Executive Council Adopts Reallocation of Resources Report
An important document representing months of research by several sub-committees was unanimously adopted April 30 by the International Executive Council in a meeting at the Church of God International Offices in Cleveland, Tenn.
The 21-page report was presented at a luncheon prepared for the Committee of Action, a group which includes every Church of God state or regional overseer and the first elected member of the state or regional council. The COA will take April 30 and May 1 to discuss the document and make recommendations in a meeting which is being broadcast over the internet live at www.churchofgod.org starting April 30 at 2:00 p.m.
The preamble of the report follows below. The entire report is available on-line for viewing and also as a PDF download at the Church of God Web site by no later than 2:00 p.m. EST:
“The general leadership of the church recognizes its role in shouldering responsibility, creativity and the implementation of a partnership strategy that results in Kingdom advancement and greater denominational effectiveness. The radical changes in the social, financial, political and religious climate of recent years present the church with the marvelous opportunity to evaluate itself, focus its resources and realign its efforts toward making its greatest impact in the least amount of time. We have been blessed as a denomination because of a strong commitment to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. As a movement we must never stop in our efforts to evangelize the world. As our work around the world continues to flourish, it will be largely dependent upon a stronger local church. We believe that healthy, growing local churches will significantly help broaden our base of outreach globally.
It is obvious that God has literally brought a significant portion of the global harvest to the doorstep of the Church of God. As the church continues to reach the world, we must quickly and decisively focus attention on the urgent spiritual and financial crises of the world. Without a strong local church base, we cannot effectively answer the “Macedonian Call.” It is time to ask the hard questions, find the causes of financial shortfalls and utilize innovative and even non-traditional strategies to correct our course.
• Our finances must be focused on the harvest.
• Our budgets must speak of our mission to reach the lost.
• Our financial reports must testify of our burden to impact the world.
With this as a background, we understand that every action will have a reaction and that the greatest answer to all of our challenges is growth at every level. However, as we grow out of a problem, we emphasize that this is our opportunity to take advantage of challenges to adjust, realign and retool for greater effectiveness. “
Anyone interested in following the Committee of Action live can log on to the Church of God Web site at www.churchofgod.org.
