Council of Elders Meeting in Tyler, Texas

United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Meeting Report

Thursday, December 7,  Tyler, Texas

            On Day Two of the December meetings, the Council of Elders dealt with four major areas ö presentations on employer-employee evaluations, discretionary assistance, a new Home Office building, and local church building policy. The Council also learned the sad news of the death of Jerald McLaughlin, a long-time elder in the Dayton, Ohio church area.   

Employer-Employee Evaluations 

            Doug Horchak and Steve McNeely took the dayâs first time slot to elaborate on the development and implementation of the Churchâs employee appraisal process. As a formal process this is new for the Church in general, and the ministry in particular. But by stressing the need for accountability and the desire to ãstaff from strengthä in order to better serve the brethren, the process need not be painful! The key, both men stressed, is that ãtrue, godly leadership ö in any context ö is helping other people reach their full potential.ä That is certainly the goal of the ministry, and this program is intended, as it is brought on stream, to help us all hone our skills even more in accomplishing just that. Several scriptures serve to illustrate the biblical backing and importance of some approach to doing this, including the familiar Exodus 18 (captains of fifties, hundreds, etc.) and Proverbs:27:17Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. (iron sharpening iron). 

 

            But past experience, partly because it has been sporadic and event-driven (not process-driven), has not been positive for many. As the final report of the Ministerial Workload and Remuneration Task Force stated: ãPerformance reviews, although an unfamiliar practice in our Church culture, are commonly done in employment. The purpose for introducing it to the employees of the UCGIA is threefold: 1) to maximize the development of the ministry; 2) to recognize and reward excellent work; 3) and to optimize the overall service provided to our membership.ä Surely Godâs brethren deserve no less than the best His servants are capable of giving. ãThe purpose of a performance appraisal system is to formalize the context in which people help each other to continuously grow,ä stated Mr. Horchak. 

            The presentation also included discussion of leadership myths and corresponding truths, the role of coaching as a helpful tool, the art of compassionate confrontation, how to fairly conduct appraisals, and an overview of the time-line involved in bringing the process on stream. 

Discretionary Assistance 

            Treasurer Tom Kirkpatrick dealt with a proposal for discretionary assistance. He explained that the Church simply cannot afford to adopt a formal ãdefined benefit plan.ä But it can and should, he stated, do all it can to assure our current employees who are the oldest and nearest to retirement that the Church will do what it reasonably can to provide needed financial support after they retire. 

            The long-term backbone of providing retirement funding will be the 403(b)-matching program. This program provides immediate vesting of the matching funds to the employee, who is responsible for investing those funds. 

            But, for the oldest employees, who do not have sufficient time to build significant retirement assets, the church should give additional assistance. We would also like to do this with a minimal amount of prying into the personal matters of the retiree. 

            A proposal that reflects all these considerations was brought forward by Mr. Kirkpatrick, discussed by the Council, and formally proposed by Aaron Dean and seconded by Richard Thompson. The text of the resolution follows: 

Whereas, many of the ministerial employees of UCGIA will not have opportunity to participate in the Churchâs recently-instituted 403(b) matching program for a sufficient number of years prior to retirement to be able to accumulate a significant amount of funds for retirement, and 

Whereas, nearly all of these same employees do not expect to receive Social Security benefits when they retire, and 

Whereas, the Council of Elders believes it is not financially possible to institute a defined benefit pension plan, and 

Whereas, the Council of Elders nevertheless believes it is appropriate and desirable to provide some degree of financial assistance to such employees, 

Now therefore, it is hereby resolved, that the United Church of God, an International Association, will provide discretionary assistance to such individuals when they retire, based on financial need, as outlined in the steps below:

á        Annually, representatives of the administration (president, treasurer and director of Ministerial Services) will recommend an amount of discretionary assistance for the upcoming budget year for such retired individuals who qualify for such assistance and who have financial need.

á        The Council of Elders will consider the recommendation and approve the amount to include in that yearâs budget for discretionary assistance (individual and aggregate.)

á        In order to qualify for such assistance, an individual must meet the following criteria:

á        The individual requests such assistance.

á        The individual has been an employee of the Church or its former affiliation for at least thirty (30) years.

á        The individual has reached at least the age of sixty-five (65).

á        The individual is a member in good standing of the Church at the time of his retirement from the employment of the Church.

á        Retirement is presumed to constitute a financial need.

á        The following events or conditions would be cause for the Council (by a 2/3  ballot) to reduce or discontinue such assistance in the future:

á        Actions by the former employee that do damage to the Church as determined in the sole and subjective discretion of the Council.

á        A financial windfall to the former employee that no longer makes assistance necessary.

á        A request by the former employee that the assistance be discontinued.

á        Financial difficulty is being experienced by the Church. 

The Council unanimously passed the resolution

Home Office Building 

            President Les McCullough updated the Council further on plans for building the Churchâs own Home Office building. 

            Two local contractors have presented plans for the land in question. A Houston UCG member with the appropriate vocational skills has donated his time and report to the Church for a ãPhase One Environmental Assessmentä of the proposed site for the building. His reconnaissance has turned up evidence of some industrial waste dumping on the property. This will have to be pursued further to determine the nature and extent of the waste. Clearly the Church will want the land it buys to receive a ãclean bill of health,ä and just as clearly, the financial responsibility lies with the seller, not the Church as buyer. Mr. McCullough presented further details of the financial impact of a decision to go ahead with purchase and building, which he and Mr. Kirkpatrick showed to be well within Church financial capability. They and the Council clearly were concerned about the environmental findings and want more information from a further survey. As is their usual approach in matters of such importance, the Council solicits input from the General Conference of Elders. But there is a certain urgency to the situation, based on the needs of the work of the Church, the growing inadequacy of our current leased facilities, and the need to give the contractors some indication of intent. 

            As Gary Antion said, ãPart of the [purpose] of the building has to do with the fulfillment of the gospel. We have a job to do. We donât just preach the gospel and then forget about follow-up. The follow-up is delivering [to] people their literature in a timely, effective, efficient manner. And frankly, without a plan to do that· we moved to Cincinnati to be settled. We made sure we were saving money·[however] we have a job to do, to fulfill the gospel. That involves having space to store your literature, access your literature, get it out as quickly· as you can get it to them. I think we have a responsibility to do the Work· This is a very functional building. It has a nice look to it, but itâs functional. Every time Peter [Eddington] does a radio broadcast· he has to set up an entire room, in the Conference Room. Then he has to tear it down. You walk by the room, and Îssshhhâ· you canât talk because theyâre recording in there! Thatâs no way to run an organization, if we want the organization to succeed. If we want it to be ÎMickey Mouseâ and stay the same way, yeah, then just do it Îcatch as catch can.â But I think this gives us a plan to move forward.ä 

            Mr. McCullough stressed that what he and Mr. Kirkpatrick need is an indication from the Council as to whether they have a preference for one building design over the other, in order to get back to the two contractors. They are anxious to proceed (it is understood that the environmental issues must be resolved first). It will take one year to build the building. Discussion ended on the topic for the day with the understanding that Council will need to give its opinion before these meetings are over, following assessment of the two designs and consideration of the current situation. 

Local Church Building Policy 

            Jim Franks, as a member of the Ministerial Services team, led discussion of a proposed revision of the local church building policy. Currently, oversight resides with Ministerial Services, but the proposal involves turning responsibility over to the Council. Careful ãwordsmithingä suggestions from several Council members established the need to make certain edits and return the document for approval later in this round of meetings.

  -Doug Johnson

© 2000 United Church of God, an International Association [1]