COGWA and UCG News

The presidents of both COGWA (Church of God, a Worldwide Association) and the United Church of God (UCG) sent out letters a day or so ago. COGWA was formed out of a split from UCG in 2010 (the overwhelming majority of the Latin American ministers and slightly more than 1/2 of the paid US ministry in UCG went with COGWA).

Since the split, COGWA has spent a lot of efforts in getting organized, while UCG has tended to act like without those who went to COGWA that it has been freed to do more public proclamation of the gospel. Their respective letters again confirmed this.

For example, COGWA’s President Jim Franks reported:

We passed another milestone this week when the Ministerial Board of Directors (MBOD) approved two men to serve in administrative positions: Doug Horchak as operation manager for Ministerial Services and Clyde Kilough as operation manager for Media…

I am also pleased to announce that on Wednesday the board, by unanimous approval appointed a permanent Doctrine Committee as required in our governing documents. The men approved by the Ministerial Board of Directors as members of the Doctrine Committee are:

John Foster

Bruce Gore

Don Henson

David Johnson

Ralph Levy

…As a result of three members of the MBOD having now been selected for the administration, we have three vacancies to fill (a person who serves in the administration is ineligible for the board). This will be done by a special election of the elders that is scheduled to begin on Monday, Sept. 19, and conclude on Monday, Oct. 3…As a group, we are convinced that we need a central office to be efficient and good stewards of God’s tithes…As you can see, a lot of “organizational” activity has occurred in the past few days…

While UCG’s President Melvin Rhodes reported:

That’s why we recently hosted the Kingdom of God Bible Seminars, which were attended by more than a thousand new people who were warmly welcomed by members of the United Church of God, eager to participate in sharing their hope of the Kingdom with others.

UCG somewhat patterned their “Kingdom of God Bible Seminars” after the successful Tomorrow’s World Special Presentations of the Living Church of God (LCG). One difference seems to be that UCG essentially started much later, and seems to have been focused more on a one-time approach (though they may do others); whereas LCG does them almost all the time (actually, when I spoke with LCG Evangelist Richard Ames late yesterday, he mentioned some others he was planning to do, and it seems that almost every time I speak to LCG Evangelist Douglas Winnail, he has either just finished doing some or is about to do more).

Anyway, Jesus said you would know them by their fruits.

Some articles of possibly related interest may include:

Attending the Church of Choice This article discusses whose choice is important to worship God; should you attend the church of your choice or the church of God’s choice?
Polycarp, Herbert W. Armstrong, and Roderick C. Meredith on Church Government What form of governance did the early church have? Was it hierarchical? Which form of governance would one expect to have in the Philadelphia remnant? The people decide and/or committee forms, odd dictatorships, or the same type that the Philadelphia era itself had?
Should a Christian Vote? This article gives some of the Biblical rationale on this subject. Would Jesus vote for president/prime minister? Is voting in the Bible? This is a subject Christians need to understand.
Unity: Which COG for You? Why so many groups? Why is there lack of unity in the Churches of God? Has it always been this way? What can/should be done about it?
Differences between the Living Church of God and United Church of God This article provides quotes information from the two largest groups which had their origins in WCG as well as commentary.
There are Many COGs: Why Support the Living Church of God? This is an article for those who wish to more easily sort out the different COGs. It really should be a MUST READ for current and former WCG/GCI members or any interested in supporting the faithful church. It also explains a lot of what the COGs are all about.
Concerns about Church of God, a Worldwide Association This seems to be the largest group that came out of the United Church of God. Here is some history and concerns about it.
Should the Church Still Try to Place its Top Priority on Proclaiming the Gospel or Did Herbert W. Armstrong Change that Priority for the Work? Some say the Church should mainly feed the flock now as that is what Herbert W. Armstrong reportedly said. Is that what he said? Is that what the Bible says? What did Paul and Herbert W. Armstrong expect from evangelists?
The Laodicean Church Era has been predominant circa 1986 A.D. to present. These are non-Philadelphians who mainly descended from the old WCG.