Don Ward says,
Dr. Ward read James:3:16, “For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.” He emphasized that we are members one of another (Romans:12:5) and that the members should have the same care for one another (1 Corinthians:12:25). Dr. Ward mentioned in this age when the world is falling apart all around us we should be asking, “What would God have us do?” during these times.It is always interesting to see how after 26 years they still have no idea what God wants them to do. I thought the entire reason for UCG's apostacy from the mother church was to do the will of God, as they imagined it, or was it actually to keep their salaries in place?
Two new council members were added.
The two new Council members were welcomed: Darris McNeely and Randy Stiver.God forbid if any younger men were ever allowed to join the council and shake things up by injecting new visions of ministry. These two are nothing more than "status quo" yes men.
Vic Kubik waxed eloquent on the internal treasure trove they have of "new members" to the church. those new members should be the result of the UCG indoctrination camp for the church youth.
The summer camp program completed its 26th year. The preteen and teen camp program are a major way that United is “preparing a people”—it is the largest group of prospective members in the Church.The youth in ALL the splinter groups of the Worldwide Church of God are leaving in droves as they leave due to the fact of how incredibly boring services are and living in church areas with hardly any youth present.
Kubik is also excited about the HUUUUUUGE student body of members attending their mind-boggling "college":
Kubik also released the attendance numbers for UCG. A drop in members over the 2016 numbers:
- Ambassador Bible College: ABC is about to welcome its 21st class of students. They are expecting about 20 students from 12 different states and one from South Africa.
- Average U.S. Sabbath attendance for June 2019 was 7,085. (7,459 in 2016)
Aas membership drops, UCG is adding more elders to the mix:
- 391 elders in the United Church of God (UCG) (374 in 2016)
Kubik, them mentions how many baptisms they have had due to their superfantbulous ministerial outreach to the world. Hundreds of thousands hear their message and as a result, this many were baptized:
- 25 baptisms since the May meetings (84 baptisms so far in 2019)
Billions of people in the world and God manages to only deliver 84 people to them. So much for saving humanity from the trials to come! God's phone lines must have been down for most of the year as he was not able to call anyone.
Even their coworker count has dropped:
- Our coworker count is at 6,276. That’s a 1.3% decrease over the same time last year, and a 1.8% decrease over two years ago.
Even worse is the donor list of people who sent them money:
- Our donor list now includes 7,415 people. Our peak number was 9,564 in June 2016.
And then there is this:
- Combined with our co-workers, we continue to have more of our readers and viewers contributing to the work of the Church than the total number of members in the U.S. and abroad—13,691.
Readership of their uninspiring rag is down too:
- U.S. Beyond Today (BT) magazine subscribers are at 238,911. This is 91% of subscribers compared to the same time last year, 94% compared to two years ago, and exactly the same as three years ago.
- The total BT magazine print run stands at 292,283. This is 7% below the same time last year, and 10% below our peak of 324,738 from November 2017. Our all-time high was 567,309 in May 2008.
UCG then blames this drop in readership to the cost of advertising. Apparently reaching out to potential members with the witness of God's word is not that vitally important that they would cut back in other areas in order to spend more money as needed.
- Due to increased printing, paper and postage costs over the past year (but the same budget), we have had to reduce our advertising—which has resulted in lower subscriber numbers the past year or so.
One positive sign for this is that phone calls and web traffic increased this past year:
- The number of telephone and website responses from Beyond Today TV since 2006 stands at 334,971. Responses for 2019 will easily outpace 2018 by about 40%.
UCG has wiped the gloating smirk off Dave Pack's claim that his web site for the Restored Church of God is the most amazing web site ever produced by a Church of God:
- The Church’s Beyond Today YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/BeyondTodayTV has had 11.22 million views (a 30% increase over a year ago), has 50,687 subscribers (a 42% increase over a year ago), and hosts 2,017 videos (8% more than a year ago).
Ever since the Worldwide Church of God imploded into an abominable mess of splinter groups, all claiming themselves as God's most favorite church, every single one of the splinter groups has failed to find any common ground with other COG's. That comes from their self-righteous leaders who don't want to lose control of their little empires. And, God forbid if any church member gave money to some other COG.
- UCG.org Website: We are pleased to report that ucg.org has broken into the top 10 list of Christian denomination websites around the world. We are currently ranked at #9! This is the highest ranking we have seen to date. And ucg.org is currently ranked #28 of all Christian websites globally.
Ever since UCG hemorrhaged COGWA into existence, it has never been an impactful, dynamic Church of God doing an amazing work that the entire world is aware of. Almost every world leader out there has no idea who UCG is and what it stands for. Following in the footsteps of their previous leader apparently is not a priority. But, then when has it ever been? A money-making empire to fund the entitled ministry is all it has ever presented itself as.
28 comments:
That's very roughly one elder per 20 attendees, which is even more top-heavy with "flag officers" than the US armed forces which are notorious in that regard. Surely they're not all paid. Does UCG have unpaid local elders?
Since when has the United Church of God ever preached the gospel?
UCG's first problem (at least here) seems to be with math. Since it was founded in the Spring of 1995, this was the 25th year of summer camp.
President Kubik should know that, since next year's GCE will celebrate 25 years of UCG.
When it comes to the Council of Elders, Dan Dowd is relatively young. And he's not doing things in the same old way - even going to local congregations around the U.S. representing the Council and listening to members.
But maybe UCG is losing members because it's being perceived as too liberal. I know of one congregation where a man with dreadlocks below his shoulders is leading songs, and the Senior Pastor who knows about it has done nothing.
I think they are missing the water. What water, you might ask? Google "Jesus Gave Me Water (from Mayans MC)" and take a listen.
BB
Anonymous 10:11 said: “I know of one congregation where a man with dreadlocks below his shoulders is leading songs, and the Senior Pastor who knows about it has done nothing.”
Really? A bloke’s hair style is the reason for the UCG’s decline? Ever heard of the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover?” Don’t you know in the OT/NT Judean culture included men who made Nazarite vows like Samson (even Paul did the same at one time) who grew their hair long like a woman? There’s also the ritual of payot we see even today among Orthodox Jewish males who grow their sideburns long. So to opine that the whole organization is being divinely punished with less converts and income because of the hairstyle of a single fellow Christian believer in a UCG congregation is just ludicrous! Mainstream Christianity has been on the decline for years if not decades now. So this trend is bound to affect the ACOGs too. But, to seriously suggest a guy’s choice of hair style is a reason makes out God to be as superficial as HWA whose actions screamed he was all about style over substance.
Anonymous 10:11 said: "I know of one congregation where a man with dreadlocks below his shoulders is leading songs, and the Senior Pastor who knows about it has done nothing."
Oh, the humanity!
While they may love to tell "the old old story of unseen things above" without, of course, the "of Jesus and his glory, of Jesus and his love" their prophetic soon has gotten old indeed.
I thank myself for having had one round with WCG and no more.
@Dennis, me too! Bad enough I stayed way beyond the expiration date as it was!
This whole article had me cracking up! What a clusterfuck!
Anybody have recent membership stats on GCI??? They don't seem to be doing much better from what I hear....lol
The disUnited Church of Godlessness, an International Abomination (UCGaIA) is where unrepentant, unconverted unbelievers go to do evil to other people while playing church. UCGaIA has done nothing but splinter and split since it started in 1995 so the ministers could continue to collect paychecks after losing their jobs in the WCG.
205. Judging books by covers comes first to a number here. All I need do is post an explanation of the facts of Evolution and paleontology by Aron Ra and it's all about hair.
They would not last five minutes however justifying their biblical creationism to him successfully.
Dave Pack dismissed Einstein for having "wild hair" Dave Pack is a fool stuck in his marginal information.
I wonder what some of these COGlodytes will say when Aron Ra ends up being their manager or supervisor in the Kingdom!
BB
8.55 AM
That was my experience in Herbs church. Many came to church for no other reason than being able to abuse and exploit others, and get away with it be hiding behind the ministers skirts. I stumbled across some of these people when they left the church, and they were a different person. They knew that in the real world, others wouldn't tolerate their abuse.
BB
But we don't know how sincere Aron Ra is in his beliefs. We don't know his heart.
Anon 10:11
The major weakening of UCG is the result of their COGWA split. Oh they would never admit it. They lost men, experienced speakers, song leaders and such and have had to replace them with men who shouldn't be doing these jobs but are.
It would be difficult to determine if the drop in numbers and income is related to this. But it certainly is off putting and makes them look ultra liberal.
In replacing the lost men the standards have dropped considerably. What members are expected to tolerate in their leaders would never have been tolerated before.
It is a problem for UCG which is not going away, the established pastors have put all emphasis on the job title. But it raises the age old question, Does CHARACTER and LIFESTYLE matter or is it all about the job title ? Does the job maketh the man or his private lifestyle maketh the man ?
It is clear though UCG have never heeded any lessons from the fall of Garner Ted.
Too liberal? Man you crack me up. I have family in UCG and it sure isn't liberal.
How dare that pastor do nothing about those dread locks!! Um....
I guess that pastor is gonna pay for letting someone choose their own hair style.
Hell in a handbasket, for sure.
I just had another look at the UCG web site. Their articles are still flat, obviously by design. There are in the "tell us smooth things" mode. There must be envy in this approach as well.
Why go to any such church? Might as well stay home and watch the tele evangelists instead.
Monnie said...
"That's very roughly one elder per 20 attendees, which is even more top-heavy with "flag officers" than the US armed forces which are notorious in that regard. Surely they're not all paid. Does UCG have unpaid local elders?"
During the 60's, HWA and RCM made the "ministry" into a full-fledged upper class peerage. For example, those who were invited to join this elite club were told that they had to ditch their old friends, and that their new friends had to come from the ranks of the ministry.
When UCG was formed, they recreated WCG's class system, reconstituting their upper class out of the peerage who held the "credentials" of having been "peers" from WCG's paid aristocracy. The paid ministry are basically the partners in the firm.
As far as I know, UCG has always had unpaid local elders.
These unpaid local elders are men whose hunger for power UCG's aristocracy could exploit to help them keep their pensions fully funded. They were basically a new middle class, in between the aristocracy and the lowly unpaid deacons (all of whom were above the untouchable, huddled masses of filthy tithepaying sheep). The unpaid local elders may be middle management, but they aren't peers, and they aren't partners.
In 2010, about half of the paid ministers—UCG aristocracy—were kicked out. In so doing, the remaining aristocracy effectively doubled the size of their existing pension fund, at least on a per capita basis—but with the caveat of drastically reducing the scale of their business and it's revenues.
I am not sure, but it is my impression that for their replacements, they simply identified more power-hungry men who they could exploit. I am skeptical that they would cut anyone who wasn't a blue-blooded aristocratic peer in on the cash. If they can continue to run their business with only half as many partners, then the partners can all enjoy twice the benefits.
I think Aron Ra experienced some of the same bad things through Mormonism that we all did from Armstrongism, 12:11. His presentations seem to indicate calmness of spirit, and the use of logic and reasoning rather than anger or maliciousness. Probably had to do as much recovering as any of us.
BB
There are always cash perks involved for the unpaid local Elders.
“Identified more power hungry-men whom they could exploit”???
More like the doctrines and practices of Armstrongism breed that type of man! Most of them don’t want to wait for the kingdom to be kings and priests and have their cities. They want to have them now!
BB
"Anybody have recent membership stats on GCI???"
"50,000 members in 760 churches spread across almost 100 countries" (source: GCI)
Suck it up splinters: millionaire Joe has more donors than all of you combined!
He's doing so well that he appointed another to run the day-to-day operation while he can be freed up to relax and travel.
@ 4:14 AM, don't forget that GCI claims many thousands (at one point 30,000 but it may have shrunk by now) of members in Africa, even more than are affiliated with Bwana Bob, though some are clearly affiliated with both.
GCI has but a handful of people in any major city of the United States.
By extrapolation , (multiplying the attendance in a city vs. the overall USA population) , my estimate of CGI (WCG) attendance in the USA is in the 5 to 8 thousand range.
Apparently GCI has learned from the SDA and the cog7th day churches, pad your membership numbers with anyone that you dunk, whether they ever attend or not, not to mention the dead among the attendance rolls.
km
It's difficult to know the meaning and relevance of membership in any of these groups today. Back in the 1960s, most members were members because they were deeply committed to the ideology and mission of the church, as well as the authenticity of its founder and leader. They virtually equated that man with Jesus Christ.
There are members of the various splinters who have shared that they are still attending mostly or only because of friends and family, because they are waiting patiently for God to correct their group and certain leaders, or because of continuing commitment to the sabbath and holy days (although very loosely observed). Some share that they are personally "qualifying", and won't allow anyone to steal their crown, which of course makes it all about self and being above the group. How many times have we read comments like "I don't check my brain at the door," Some brag about only attending a time or two per month. Others visit several splinters on the sly, particularly at F/T time.
Much has been said about Bob Thiel's Africans, simply using and exploiting church to extract things needed for their physical sustenance. Are not the people in my second paragraph doing the same thing? Can their ACOGs be any more secure and reassured in numbering their members? No. This is simply not something that can be as accurately quantified as it once was, even though we know today that the numbers from back in the day were always optimistically inflated.
BB
"..millionaire Joe has more donors..(and has) appointed another to run the day-to-day operation while he can be freed up to relax and travel."
..All the while banking a Stupendous Salary! living the good life on your dime!
Post a Comment