Preaching the "gospel" is a hard business for United Church of God. After dumping a bunch of money into a new recording studio and other pet projects, UCG has discovered its income is down 8%.
We are all products of the preaching of the gospel of the Kingdom of God—given to us free of charge. It’s the convicting Word of God and the Holy Spirit that have done this. But it was not free to produce. It costs a lot of money to accomplish all the things that the United Church of God produces. There are writers, pastors, television presenters, Ambassador Bible College staff, Internet costs, and much, much more that goes into supporting our collective efforts.
Notice the one thing that UCG leaves out as a potential reason for the downfall. Have they ever considered people find their canned 1970/80's sermons and same silly exegesis methods as Herbert used as producing sermons that have no relevance to people living in the 21st century? Just how many times do people need to hear anti-Christmas, Easter, Halloween sermons or see slick videos? How many doom and gloom sermons need to be preached picturing the end times in the same brushstrokes Herbert did in the 1930/40's?And so, now I come to you with a matter of concern. While we have had steady, but modest growth over the past several years, you may have read in the report from the December meeting of the Council of Elders that the Church’s income for the current fiscal year is about 8 percent under budget.There are a number of possible factors contributing to the lower amount of received donations—including uncertainty about U.S. tax law changes introduced for 2018 (including changes affecting deductions for charitable contributions), and the ongoing correction in the stock market (which Reuters has described as the “worst December performance in 16 years” for U.S. stocks).
So brethren, as UCG looks forward to setting 2019's budget you had better make damn sure you have upped your giving so that they can do what they want
Here's a suggestion for the big boys in Cincinnati. Why doesn't the top leadership take a dramatic pay cut and set the example of true leadership instead of soaking the members for more money?With this in mind, we would appreciate your prayers that we see our income trends clearly as we prepare an appropriate budget. I’d like to request that you please join me in prayer and fasting to our great God on a day of your choosing between now and the end of December. Please ask God to not only bless the United Church of God, an International Association, but for Him to show us how we may be the wisest of stewards with the income and blessings He has given us.
Even better, why lie to them that you are preaching some kind of gospel message when you really are doing no such thing!
When has there EVER been a humble leader in the hierarchy of the United Church of God? After watching them all act like snakes in the grass while plotting to lead people away from WCG into their new money ensuring adventure, they disfellowshipped and treated people like dirt who did not agree with the changes. Then once they had money in place to ensure a good financial changeover and a steady paycheck, they jumped ship.Prayer and fasting are tools that God gives us to humble ourselves and seek His presence among us. Biblically, prayer and fasts have been called for safety, repentance, mourning, and before making an important decision. Again, I am asking that we all fast and seek God collectively in earnest between now and the end of the December.
If they want to recoup 8% missing income, let these weasels set the example and donate their salaries.
ReplyDeleteAre they still teaching that 19th-century heresy "MANASSEH=USA"?
Let's go to their website and see:
Oops, the prophecy section of their booklets doesn't load!! (try it!)
(looks like they really ARE broke!)
They can start by cutting the exect. committee down from 12 to 7- 10. Why does a church as small as UCG need a 12 man exect. committee?
ReplyDeleteThis call to fast is a cleaver ploy to get UCG members to open their wallets and give more of their hard earned money to "GODS WORK" with-out actually telling them to do so. The leadership of the UCG knows that the members are so well programed in the "pray and pay" mind set that for most of them paying is as important as praying in their effort to get "right" with God.
Fasting is a complete waste of time & the only thing a person gets out of it is a loud growling stomach from the hunger pains.
ReplyDelete8% less than budget.
ReplyDeleteWhat was budgeted?
An increase?
Flat income?
A decrease?
BTW - if you believe Bible prophecy and science like DNA origins, then there are some areas that need reconciling.
(1)1260 day tribulation then Christ returns.
Christ returns unexpectedly.
(2) Battle between king of north and king of south, then armies of east.
Where does the USA fit if we go by DNA that shows we are not Israelites?
How does the Euphrates drying up fit the kings of the east scenario - where are they coming from and why is it a barrier until it dries up.
Inquiring minds want to know.
I still want to believe, but need some real answers.
Income drops 8% yet they claim that have had growth in people coming to services?
ReplyDeleteLooking at the picture of the council it sure looks like most of these men are over 60. Some look like they are over 70. Two of them look like they might be in there 50's. These are a bunch of old men who don't really have a clear idea of how to grow a church. Then again how do you grow a church that doesn't have high visabilty in their communities and holds onto a weird set of doctrines that are out of the mainstream of established religious beliefs.
ReplyDeleteWhy are United experiencing a 8% income drop ?? when COGWA broadcast this month they have a 8% income increase!!
ReplyDeleteYou couldn't make this stuff up. Exact same percentage.
@ 5:14 AM, these men were taught that GOD, not human ingenuity, grows His Church. Human growth schemes will give you a Church of Man, not the Church of God. What these men seem not to have figured out is that God doesn't call people into a screwed-up mess of a personality cult whose members are mostly embarrassed by the two personalities they worship, Christ and HWA.
ReplyDeleteAre those making comments here members of United Church of God. If they are I would suggest they present these comment to the leaders of their congregations. If they are not members I suggest they keep their mouth shut and let God solve the problems.
ReplyDelete5:14 AM mentions the age of the council. Maybe the income drop is also due to the age of the members. Are they on social security or dying off, with no new young people replacing them?
ReplyDeleteEven the Republican party has more black leaders than they do.
ReplyDeleteThe COGs leadership groups could also add women to balance things out.
Well, 3:49 AM, today, on the 13th of Tevet, 5779 (Hebrew Calendar), we have 221 years before we know if HWA's "6,000 years for man" theory is fact or fiction. But, since the Euphrates-Tigris river system which feeds and facilitates the Golden Crescent is largely fed by seasonal runoff from melting snow, we know that most likely global climate change will not dry up this river system for 100 or more years. So, here we have another indicator that Armstrongism's timeline for "the end" is still some ways off, and will most likely not kick in during our own lifespan, or the lifetimes of our children, or even grand children. Perhaps by that time, the diehards will also have given up on trying to refute dna, as your typical citizen of the US melting pot will look like Mariah Carey. Any way you slice it, the time and date stamp on HWA's prophecy mold has long since expired, which is most likely why there is no sense of 1950s urgency within the ACOGs about the end times and getting out the Armstrong gospel. Most certainly the membership has picked up on the obvious undercurrents, and has adjusted to a healthier frame of mind, even though they continue to attend.
ReplyDeleteBB
As the church ages and it's members die off, of course their budget will decrease. They need to adapt to this reality rather than fighting it.
ReplyDeleteIt is probably self evident that the $1 million that was raised for the recording studio, was NOT money that was "over and above" regular tithes and offerings. Rather, people just redirected their regular giving and earmarked it as designated for the studio.
ReplyDeleteOne million dollars, is about 6% of the UCG budget. There is only so much that people can give, and it is like squeezing water out of a rock otherwise.
Demographics are playing a huge part here for sure. Deaths, members leaving, retirements, and a lack of young, new working class replacements from both second/third generations or new recruits.
COGs at current pace, and demographics, are on track to all be about 1/2 their current size in 10 years or less. It will be interesting to see in all the groups, if the local paid ministers will stay loyal and not form their own local gigs, in the light of inevitable salary cuts, and layoffs.
ReplyDeleteCHURCH HISTORY LESSON: The Laodicea Era
The disUnited Church of Godlessness, an International Association (UCGaIA or just UCG) is where unrepentant, unconverted, unbelieving perverts go to behave very badly while playing church. Very, very, very badly. It appears to be run by a Council of Evil. Loser Kubik, the Tkach goon, is now in control after the 2010 shakeout.
Some of them still go to the Graceless Community of Iniquity (GCI) also, but as it continued to shrink even smaller, they hung out at the disUCG too.
Some of them preferred the Church of Playboy, International (CGI) and the Intercontinental Church of Playboy (ICG) rebel groups of Teddy the Dink (GTA), but when he amounted to diddly they hung out at the disUCG instead. Other Church of Playboy members were just Born to Lose, so they would Dart away from GTA and amount to nothing and die.
Some totally unqualified and worthless bums wanted to become “ministers,” so they hung out at the disUCG and badgered the leaders to “credential” them as “ministers.” They are bad. Some are even murder their wife bad.
Some individual unconverted kooks wanted to make up their own ideas, but needed someone to preach their heretical ideas to, so they hung out at the disUCG.
Some perverts needed someone to stalk, so they hung out at the disUCG.
Some totally lacked vision to the point that they left the disUCG to blindly follow the Church of Hulme, an International Community of Time & Money Wasters (COGaIC).
Some disUCG ministers imagined themselves to be the vibrant types, so they vibrated away from the disUCG and took their congregations private, and were never heard from again.
Some wanted to escape yet again from the Tkach apostates, so they left the disUCG and formed yet another Church of Men, a Worldly Association (COGWA) run by a Council of the Lesser(?) Evil. It is not much, but it appears to be the only hope around among the tiny, little, “larger” splinter groups.
ReplyDelete“UCG Declares Year End Fast After Income Drops 8%. Will The Boys Of Cincinnati Take A Pay Cut To Set The Example?”
Help the “Boys of Sinsinati” to take a pay cut and fast and go hungry by NOT sending them any more money.
ReplyDelete“UCG Declares Year End Fast After Income Drops 8%.
The UCG has spent a lot of time trying to get rid of any true believers and bring in godless unbelievers. Its efforts are bearing fruit. Rotten fruit, but that is all it can produce.
Anon 11:52 Your comment is very true to my own experience within UCG. Certain ones have put a tremendous effort, since the split, into getting rid of any true believers.
ReplyDeleteIf one dirty trick doesn't make you leave, then they try another. Long time members suddenly found themselves dealing with open hatred, outrageous false theft allegations and vile in your face insults.
I had to sit in a UCG Holy Day meal,Trumpets listening to the UCG Pastor complaining about my family's choice of Feast site to his deacon, whilst the deacon looked directly at me.
They cut you off from any basic communication, you have to beg for information that was freely made available in UCG before the split.
I had to beg to be told basic infomation about Passover service last year.
It's been heart breaking.
I think people are starting to get that there actually were churches in peoples houses in the early NT. Not multiple big organizations headed by men receiving large pay checks.
ReplyDelete2.11 PM
ReplyDeleteI had similar experiences in the 1980s before the split. The ministers I had wanted church to be an alternate reality that was a paradise for scoundrels. It was considered a crime to disagree, complain, defend oneself, or even acknowledge the evil in front of you. If you believed in the ten commandments (the non Pharisaic interpretation), you were the one with the problem, not them.
That the church fell apart, and keeps falling apart, is to be expected.
“The Mission of the United Church of God ... is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God...”
ReplyDeleteHWA and the Splinters have never preached THE gospel of the Kingdom of God. They have taught A good news of the Kingdom of God - a mixture of truth and error.
Mt 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Hence the preaching of THE gospel is yet future.
Heb 8:1 Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
Heb 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,
Heb 6:20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. (NIV).
Heb 6:20 Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. (AV).
“... the phrase “on our behalf” indicates that the pastor [the author of Hebrews] has deliberately chosen the term “forerunner” to affirm that his entrance opens the way for the faithful to follow...” (Gareth Lee Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews, NICNT, pp.291-291).
“He is there as our “forerunner”... “As applied to the Saviour,” he [E.K. Simpson] continues, “it recalls His own care-quelling utterance: ‘I go to prepare a place for you.’ But the errand of this Forerunner embraces far wider ends than that of preparation. It proclaims an accomplished work of redemption and signalizes the first fruits of a mighty aftercrop...” (F.F. Bruce, the Epistle to the Hebrews, Revised, p.155)
Rev 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Rev 7:15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
Rev 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
Even though the proclamation is yet future the essence of the gospel was understood in the 19th century:
“If revelation is to recommence in the millennial kingdom, converted Israel must head humanity. Jews and Gentiles stand on an equal footing, as both alike needing mercy; but as regards God's instrumentalities for establishing His kingdom on earth, Israel is His chosen people. The Israelite priest-kings on earth are what the transfigured priest-kings are in heaven... in the millennium both Jews and Gentiles united, under the first-born brother, Israel, walk in the light of God, realizing the full life of humanity. .. Earthly and heavenly glories shall be united in the twofold election. Elect Israel in the flesh shall stand at the head of the earthly; the elect spiritual church, the Bride, in the heavenly. These elections are not merely for the good of the elect, but for whom they minister. The heavenly Church is elected, not merely to salvation, but to rule in love, and minister blessings over the earth, as king-priests" (A.R. Fausset, Revelation, JFB, Vol.3, p.722).
This is music to my ears, and of a variety that's much better than Dwight Armstrong's pedestrian hymns.
ReplyDeleteAs long as people think they are stuck, and have to go somewhere, and that there's nowhere else to go but where they are going, they'll feel trapped, powerless, and will be bullied and manipulated by these fat cats.
This means, most likely, that people are getting unstuck, realizing they're not trapped, and picking up stakes and moving on.
And yes, Armstrongist churches have about 50 sermons, about 1 year's worth, which themselves are made up of about 500 verses and 1,000 tired cliche catchphrases. Rinse and repeat, year, after year, after useless, boring, year. It's enough to make someone decide to "graduate" themselves from what would otherwise be incessant sabbath school, and move on.
Poor UCG fat cats, worried about their pensions. All I can say is, I hope they keep believing that thoughts and prayers (and fasting) is a panacea for everything. It'd be a shame if they ever fixed any of their problems. Good thing there's not much chance of that though.