United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Meeting Report
Thursday, February 27, 2003 – Cincinnati OH

Today’s meetings were highlighted by continued discussion of documents that are being prepared for ratification at the Annual Meeting of the General Conference of Elders. The Council reviewed and fine-tuned the Strategic Plan. Managers reviewed highlights, changes and additions to the Operations Plan. Jim Franks gave an update on the status of doctrine study papers, and Richard Pinelli sought the Council’s advice pertaining to the Church hymnal.

Strategic plan

Aaron Dean led the Council in a discussion of the proposed Strategic Plan for 2003-04. There are few changes to the plan from the current one.

The discussion centered on the point that the term “make disciples in all nations” is used in the Church’s mission statement, but not elsewhere in the document.

Mr. Dean proposed a few edits and additions. The Council made some suggestions and came to agreement on the modifications. Mr. Dean will submit the final edits to Council for review during the course of these meetings and will write a cover letter to explain the additions and edits when the Strategic Plan is sent to the GCE.

Operations Plan

Roy Holladay initiated discussion of the proposed Operations Plan for 2003-04. Many of the plans for the upcoming fiscal year are a continuation of efforts from the current year. Mr. Holladay called on the operations managers to review the plans, with emphasis on any changes or additions to their plans.

Ministerial Services
Mr. Pinelli reviewed several projects, responsibilities and plans for the upcoming year.

• Budget permitting, Mr. Pinelli would like to schedule a one-day conference in each of the nine U.S. regions. The meetings would focus on Christ Centered Servant Leadership and the mentoring role of the pastor.
• The new budget would allow for three elders to be hired. Four elders have been hired since last June, with plans to add one more before the end of the current fiscal year. Over the course of the next ten years, 40 of UCG’s employed elders will turn 65. The Church needs to hire an average of four men each year just to replace those who will reach potential retirement age.
• There is a need for a new ministerial services employee at the home office. Mr. Pinelli would like to hire an elder with experience as a pastor. But due to the tight manpower situation in the field ministry, it isn’t likely to happen soon.
• The Education Program will prepare United News articles and a sermon video on the topic of modesty. Doctrinal subjects, such as the covenants and how to properly observe the Sabbath, will also be addressed.
• Focused education programs will include resources on issues such as marriage, single parenting and blended families.
• Audio tapes of ABC classes on the General Epistles and Pentateuch will be made available in the coming year.
• There will be four changes in Feast of Tabernacles sites:
Maui, Hawaii replaces Kauai
Steamboat Springs, Colorado replaces Keystone
Kerrville, Texas replaces Corpus Christi
Lexington, Kentucky replaces Gatlinburg, Tennessee

Mr. Pinelli stressed the early success and continued value of the Ministerial Candidate Program. In the upcoming year, men involved in the first phase of the program will learn leadership skills which will help them in their local ministry. A few will be invited to continue to the next level, which may lead to the opportunity to be hired and trained for service in the full-time ministry.

Youth Education will continue to offer a wide variety of educational and activity-oriented resources and opportunities for preteens, teens and young adults, such as Sabbath school, camps, Youth Corps projects and regional young adult and family weekends.

Media and Communications Services
Peter Eddington reviewed the various functions that fit into the category of media communications services. One major goal is to continue to print around 500,000 copies of The Good News each issue.

Of special interest is the decision to publish the Youth United magazine, which to this point has only been available online. Doug Horchak explained why a published version of Youth United would be of value, pointing out that after three years as an e-magazine, it’s clear that very few of our teens read the online version. The target audience is teens through college age young adults. This is an important audience and the Church has no other publication tailored to them.

A published version of the magazine (16 pages, color, four times per year) would be better received and more accessible to more teens and parents alike. The initial print run will be 5,000, with about 2,200 going to UCG teens in the U.S. and 800 in international areas. The remaining copies would be on hand for other opportunities and needs. The Council agreed that it would be best to limit the published version of Youth United to UCG teens and promote the online version for those outside the Church.

Administrative Services
Mr. Holladay gave an overview of the Administrative Services section of the Operations Plan. This includes Finance and Accounting, Human Resources, Information Systems, Legal Services and the Ambassador Bible Center.

Mr. Holladay asked Gary Antion to summarize the status of our efforts to make it possible for international students to attend ABC. Mr. Antion explained that ABC doesn’t fall into any educational category–we neither a two-year college nor a seminary. ABC is a unique educational institution, which at this time makes it impossible for those attending to receive a student visa. It may be possible to bring some international students to ABC on a work visa, but that would be very expensive for the Church.

Ralph Levy has developed an official transcript so that ABC students can
have a formal record of their successful completion of ABC.

Mr. Antion is continuing to investigate a couple of four-year colleges that may be willing to give credit for at least some of the class work completed at ABC if students enroll at those institutions.

Doctrinal Papers

Jim Franks summarized the status of several doctrinal papers. The doctrine committee has completed work on several papers. Three have been returned to the writers with suggested corrections. Five are ready to be distributed to the ministry and will be sent out within a few weeks.

• “The Resurrections.” This paper is doctrinally sound but the committee felt more was needed. It has been sent back to the authors for edits and improvements.
• “The Role of Women in the Church of God Today.” This paper was written by a task force assigned by ministerial services. The Doctrine Committee unanimously agreed to send it back to the writers for corrections with suggestions for improvement.
• “Prophecy.” This study paper that presents an alternative explanation of Daniel 11, Revelation 9 and Revelation 16. The doctrine committee made several suggestions for improving the paper and sent it back to its writers for corrections.

Five additional study papers have been approved and will be sent to the ministry within the next couple of weeks. Each of these papers can serve as a resource for the ministry and can also be made available to the congregations.

• “Preaching the gospel” This study paper is consistent with the teaching of the Church and its mission statement, showing the necessity of preaching the gospel.
• “A response to ‘A new look at prophecy’” This paper is written in response to another paper on the subject of prophecy. While not an approach we usually take, it seems worthwhile since the paper it refutes is circulating in some of our congregations.
• “2 Thessalonians and the ‘man of sin’” This study paper has been approved by the Prophecy Committee and the doctrine committee. It’s a straightforward and traditional review of our traditional teaching on the subject.
• “70 weeks prophecy” The doctrine committee agreed that this paper contains the church’s traditional explanation of Daniel:9:27And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate..
• “Eating out on the Sabbath.” This paper explains the Church’s view on this question. It is one of a planned serious on various Sabbath issues and questions.

Supplemental Hymnals

Mr. Pinelli requested help and support from the Council in resolving the issue of “supplemental hymnals,” two examples of which were shown to the Council. Some UCG congregations have compiled and bound their own collection of hymns. It has been clear for some time that the Church’s current hymnal needs to be upgraded, but that project has not been scheduled nor budgeted. So some congregations have done it on their own. The Council expressed its concern.

• There can be legal problems unless permission is given to copy the music.
• Mr. Franks commented that even though a supplemental hymnal may be legal, it isn’t efficient or cost-effective for each congregation to have to negotiate rights to copy and reprint the hymns.
• Like any other of our publications, a hymnal should go through the doctrinal review process to be certain the hymns don’t conflict with out beliefs.
• Mr. Holladay stated one of the primary problems created by congregations having their own hymnals is a lack of unity and will lead to confusion. Some members will ask “Why don’t we sing the same hymns others do?”
• Richard Thompson commented that the Church needs a legal, sanctioned hymnal so we can all sing what we believe; otherwise there is confusion.
• Clyde Kilough emphasized that this is something we need to “fast track;” we can’t wait another year or two to deal with it. It’s important that the congregations see something definitive happening, even it it’s just an interim plan.
• Victor Kubik pointed out that some will be uncomfortable with certain hymns unless the church approves or sanctions them. Singing is an important part of our service and new people and visitors will judge us by our music.

The Council agreed that something should be done quickly. Mr. Pinelli agreed that he would look for some help from the field ministry to put together an approved list of hymns, be certain we conform to copyright limitations and laws and work toward developing a church-wide hymnal.

Executive Sessions

The Council met in executive session from 12 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. and again from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Today’s meeting adjourned at 5:45 p.m.

-Don Henson

© 2003 United Church of God, an International Association