Address from the Chairman
Dr. Donald Ward’s was presented virtually. His address covered the Church’s raison d’être, our reason for being. He noted that this is the same as asking, “why were you born?” He also encouraged listeners to encourage each member to take his or her ownership of the truth and become a dispenser—one who is ready and willing with his or her feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.UCG cannot even be unified in peace in its own organization where it was fractured so bad that 2/3's of the ministry walked away and started a new group.
They try and come up with cute words that make their lack of initiative into something amazing to soon happen. If they really cared about a gospel, then why have they not figured out what it is and why have they not been "dispensing" it for the last 25 years?
Address from the President
Mr. Kubik remarked that the theme of the 2020 GCE, “Moving Forward with Conviction, Commitment and Courage” is a perfect theme for the 25thanniversary of UCG as we commemorate our conversion, commitment, convictions and the ability to show courage to the world. He also covered the strategic plan for 2020-2021, spending time on each of the three sections: congregational care, organizational stewardship and public proclamation.When has ANY Church of God EVER moved forward with "conviction, commitment, and courage" in the last 25 years since they all apostatized from the mother church? How have any of them ever been courageous? All of them look BACKWARDS to the "glory days" of the church and think that by appealing to their aging members they can recapture that feeling. They cannot and never will.
Communicating "conversion"? Seriously? You should be doing that in your everyday life already by setting an example for our neighbors and your community on what real love, mercy, justice, and grace is. Sadly, these are all godly qualities totally lacking in most COG's today.
Address from Ministerial and Member Services
Operation Manager Mark Welch presented a PowerPoint covering average U.S.attendance, the 36 baptisms so far in 2020, two ordinations since the February Council meeting and one recredentialed elder, with two full-time ministerial trainees. He also gave updates to the nine goals presented at the GCE last year.That magnanimous commitment has resulted in 36 new baptisms. Seriously? This is the amazing work of UCG? How courageous that out 7.5 billion people worldwide and 328 million in the U.S. they were able to con 36 people! So courageous! Such commitment!
The work of God is truly amazing!
How courageous that out of 7.5 billion people worldwide and 328 million in the U.S. they were able to con 36 people!
ReplyDeleteIt's worse than that. Many of those 36 are the children, even the grandchildren, of other UCG members.
Yes, are you ready for UCG to reveal the "truth" about the "identity" of USA?? It is 'Israel, the tribe of Manasseh!!'
ReplyDeleteThis and other "exciting" "truths" that HWA rejiggered from Adventism/Russellism/Millerism/Mormonism, await the unwary sucker.
It's a nostalgia act at this point. It's the parents or grandparents of Maroon 19 or Lady Gaga fans trying to put Chuck Berry or Bo Diddley (both of whom I occasionally still listen to) back at the #1 spot on the Billboard Chart!
ReplyDeleteBut, as the words of another now nostalgic Country song went, those days are " Gone like a freight train, gone like yesterday, gone like a soldier in the Civil War, bang bang, gone like a '59 Cadillac, like all the (good?) things that ain't never coming back, she's gone, gone, gone, gone gone gone gone, she's gone!
Back in the early '70s, I still loved Dion, particularly his harder edged songs after he split with the Belmonts, but then my younger brothers turned me on to Led Zep and nothing was ever the same!
BB
"Raison d’être" was a favorite expression of Ron Dart's. I remember sitting in the Field House in Big Sandy on humid and oppressively hot Saturday afternoons hearing that expression crop up regularly. This must be where Ward got it. It does add a dash of scholasticism, of a Gallic sort, to an otherwise bland topic. I am not sure that Ward ever speaks to an audience that would appreciate this little ornamentation.
ReplyDeleteI don't like UCG for probably a juvenile reason. One of the men who sits on their grand council revealed himself to be a jerk when he was a student. Very arrogant. I had an encounter with him one evening in the Redwood Building. Students weren't supposed to be in there at that hour. He said some nasty stuff to me when I requested that he leave. (I think maybe he rose to these heights of creative vitriol because there was a female student there to impress.) So I passed along word to Buck Hammer which I was supposed to do. I don't know what happened after that but a few days later he approached me with a dour look on his face and gave me a grudging and insincere apology. It was around this time that he began to call me very offensive names. True story.
My guess is that he learned a valuable lesson for the future from this. That you can kick around little people, fake a repentance and get away with unruffled feathers. Part of his Ambassador College education - the real educational mission of AC - recapturing true values. This is apparently the kind of person who makes a great success in the UCG. Once in a while I have to sweep this little pile of manure up and throw it out of my mind. But various triggers cause the little pile of manure to show up again. I think it is called Post-cult PTSD. Now that's a raison d’être for lots of things.
ReplyDeleteThe disUnited Church of Godlessness, an International Abomination is a stalker's cult. Old perverts go there to stalk other people and get them kicked out if they say anything about it. The people are godless and the leadership is godless. The newly-credentialed fake ministers are really godless and disgusting.
Just as people had to leave the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) in 1995 after the Tkaches' Great Apostasy and move on to other groups like the UCG, people later had to leave the UCG too in 2010 after filthy Luker's hostile takeover attempt and move on to other groups like COGWA.
Just as the WCG went bad in 1995 and later turned into GCI and will never again be any good for anything, the UCG has turned into a godless mess and will never again be any good for anything.
9.37 PM
ReplyDeleteThat was my experience in the 1980s with the church leaders that are now in the UCG. These are anti Christians who strived to make their congregation a Disneyland for the criminally minded. It was considered a crime to pass moral judgment or perceive the evil in front of you.
Bette Davis is an apt choice for this post,
ReplyDeleteEverybody has a heart. Except some people.
Life is the past, the present and the perhaps.
It is better to be hated for who you are, than to be loved for someone you're not. It's a sign of your worth sometimes, if you're hated by the right people.
Although Joan Crawford with her machiavellian mind and famous feud against Bette herself fits UCG much better.
".. filthy Luker's hostile takeover attempt .."
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of "Filthy":
- after engineering the move of Aust. wcg HQ from Sydney to the sun-drenched vacation playground of the fabulous Gold Coast in 1976, Luker said to this new HQ church: "...the office rent was getting too high in Sydney...and besides, I've always wanted to take flying lessons, which I can now do here.."
A friend worked at this new HQ on grounds crew. He told me "did you know they take off for the weekend at lunchtime Fridays?"
Extrapolated out, this means that UCG will have 108 Baptisms in 2020. With some 7500 people this means a "growth rate" of 1.4% a year.
ReplyDeleteHOWEVER-- The UCG has an attrition rate of about 5% a year from an aging population demographic. This means (and barring any more splits) that UCG will be shrinking at a net 3.6% per year. This means it will surely shrink in half within the next 20 years.
Most congregations are barely viable even now, and smaller outlying regions will be eliminated and the church will likely only have presence in the same cities that have NFL or Major League Baseball teams, about 30 major metros. Even then the congreagations will be small, with perhaps 35 people or so each.
If you keep doing what you have been doing, you are going to keep getting what you have been getting.
Tonto
ReplyDeleteThe attrition rate of 5% will accelerate within the next decade since most members are in their 60s and 70s. Within 20 years, most will be gone.
2020 YTD 36 baptisms - I wonder how many were influenced by pandemic fear. Does UCG try like other splinters to play on the conoravirus?
ReplyDeleteThe work that UCG is truly amazing! You should fear God for daring to criticize the church. To roll your eyes at what we do is a sure sign Satan has deceived you.
ReplyDeleteDid Don Ward really say 'be a dispenser'. An anti bacterial dispenser. How is that supposed to even work.
ReplyDeleteYes, Ward did say that. To a lot of us in UCG he is not the sharpest pencil in the box.
ReplyDeleteDid Don Ward really say 'be a dispenser'. An anti bacterial dispenser. How is that supposed to even work.
ReplyDeleteYou know those hot air blasters you find in bathrooms instead of paper towels? That's Don Ward.
I'm surprised that some of these groups aren't actually having Coronavirus parties! When I learned that such parties were a thing, it kind of freaked me. But then a couple days later, the President and governors turned the whole darned country into one!
ReplyDeleteBB
If UCG really wanted to show "courage to the world," it would do what RCG has done and have open services. Have faith that God will keep you safe, instead of cowering to Governor Dewine.
ReplyDeleteAfter all, RCG members have been OK from the pandemic - right?