Personal from the President

Meeting the Challenge of Change

In the last several years—the coronavirus notwithstanding—considerable change and shifts in society have occurred. The most recent was vibrantly portrayed in the American national elections a little over a week ago.

We face constant changes, whether we like them or not. They occur in politics, technology, security and economics, to mention a few.

Society is changing noticeably from decade to decade. For example, people consume information differently. Newspapers and magazines quickly declined as digital information began to be read from computers, which have been overtaken by smartphones. Masses of people have changed what they read, how they read it and how much they read and absorb.

What does this mean for us as a church? Can we reach a morphing civilization with our unshakeable and unchanging gospel message of hope and power?

Consider this: in August 2019, months before the COVID-19 crisis hit, Donald Ward, then the chairman of the Council of Elders and former senior college administrator, delivered some remarkably insightful thoughts to us. He openly emphasized that the United Church of God needs to consider “reinventing ourselves.” He spoke of the vital need to adapt and change how we deliver the truth of God and His Word.

I would like to take you back a little over a year ago about what he said in the eNews of Sept. 19, 2019:

“Allow me to make one thing plain. When we talk about ‘reinventing ourselves,’ we are not talking about changing what we believe. For certain, the biblical truth of God is eternal and unchangeable. The magnificent truths of the Sabbath, of the Holy Days, 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. These represent precious hard-won truths that make up the core of who we are. We will neverpart with these.”

This commitment holds a strong special element for me personally. The early 1990s represented very difficult and challenging times for me and my wife, Bev. Back then, the wrong kind of change—blasphemous change that dramatically altered major doctrines—was inflicted upon multiple thousands of brethren.

I watched and protested a systematic deconstruction of our fundamental beliefs that included the nature of God and the law of God. God’s Holy Days were replaced with the pagan Roman holidays that we had been brought out of. It became unbearable. As a result, when it was clear that apostasy could and would not be reversed, I was among the very first to resign my position in our prior fellowship, even though it involved taking deep personal risks. Bev and I trusted God, and it was worth it! I have always championed the truth and always will! Truth is truth and does not change. God’s absolutes do not change.

Dr. Ward then continued about where we go from here:

“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 where many reject or disdain biblical authority, here’s a key question: 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?”

This focus of reinventing ourselves actually appears several times in the current Strategic Plan for Ministerial and Member Services. This past week our MMS team met to discuss plans for the next year. The first strategic element states: “Consider and develop options and training to energize the Sabbath experience for members, including the service format, music, interactivity and activities.”

Back to 2019, Dr. Ward continued to remind us of 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 through 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.

In regular discussions with me, Dr. Ward emphasized this point: “I’ve talked about reinventing ourselves and really trying to do something that would fire up the Church to increase the energy and excitement.”

Those regular conferences, as Dr. Ward mentioned to the Council, represented 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 I have publicly stated many times, I fervently believe that the best years of the United Church of God still lie ahead. As we consider perhaps what may be a new opportunity to reach people, particularly in the United States, let’s pray about what we read in Acts 4:33, when the early Church—a tiny group of people—was proclaiming the truth of God “with great power.” It was a time of great favor from God, as well. It says that “great grace was upon them all.” I believe that times of “great grace” are not over!

Holding fast to precious unchanging doctrines of living truth, let us be about our Father’s business, rededicating ourselves to announcing and preparing for God’s marvelous Kingdom—which eye has not seen, nor ear heard—with fresh energy, excitement and renewed love! To reach as many as we can and thus fulfill the Great Commission, let us meet the challenge of change by following the living Head of our church, Jesus Christ!