United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Videoconference Report
Milford, Ohio
Monday, January 5, 2015
Chairman Robin Webber called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m. Eastern time, having it opened with prayer by John Elliott. Of the 12 Council of Elders (Council) members, 11 were present. Don Ward was unable to attend. The Council went into executive session.
They came into open session at 6:25 p.m. to provide this statement:
“The Council members met via webcast on January 5, 2015, to revisit the statement agreed to in December regarding the Fundamental Belief amendment submissions. Several deadlines had been missed in the processing of the amendments before the December meetings, and the Council determined that the amendments would, therefore, have to be considered in the 2015-2016 amendment cycle. The Council chose to revisit this topic and has come to a further decision.
“The Council by an 8 to 3 ballot chose to allow the amendment process to move forward to the Council Review step in the Provisional Manner of Amending the Fundamental Beliefs, with this step to conclude during its February 2015 meetings. At that time the Council will determine its support or non-support of these two active amendments, and make its determination known to the authors. All remaining steps in the process will then be set aside until the next step in the General Conference of Elders (GCE) approved process for the 2015-2016 cycle is scheduled to begin, which is in late December 2015, and the amendments will move forward from that time toward the 2016 annual meeting of the General Conference. This will allow time for the remaining steps in the procedure in our governing documents to be followed through.”
There was also brief discussion regarding the need to review the timeframes of the current Provisional Manner of Amending the Fundamentals of Belief to come into alignment with the practical realities of moving matters forward through various review levels in the Church today in 2015. The current process was established nearly 15 years ago and had never been put to the test in practical reality with a multi-tasking ministry spread throughout the world.
Mr. Webber mentioned that he is planning to have a Web meeting with chairmen of all our committees and subcommittees before the February quarterly Council meetings to review basic procedural guidelines for all committee reports to ensure that all matters are moving forward in a manner consistent with each committee’s responsibilities. This allows the Council to fulfill its responsibilities in a timely and thorough manner.
He will be joined in those meetings by the secretary, our legal counsel and the chairman of the Roles and Rules Committee.
He went through the plan to have a Web meeting for the Council on Jan. 21. President Victor Kubik will be able to update the Council on matters pertaining to the Church as a whole. There will also be a need to focus on certain items that can be handled in this specific format so that other items best fit for discussion during the face-to-face February meetings can be given ample time.
The Council adjourned at 6:44 p.m.
-end-
Council Reporter
Shawn Cortelyou
© 2015 United Church of God, an International Association