Imagine heading into church one day and having your former minister stand there and tell you that you would be having church in the same place, same time, same minister, only the church name had changed.
The shouting matches are happening too.
Those ethical Christan ministers who left to form splinter personality cults would NEVER do such a thing would they? No sirree Bob! Ethics is the number one priority of all those splitting off UCG and for those remaining in UCG. These are men of integrity! Yep! Men of integrity................excuse me as I puke......
In Bethlehem, PA, Roy Holladay spoke. Paul Luecke had already resigned, but King Finlay [UCG elder and father in law of Clyde K] was there. After the meeting there was a pot luck, and after that what amounted to a shouting match. Brethren surrounded Roy Holladay and barraged him with questions. There were angry folks on both sides, but mostly on King’s side. Roy Holladay reportedly maintained his cool throughout.
King Finlay announced that they would be meeting in a grange the next week, but in 2 weeks they would be meeting at the normal UCG place at the normal time and that Paul Luecke will be their pastor. He said those remaining with UCG could meet at 10 in AM. Since then, I have heard that some of the members going with King Finlay and Paul Leuke and told them they didn’t agree with treating their friends that way. Now they are going to meet at the grange and leave the UCG group with the normal meeting place.
Reportedly, Bethlehem’s sister congregation, York [about 15 people] apparently the local elder there is going with Paul Leuke and they are combining with the Bethlehem group.
In WV, John Foster got up in his congregations and told them they would be meeting same place, same time, same pastor, just in new church.
I was told that much the same thing went on in areas of Florida and Texas.
Local corporations were set up to facilitate this split and then will join loosely together in Jan. Later as they prove unable to stand alone, a new conference will meet to reassess and build a stronger more centralized oraginization.
And the new group, who's hymnal are they going to use?
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I'm not part of that church. What a shining Light they are to the world. Shame on all the ministers in that church.
ReplyDeleteI have been 20 years out of the fray and am so grateful not to have to endure, again and again, the upheaval in the COG's. Once was quite enough.
ReplyDeleteI know all concerned must be going thru hell as once again they struggle over who's in charge and "because I said so, that's why." This has been the poison in the pond of all the COG's from it's inception.
My last sermon at Myrtle Beach was on the politics of the New Testament showing that there is nothing new under the sun when it comes to these problems. While those in the COG's think Peter, James, John and Paul all spoke the same thing and loved each other, the facts are quite different. Long story, but these men all held different ideas about Jesus and just what was the Church. Jesus probably had no plan to start a church and Paul is the true founder of the Christianity we are stuck with today. The Jewish Jameisan Church got trumped and faded from history.
I recently debated Art Mokarrow in a splinter church in Dallas and it was plan, IMHO, to see that few grow beyond the information they got from booklets and that most COG ministers are good Bible readers. However pious conviction with marginal information does not make much truth of any matter.
At any rate, I have always found Dennis Luker, a personal friend, to be one of the most sincere of men in the COG. I feel for him and I know he doesn't know what to do.
All a shame really...but I don't miss the drama
Dennis Diehl
Dennis:
ReplyDeleteIt is so good to see you posting again. I have missed reading your thoughts and ideas.
Wishing you all the best for the New Year.
DM
Thanks DM. I figured most were tired of my comments and the last year or so has been rather traumatic at times. This UCG thing has brought back a lot of memories of drama I am so pleased not to be a part of as I see my old buddies go through the "I'm in charge, no I am" hell.
ReplyDeleteDen
I believe that in God's Kingdom there will be no room for politics. I also believe that we will all love each other and will work harmoniously with each other, the Holy Angels, and God the Father and Jesus Christ. If that is our destiny, we should be striving to achieve it now as human beings. Call me a Polyanna, but I just do not believe there will be all this nonsense that's happening now. God is going to change the very nature of the animals so that lions will eat grain instead of lambs. Nothing will hurt or destroy in all His Holy land. He will wipe away our tears, there will be no more suffering. What will we have to bicker about?
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