Reinventing Ourselves

The United Church of God is nearing its 25th anniversary. This time is proving to be one of critical reflection. In recent months, this milestone has led many at the home office, on the Council of Elders and elsewhere to ponder and consider: Where have we been? Where are we now? And perhaps most importantly, where are we going?

Perhaps you have asked these questions yourselves.

Reflecting these questions in a general way, Donald Ward, the chairman of the Council of Elders, recently made some insightful and remarkable comments. He openly emphasized in his recent summary comments to the Council of Elders that the United Church of God needs to consider "reinventing ourselves." This comment fit squarely with the many discussions that have recently been taking place around our upcoming 25th anniversary.

When we talk about "reinventing ourselves," we are not talking about what we believe. For certain, the biblical truth of God is eternal and unchangeable. The magnificent truths of the Sabbath, of the Holy Days that we are about to observe, the true understanding of the role of Jesus Christ, the knowledge of the insightful Royal Law that daily guides our behavior, and the plan of God for humanity all represent precious hard-won truths that make up the core of who we are. We must never part with these.

Reinventing ourselves has to do with living and working in a secularized world that increasingly is openly hostile to the Bible and biblical truth. In a secular world that rejects biblical authority, how do we effectively preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God? How do our members cope and live in a society that is quickly abandoning nearly all semblance of biblical morals? Further, and perhaps most important of all for future generations, how do our children and the young adults of the Church stay grounded in the truth and live lives of success in a society going mad?

Dr. Ward, who is a former senior college administrator, talked to the Council about the need to support parents, children and young adults. He was focused on "helping the parents during a time like this," where people in society openly attack people for embracing a belief in God.

Society today increasingly tramples on and rejects biblical authority, putting our young people to hard tests. Dr. Ward noted that with the incredible experience of the Church's youth camps, young people in the Church "may be so excited through their teen years" about biblical truth, but then comes a challenging "transitional period between high school and college and the first year of college" that often proves to be a difficult time to stay grounded and committed to the truth of God. It is during this critical transition time that young people can be in danger of slipping away.

The Church, he emphasized, needs to reinvent itself to address these critical societal changes and provide highly relevant spiritual tools for young people to survive and thrive. This includes opportunities for them to be together, like at Ambassador Bible College and church-sponsored young adult gatherings.

Related to all of this, Darris McNeely and I have been having an extended discussion about the past 25 years and the next 25 years of the Church on the Inside United podcast (ucg.org/inside-united-podcast/inside-united-podcast-135-darris-mcneely-the-next-25-years-preaching-the-truth). I hope you will listen to them. Darris, one of the Beyond Today presenters and a frequent contributor to Church publications, also recently delivered a remarkable sermon (ucg.org/sermons/united-church-of-god-the-next-25-years-challenges-opportunities) on the challenges of the next 25 years for the church.

Darris noted in the most recent podcast that we are "entering an increasingly secular world and a world that is increasingly hostile to biblical values, to biblical truth." He summed up the challenge for church members today: "We have to learn how to live godly in an age of ungodliness."

Learning how to live a godly life in challenging times like these also means we need to examine ourselves and see how we can improve.

Dr. Ward addressed this, referencing a regular conference call he and I have weekly: "On Thursday mornings, [Mr. Kubik] calls and we have a little discussion—sometimes a bigger discussion—maybe 30 minutes, usually—and I've talked about reinventing ourselves and really trying to do something that would fire up the church to increase the energy and excitement."

These Thursday conferences, as Dr. Ward mentioned to the Council, are open and honest discussions, even to the point of admitting that sometimes the weekly church presentations in our congregations are "stale." To build more energy and excitement into our weekly church meetings, Dr. Ward noted that "some of those things we could do—shorter sermons and more focused sermons and improving our messages—we really need to focus on...we really need more excitement and energy in the local churches."

As Darris McNeely noted in our recent podcast, "There are some challenges that we are going to have to honestly address in order to be effective communicators."

As a formal assembly, for nearly 25 years we together have earnestly been seeking to preach the gospel, to follow God's lead in preparing a people for service in the Kingdom of God, and caring for the people whom God calls in this age.

Can we do this better? The answer is yes.

I have publicly stated and fervently believe that the best years of the United Church of God still lie ahead. My wife Bev and I have personally been greatly encouraged by our recent visits to Angola, Zambia, India and elsewhere where we were humbled by members and families standing fast, even in great physical adversity. We saw the power of God at work in these and other places. God is not limited. He works with Americans, with people in Latin America, with people in Asia and elsewhere. He calls and supports whom He will (John 6:44).

Through it all, including the past 25 years, we have seen the steadying hand of Jesus Christ, who is the true and living Head of the United Church of God, which is truly part of the spiritual assembly of God Himself! We certainly have not done everything perfectly. But we have never given up. And we have never forgotten who the Head of this Church is, and where real spiritual power comes from.

As we enter this marvelous Holy Day season, a time which pictures the capstone of God's incredible plan for humanity, I would like to make a personal request.

During this Holy Day season, I ask that each of you set aside some special time to pray for the United Church of God. I ask that you pray that we can all better fix our eyes, our lives and our focus on the living Head of this Church, Jesus Christ, who Himself is in total harmony with God the Father. Ask our loving Father to show us how to better have the energy, the power and the love that comes from His word, the word of truth. Ask Him how we can better stir up the gift of God's Holy Spirit that is within us (2 Timothy 1:6)!

We have achieved much over the past 25 years. Now is the time to look forward, to truly seek God's will, to truly seek to reinvent ourselves in a way that better achieves our purpose as a church—preaching the gospel, preparing a people and helping and caring for each other in love.

In Acts 4:33, we read of a time when the early church—a tiny group of people—was proclaiming the truth of God "with great power." It was a time of a great favor from God as well. It says that "great grace was upon them all." These times are not over!

Let us be about our Father's business, rededicating ourselves to announcing and preparing for God's marvelous Kingdom—what eye has not seen nor ear heard—with fresh energy, excitement and renewed love!