COGWA’s Epic 15-Year Glow-Up: From Rebellion to “Look How Virtuous We Are!”

Gather round, scattered sheep of the former Worldwide Church of God empire. Pull up a folding chair in your living-room Sabbath service and prepare to be blessed by the latest self-congratulatory press release from the one, the only, the truly virtuous Church of God, a Worldwide Association. Because according to their latest elders’ letter, COGWA has spent the last fifteen years radiating nothing but peace, productivity, and pure, unadulterated service—the noble opposite of that ugly selfishness they heroically fled from back in 2010.

From their sparkling headquarters in McKinney, Texas (because nothing says “humble service” like a slick corporate campus with assigned pastors guarding every flock), they now “serve” 104 U.S. congregations and 166 international ones—270 total little kingdoms. They even planted shiny new flags in Uganda and Australia this year. Finances? Up every single year since the split—small but consistent growth, they boast. New doors for preaching the gospel? Wide open. And for fifteen glorious years, they’ve enjoyed “peace and productivity,” which they graciously pray will continue… provided everyone keeps remembering how much holier they are than the selfish monsters they left behind.

Cue the world’s tiniest violin.

Let’s rewind to the actual origin story these folks love to airbrush. December 2010: COGWA didn’t “apostatize” in some noble doctrinal rebellion—nope, doctrines are basically identical to UCG’s. It was a classic power-grab soap opera over governance and authority. UCG’s General Council of Elders had just elected a new council more sympathetic to a less autocratic, more collegial model (you know, the whole “Council of Elders” thing they’d bragged about since forming in 1995 to avoid Herbert Armstrong-style one-man rule). The “old guard”—including future COGWA heavyweights like Jim Franks, Mike Hanisko, and Leon Walker—didn’t like it one bit. Cue the immediate triggers: personnel reassignments, communication blackouts, and demands for ministerial loyalty oaths. Hanisko later admitted the real reasons were “unethical, sometimes sinful conduct” by UCG leadership and “ungodly treatment of brethren.” (Translation: “How dare the council try to curb our hierarchical vibes?”) Earlier, when they controlled UCG, they’d already divided no fewer than 22 congregations to crush local advisory boards, building funds, and any whiff of congregational input—hundreds of elders bailed then too. But sure, now they were the selfless heroes.

The damage was biblical in scale. Over 170 elders and ministers walked out between June 2010 and March 2011 (roughly half the full-time paid pastors). About 40% of UCG’s membership—thousands of people—followed, swelling COGWA to around 8,000 attendees and 170 elders by early 2011. Congregations split right down the middle. Families stopped speaking. Friendships evaporated. The “great work” of preaching the gospel? Yeah, that took a backseat while lawyers, dueling websites, and angry Feast-of-Tabernacles meltdowns took center stage. Real servant-hearted stuff, right? Families torn apart so a few ministers could keep calling the shots.

But here’s the punchline that turns this into pure comedy gold: COGWA is UCG with a fresh coat of paint, better branding, and the exact same attitude of selfishness—just rebranded as “service.” Same legalistic checklist—keep the Sabbath, Holy Days, tithes, clean meats, and the full Armstrong starter pack or you’re not really “in” and definitely not making it into the Kingdom. Same top-down structure where “assigned pastors” make sure the sheep stay in their assigned pens. Same endless chest-thumping about numbers, money, and “new doors” while pretending it’s all about humble service instead of empire-building. They just swapped the acronyms and the zip code.

Fifteen years later and they’re still patting themselves on the back in their annual letter: “One of the key elements for maintaining peace and productivity is the concept of service, which is the very opposite of selfishness.” Translation: “We’re not like those guys. We’re the good ones. Please keep sending in those tithes so we can keep growing our little 270-congregation empire and reminding everyone how selfless we are—unlike the UCG we fled because they tried to make governance slightly less heavy-handed.”

Spoiler alert: It’s selfishness with a smiley-face emoji. Same attitude, different headquarters. Another splinter from a splinter from a splinter, all claiming to be the one true continuation of Herbert W. Armstrong’s legacy while the rest of the scattered brethren watch the same tired soap opera on repeat—complete with the same governance fights, the same loyalty tests, and the same “we’re the virtuous ones” press releases.

So the next time COGWA pats itself on the back for its “spirit of service,” just remember: they didn’t leave UCG because they were holier. They left because they wanted to be the ones in charge—exactly like the UCG leaders they accused of the same sin. Fifteen years later, they’re still exactly the same—only now they get to write the press releases.

Service? 

The show never ends.

 

From our headquarters in McKinney, we serve 104 congregations in the U.S. and 166 outside the U.S. for a total of 270 congregations. Each has an assigned pastor. This past year we added new congregations in Uganda and Australia. Each year since our beginning we have seen increases in our finances—small but consistent growth. We have also seen the opening of new doors for preaching the gospel. So, what will this new fiscal year bring for the Church?

For 15 years, we have seen peace and productivity in the Church of God, a Worldwide Association, and we pray that this will continue. But we must never take it for granted. We must continue to work to promote this atmosphere in the Church throughout the world. One of the key elements for maintaining peace and productivity is the concept of service, which is the very opposite of selfishness. Whenever we focus on serving others instead of ourselves, good fruit is produced.