UCGIA

United Church of God, an International Association
P.O. Box 541069, Cincinnati, OH 45254-1069
Phone: (513) 576-9796 Fax: (513) 576-9795

Clyde Kilough          
Chairman

Roy Holladay
President

Letter From the Chairman
March 6, 2003

Greetings Everyone,
Shortly after noon on Tuesday, March 4, the Council of Elders concluded its latest quarterly meeting. We covered a lot of ground this session—actually, more than was on the original agenda. It’s certainly too much to detail here, but you can stay up to date through the Council reports that are on United’s Web site or provided by your pastor.
Of particular note, we finalized the 2003-2004 Strategic Plan, Operation Plan and the budget, and are pleased to report that even in the stagnant and unstable economy, we are planning for growth. As we see other religious organizations cutting back programs and employees, we are especially thankful to God for this “financial manna,” as treasurer Tom Kirkpatrick aptly described it. This financial manna, of course, provides the major means for providing both the Church and a starving world with “spiritual manna,” the Word of God.

Another guaranteed blessing, a great gift from God, will soon come our way—the Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread. It seems to be a law of life that we are blessed in God’s festivals to the degree we spiritually prepare for them, so now is not too early to turn our thoughts in that direction.

It struck me during this Council meeting that God’s way of life is a continual venture in problem solving. This notion came from comparing our daily work as individual Christians to the work of the Council. That is, most of the Council’s work can be classified into two broad categories: setting direction in church matters or solving problems in church matters. The former is exciting and energizing; the latter, challenging and hard. The Council always has a bit of both to tackle, and so does each and every one of us in our daily lives. We have to daily work on setting the right direction in our individual spiritual matters, and we also have to solve problems in our spiritual matters.

Problems are ever present in life, and sometimes it is tedious to deal with them, but this is one of those areas where we cannot “grow weary while doing good” (Galatians:6:9). We must always be a solution-oriented people. In other words, once a problem is clearly defined, we must be ready to begin the real labor—with God’s help, working to discern and apply the appropriate answers. Humanity, of course, without God’s help, has never been very good at this. For example, the current tiresome round of “wars and rumors of wars” is guaranteed to be, no matter what course it eventually takes, another exercise in the world’s poor track record of solving problems. Like most human solutions to problems, it will simply create a new set of problems.

God, though, has called all of us to be effective problem solvers. In a world that can’t figure its way out of a paper bag, God has called us to be models of problem solving. He hasn’t called us to solve the world’s problems now, but He has called us to show that, through our individual lives and as a church, new ways can be found to solve old problems. He has called us to tackle the hard issues of life, to think hard, pray earnestly, search out His Word and probe His mind. He has given us His Spirit to supply the right thoughts, the faith, perseverance, wisdom and character we need to really overcome and change.

The Passover and Days of Unleavened Bread begin the annual review of God’s guaranteed process of problem solving, both now in our lives and eventually for the whole world. This time of year is a great gift from God, for in its meaning we find both the right spiritual direction and the solutions to all problems.
Thank you for your unending and faithful support for the work of United. We know that God has blessed you, not only physically, but also with generous hearts. Even more important, in this troubled world, let us be preparing for the upcoming Holy Day season so that we may be blessed with the spiritual manna we continually need.

With warmest regards,

Clyde Kilough
Chairman   

© 2003 United Church of God, an International Association