Executive Council Releases Report on Re-Structure
CLEVELAND, TN–Meeting in their January session, the Church of God International Executive Council released a report on a re-structuring of departments and ministries in the Church of God.
The report, presented by the Executive Committee and adopted by the Executive Council, is a 12-page document that reports on several aspects confronting the church of the 21st century. It lists the economic realities, including the effect of the reallocation of resources, the increasing number of churches delinquent in reporting, department fund deficits, decline in church growth and membership, general assembly costs and natural disasters. One chart reveals a 20-year ratio of investment and growth in mission states.
In the second half, the report addresses responses to these realities and the decisions which have been made or recommended in cases where General Assembly action is required. One of the most significant conclusions of the study and subsequent report will be the transition from a departmental to a divisional structure at the International Offices. “Simply stated, departments as we have known them, will no longer exist, but the ministries will become part of a specific division,” the report stated. It further outlined that standing boards and committees will be eliminated in lieu of a single divisional board for each division and former departmental budgets will be merged into a single divisional budget. This new structure will help eliminate ministry duplications and unnecessary budgetary expense.
Some of the more notable highlights of the re-structure include the creation of the five divisions: Discipleship, Care, Support Services, World Evangelization and Education. Under each will be ministries/resources, not departments. For example in Discipleship, the former departments of Lay Ministries and Women’s Ministries will be enfolded into adult discipleship. The former Youth and Christian education Department will become Student Discipleship. Other entities under the Division of Discipleship will be Worship and Music, Stewardship and Discipleship Resources.
The report further outlines 18 steps which have already been implemented. They include preparation for the first budget reduction in September of this year by eliminating $2 million from the 2010-2011 budget; renegotiated the mortgage on the International Offices property, reducing the debt service by approximately $90,000 annually; restructuring the departments and functions at the International Offices; studying optional paradigms for mission and borderline states; implementing new strategies, such as centralization of mailing and accounting operations; creating a Benefits Board Loan Fund; removing inactive churches from the rolls; authorizing state overseers to balance membership rolls; recommending a four year assembly and merging the various church planting entities.
The report concluded with general statements noting that the “challenges faced are many and varied…the actions of the Executive Committee should be viewed as a work in progress…the process will take years in order to impact the culture of the Church of God and embrace the mission.”
The complete 12-page report, as well as all charts, comparison of tithes receipts, the 20 year report on borderline and missions states, and International Offices re-structure, is available at www.churchofgod.org and clicking on the re-structure graphic.
