United Church of God, an International Association
Council of Elders Meeting Report

 Friday, March 1, 2002 - Cincinnati, Ohio

        The Council heard reports today on operations in Canada and Germany, approved an annual award in its name for ABC students, and spent the afternoon in executive session discussing numerous personnel matters.

Canada

        Rainer Salomaa, chairperson of the Council of the United Church of God-Canada, spoke first. He gave a brief overview of the development of the United Church of God in Canada, which coalesced in 1995 with the appointment of Gary Antion as the operations manager. Mr. Antion returned to the United States in late 1999 to assume his current position as director of the Ambassador Bible Center. Anthony Wasilkoff is the current operations manager in Toronto.

        UCG-Canada’s Constitution is identical to that of the United Church of God, an International Association. However, in compliance with the Rules of Association, its Bylaws diverge in some respects in order to conform to Canadian law. The National Council meets four times per year, including three face to face meetings. The nine Council members are selected for three-year terms, with seven being elders of the Church and two being lay members (who may be either men or women). There are six committees of the Council – ethics/finance, pastoral, governance, strategic planning, media advisory, and women’s advisory.

        The Church in Canada faces many of the same challenges as the Church in the United States. The average age of the Canadian salaried ministry is even greater than that of the U.S. ministry – 62, as compared to 56. The 18 church congregations (with an average weekly Sabbath attendance of nearly 500 and a Holy Day attendance of approximately 600) are small, with members spread geographically over the whole country from St. Johns, Newfoundland to Victoria, British Columbia. The subscription list is growing – from 53 in April 1996 to its current level of 11,625.

        Mr. Salomaa listed what he called a “Canadian wish list” – goals for the work of the Church in Canada:

• To move toward self-sufficiency in the budget (Toronto receives an annual subsidy from Cincinnati equal to between 25% and 30% of the annual operating budget)
• To develop larger financial reserves to help ease cash flow “crunches”
• To own their own office facility
• To be able to hold national ministerial conferences regularly
• To be able to hire a ministerial trainee.

        Mr. Salomaa closed with a reference to 2 Chronicles:29:36, where the scripture notes that “… God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly.” That phrase, he stated, perfectly describes the feeling about how God has blessed the work of the United Church of God in Canada.

Germany

        Paul Kieffer updated the Council on the work of the United Church of God in Germany. The country itself still wrestles with the effort to bring eastern productivity and wages up to western standards, following German unification in 1990. The nation is actually a secular country, despite professed Christian connections (roughly 72% of the population claims to be either Roman Catholic or Lutheran).

        Attendance at the eight congregations runs around 145 in total; none of the congregations meets every week. The two largest (Darmstadt and Dormagen) meet biweekly; two others meet every three weeks, and the remaining four meet monthly. Roughly half of those attending services are over age 50, reflecting a common pattern of the aging of the membership as well as the ministry.

        The German National Council is composed of seven members. All four elders in the German area are on the National Council; their names were nominated as part of the initial list of 14 candidates by the member assembly (all baptized members in the country). The ministerial assembly (the four elders) reviews those 14 candidates, and seven candidates are selected for the National Council. The chairman is an ordained elder, according to the Bylaws of the UCG-Germany. Members of the Council are chosen for a three-year term.

        A snapshot of the operation of the Church in Germany would reveal the following facts, among others:

• The functioning of the Church in Germany currently supports one full-time employee (Mr. Kieffer) and one part-time employee
• UCG-Germany operates on indigenous income, receiving no subsidy from Cincinnati
• By far the largest percentage of the Good News list is composed of new people with no previous Church of God contact; total circulation is nearly 4,000 at present
• Twelve booklet titles are currently available, plus 4 lessons of the Bible study course (lessons 2, 3, 4, and 6)
• During 2002 the remaining eight lessons of the Bible study course will be printed, as well as two more booklets
• Current advertising campaigns have been very successful, bringing nearly 1900 responses from one ad in the magazine Schrot & Korn.

ABC Award

        Gary Antion brought a proposal to the Council for an annual award for outstanding service to one deserving male student and one deserving female student at Ambassador Bible Center. He suggested calling the $250 cash award the “Council of Elders Award” – so naturally it needs to have Council approval!

        Council discussed and approved the concept unanimously (Les McCullough absent). The wording of the resolution is:

        Now therefore, it is hereby resolved, that the Council of Elders, on an annual basis, funds awards for recognizing outstanding service in the amount of $250 to at least one (1) outstanding male student and at least one (1) outstanding female student for each academic year, and

        It is further resolved, that, along with the $250 award for each recipient, an appropriate plaque be issued to each one, and

        It is further resolved, that the annual recipients of these awards will be selected by the staff of ABC, with the awards to be presented during the graduation ceremonies.

        The Council spent the remainder of its time Friday in executive session.
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-Doug Johnson

© 2002 United Church of God, an International Association