United Church of God, an International Association

Council of Elders Meeting Report

Dec. 18, 2008—Milford, Ohio

On the last day of the December meetings, Chairman Robert Dick prioritized the remaining agenda items. The Council unanimously remanded some tasks to the various committees for further review. An executive session also took place, and a number of miscellaneous business items were presented for Council approval.

Tasks Remanded to Committees

A process for dealing with violators of Elders Forum communications:

Victor Kubik pointed out that there is no set process yet in place for dealing with violators of EF communications. He read from the 2000 manual of UCG policies that states the Council will take action against those who violate the standards, and the process for action was to be developed by the Ethics Committee for Council approval.

Mr. Kubik said that a set action plan has never been developed by the committee, and requested that the task of developing a policy to consistently handle this issue be remanded to the Ethics Committee. The proposed action plan would be brought forward to the Council for approval. The Council unanimously agreed.

A process for adding items to the agenda:

Bill Eddington said that the Council does not have an established process for adding items to Council meeting agendas. The Roles and Rules Committee can develop a process to allow individual Council members or others to contribute to the agenda, and to define how the agenda is prepared and distributed. He asked that this issue be remanded to the Roles and Rules Committee for development. The Council unanimously agreed.

Proposal to amend the Outside Speakers Policy:

Paul Kieffer had presented the Council with a revision of the “Policy and Procedure Regarding Ministers of the United Church of God, an International Association, Speaking to Other Churches/Religious Organizations.” He said the original policy was formed many years ago and that it was a reaction to an event at the time. He asked that his proposed revision, which would only affect the portion that deals with UCG ministers receiving requests to speak to other groups, be remanded to the Roles and Rules Committee for further discussion and to be later presented to the Council for decision. The Council unanimously agreed.

Richard Pinelli then requested a favor. He asked if both he and Jim Franks could present their experiences to the committee discussion since Ministerial Services had originally developed the policy. He said it would be helpful to the members of the committee to have the historic reasons and situations why the policy was first created and events that have transpired since.

In agreeing with Mr. Pinelli, Mr. Kubik said it was a time of turmoil when that policy was formulated. However, he remarked, there are certain groups overseas who ask UCG ministers to come and speak, and ministers must have the ability to deal with these future situations. Sometimes international elders are asked to make decisions of this nature on the spot. He said we don’t want to take away from the lessons we learned in the past, but ministers also need to deal maturely with future opportunities.

In this context, Mr. Dick reminded the Council about a statement of advice that was given during the first years of UCG. This came from a man who had served on 52 boards. He had been asked if it was correct procedure that the board makes policy and the management carries it out. In response, the man said that technically that was true, but in the real world one needs both the board and management to work together to carry out policy, and that all voices relevant to the decision need to be included.

A case in point was made by Mr. Dick regarding the recent meetings of the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee with the administration. It was a good working relationship—the product that came out of those meetings was good. He also mentioned that the organization is helped greatly when both the administration and the Council committee members work together to form a policy.

Mr. Kieffer responded that it would certainly be appropriate for the committee to be appraised of whatever the circumstances were in the past, and that safeguards could be written in to prevent wholesale, irresponsible actions.

Proposal to reestablish the Media and Communications Committee:

Darris McNeely, with cosponsorship from Roy Holladay, Robin Webber and Paul Kieffer, asked that his proposal to reestablish the Media and Communications Committee be remanded for further study to the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee. The Council unanimously agreed.

In advocating for this proposal, Mr. McNeely said that our mission is to preach the gospel, and that the Council sees this mission as a high priority. In reading portions of Article 4.2 of the Constitution, he said the Council has the authority to establish policy, to enable management to implement that policy and to provide direction and oversight. Mr. McNeely pointed out the word “and.” He said that is an operative word that requires both the Council and the administration to work together.

In order to carry out this directive, Mr. McNeely said that a Media Committee needs to be reinstated to interface with the administration, especially now, as there are so many new strategic media items coming along such as Internet development. He pointed out that the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee works well with the administration, and that a reestablished Media Committee could do the same.

Mr. Dick asked that all documentation of why the Media Committee was eliminated be considered in the deliberations. Mr. Thompson recalled a reason for that action was because of duplication of efforts.

Mr. Holladay, as one of the cosponsors, said that we don’t have committees interfacing with Media or with Ministerial Services. He said that a Media Committee would actually be a help to the administration. Mr. Kilough said the Council has been on a learning curve over the last number of years. The Council first had to be involved with a lot of the start-up work of the Church. He also said that a balance is needed for boards to avoid the tendency to micromanage or the tendency to not manage at all.

Other Business

The Role and Responsibilities of the President document:

Mr. Eddington brought forward the revised document from yesterday’s meeting. The revised document of “The Role and Responsibilities of the President” was unanimously adopted by the Council.

Leaves of Absences Policy:

In presenting this policy for Council consideration, Mr. Kilough said that our current “Leave of Absence” policy had to be revised to come under the terms of the Federal amended version of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). The Council unanimously resolved to accept the new “Leaves of Absences” policy.

Location of the February Council meeting:

During lunch, the Strategic Planning and Finance Committee met with Jason Lovelady. Roy Holladay presented the recommendation from the committee to change the location of the February meeting to Cincinnati. Mr. Lovelady proceeded to show the Council very detailed financial data of the cost figures for both Cincinnati and California. The Council, after discussion, accepted the recommendation of the committee to meet in Cincinnati for the February Council meetings (Feb. 23-26, 2009).

The 2009 Feast Video:

Mr. Kilough said that since we centered on the heritage of the Church this past year, that this year’s video could focus on what we are currently doing in the Church in these modern times. This would include what the Church is involved in now and would include segments of the work being done around the world. The Council unanimously consented to this proposal without resolution.

The Elders Forum:

In the last item of the day, Mr. Kubik asked about the direction the Council wants to proceed on moving the EF to the online GCE Forum. Mr. Kubik noted that many elders would like to leave the EF as it is. Others like the new technology, and believe it could be a better way of communication in the long run. Much discussion followed.

As there hasn’t been much activity on the new GCE Forum, Mr. Thompson asked if the inactivity is because the old EF is still running. He said he likes the new technology in the GCE Forum. Mr. Eddington agreed that the technology of the new forum is superior, but that some elders are still on dial-up connections, so it is necessary to stay with the old EF for the time. Mr. Holladay suggested that we have to advertise the new forum more to the elders.

Mr. McNeely said he likes the capabilities of the new forum. He also mentioned that in taking a long-term view of human liberties such as free speech, we should have the freedom to post messages to each other with, of course, speech “seasoned with salt.” But, he said, he would be concerned by any action taken by the Church that would have the potential for censorship.

In looking at the verbatim comments from the original elders’ survey, Mr. Kilough said that the heart of the problem is illustrated by the polar opposite opinions. Some like the EF and others don’t. That is a big problem, and division on a matter can be just as bad as censorship.

After more discussion, Mr. Kubik moved to place the new GCE Forum onto the Church’s Web server and still keep the old EF running. The Council agreed to his motion.

Conclusion

Prior to the Council going into executive session, Mr. Kilough pointed out that as we head into the decisions looming in February, we have a great need to discuss what the Council had requested in August of the administration: proving the premise that immersion education is the most effective way to address the key strategic question we face of how we approach our long-term education programs, especially training new pastors. He said this was a top priority issue for discussion. However, he said there wasn’t enough time now to give it the full discussion it needed, so this presentation was postponed.

At the end of the day, Mr. Dick thanked everyone for the efforts put in during the last few days, and adjourned the December meetings. 

Council Reporter

Ó 2008 United Church of God, an International Association