United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Meeting Report
August 6, 2006 - Cincinnati, OH

Robert Dick called the Council to order shortly after 9 a.m. The morning consisted of a report by Church treasurer Tom Kirkpatrick on the viability of electronic methods for contributions, preliminary plans for the 2007 Feast of Tabernacles sermon video and consideration of three proposed amendments to the Fundamental Beliefs in the UCG Constitution. The afternoon was reserved for executive session.

Online Donation Proposal

Dr. Kirkpatrick first gave the Council an abbreviated financial report on the first five weeks of the new fiscal year. As Clyde Kilough had reported in Friday's meeting, income so far this year is 17 percent higher than the exact period of time last year (fiscal year 2005-2006) , which in turn was nearly 13.5 percent higher than the first five weeks of fiscal year 2004-2005.

In the May 2006 meetings, the Council directed Dr. Kirkpatrick to prepare a proposal for using online means of receiving donations to the Church. He prepared the proposal with the help of Jason Lovelady, Aaron Booth, Richard Kennebeck and Paul Wasilkoff and presented it to the Council today, along with a demonstration of how such a system would work. After receiving information from several potential vendors, Dr. Kirkpatrick and his committee selected and recommended the one that provided the best combination of features and technical capabilities.

Dr. Kirkpatrick emphasized that the motivation for accepting electronic donations is to provide a service to members, coworkers and donors who already are using electronic means to make other payments. The proposal included details on the security of the system, potential costs and the process for accounting for and receipting of electronic donations. With the help of Mr. Wasilkoff, Dr. Kirkpatrick gave a hands-on example of exactly how their proposed method will work. Council members asked questions and offered comments and suggestions as they viewed the demonstration.

Mr. Kilough proposed a resolution for the Council to authorize the home office administration to take the steps necessary to provide for the acceptance of electronic donations. The Council voted 10-0 in favor, with Les McCullough abstaining.

Further effort will be put into preparing a system, which will be formally introduced by the president when the process is ready for use.

2007 Feast of Tabernacles Sermon Video

Peter Eddington was called upon to lead the Council in a discussion of preliminary ideas and plans for the sermon video for the 2007 Feast of Tabernacles. Mr. Eddington suggested several possibilities. After some discussion, Council members unanimously agreed that Europe would probably be the focus for the video. One suggested theme was to emphasize prophesied events that will occur in Europe and how the Kingdom of God will finally bring peace to a region that has seen so much war in its history. We will begin gathering footage from the Feast this year and further develop the ideas in the near future.

Consideration of Proposed Amendments to Fundamental Beliefs

Leon Walker, chairman of the Doctrine Committee, presented three proposed amendments to the Fundamental Beliefs section of the UCG Constitution for Council consideration.

Mr. Walker first reviewed the process for the Council's consideration of proposed amendments to the Fundamental Beliefs. The proposed amendments were sent by the Amendment Committee to the Council's Doctrine Committee. The Doctrine Committee reviewed the proposed amendments in order to make a recommendation whether the Council should support them. The next step in the process is for the Council to discuss the proposals and then each Council member is to determine whether he supports the proposed amendments. Those who support the amendment would write a statement of support and those who do not would prepare a statement of concern. If the proposed amendments are not supported by any Council members, a statement of concern is to be written explaining the objections. Gerald Seelig, Council secretary, will then forward the proposed amendments with the Doctrine Committee's recommendation and statement of concern to the General Conference of Elders, which will have 30 days to consider the proposed amendments.

Mr. Walker had e-mailed the proposed amendments to the Council so they would be familiar with them in order to determine whether they supported the proposals.

In this case, the Doctrine Committee recommended against support of any of the three proposed amendments. Mr. Walker explained the Doctrine Committee's decision and opened the matter to Council discussion. After discussion, the Council voted on whether to support the proposed amendments. The Council voted unanimously to not support any of the proposals. Mr. Walker will write a draft of the statements of concern for each and seek input from the rest of the Council in finalizing the statements. Mr. Seelig will forward the completed statements of concern to the Amendment Committee.

Executive Session

The Council met in executive session for the afternoon to discuss potential ordinations, annual General Conference of Elders meeting suggestions and various Ministerial Services matters.

Don Henson

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© 2006 United Church of God, an International Association