International Executive Council Completes Session
The Church of God International Executive Council finished their regularly scheduled April session, completing more than 40 hours of deliberations at the International Offices in Cleveland, Tennessee.
The agenda for this week’s gathering of the International Executive Committee and Council of Eighteen which forms the International Executive Council consisted of numerous items that kept the body of leaders in session until at least 9:00 p.m. each night. One of the more pressing items was finalizing the agenda for the upcoming International General Assembly which convenes July 29 – August 1, 2014, in Orlando, Florida.
In accordance with the Minutes of the International General Assembly, amendments related to the Bylaws of the Church of God, which are being recommended by the International Executive Council to the 2014 International General Council for consideration, were released on Wednesday. For quick dissemination, an email was sent to all credentialed ministers who have an email address on file at the International Offices. The items have been mailed to each credentialed minister whose mailing address is on file at the International Offices.
Coincidentally, one of the five Previous Notice items deals with the elimination of postal mailing of Previous Notice notifications to save both time and resources.
As for the International General Council Agenda, in keeping with an amendment passed at the 2012 International General Assembly (S5. INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL, III. Duties and Authorities, Item 4), “All motions offered to the International Executive Council for consideration to be included on the agenda for the International General Assembly, and/or to be included on the agenda for the International General Council, shall be published online via the ministerial reporting website at the end of each International Executive Council meeting.” The items will be placed on the Church of God website (www.churchofgod.org) within the next few days under the Online Reporting link. Those items approved for the agenda of the International General Council will be placed on the Church of God website and mailed to all ordained bishops, no later than 30 days prior to the event.
A final portion of the International Executive Council agenda was the critical task of budgetary reviews of all international divisions and ministries of the Church of God. This fall completes a five-year mandate of reallocation of resources to the International Offices budgets. Recommendations from study committees and ministry leaders at the International Offices of how to allocate funds were brought forward and considered by the International Executive Council. These reductions become effective September 1, 2014.
