Bishop Peter Morgan

CHURCHES and clergy have joined the line of persons and organisations seeking to maximise wealth by investing in the foreign exchange trade.

Gleaner investigations have revealed that several Christian and other faith-based institutions have either been investing in schemes such as Cash Plus, Swiss Cash or have started investment groups of their own.

One minister, Bishop C.B. Peter Morgan of City Life Ministries, told The Gleaner that none of his churches are involved in the practice but said he knows it exists.

Investments

"There are churches that invest in foreign exchange and there are church leaders who invest in foreign exchange," Bishop Morgan says.

"I know of one ministry, for example, which is a Christian ministry, that actually tries to raise funds in order to put to investment schemes, because they don't use their normal funds to do it. They use designated funds to interest people in making foreign exchange investments which would benefit the ministry," Bishop Morgan says.

But it is not just churches that are chasing the money market. Bishop Morgan and a group of other clergymen and Christians have formed their own group in a bid to make money.

"I would not associate what we do with something like a Cash Plus. This is something that friends do," the Bishop says of his personal cash chasing deals.

It is not just cash that churches are trading. Well-placed government officials who declined to be named, told The Gleaner that several churches are purchasing securities. High-yielding government bonds, which are low-risk, are said to be a favourite of trading churches.

Government bonds

One church organisation is said to have recently invested $15 million in government bonds.

But the Bishop has no problem with churches and clergymen chasing cash. He said that while the church must campaign for souls for the Kingdom of God, it must also make money to do the work of the ministry.

"There is a perception that the church must not have money, which is wrong," Bishop Morgan tells The Gleaner.

"If anything, Jesus rebukes us for not using our financial resources to good advantage.

"It is very important for churches to become good stewards of the resources that are available to them," he told The Gleaner.

The difference between gambling and high-risk investment was a point of discussion among the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the Mormons), at its general conference in 2005.

Then president, Gordon B. Hinckley, strongly counselled church members against participating in gambling but the grey area between gambling and high-risk investment was never resolved.

The Church of England Ethical Investment Advisory Group holds that "Investing in equity markets does not fit the definition of gambling and should be viewed as good stewardship of asset neatly with the Parable of the Talents".

"Investment rationale focuses on the expectation of a return based on informed decisions and implies responsibilities of ownership. Owning shares is analogous to owning a house or other asset type.

"However, speculative decisions, or punting on market movements for gains dependent on another's loss may be more closel with gambling. Spread betting, a market activity, has been viewed as an unacceptable investment for Church of England monies for this reason and is therefore avoided," according to the organisation's question and answer document.