Another UCG Minister Resigns: "...no process of reconcilliation possible..."

Open letter to the Council of Elders and Administration of the United Church of God, An International Association

Bogotá, November 18, 2010

It is with great sadness that I write this letter.

Since June I have been hoping and working for a process of reconciliation for me and the other ministers in Latin America. Mr. Luker’s letter of November 11th to all the Latin American ministers, in which he gives them an ultimatum, finally makes his intentions clear and reveals what the Council really thought of this entire process. That letter has nothing to do with what you, the President of the Church and the Council, had told me and had given me to believe would happen regarding Latin America. In fact, it goes completely against everything we supposedly agreed to during my visit to the home office on September 13-15 of this year.

During the last few months I have tried to honor and respect the letter of appeal that 168 ministers sent to the Council, requesting an opportunity for reconciliation with the ministers and members from Latin America. Their courageous and firm stand was important and significant and it has been constantly on my mind. And before God, with the support of the congregations I have the privilege of serving, we have been seeking a fair opportunity for everyone, but in the end it never came.

While it is true that Mr. Luker did not send that same letter to me, as part of the reconciliation process he and the Council demanded that I submit to Mr. Mario Seiglie and speak with him to resolve the situation. I suddenly find myself in the same situation as on June 23rd of this year when the Council, against all sensible judgment, wisdom, and every ethical principle, sent him as their representative in order to set things straight. The fruit of that decision is plain to see: the Work that God has carried out in Latin America through the United Church of God these past 15 years has been divided and splintered; there is chaos and confusion.

I have great satisfaction before God of having fought with the armor of light. Today I finally know that no process of reconciliation is possible because there is no desire on the part of the Council and the administration for that to occur.

It causes me great pain to have to resign as a minister of the United Church of God. Fifteen years ago it looked like a refuge, a place of peace, a remnant of the Church of God, the “pillar and ground of the truth,” in the midst of the tremendous chaos that existed at that time.
I know for certain that God will have mercy on his people, on the small and the humble, and that he will provide a place where we will be able to “worship him in spirit and in truth.” I hope that he will soon hear our cry and intervene on behalf of his people.

Sincerely,

Eduardo Hernández