Churches and those who oversee their affairs may, indeed, be obliged to answer to a higher order than those who answer to the institutions of man.

Yet, even in the absence of the injunction of rendering to God and Caesar what is theirs, it would seem to us that financial accountability to one's partners is, of itself, a good Christian principle. Unfortunately, judging by what pastors and church-minded accountants had to say at a recent Gleaner Editors' Forum, it is a principle that is often practised in the breach by many Jamaican churches.

Many Jamaican church congregations, it was reported, are hardly ever privy to the books and have little or no knowledge about the finances of their churches. But worse, books are hardly ever kept, and when they are, it is mostly badly. So, even the pastors themselves remain in the financial dark. That is bad.

The right path

It would be bad enough if preachers confined their weekly lectures to congregations about matters spiritual and the right path to the hereafter. But pastors are famous for lecturing the society, mostly with good reason, about moral failings and about how it should order itself. The shortcomings of governments and businesses tend to be legitimate grist.

Moral authority, from the perspective of church leaders, it seems, can be bifurcated: one kind for those who report to the state of man and Mammon; another for those following an eternal order.

The problem, though, is that churches can't fully separate themselves from the society within which they exist and operate. For, in the end, they represent a conglomeration of people pursuing a common interest - eternal life as offered by God.

Organised churches don't just exist, endowed with spiritual insight and guided by the Holy Ghost. They are also economic entities - pastors have to be fed and clothed, buildings maintained, conferences and crusades financed, and so on. These ventures are capitalised by the tithes and free-will offerings of congregations, returns on investments, special gifts and all the other initiatives undertaken by churches to raise money.

It would seem to us that in much the same way that boards, CEOs and chairmen or corporations must be accountable to shareholders, pastors and church governors owe a fiduciary responsibility to their congregations. They should know what is collected, how it is spent and on what.

A spiritual and a financial side

Happily, most of those who participated in last week's forum agree. As chartered accountant and Christian activist, Wilfred McKenley, said: "They need to operate as if it is a business. There is a spiritual and a financial side."

It is true, as was said during those discussions, that sometimes there is a shortage of bookkeeping skills in church management, especially in small rural congregations. That is an excuse, however, that is not allowable to small businesses that are expected to file tax returns and can be subject to audits by the authorities. In any event, there are large numbers of institutions, government and private, that offer assistance in this area.

Churches, of course, are exempt from taxes, which, perhaps, enables their lax attitude towards financial accountability, occasionally contributing to misbehaviour by parsons. Perhaps it should be mandatory that, for religious institutions to maintain tax-exempt status, they be required to report to members.

Then, it would be more than preachers saying, "Do as I say ..."