Journal Out: Focus is UCG Crisis and COGWA

The latest issue (print date November 2010-January 2011) of The Journal just came out.

The biggest items related to UCG crisis matters, some of which have been covered here. The Journal, however, devotes more time to opinions of various players in the crisis (or who were part of UCG a decade or so ago) than the COGwriter page tends to. It also has some information on J. Tkach, prophetic speculation, Passover & FOT statements, and mentions the death of long-time LCG evangelist Dibar Apartian (which of course, was covered here earlier).

There were also various letters to the editor and other opinions.

One item of interest was that COGWA would not allow a reporter from The Journal to cover its conference of a couple of weeks ago:

Organizers of the founding conference of the new Church of God a Worldwide Association (CGWA) told a reporter for THE JOURNAL he was not welcome to attend the conference. Editor and publisher Dixon Cartwright of Big Sandy attempted twice to register for the conference and was told twice by E-mail he would not be allowed entrance to the meetings, which took place in the Galt House Hotel in Louisville, Ky., Jan. 9-11, 2011.

But UCG itself will let The Journal cover UCG’s coming conference as the following front page article shows:

According to church president Dennis Luker speaking in a Q&A he conducted in Dallas, Texas, on Jan. 15, most employed and unemployed ministers remain with the UCG after the recent split. He reportedly said that, of 492 elders worldwide, 62 percent, or about 307, stayed with the UCG. In the United States, 60, or about half the employed elders, left. In the United States overall, 68 percent of the 381 ministers, or 259 men, remain with the UCG. Melvin Rhodes, chairman of the UCG’s council of elders, on Jan. 19 invited JOURNAL publisher Dixon Cartwright to attend the Cincinnati conference.

UCG lost a few more elders since the above announcement, but still seems to have most of those it started with.

Dixon Cartwright, editor of The Journal, wrote the following about the UCG crisis:

Yes, United Church of God leaders for years jockeyed for position on the 12-man council of elders. And each of the two factions believed it should run the church.
But what, in a nutshell, are the two philosophical positions that the two sides have wished to impose on the brethren to promote and enforce the greater good?
The two trees?
That’s easy. From day one in the UCG, beginning well before its putative startup in the spring of 1995 in Indianapolis, Ind., the two sides have moved in two relatively distinct directions.
Two philosophies, in constant danger of colliding with each other, animate the two paths. One direction leads away from the role and influence and memory of Herbert Armstrong. The other leads back toward Mr. Armstrong.
This is a simplification to be sure.
But I think it’s a helpful one.

I have a different take on the cause of the crisis (mistakes, human nature, and personal vanity), but it is true that UCG was never really unified and always had at least “two camps”.

While most of the subjects in the current issue have been covered at COGwriter, there are some details that some may find of interest in The Journal.

While The Journal is available only by paid subscription (though some subscriptions are free to those who cannot afford it), you can view the PDF version of four sample pages (No. 1, 3, 5 and 32) of The Journal for issue No. 143. at: www.thejournal.org/issues/issue143/jf013111.pdf This will give some of the flavor and details of The Journal’s coverage of the current UCG crisis.