Council of Elders Meeting Report

United Church of God, an International Association

Council of Elders Quarterly Meeting Report

Milford, Ohio

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Chairman Robin Webber called the morning session to order at 9:11 a.m. and the meeting was opened with prayer. Eleven Council of Elders (Council) members were present. (Don Ward was ill and returned home to Texas. He joined us via videoconference for the Wednesday meetings.) Mario Seiglie joined about an hour later because of teaching an Ambassador Bible College class.

Study Papers

The Council focused on: 1) A discussion from the retreat last Sunday now brought into formal open session and, 2) Recent comments by General Conference of Elders (GCE) members to review the organization and classification (not the current content) of doctrine statements and study papers. Many papers have been written and approved over 20 years and the classification given has not always matched the gravity of the topic. This need to coordinate our written material to best serve the GCE and the general membership was officially remanded to the Doctrine Committee by the chairman. It was also requested that this be a high priority.

Chairman Address regarding Fundamental Belief Amendment Submissions

“As Chairman of the Council of Elders and the General Conference of Elders, it came to my attention the week before the December session of the Council of Elders meetings that we were experiencing a procedural challenge regarding standardized time allotments to move matters forward for the Council of Elders to fulfill their constituted role in reviewing Fundamental of Belief submissions before the next step of going to the General Conference of Elders. This involves two separate amendments: 1) Sanctity of Marriage, 2) Passover (additional wording and verses to support current position).

“The GCE members who submitted these two items did so according to established procedural timeline. Yet, it has been considerable time since Fundamental Beliefs amendments have come to the fore, and they happened to arrive at a time when the committee providing oversight had lost a member and was below a quorum. While the situation was rectified according to due process, its delayed progress through the procedures that were mandated by the GCE caused it to fall short of meeting the necessary time requirements for presenting them at this year’s annual meeting of the GCE.

“Once again, it’s been considerable time since such amendments have come to the fore and it’s now obvious that further attention needs to be given to assure confidence in our procedures that are mandated by GCE approval.

“Appeals have been made that the CoE override the procedural lapses by resolution and review them during these meetings. Please note: These are GCE-approved documents that the CoE cannot alter on its own authority. Historically the CoE finds that any action taken out of designated guidelines does not ultimately bear fruit even when it seems urgent at the moment.

“Even though the lapses occurred before our stage of involvement, the Council of Elders, after two separate meetings on this matter, unanimously felt duty-bound to maintain its 30-day period of review of any proposed Fundamental Belief amendment before moving the process forward to the General Conference of Elders.

“In saying this, the Council of Elders fully appreciates the disappointment of the authors of these two amendments and understands the need to shore up our internal procedural mechanisms to promote ongoing trust of the GCE towards items they present for evaluation by the CoE. This will be remedied immediately after the Council of Elders meetings with increased mentoring of all committee chairmen’s responsibilities regarding procedures. These two aforementioned amendments are actually still viable and in process towards CoE review towards consideration by the CoE in the prescribed timeline for 2015-2016. Let us allow patience to bring forth its perfect work.”

The quorum of the Council unanimously passed the submission.

Strategic Exercise: Review of Objectives—Bill Bradford

The Council reviewed the objectives, critical success factors and barriers for the upcoming 2015-2016 Strategic Plan and Operation Plan. There was much deliberation, discussion and input on them. One of the items discussed was the Bible Reading Program (BRP). Rex Sexton asked why the date is being pushed back from July 1, 2015, to Dec. 31, 2015. Peter Eddington said it was because of lack of resources and lack of manpower. Rex Sexton mentioned that he is often asked when this BRP would start up again and asks that this program would get pushed forward.

Identity Presentation

Victor Kubik gave a presentation to the Council on behalf of the administration to discuss how to consolidate and simplify our media identity in a manner that increases audience awareness of the benefits of God’s way, the gospel message and the Church. This would include a name change for The Good News magazine as part of this process. It would also include assessing how all of our media products can become more recognizable with one identity for quicker identification by the public we are reaching. It would be more than just a name change, but it would include changing The Good News magazine to Beyond Today. More of a detailed letter will be sent out next week to explain this process.

Many of the media department employees were there to answer questions. This topic was discussed for about two hours. The administration proposed a resolution, but it was decided to cover the media department’s Strategic Plan strategies first.

Strategic Exercise: Strategies for Public Proclamation—Bill Bradford

There was much discussion on improving the strategies for public proclamation.

Identity Presentation Discussion

The Council had more discussion about the identity presentation. Bill Bradford wanted to know how this transition period would take place. It was discussed that for our membership, a letter of explanation would be sent out by the president and also that possibly a podcast on the subject could be recorded. Regarding our magazine readership, the name change would take place in a very measured way over several months. Aaron Dean asked when this would be done. Scott Ashley replied that it would likely be in the summer. Mark Mickelson mentioned that the members love the magazine and that it is a good publication and that should not change. Peter Eddington assured the Council that the purpose and the content of the magazine would be very similar. It was just the name being changed to Beyond Today.

After further discussion, Scott Ashley moves, Mario Seiglie seconds and the quorum of the Council unanimously adopts the following:

Whereas, the Church’s public proclamation effort should be cost effective, continually increase in audience response, promote literature conversions and produce congregational contact; and

Whereas, Public Proclamation strategy #9 of the 2014-2015 Operation Plan states we are to “Communicate in a manner that increases audience awareness of the benefits of God's way and the gospel message;” and

Whereas, the Church continues to work toward the goal of effectively preaching the gospel to all nations and preparing a people as per Matthew:24:14 and 28:19-20; and

Whereas, the Church wishes to increase the recognizability of the Church and its proclamation effort through a consolidated and simplified media identity; and

Whereas, the Church owns the Beyond Today name and identity across multiple media platforms; now

Therefore, it is hereby resolved that the name of the Church's English-language Good News magazine be changed to Beyond Today magazine to consolidate and simplify its media identity in a manner that increases audience awareness of the benefits of God’s way, the gospel message and the Church.

Preliminary GCE Task Force Planning—Charles Melear

The discussion focused on the GCE meeting theme for 2015. Past names were mentioned, and five proposals for this coming year’s theme were deliberated on. The five, in no particular order, were:

Overcoming & the Crown of Life
Making Ready a People Prepared for the Lord
A Sense of Urgency
Serving Different Peoples: The Example of Paul
Creating an Environment for Growth: Part 2

After much input and discussion, a combination of the second and third one was decided upon. The final proposal was: “Labor in the Word” (1Timothy 5:17)

Proposal: Labor in the Word (1 Timothy 5:17)—anchored with sub-themes: 1) Rightfully Dividing the Word of Truth (2 Timothy:2:15), 2) Preach the Word! (2 Timothy:4:2).

It passed with a unanimous vote. This decision was derived by discussions from the Council retreat and surveys from our members to give expanded attention for both verbal and written messages that go deeper and flesh out the rich truths and spiritual depths of God’s Word.

Charles Melear asked if there was a list of duties for the GCE task force. The Council remanded to the task force to develop a scope of responsibilities for the Council to review in the future.

Mr. Melear also asked if the theme would be changed like last year. Mr. Kubik assured him that it was a special situation last year and it wouldn’t be changed like that normally.

The Council adjourned at 5:47 p.m.

-end-

Council Reporter

Shawn Cortelyou

Council of Elders Meeting Report - December 9, 2014