Decades back, local congregations
of the Worldwide Church of God had what they called "Directories" of
members. In some areas, they not only had the name, address, telephone
number, family information, they also had pictures. Apparently UCG is wanting to include baptismal dates in these directories too. Some of the members
back then knew and tried to warn people that this was a bad idea because
unintended people may have access to the information and it could end
badly for those so exposed in the directory.
United Church of God
is at it again. Some of the congregations are again putting together a
local church directory with all the information in it. Decades ago some
had questions; today many more are
raised.
Today, an innocent church member can be
at risk from stalkers. Worse, there are identity thieves both in and out
of the Armstrongist Churches of God. This is a very dangerous practice.
It is bad enough to have names and addresses at headquarters or home
office, but this ends up in the hands of the general public.
It
should be added that it is curious that local UCG congregations are
again putting together directories at a time when the Council of Elders
is making it clear they want and need more money for the church. It may
be benign, but there are those who remember the Draconian efforts of
Worldwide attempting to strong arm relatives of members who had died and
the reputation of the leaders and administrators of the Armstrongist
Churches today is less than stellar.
4 comments:
We had a local directory, but it just included a photo and name. Less than half the congregation participated. The minister wasn't happy about that. He said that it wasn't "the book of life" but it was the life of the local congregation, and shame on those who felt too superior to participate. This was about a year before the WCG split. I was always glad that I didn't bother to get included. What an embarrassment to have been part of such an organization, especially when a decade or so later, someone could easily post it on line and your name could come up in a Google search as having once been a member of such a cult.
UCG doesn't go far enough. The directory has an incomplete request for information.
The Social Security Number should also be included, along with information concerning household annual income and job info. In fact, a short Resume should be included just in case. Facebook, Twitter accounts should be listed as well as e-mail addresses. Tax return info would be VERY helpful. Also Driver's Licenses can be used in assisting in finding members who are missing.
It's good that family information is also requested on the form, that way interested parties can determine the mother's maiden name and information about the marital status of the women should be included.
Perhaps transcripts should be included, along with references.
That way, United can have a full body of information waiting for them so they can go on new member drives to drive up their income.
If members drop out, then (and we're glad this is not included in the UCG ethics code) the information can be sold to companies and individuals for a price for further revenue for the ministers and administrators of United.
The small amount left over could be used to preach the gospel as an option.
A church directory might be worth a try.
Some of the horny old hags in the UCG get tired of their latest husbands and go around sticking their cameras and video-recorders in the faces of younger single guys all the time. With a church directory these filthy adulterous women could just look at the official photos instead of acting so openly perverted.
Other than that, it seems like just another bad idea from a church that seems to have come up with nothing but bad ideas.
Man, I remember when we HAD to have our photo taken, for some reason they wanted our SS #. What up with that? They said all the churches, most Evangelical, were doing it. Kind of crazy when you think about it.
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