Is United Church of God A Radical Departure From WCG Culture?

The following was posted on a UCG-related website, Edge Induced Cohesion. This is the biggest case of gaslighting I have ever seen on how special the departure of the United Church of God was when they left WCG. 

This all stems from an effort underway in the United Church of God to educate its youth about Herbert Armstrong, who he was, and what he taught. This will be presented in a separate post.

Gearing up for the GCE this weekend, I designed a booklet that will be distributed to all the elders in attendance with several dozen comments submitted by elders who were there in 1995—for both the May Indianapolis conference + the December GCE in Cincinnati—reminiscing on those events and what happened, as well as advice they would want all to take forward from here. I came away all-together re-energized about UCG in light of reading those experiences. What they did was profound. It was not like the Anglican Church deciding “we don’t like the Pope,” and creating their own church in every way almost exactly like Catholicism, except with the King as Pope. It was a revolutionary leap to create something that by design attempts to foster mutual respect and mutual deference among elders, and a major, radical departure from the WCG culture that preceded it. There is no pastor general; there is no hierarchy of ministry who are discouraged from socializing with those beneath their station. The titles are all corporate, save the Council of Elders. The incentives of UCG’s structure are for collaboration and a spirit of working together in good faith. In his written remarks, one minister expressed an astute observation that’s been rolling around my mind ever since: Unlike every other splinter group, UCG was not formed by a minister taking his following and starting his own thing; it was a collaborative effort of men and women in humility wanting to work together in mutual deference. Denny Luker famously denounced the former approach in a passionate, impromptu speech in Indianapolis, and it was a turning point for the organization to take roots. 

Those who have failed to internalize these lessons are those who have split off when they don’t get their way.

That is a pretty big hypocritical brush to label COGWA! 

Remembering history can be important, for many reasons. One is to understand the context within which your current circumstances came to be. Another is to learn from the wins and mistakes of those who came before. Theologically speaking it is good to know how in previous times, certain beliefs reigned and to understand why—whether correct or incorrect—so that you can try and stay grounded in Scripture when the winds of culture come blowing through the congregation. It’s better to be exposed to things in the past by a sympathetic voice first, than to hear it about from a hater who selectively quotes only the worst to scramble your faith—but only if the sympathetic voice is honest and unafraid to wrestle with the really tough questions. Only two ministers I’ve ever asked the question, “Did Mr Armstrong rape his daughter?” have been able to honestly talk about that uncomfortable question—and those two both, in so many words, expressed that while they felt the evidence stacked against that accusation, they ultimately couldn’t know for sure—but that it is their faith in Jesus Christ as the perfect head of the Church that drives their identity and energy as a minister. 

 

The lesson of your Scripture in Judges is that they forgot the LORD. There is no corollary for forgetting Mr Armstrong based on that Scripture. I could never imagine any New Testament author even in their weakest moments hoping that future generations would remember them. Not based on their writings, anyway, which exclusively point to Jesus Christ. Heck, I’ll bet Mr Armstrong himself would hate the thought of it, too. 

 

I think it’s good to talk to those who knew Mr Armstrong and saw incredible things happen in the Church of God because of him. I also think it’s good to read his book for all sorts of reasons, not least of which is to understand how culture can easily create false biblical interpretation (e.g. interracial marriage is wrong based on Noah’s perfect ancestry). Read The Plain Truth‘s from the ’40s about how Hitler was in Argentina; or the 50s/60s about how desegregation was a communist plot to weaken America. As I said, it’s better to hear from a sympathetic voice first, and to read something for yourself, to have a context within which to place the stories of people whose parents were forced to divorce because of bad biblical interpretation, or whose family members died because it was explicitly taught at that time that to seek medical attention was a sign of no faith. Only someone around at that time can contextualize that for you, and most will not excuse it, but they can at least wrestle with it alongside you (at least the honest ones).

Unfortunately, the WCG culture that was created by Mr Armstrong (and around him) leaves such a negative legacy, and all COG’s desperately need to shake off much of it. 

Yet, none of them ever do. They dig their heels in and praise him up one side and down the other. 

So I will count myself as an internal critic inside UCG against this idea. Take every proposal for implementation you list (which are all excellent and well-considered), but focus instead on how: “Jesus Christ’s leadership of His Church and work building His Kingdom is central to the United Church of God’s identity,” and how UCG leadership “can lead efforts to educate young members, ensuring Jesus’s legacy inspires future generations.”