Questions Concerning the Constitution Amendment to Article Three
Question 1:
Why did we opt for Hebron Christian Preschool for the kindergarten name? Having the word ‘Christian’ put outright in our branding may put off pre-believers / people of other faiths from registering their children with us.
From Cassandra Yeo
Answer:
Many church kindergartens have been associated with the name of the church, e.g. Zion BP Church owns Zion Kindergarten. This branding is useful for Christian outreach. However, Hebron Preschool is not used, as Hebron has always been associated with the West Bank and Palestinian conflict. Therefore “Hebron Christian Preschool” is used to make it clearer that the name is linked directly to the church.
With regard to the concern of whether the word ” Christian” will turn off parents of other faiths, we could look at the history of the kindergarten. When the kindergarten was named ” Choa Chu Kang Bible Centre Kindergarten”, there was a deliberate attempt to include “bible” in the name, to show the Christian distinctiveness in the education offered. The non-Christian parents of our Kindergarten children had enrolled them fully knowing and many, especially because we offer our Christian moral education as part of the curriculum. Based on this experience, we are confident that the parents will not act adversely to the “Christian” in our new Kindergarten name.
Question 2:
I do not think its good practice for us to vote on constitutional changes to the church on an online form. Reading things on a computer increases the tendency of the reader to scan through instead of reading the change properly and have a higher chance of skimming past important facts/implications. While I may approve of the constitutional change, in my opinion, this is a dangerous precedent to continue moving forward. Is this voting online something we will continue to do moving forward as a church?
From Ooi Ming Sheng
Answer:
We fully agree with your observation that an important decision like a constitutional change is better done with the member able to read the physical text of what they have been asked to vote on and a good explanation on the rationale for the change.
As you know, we are holding our coming ACM in the extraordinary circumstances created by the COVID-19 situation. We do not anticipate this to continue in to the 2022 ACM, fully expecting to revert to the normal, physical meetings. In which case, of course, we would have the ability to provide physical and digital text of the constitutional change.
In the unlikely event that the COVID-19 conditions persist for a really extended period, and we need to undertake a vote on a constitutional amendment or any other matters, we would take your suggestion and send the physical copy of the text detailing the background and rationale for the vote as part of the Notice of ACM documents.