Personal from Ministerial and Member Services

During this Passover season, we find ourselves physically separated from our brethren due to the impending spread of the COVID-19 virus. This coming Sabbath, I intend to give a webcast sermon titled "Passover--Stop the Spread."

Death did not strike the faithful Israelites who were obedient to God's command regarding the blood of the lamb on that very first Passover. The spreading of death that night did not occur among the Israelites, but it did strike the Egyptians and it spread quickly throughout the land, touching every single family.

As God's people today, what can we do to stop the spread of sin, of leaven, in our own lives and in the Church of God? Many parallels and valuable lessons may be explored during these trying times. Times such as this are "teachable moments" and God has so much He wants us to learn! You may want to tune in this Sabbath to hear "the rest of the story."

Some weeks ago, a congregational survey was conducted here in the United States. I want to thank all of you who participated in the survey, as we had over 3,000 responses.

It has been very enlightening to me, although I feel I have just "scratched the surface" of what may be gleaned to help our ministers and members improve in their service and to give guidance on how we may become more unified as the United Church of God.

I plan to begin a series of "personals" starting with this eNews in which I will address various topics and the results of the survey in reference to that topic. It is my desire to provide feedback from the survey to all of you. Isn't that the main purpose of the survey? We want to see how we are doing and engage in a dialogue that will enable us to improve our service to God and to one another as members of the Body of Christ.

The first topic I have chosen is a very important one. The results from the survey regarding this topic have been very encouraging to me personally, and I trust you will find them very encouraging, too.

I understand, at least to some degree, that I am an "eternal optimist." At the same time, I will strive to be objective and cover the topic from many angles. The important thing is that we all learn what it is God would want us to learn and, as a result, we all become more pleasing to God by taking His direction to heart and implementing it in our lives in very real ways.

The topic I have chosen to address first is in the area of "Congregational Care." I will only begin to address this topic in this personal and will follow-up next week with more. Specifically, 89% of those who responded indicated that they "Somewhat Agree" or "Completely Agree" with this statement on the survey: "The brethren within my congregation care for me and treat me with Christian love and concern."

Overall, the responses, comments, and input were very encouraging. Here is a sampling of some comments from our members showing the variety of responses that were received:

"We have a small congregation, but I think the size makes us much closer than other congregations tend to be. I consider these people to be my second family."

"MOST members love and support one another. We do have a few in the congregation--sadly--who are not loving or caring and are sometimes difficult to get along with. It's their problem ... not the entire congregation."

"I feel the congregation needs to be friendlier and should be acquainted with others, not just in their own cliques. After so many years, I sometimes get the cold shoulder from people. Yes, maybe they do not realize it, but I see it... This is not by any means a complaint, I love my church; but we as church members need to be closer to everyone, or make the effort to be aware that some people may need more attention than others."

"We need to make our elderly widows feel more needed. One, in her 90s, confided in me that she didn't know why she was still around because she was made to feel as though she was 'in the way.' This wonderful woman is like a grandmother to me and I was heartbroken. I told her that she was alive because our congregation needs her and God knows this as a fact. But, our congregation must show these feelings to her--and the rest of our elders--in more ways than the annual senior luncheon."

"Even though we are all Christians and do care for one another, there's a general lack of awareness of what's going on in other people's lives and also a lack of real genuine connection most of the time. I think the brethren care about me personally, and pray for me as well. I just think that when we are together that there's much more we could do to get to know and come to love one another more perfectly."

"I have had to deal with a health situation this past year and have had only caring and positive encouragement from the brethren. Some have actively offered to provide help (other than prayers) while others are willing to provide help when asked."

"Our members don't reach out to others as well as they could. I've gone weeks without anyone checking on me. Our new pastor, however, does check on me regularly. He also tells me he prays for me. That means so much to me. We should be a loving group and encouraging one another in our trials. And if another one of us is under a hardship, it would be good to know about it so we could also encourage that person and pray for them. God is love and so we should be as well. In person, my congregation shows me wonderful kindness and love, but it's when I'm sick that they seem to totally forget me. Breaks my heart."

"We all have compassion to help and serve each other and all who need it. For those who become sick, we have a program to deliver food to those who need it, and help for whatever needs to be done. We have a loving and caring Church Family."

"I feel that many in my congregation are very loving and caring. I feel there are some that are lacking in love. There are a number of people that if I ask them how they are doing, they respond almost non-stop and rarely, if EVER ask about me or how I or my family am/are doing even when facing a potential job loss. Some of the people who have the most trials seem to be more concerned about me and my family than those whose lives are going well."

"The brotherly love exhibited in the congregation is unparalleled. Every Sabbath and every Feast day is a joyful occasion where I get to serve the Almighty God with my brethren."

"We are all one big family looking out for one another and listening to their problems and seeing if we can help them in any way we can."

"Our congregation is very warm and inviting and eager to volunteer in service. We are like a huge family. Nearly everyone gets involved in helping out in some form or another."

"Because we very seldom socialize during the week, we don't have the bond that we need to have as a family. I had someone tell me that they did not trust anyone at church with their issues for prayer because of gossip."

"Since returning to UCG (after having attended another fellowship), we have been treated with the spiritual love of our Church family and made to feel like we have always been a part of that family!!"

"We have very loving church members and others who are too concerned with church doctrine (which is important) but lose sight of loving your brothers and sisters in Christ."

I find the preceding comments from members both encouraging in some cases and quite sobering in others. I believe it is healthy for us to openly speak of how we can do better as God's people to be sure that not a single person God is calling is being left out or discounted on the local level. Let us all bring these issues to God in prayer and ask specifically for His guidance and His Spirit to lead us to truly love and care for one another. I believe it is time for each of us to ask ourselves, "Could I do a better job of being more engaged and helpful with everyone in our local congregation?"

As I already mentioned, we are just beginning to scratch the surface. I look forward to sharing more input from our members next week.