St. Matthew's Churches

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

St. Matthew's Churches is an evangelical Christian ministry. Although it claims to have churches in New York and Houston, it is primarily a mail-based ministry with an address in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[1] The ministry has been accused of preying on the very low income and the elderly by using census records to target their mailings. Initial mailings often only speak of the "power of prayer"; once a recipient responds and is placed on the church mailing list, they are targeted with letters saying that monetary donations are required for their prayers to be answered[2].

Although for several years the ministry operated without a church building and conducted its direct mail donation operation through the Tulsa address, a physical location to hold services — a then-78-year-old Baptist church in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood[3] — was purchased in Houston in 2004. St. Matthew's Churches' lawyer says weekly services draw about 1,000 people.[3] According to the Trinity Foundation, an evangelical watchdog group, the physical church are only associated with the mail-based ministry as a cover that allows the lucrative operation to retain tax-exempt church status.[4] The status was granted by the Internal Revenue Service in 2000 after a 17-year court battle.[5]

One of their mailings consisted of a paper "prayer rug", on which recipients were encouraged to kneel and pray. This mailing, along with others, have been cited by the Attorney General of the State of Arkansas, the Better Business Bureau and the State of South Carolina as not providing information about their financial and fundraising practices.[6][7]The South Carolina Fraud Alert Task Force identifies the ministry as a possible mail fraud.[8] The ministry does hold tax exemption status under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.[9]

The ministry is led by its founder James Eugene Ewing, a former tent minister, who, according to the Trinity Foundation, lives in Beverly Hills, California. Ewing, a native of Kaufman, Texas, was born in 1933 and has written fundraising letters for other evangelists, including Oral Roberts.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bransetter, Zita. "Prayers, cash flow into Tulsa", Tulsa World, 2007-05-13. 
  2. ^ Rip-off Report. Saint Matthew's Churches aka. Prayer By Letters
  3. ^ a b Malisow, Craig. "Christians send in money for prayer requests which may just go up in smoke", Houston Press, 2007-03-22. 
  4. ^ Trinity Foundation. Prayer rug to riches
  5. ^ George Loper, Signs of the Times. St. Matthew's Churches' Mail Ministry is Highly Lucrative
  6. ^ McDaniel, Dustin. "Prayer Rug Pitch Wears Thin", 2007-05-25. 
  7. ^ Better Business Bureau of North East Indiana Consumer/Business Tips for July 2006. Published July 2006.
  8. ^ State of South Carolina. Fraud Alert Task Force. Published March 21, 2005.
  9. ^ Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Guide - St. Matthew's Churches. Published April 2004.

[edit] External links