The Independent Online reports…
“In these economically trying and troubled times, religion, it seems, is good business.
Rhema Ministries, the church that last Sunday famously hosted ANC presidential candidate Jacob Zuma at a service in Randburg, Gauteng, on Friday announced an income of “slightly above R100-million” (A$15.15m) for the past year.
The bulk of this was gathered in the form of “tithes and offerings” from its about 40 000 congregants.
According to financial manager and group accountant Alison Whittall, the church has grown its balance sheet “in spite of a higher interest rate environment and a general economic meltdown”.
“This demonstrates the congregants’ commitment to the vision of the church,” she said in a statement.
Asked where the R100-million came from, church deputy administrator Vusi Mona said: “Mainly from tithes and offerings; about R68-million from that, the rest comes from the wholesale bookstore, television [service] and the bible school.”
To “tithe” means to hand over a tenth of one’s income to a religious institution. [Yeah...right - Ed] Tithing has its origins in the early Middle Ages, and its application in the modern world is based on interpretations of various texts in the Christian bible.
Asked what the church’s policy was on tithing, Mona replied: “We encourage it.”
According to the statement, Rhema’s total assets grew during the course of the past year to R51,2-million, up from R47,8-million in 2007.
“Notably, the church achieved its salaries bill-income levels set for the year under review. The salaries costs to income ratio were 52 percent, while it was 59 percent for the previous year.”
Fifty-two percent of R100-million means Rhema’s salary bill was R52-million last year. According to Mona, the church has “167 salaried staff”, which would mean a salary per staffer of about R311 000 a year if the full amount was split evenly between them.
The statement also quotes Rhema’s “senior pastor” and founder, Ray McCauley, as saying the church and its trading entities had “maintained financial sustainability and shown healthy growth”.
He said the goal looking forward was “to post even much stronger results that will enable the church to fulfil its mandate of taking the gospel to the world and looking after the poor”.
In a separate statement on Friday, Rhema Ministries also announced the appointment, among others, of McCauley’s son, Joshua, as executive director of the ministry’s television, publishing and wholesale operations.”
From http://www.iol.co.za:80/index.php?art_id=nw20090320155345789C481540&set_id=1&click_id=13&sf=
Rhema is reeling from a string of bad press, ever since they permitted our future corrupt “president” to speak from the pulpit. R100 million might not be a massive amount in Aussie Dollars, but it is a huge amount here! It probably makes Rhema the single most wealthiest church in SA.
A very interesting quote from this article:
“Notably, the church achieved its salaries bill-income levels set for the year under review. The salaries costs to income ratio were 52 percent, while it was 59 percent for the previous year.”
Fifty-two percent of R100-million means Rhema’s salary bill was R52-million last year. According to Mona, the church has “167 salaried staff”, which would mean a salary per staffer of about R311 000 a year if the full amount was split evenly between them.”
I can assure you that the admin staff are not paid well. I know for a fact that the pastors of the church have had their salaries reduced! So, of the R52 million, how much went to Ray McCauley and his family????? I reckon that it is a huge amount of money, and I can only speculate what Ray’s Salary is… R1 million? R2 million? R5 million? All I know is that he has been living up the high life for a long time….
As for Lance’s title to this piece, I find the following quote amusing:
“In a separate statement on Friday, Rhema Ministries also announced the appointment, among others, of McCauley’s son, Joshua, as executive director of the ministry’s television, publishing and wholesale operations.”
I find it amusing in the light that young Joshua’s appointment is really questionable… Joshua matriculated and then went to work for the church. He is a youngster with no discernable skills or qualifications, other than being Ray’s son. Keeping it in the family is what it is all about… And of course, the promotion is not ministry related, but rather the business side of Rhema, in other words, the part that makes the bucks for the Church. Rhema ancillary services is a big money spinner for Rhema, yet has never shown any profits, due to massive tax write offs every year. That is how they make their money.
AUS$46,770 is how much all staff would be on if all were sharing the pool equally.
If McCauley were on R1m he would be earning just over AUS$150,000
this is based on an exchange rate of 1 rand equals 0.150388391 of an Aus dollar.
but consider this – In Bromhof, Johannesburg
you can buy a 2 bedroom townhouse for R695,000 – the equivalent of Aus$104,519
If you look from an exchange rate point of view, it does not seem like a lot of money, but in SA, the amounts they are referring to are immoral when you consider that a huge majority (about 60% of the population) are not even earning US$1 a day! SA is a 3rd world country with a small 1st world commponent. Ray lives up the high life at the expense of his congregation – a congregation that is mostly made up of “3rd world” members who earn very little. The whole report does not put things into context at all for those not aquainted with SA cost of living. We suffer from high unemployment and the effects of apartheid will be felt for many generations – and of course with our current government’s priorities we will not grow as an economic power until such time that they begin to understand what needs to happen – we need to reduce unemployment, improve education and bring labour costs down dramatically…
As for this report – I speculated that Ray could be earning R1 million a year, but I reckon it is much higher than that… How do I know this? When I was at RBTC (their bible college), during a lecture on church governance, the administrator of the church at the time mentioned that Ray was earning a salary comparable to that of a managing director of a medium sized corporation… at that time the salary would have been in the region of R1 – 3 million a year excluding share options…. now that was about 9 years ago when this was said. Now reading between the lines I reckon that a large chunk of the salary bill of Rhema is Ray’s income!
Not sure where to post this but found it while trawling Youtube. LF, you may find these of interest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIdTFSIj8AI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Yicnvgt_ak
Thanks Alias.
I agree with what Donnie Swaggart is saying. Great vids.