Here is an interesting comment from the All About Armstrongism blog about the duty of Church members in the Church of God.
A WCG Christian’s duty, in brief, then, was to send in tithes, pray for Herbert Armstrong, support the ministry, attend church, give offerings, and serve the Church – not the world.
Service, in fact, was a huge part of the WCG Christian’s duty. They usually kept you so busy, it was next to impossible to do anything else with other groups, anyway. If you didn’t volunteer, it sometimes would not be too long until you were literally assigned a service position. Again, there were many. Greeter, Library, Tape Library, Usher, Sound, Setup, Kitchen, Lectern Mover and Waterboy, Youth sports, childrens educational programs, hymnals, you name it, there was a job. If you did all of these duties, you were doing what was considered a Christian’s duty. Love God, Love Herbert, Love the Work, Serve the Church, and forget the rest of the uncalled, unsaved – they’ll have their chance at the second resurrection.
Community Service, then, was the job of Pasadena, the Headquarters, and Herbert Armstrong, not the lay member. They had the large jewel of Ambassador Auditorium, and they “served the community” by offering extravagent performances by the world’s finest artists. Pavarotti, Rubenstein, Bob Hope, and many A-list musicians and performers were brought in to grace the stage of Ambassador to the delight of Pasadena’s culturally elite, at great expense to the Church. These concert series put the church in great standing with Pasadena and the rich and famous of southern California, and also put Herbert Armstrong in a great light in the community. But there were no programs to my knowledge for the poor and destitute of Pasadena. In fact, the Church bought out the slum houses around their complex and turned them into magnificent grounds for their college. The work was too grand to be around low income housing. So, the homes were bought and the college expanded. There were to my knowledge no pancake dinners for the poor, no soup dinners for the homeless, no evangelical outreach for the needy, no charity clothing drives for the scarcely clothed. The poor were shunned and the rich were served.
When a person has stepped back from Armstrongism and investigated it, the above comments are glaringly non-Christian.
Growing up in the RCG/WCG we drove 150 miles each way to church. Wednesday nights were Bible Study (commanded), men had Spokesmen Club, members were expected to keep the ministers lawn and home in good condition, Monday nights were set aside to dress in Sabbath wear to listen/watch the telecast, Youth group met on Thursday evenings and so on. My family spend the other evenings growing huge gardens so we could feed other church members. In my mother's spare time she was making quilts for new mothers and senior citizens. It was one thing after another to keep a person occupied and away from the evil satanic world that surrounded them. Satan was working overtime to ensnare us with earthly delights and the Church felt its duty was to keep us snared in its grasp.
The comments about the auditorium were spot on. It was all about impressing the community and the world. Nothing was done for the poor. They were poor because they had sinned and God had not blessed them. Besides, God was going to take care of them in the Kingdom, so why waste money on them now.
The Chief roll of a church member was to support the work and NOT to take care of the world. Herbert Armstrong wrote:
Anyone who does not have his whole heart in that work IS NOT A MEMBER OF GOD’S TRUE CHURCH, and has no right whatsoever to attend or fellowship in any of its local congregations. The very FIRST purpose, then, of each local congregation is the FIRST purpose of God’s Church as a whole — to encourage, pray for, hear reports about, and help in — in whatever manner may be possible — the great work of God of preaching and publishing the true GOSPEL to all the world.
In other words, pray, pay and obey.
