RELEVANT EXTRACTS OF SPEECH AT BGST FUNDRAISING DINNER 2007
by Dr Toh See Kiat, Chairman, BGST Council
at the Fullerton Hotel on 9 Nov 2007
Good evening,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Welcome to the inaugural BGST Fundraising Dinner 2007. This dinner would not have been possible without the diligent efforts and prayers of Elder Siew Kim Siang as Chairman of the Dinner Organizing Committee (DOC). I would like at this point to thank Kim Siang and his small committee – namely Mr Lim Chin Keng, Mrs Goh Swee Hong, Prof Lim Kian Guan, ex-officio Dr Quek, assisted by Jolene Tan and Serene Woon.
And we are enormously appreciative of Dr James Houston, whom you have heard. He has flown from Canada to Singapore entirely on his own expense to show us his support and to explain why he thinks BGST is worthy of your support. We are not even paying for his accommodation as he is staying with a friend.
This dinner has been made possible too because of the generosity of a Christian brother, who wishes to remain anonymous. He paid for the dinner and the wine served tonight.
We are truly grateful for your presence here tonight as our guests. As a token of our appreciation, you have been given “goodie bags” which contain vouchers for free courses at BGST and free membership at our BGST Library at Tanjong Pagar Road. Look also for a DVD of a lecture by Prof Houston in your bag.
Tonight the DOC has the target of raising $1 million from the 480 guests present. It is a huge task which they have committed to God. Let me at this moment give you some information on the purposes of the money raised tonight. To do that, let me say something about the mission of BGST and attempt to answer some of the questions in your minds.
Firstly, why is BGST duplicating what SBC, TTC, TCA, the Baptist Seminary and some of the other seminaries are doing in Singapore? Secondly, what does BGST add to the crowded scene, as it were? Thirdly, how does BGST fund its activities? Fourthly, what will we use the funds for?
Duplication and value add
Let me address the first two questions together: why is BGST duplicating and what does BGST add?
Many people think we are duplicating work. One of the surest proofs that we are not duplicating what Singapore Bible College does, for example, is this – when the new Principal took over, he turned SBC into a graduate school. Seventeen years after BGST had done so.
Most of the other schools and seminaries are denominational – they groom the students in specific denominational traditions and positions. BGST is transdenominational. We are not obliged to support or deny any denominational perspective or distinctive. We are free to explore objectively what the Bible teaches.
All the other schools train people for professional clerical appointments or the missions field. BGST trains the laity and aims to equip them with Christian skill sets and mindsets for the marketplace. We do not stop our graduates from becoming pastors – but they would then as pastors be better equipped to lead churches whose members serve and interact in the marketplace.
In line with the emphasis on the laity, BGST runs courses not found in the traditional seminaries. This may include courses which marry business and theology; interdisciplinary courses with input from theologians and secular professions and so on.
BGST pioneered adult, continuing Christian education in Singapore. Our courses are suitable for working adult Christians seeking life-long learning. Besides normal classroom-based courses, we have private studies, using CDs and VCDs; lectures are taped so that professionals who have to travel can view lessons in their own time; and our tutors re-arrange their schedules to suit individual needs. BGST is, in one word - flexible.
Many aggressively anti-Christian philosophies and attitudes assail the church today. We had the Da Vinci Code followed closely by the Gospel of Judas and the supposed discovery of the tomb of Jesus. In December this year, we will have the anti-Christian movie for children called “The Golden Compass”. How do the men and women in the pews know what is right and what is wrong? As their faith gets shaken, who will be well-placed to set them back on the Rock of Ages? Students of BGST.
Notice I said students and not graduates. Because not all our students graduate. Many are on a Special Studies programme. They take courses for personal enrichment, not to do a degree or diploma. Many more take our courses by “audit” – meaning they just attend courses for interest, not for exams. In 17 years, more than 1000 people have passed through our portals. And this is not counting the many thousands more who have attended the public lectures we have held – such as the ones we held to debunk the Gospel of Judas.
In a world that emphasizes life-long learning to upgrade professional skills and knowledge, BGST exists to help Christians to continue to grow in their knowledge of their faith, to be thought leaders for their churches and for their nations. We seek to be like Regent College here in Asia.
Graduates of BGST are well-recognised as capable and qualified. We are accredited by the Asia Theological Association. Regent College allows our students to transfer up to 30 credits from BGST when they move on to Regent. That saves a year’s time and at least S $30,000. I call this the best kept secret in Singapore. It is time more Singaporeans know about this! And we are not stopping at Regent – with your support, we will have the money to develop links with other theological institutions overseas.
BGST Funding
BGST’s annual budget is about S$800,000; plus S$400,000 more for our mortgage. The S$1m we raise tonight will not be enough. We are already as lean as we can be. Our Principal has not drawn a salary for 17 years, being supported fully by his church.
We will continue to review the way we do things and stretch each dollar we receive. To do that well, we have to go out and employ a good, competent CEO-sort. And that will cost money. Hopefully there will be a retiree who wants to give this a go without the CEO pay he or she has been accustomed to. Please pray with us and help us look for a candidate.
In the past, we have relied entirely on pledges and ad hoc giving. We have gone about our work quietly, and the Lord has supplied in good time all the time. But our needs have grown and we need to build up reserves to go about our work more strategically and wisely. We currently have three Funds for our work.
We have a Building Fund. This year, we commissioned a Gideon’s Army of 300 pledgers to each give $3000 annually for three or six years. At the end of that time, our mortgage will be paid up. We also organised a golf tournament which raised about $80,000 for the Fund. We have so far recruited 30 soldiers and will be looking out for 270 more.
Next, we have a General Fund. This is used for operations. Churches and individual givers give to this fund through pledges and ad hoc giving. Occasionally, specific appeals go out to our donor base to cover additional expenses, or specific needs.
Tonight we inaugurate a People Development Fund. This will be used to develop the whole people of God to better serve in His Kingdom. I will now elaborate on what we will do with this Fund.
The People Development Fund
We are using the money to develop the laity – to develop their skills and knowledge. This is the first link in the chain. To do this, we need to have money to develop, train and continually upgrade the teachers and lecturers who teach them (the second link). The money will thus also be used to pay for courses done by the teachers of the teachers (the third link). This is as far as we will go.
Specifically, the bulk of the money will be used to create scholarships, bursaries and Fellowships. Many of the scholarships will go to students from developing countries, but we will be giving to deserving Singaporeans too. Student development expenses will also be charged to this Fund. These are expenditures which are needed to buy books, materials and journals to be used to train and educate the students; for approved projects, travel and visits, which are useful to develop them as effective ministers for the Lord (these may include field visits and courses not available in BGST).
About 10% of the Fund will be for Faculty Development - for training and course fees of faculty in training; for attending approved conferences and seminars for all faculty; for sabbatical expenses of our faculty; and related expenses to the above.
About one-third of the Fund will be used to pay the salaries of the lecturers and teachers, including the overseas lecturers that distinguish BGST’s course offerings from others – with scholars such as Dr Houston himself, Dr Paul Stevens, Dr Marva Dawn, Dr Miriam Adeney (all incidentally from Regent College); Dr Douglas Milne from Australia; and Dr Allan Millard from the UK.
The rest will be used for the administrative costs of fund raising – well within the limit prescribed by Singapore law (which allows for 30%).
How can you give?
Let me be honest with you here. Some of you are invited here because we know you are generous. But not all of you are invited here because you are able to give much money. If you are in this latter category, please know that we invited you here tonight so that you will find out more about BGST and come sign up for courses; spread the word about the good things we do; encourage others to save $30,000 or more if they do their degrees through BGST; and tell your churches to support us!
Tonight, if you wish to give to our People Development Fund – you can do it in three ways. You can give in cash; or write out a cheque to “BGST”; or fill in the pledge form in the bag given to you earlier. The pledge can be activated using the GIRO form we have provided for your convenience; or you can simply write us the cheques at the appropriate times. We request that you do this in, at most, ten instalments – so that if you are giving $2,000 for 2008, you need to pay only $200 a month for 10 months.
You may want to know more about BGST. If you wish to schedule a time when I or Dr Quek can speak to you individually, or to your church collectively, please let us know. If you wish to have BGST lecturers come to preach or teach special courses in your church, we are available. If you have suggestions for courses, or things we can do to raise funds, or any other bright ideas, please let us know too.
Jolene, the Administrator in the Principal’s Office, can be contacted for any of the above purposes. Her email address is: tanch@bgst.edu.sg.
Otherwise, if you have any questions, feel free to email: asktoh@gmail.com. Yours truly will truly be at your beck and call – for the Lord’s sake, and for His work at BGST.
Thank you.
[Webmaster: Jolene is no longer working with BGST. Thank you.]
