United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Meeting Report
March 1, 2011—Cincinnati, Ohio

Tuesday’s meeting was called to order by Chairman Melvin Rhodes. After the opening prayer the guests were welcomed—virtually the entire 2010-2011 Ambassador Bible Center class was in attendance. Mr. Rhodes then introduced the new pastor for Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, Brian Shaw, to present the results of the research done by Northlich Inc. Northlich Inc. is a brand engagement agency out of Cincinnati.

Morning Session

Mr. Shaw was happy to have the students present, as their age group is our target “market” for the gospel. He explained that branding comes from “brand new,” meaning “right out of the fire.” We are not branding the Church like a rancher might brand a cow. Branding is useful for marketing and sales.

We are no more “branding” the gospel of the Kingdom, he pointed out, than Herbert Armstrong “advertised” it. The truth of God is not for sale (Proverbs:23:23Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.), nor is branding and advertising the “pillar and ground” of the truth (1 Timothy:3:15But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.). God is not peddling His product to a market. However the principles of marketing apply to how we present, promote and proclaim the gospel.

We face the challenge of opportunity. Today we have many broad media options—even more than the three prongs of Mr. Armstrong’s gospel approach. His three prongs were:

1. Mass media (radio in the 1930s)
2. Print
3. Personal appearances

Mr. Shaw opined that if Mr. Armstrong was alive today, he would be “all over” the Internet.

Today’s multiple media options do, however, create clutter because there are so many others out there with similar, “religious” sounding messages. The Plain Truth worked in the past—“plain” meant straightforward, direct and clear; “truth” worked in an era when truth was viewed as absolute. The Plain Truth was not stolen from us—Christ let it go. He didn’t need it anymore. Likewise, we need to look forward.

The persona of the work was Herbert W. Armstrong at that time, but today we have many contributors to the media message. While he created a personality for the message, it is more of a challenge for us now. People naturally want to find a way to connect the truth with those who proclaim it. Thus we need to make sure that we (all our contributors) who make the message have the same persona. It must be clearly recognizable as the same message from the same people.

Successful businesses make this happen by careful distillation of various factors to find their internal brand—their “critical essence.” It must be a short phrase that succinctly articulates the heart and soul of an organization. It is not an attribute, but it is an aspiration—what we want to become. It must be easily understood, embraced and communicated. It internally clarifies and communicates why we do what we do. It guides and unifies all of us in the organization into one solid voice.

Mr. Shaw displayed a series of PowerPoint slides to explain how to find and identify an organization’s critical essence.

Criteria of critical essence:

• One to three words—more suggests a lack of focus
• Intangible—taps into the heart
• Unique—differs from others
• Experiential—describes the experience
• Consistently delivered—always do what we say we do
• Authentic—the aspirations must be believable
• Sustainable—the essence is “baked in;” it doesn’t ever change
• Meaningful—research to find a relevant connection
• Scalable—able to be measured

He gave examples of famous companies’ critical essences. Nike’s is “authentic athletic performance.” Disney’s is “fun, family entertainment.” Hallmark’s is “caring shared.” Starbucks’ is “the third place,” as in home, work, coffee. Apple’s is “continuous innovation.” These are not company mottos or advertising tag lines, but they are the critical essences designed to facilitate internal consistency of work in each of the firms listed.

He explained the Foundations of Critical Essence:

• Features—What unique product and services does the organization offer?
• Personal—What are the notable values and qualities of the character of the organization?
• Benefits—What special needs does the organization serve?
• Positioning—What is the organization’s place in the market—with whom does the product or message resonate?

United Church of God’s features:

• Reliance on biblical truth alone: Scripture interprets itself and is unencumbered and unaltered by societal trends.
• A clear message of hope, purpose and understanding: The Bible can be understood and provides inspired insight into prophetic events.
• Thoughtful, thorough research and materials: The gospel is presented in an in-depth, consistent, far-reaching perspective, via multiple media, styles and approaches.

UCG’s persona:

• Authentic: Our roots are in first century Christianity (Acts:2:42-47[42]And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.[43]And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.[44]And all that believed were together, and had all things common;[45]And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.[46]And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,[47]Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.). We strive to be Christ-like always, regardless of circumstance or consequences—the end never justifies our means.
• Nurturing: We strive to be caring, helpful, encouraging and empathetic (1 Thessalonians:5:11Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.)—we’re all about getting pastors to congregations to help them.
• Connected: We highly value spiritual fellowship, community and family (1 John:1:1-3[1]That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;[2](For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)[3]That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.).

UCG’s benefits:

• Functional: We provide the biblical context to guide people through life’s experiences.
• Emotional: We provide empathetic helpfulness and personal support from others of like-minded conviction.
• Pastoral ministry
• Congregations

UCG’s positioning: How are we unique in the “market”—with whom does God’s message resonate?

• Those challenged by life vs. those consumed by it (Matthew:11:28Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest., Luke:4:18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,, 1 Corinthians 1:26). Without God, we would be a ragtag group.
• Those seeking guidance vs. affirmation: We point to God for ultimate guidance, not to ourselves.
• Those led to repentance vs. those seeking acceptance: We are not a social club. This has to do with our individual relationships with God—everything else stems from that (Isaiah:59:2But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.). We reach people who are inclined to ask the great question, “Why was I born?”

The distilled research shows that the critical essence of the United Church of God is “meaningful relationships.”

Meaningful relationships:

• Love toward God and love toward neighbor (Matt:22:35-40[35]Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,[36]Master, which is the great commandment in the law?[37]Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.[38]This is the first and great commandment.[39]And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.[40]On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.). Love is the basis of all meaningful relationships.
• “By this shall all men know” (John:13:35By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.). The love we share will cut through the clutter, drawing those similarly led and deterring those who are not. Knowledge alone puffs up, but loves builds up.
• Why preach the gospel? Because God wants a personal relationship with every human being.
• Why prepare a people? Preparing them for positions within the Kingdom of God.

Meaningful relationships:

• This age is temporary, empty and shallow—the result of sin.
• Repentance turns us away from what does not matter to what does matter.
• The Incredible Human Potential: Why were you born?
• All meaning is established by God and can only be understood in a relationship with God.

Meaningful relationships:

• The spiritual connections between us
• Self—the basis for all problems in the world
• Humanity severed from a relationship with God
• The gospel of the Kingdom of God (and the ruling family of God) is both an invitation and an admonition.
• UCG members have been called and are committed to a loving relationship with God.

Brian Shaw summarized the branding/critical essence research, explaining that the media target is “life stages” rather than age groups. Without neglecting other life stages, there is a special focus on the late 20s, which is a transition stage of life. Individuals in this life stage are finishing school, entering the work world, marrying, having children and so on.

Part of the process will be a one-day workshop for many of our writers, editors, television presenters and others to review the research. Included will be a lab session where participants will outline pieces of our literature or television programs in terms of “meaningful relationships.” After some discussion, the Council broke for lunch.

Afternoon Session

After an opening prayer by Scott Ashley, Chairman Rhodes introduced Darris McNeely as the chairman of the Media and Communications Committee.

Media Presentation

Item: Proposed name change for The Good News magazine.

Mr. McNeely cited the history of The Good News going back many decades. He spoke about how it has served its purpose as being primarily for our member-coworker audience, but that now would be a good time to rethink its use as our flagship publication to the world.

Proposal: Change the name of the magazine to Beyond Today (like the television program) and discontinue World News & Prophecy.

As the managing editor of The Good News, Scott Ashley commented that he never personally cared for The Good News as a magazine name. He said that the name is generic—immediately identifying it as a religious magazine. He liked the idea of a name change and commented that it could be feasible to finish the booklet re-editing project and debut a new magazine name by January of 2012.

In discussing the impact on our Web presence by ending the use of The Good News name, Internet manager Aaron Booth said that it would be easier to present one magazine rather than two. With all the different e-readers on the market, it’s much easier to support apps for one rather than two magazines. It would be easy to redirect those looking for The Good News on the Web to the Beyond Today magazine.

Victor Kubik agreed that The Good News was a boon that connected us to our past. He pointed out, however, that it was always considered a temporary name. He suggested that we maintain the name to use for secondary literature in the future. Peter Eddington pointed out that from a cost perspective it will cost a bit more—$200,000—per year to consolidate The Good News and World News & Prophecy into the new Beyond Today magazine. Mr. Ashley added that the new magazine would increase from 32 to 48 pages.

Bill Eddington (from Australia) mentioned that he had originally asked about the idea because they could not afford to also send World News & Prophecy to subscribers. Our primary goal is to take the gospel to the world. This is an opportune time to refocus the magazine. He suggested: “Beyond Today—Helping You Understand Your Future,” because the Church has been criticized for publishing bad news under The Good News headline.

Mr. Rhodes pointed out that the world is speeding up. So often the news is old when readers finally get their copy. Mr. McNeely said that in spite of every-other-month publication time, we do have a weekly television program and have more content on the Web.

Several discussed the idea of how a name change for the magazine would affect the Church right now. Most felt that wasn’t a major concern—nor was sounding even a little like other Church of God organizations’ programs or publications. After all, we all deal with the future reality of God’s Kingdom coming to earth.

Robin Webber described our media effort as a whole-Church issue. He pointed out that writers do not all have to be ministers. It was also pointed out that, after a recent announcement, Vertical Thought has two dozen new volunteers ready to write.

Mr. Booth described how the younger generation will need to carry on God’s work. He said that he has never seen such energy in the Church as there is right now! He said that shorter articles are needed because people read shorter items on the Web. He suggested the possibility of placing the magazine on newsstands for sale, with card inside about how to get it for free. He explained that some people will not take things that are for free. He would like to see the message of hope everywhere—on newsstands, billboards and trucks.

Roy Holladay suggested that we put something in the bookstores. There is an audience in the bookstores that would never pick up a “free” magazine. Mr. Rhodes commented that research shows that 25 percentof the population will not give their name for anything—even a free magazine subscription.

The Council gave approval for the Media Committee do more planning and then present a formal proposal to the Council for the renaming of The Good News magazine to Beyond Today magazine.

The remainder of the afternoon was in executive session.

-end-

Randy Stiver
Council Reporter

© 2011 United Church of God, an International Association