UCGIA

United Church of God, an International Association
P.O. Box 541069, Cincinnati, OH 45254-1069
Phone: (513) 576-9796 Fax: (513) 576-9795

Clyde Kilough           Chairman

Roy Holladay President

 

December 6, 2002

Greetings everyone, on behalf of the Council of Elders,

I’ll keep this letter from the Council of Elders rather short and simple. We are really focusing our attention now on next week’s quarterly meeting of the Council in Cincinnati. As always, we ask that you would join us in asking God for His guidance and wisdom in all of our proceedings. We never take for granted, even with regular “daily bread” issues, the absolute necessity for His direction.

Even though you can read the meeting reports as they come out, we always like to share with you ahead of time what is on our docket.

Roy Holladay will be giving the regular president’s report updating the Council on the home office’s projects, trends in the Church and future plans. He will also discuss with us several areas of financial management, the most significant being next year’s budget. Some of the other fiscal issues concern long-range planning for employee retirement, expense policies and whether to exercise the option to secure a small piece of property adjacent to the home office.

On the agenda for doctrinal discussion is our first review of a study paper on the subject of “born again,” and consideration of several questions concerning Sabbath observance.

We also have a host of miscellaneous issues to cover, including:

• Media and Communications Services update and future needs.
• Planning for the 2003 annual meeting of the General Conference of Elders.
• Proposed amendments and edits to the bylaws.
• Discussion about the focus and content of our general media messages.
• Updates on the work in Asia.
• UCG’s official relationship with LifeNets humanitarian efforts.
• Clarifying the question of whether operation managers, Ministerial Services team members or regional pastors can serve on the Council of Elders.
• Feast of Tabernacles matters, including a report on the past Feast, planning for next year’s Feast video and the issue of applause for music and messages.
• A plan to address the subject of “modesty” for the youth and Church as a whole.
• Ministerial credentialing and ordination requests.
• Several executive session topics regarding personnel matters.

The U.S. regional pastors will be in town Sunday through Tuesday for their annual meeting, and on Monday we’ll be joining with them and the home office staff for a seminar on Christ-centered servant leadership. All in all, we have a wide variety of things to cover, but we certainly anticipate having productive meetings that will bear fruit for everyone in the Church. Thank you in advance for your support.

In Christ’s service, on behalf of the Council,
 

Clyde Kilough
Chairman        

© 2002 United Church of God, an International Association