Registration Check

On Wednesday night I was named to the board of directors of a large association of Americans and Canadians who live in Peru. A big and unpleasant surprise that the expat association recently uncovered was that their prior lawyer never properly registered them as a non-profit organization with the government of Peru. For more than five years the association was not legally registered, even though they thought they were for the entire time. It was only when they switched lawyers that they noticed the omission.

The association now has to register all over again, and of course they also now have to pay a lot of fees to the government, as well as to the new lawyers, in order to clean up this mess.

The lesson is a sobering one, but also a timely and important one. Make sure to check the national laws, including tax laws and laws governing non-profits and churches and ministerial and social work, in whatever country you are doing international ministry, to make sure - 100% sure - that you are properly on the books and registered with every appropriate governmental agency in your country of ministry. Here in Peru, for instance, our church must be registered as a non-profit organization with the government. This means we pay no taxes to the government of Peru, and it also permits us to receive imports for the church (instruments, equipment, books, DVDs, banners, bulletin shells, promotional materials, etc.) with greater ease, although we still tussle frequently with Peru Customs, but that's a blog post for another day.

Make sure you and your ministry are properly registered - in all appropriate governmental agencies - wherever you are doing ministry. The expat association learned the lesson the hard way. Do your best not to repeat it.