United Church of God, an International Association

Council of Elders Quarterly Meeting Report

Milford, Ohio

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Chairman Robin Webber called the morning session to order at 9:04 a.m., and the meeting was opened with prayer. All 12 Council of Elders (Council) members were present.

Ambassador Bible College (ABC) Survey Review—R. Sexton

Rex Sexton, as the chair of the Education Committee, led the discussion regarding the ABC surveys. There were 17 task force members who have spent the past nine months reviewing the ABC curriculum.

Julie Brown went through a detailed review with the Council of the results from the surveys that were sent out to ABC alumni, students, faculty and pastors. This presentation was videoed and is on the Council website (coe.ucg.org) for more detail. She discussed the results and answered questions from the Council.

Mr. Sexton led a discussion going through a recommendation to edit the ABC mission statement. After much discussion the updated mission statement was not passed and remanded back to the Education Committee based on the sense of the Council. There was a lot of good discussion about what the purpose of ABC is and the video discussion can be found on the Council website.

The Council broke for lunch with the home office employees. After lunch the Council took questions from the employees and ABC students.

The Council then went into executive session for the rest of the afternoon.

First Discussion Regarding Classification of UCG Study Papers-John Elliott

The Council came into open session at 6:11 p.m. to have a discussion led by the chairman of the Doctrine Committee, John Elliott. The discussion was on the issue of assessing the classifications of the study papers on the member’s website. This had been remanded to the committee in December for them to review and come forward with recommendation. The committee was to classify these documents in the best manner be it a doctrinal paper, doctrinal study paper, study paper or Council statement on a given matter.

Don Ward commented that it was important to make sure that any review carefully reflects that we will designate certain topics as doctrinal papers. Roc Corbett agreed that we do not wish to diminish any such needed topic to lesser importance.

Mr. Elliott asked for a sense of the Council for the direction they would like this to proceed. After some discussion the Doctrine Committee decided to present the following day.

The Council adjourned at 6:33 p.m.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

Chairman Robin Webber called the morning session to order at 9:07 a.m., and the meeting was opened with prayer. All 12 Council of Elders (Council) members were present.

Ballot on the Strategic and Operation Plans and the Budget

As chairman of the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee, Bill Bradford moved that the Strategic Plan, Operation Plan and Budget for 2015-2016 be officially approved by the Council, so that each can go on to the GCE for approval in May. All three were balloted upon separately, and all passed unanimously.

Final Bylaws Review for GCE presentation—Roc Corbett

As chairman of the Roles and Rules Committee, Roc Corbett went through the input from the three GCE members who submitted input regarding the Bylaws. All five edits were reviewed and recommended. Mr. Corbett moved for the presentation of amendments to the Bylaws to the GCE in May. It was passed unanimously along with its statement of justification. Mr. Corbett then went through the statement of justification for the Council-proposed amended Article 12 of the Bylaws. It was passed unanimously by the Council. The approval of sending the amended Article 12 was passed by a unanimous ballot.

Recommendations for ABC—Rex Sexton

As chairman of the Education Committee, Rex Sexton went through the recommendations to give ABC as a result of the surveys. After some discussion and input the recommendations were adopted and passed on to ABC and Ministerial and Member Services (MMS) by a unanimous ballot.

Mr. Sexton then recommended the formation of an ABC mission statement advisory committee, which is comprised of Aaron Dean (chair), Gary Antion, Roc Corbett, Frank Dunkle, Darris McNeely, Steve Meyers, Chris Rowland, Mario Seiglie and Don Ward. This ABC mission statement advisory committee was approved by 11 for and 1 abstaining (Robin Webber).

Mr. Webber as Chairman concluded this session with an encouragement to the newly formed advisory committee to fully appreciate and respect the work that had already gone into crafting a preliminary mission statement by professional educators and elders and to carefully proceed based upon what had been set before them.

Second Discussion Regarding Classification of UCG Study Papers—John Elliott

As the chairman of the Doctrine Committee, John Elliott went through the study papers and led the discussion on putting them in appropriate categories. The discussion was an effort to put the papers in various categories. There are many different categories, and the desire was to put them in to two or three categories. Larry Darden commented that changing their classifications could demote some of them.

Don Ward explained that some of the study papers could be perceived by some as making changes to doctrine but never came to the level of GCE review. Some of the papers were “best knowledge at the time,” but they are not necessarily closed subjects. Changes are needed at times for clarification to the members.

Bill Bradford mentioned that part of the problem in trying to classify the papers is that there is no definition of “study paper,” “doctrinal paper” or “fundamental belief paper.” There needs to be a definition for each of these.

Robin Webber stated his appreciation for the efforts already expended. He commented that this was a start to a much needed project after 20 years of compiling important papers to properly categorize them to best serve our ministry and membership. The desire is to place proper priority and focus on each important topic. This was a starting point, and good discussion came from this session. He asked that the Doctrine Committee continue to work on this process for the May meetings and bring a progress report based on this sessions’ input.

Salary Range Approval—Rick Shabi

In accordance with Articles 9.8 and 10.5 of the Corporation Bylaws, appropriate salary ranges for all paid positions must be established by the Council and read at the General Conference of Elders meeting each year. Rick Shabi informed the Council that the last time the official salary ranges and positions of the Corporation were changed was back in 2008. Since then, several new positions have been hired, while other position titles in those ranges no longer exist. The general salary ranges for each position have not changed significantly.

Earlier in the week, the Council had been given information about the proposed, revised salary range schedule. This proposal would have a March 1 effective date.

Rex Sexton mentioned that these salary ranges do not keep up with inflation.

The Council approved these salary ranges unanimously.

The Council went into planned executive session for about an hour.

Policies and Upcoming Scheduling

The Council came into open session to remand the local building policy to the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee for review and updating by the May meetings. Aaron Dean was asked to help head this up.

The Council was asked to rescind an April 1998 resolution that 17 years ago had adopted a rudimentary “Process” for addressing accusations of unethical conduct by elders in the Church (including Council members). It was pointed out that in addition to Constitution and Bylaw remedies for removal (by either the GCE or Council) of ordained ministers engaged in unethical conduct, since 1998 numerous other policies have been adopted that now provide for comprehensive investigation and, as necessary, disciplinary action, for any elder engaged in unethical or unlawful conduct. Those newer policies have effectively replaced and better address the issue than the old 1998 resolution. The Council voted unanimously to rescind the April 28, 1998, resolution, recognizing it as having been superseded by more recent policies.

Mr. Webber concluded the meetings by going through future dates on the calendar. The international meetings before the general conference of elders will be on May 1. Sabbath services on May 2 will be at 2 p.m. Eastern. The General Conference of Elders meetings will be on May 3-4 followed by the next Council meetings on May 5-7. The August Council meetings will be videoconference meetings from Aug. 10-13.

The Council adjourned at 12:08 p.m.

-end-

Council Reporter

Shawn Cortelyou

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