments of father for Jesus Thank you for the god. We submit this enter your enter your day in your hand. Lord Jesus Please see we are on any Jesus mighty name and praise the spirit of father Amen All right. Thank you everyone Have enjoyed the rest of the day. God bless I have to care Thank you