Emmanuel Independent Baptist Church Inc: charity review

This is a review of the organisation ‘Emmanuel Independent Baptist Church’, principally for existing givers and those considering giving.

I sent a draft of this review to the church on 15 May 2019. They did not respond.

The charities’ regulator, the ACNC, in their article, Donating to Legitimate Charities, gives “some things to consider to help you make sure your donation is going where it is intended”:

1. Check the charity’s name.
2. Ask for identification from anyone seeking a donation.
3. Be careful of online requests for donations.
4. No tax deduction doesn’t mean the charity is not a legitimate one.
5. Find out more about how the charity says it uses donations.

Here’s the results for ‘Emmanuel Independent Baptist Church’, with #5 supplemented by the essentials of the ACNC’s What should I consider when deciding which charity to support?^[1].

1.  A search on the name ‘Emmanuel Independent Baptist Church’ on the ACNC Register of charities leads to a registered charity in the name Emmanuel Independent Baptist Church Inc. (Emmanuel Baptist). The email address given on the Register entry for that charity shows that it is the same organisation^[2].

2.  One would not expect a church to use third party collectors, and there is nothing to indicate that Emmanuel Baptist does.

3.  No website was found.

4.  The Australian Business Register (linked from Emmanuel Independent Baptist’s ACNC Register record), says that the charity is not entitled to receive tax deductible gifts. It is, however, a legitimate charity.

5. Objectives/Mission

From the ACNC Register entry:

Activities

The section on activities in the Annual Information Statement (AIS) 2018, although meant to describe what happened in 2018, is the same as above.

Sharing the Gospel^[3]?

Yes

Locations

Emmanuel Independent Baptist operates in Australia, per the ACNC Register, in both NSW and ACT. From the Notes in the Financial Report, the ‘principal place of business’ is 60 Fullager Crescent Higgins, but no explanation was found for the inclusion of NSW.

The Church also operates, again per the ACNC Register, in Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, and Tonga. The AIS 2018 says that 17K was sent overseas, so presumably these are the destinations (the Financial Report just gives the destination as ‘Missions’).

How the mission and activities translated into dollars spent

Because of its size for reporting, ‘Small’, Emmanuel Independent Baptist does not need to lodge a Financial Report. It has, however, chosen to lodge one.

If you are reading here to get financial information about the Church, then you are in the wrong place: the directors have effectively said [Note 1 to the accounts] that you can ring the office and ask them to prepare a report to answer your questions.

The directors, from the ACNC Register, are these people:

Ian Stevens

Jackson Maifiti

Kurt Stevens

Outcomes/impact

Nothing on outcomes or impact was found.

1. Focus on the nature of the charity’s work, its beneficiaries and the impact the charity is having in the community.Is it clear what the charity is trying to achieve and how its activities work towards its objectives?Would you like to spend your money, or time if volunteering, to support these objectives?

   Is the charity being transparent about its activities? [A section in the article, Donating and Volunteering]. ↑

2. As associations may either be incorporated or unincorporated, Emmanuel Independent Baptist’s enabling legislation provides that it must use its full name when dealing with the public: ↑
3. “Good living and social concern are important [to the cause of evangelism], but they are not uniquely Christian graces…I’ve met a lot of fine Hindus, Muslims and atheists. Just living the life is not going to bring someone to Christ. There is much more to it than that. We must help people, certainly, but we must also share with them why we are motivated to do so. We must stand against injustice, poverty and need, but we must at the same time point to the One who brings justice and who can meet the deepest need. Until they know our reasons, how can they come to know our Lord?” [Dan Armstrong, the Fifth Gospel: The Gospel According to You, Anzea Books, pp. 13-14. ↑