United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Meeting Report
May 5, 2004—Cincinnati, Ohio

The Council meeting today was dedicated entirely to discussion and development of a project recently undertaken by the Media and Communications committee. (There was a short executive session just before the lunch break.)

The committee met in April of this year to focus on the development of a United Church of God media philosophy. Council members involved in the meeting were committee chairman Victor Kubik and committee members Robert Dick, Doug Horchak, Les McCullough, Joel Meeker and Tony Wasilkoff; Council Chairman Clyde Kilough also participated.

The committee approached this task by analyzing the Church's media from the 1960s through the 1980s. During that period the Church became the foremost voice in the religious world of televangelism and a powerhouse in religious print media. The committee identified 16 principles that Herbert W. Armstrong learned and employed in preaching the gospel.

At today's meeting the committee shared those principles with the entire Council. Discussion centered on the question, "Would those same principles work for the Church's media efforts today?"

Mr. Kilough opened the meeting by commenting that the UCG media, with God's blessing, have been very successful. Those involved in those efforts have requested more specific direction from and the involvement of the Council. As United enters its 10 th year, it's important that the Council work with the Church's administration to establish a media philosophy.

Mr. Kubik gave a brief overview of our media history, from the first issues of New Beginnings and the Good News and the first booklet, "What is Your Destiny?" At the outset, United was in a "defensive" posture. The primary purpose of our publications was to record and reestablish our fundamental beliefs. We were, in effect, preaching to ourselves, our families and our newly formed Church. He pointed out that, although in 2001 the Council developed the "Media and Evangelism Oversight Plan," for the most part, the Church is still operating under the same approach as when we started in 1995.

Those primarily involved in the Church's media effort express that the Council has given them very little direction. Mr. Kubik stated that the Council should step up to the responsibility. He emphasized that it's time to take a careful look at how we're communicating our message, particularly in how we preach the gospel to the world.

Mr. Dick then led the Council through a discussion of the 16 principles the committee had identified. He also emphasized that those involved in the media are seeking direction from the Council.

The Council spent the entire day reviewing and refining those principles. They also added two more, bringing the total to 18. After discussing each in detail, the Council reviewed the list and concluded that, with minor modifications to two of them, all 18 principles are still applicable.

The Council agreed that the Media and Communications committee should continue its efforts to develop and submit to the Council a proposed media philosophy from which the Church media policies can be developed.

The meeting concluded at 5 p.m.

Don Henson

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© 2004 United Church of God, an International Association