United Church of God, an International Association

Council of Elders Meeting Report

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 1998 - Cincinnati, Ohio

How does the Church most effectively articulate its vision of who and what we are? The Council and regional pastors tackled this "Church identity" question for the better part of its combined meeting on Wednesday morning, November 11, 1998. These discussions continued a theme begun in the August Council meetings on Church identity, which crosses a myriad of areas ranging from logos and seals to literature and specialized programs.

"Some churches have done a very good job in capturing who they are in their logos and there are others where you wouldn't have a clue what they stood for based upon their logo," said Chairman Bob Dick. In the business world brand identity is critical for setting apart a product, whereas the Church has to communicate a philosophy; it can be challenging to encapsulate in one succinct phrase everything it represents and where it is going.

The ensuing brainstorming session aimed only to put forward various ideas and notions that were considered important to convey to both the Church and the community. Some of the phrases and concepts discussed were: coming out of the world, continuing the Work of God, providing a spiritual home and family, the family of the future, the family of faith, preserving and growing in the faith once delivered, being truly united, being reconciled, proclaiming the gospel and preparing a people, holding fast to the truth, and following Christ's lead.

This exercise demonstrated that endeavoring to capture the mission statement into a short logo or simple slogan is quite arduous. Don Ward pointed out that we will likely need to be flexible enough to have several concepts expressed in several arenas, depending on the format. For example, "Recapture True Values" was never a fitting motto for the TV program, but for decades it was very appropriate for expressing the educational aims for Ambassador College.

The Council will continue to explore this subject as it moves toward crystallizing concepts of church identity.

Report on Study of Ministerial Expense Policy & Wrap-up

At the earlier direction of the Council, President Les McCullough formed a Housing Subsidy and Ministerial Expense Task Force in July, 1998, to study and recommend an "appropriate, affordable, equitable and realistic" policy for those areas. Committee chairman Dick Thompson gave the Council a 32-page report and a verbal summary of their findings and proposals. Other committee members were Tom Clark, Dave Evans, Larry Greider, Doug Horchak, Melton McNeely, Steve McNeely, Gary Petty, Lyle Welty and Mike Blackwell.

The Task Force gathered and examined a tremendous amount of information, data and advice from both internal and external sources and produced a report dealing with housing subsidies and ministerial expense.

"Each of the sections considers current issues, rationale, and data in developing the recommended policy statement," said Mr. Thompson. He explained the highlights of the report, and it is now in the Council's hands for deciding the policy to adopt.

Treasurer Tom Kirkpatrick also gave the Council members a quick review of a paper he submitted to them to establish future policies regarding ministerial festival tithe and church assistance administration.

The Council then said good-bye to the regional pastors, who left that afternoon, and adjourned to spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in various committee meetings.

- Clyde Kilough

© 1998 United Church of God, an International Association