Caring for the Called Through Correspondence

by Cecil E. Maranville

A consequence of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God is that some of our readers and listeners contact us for further information and guidance. A relationship develops as we provide them with supplemental publications to answer their questions and to aid their Bible study.

Some questions cannot be answered by literature alone and require a personal response from a United Church of God elder. Increasingly, those who hear our message contact us through e-mail, and we respond the same way. E-mail comes to our info@ucg.org and info@gnmagazine.org mailboxes, from which Terri Eddington in the home office distributes it to a team of field pastors, who respond to each one.

Their replies are channeled back to Mrs. Eddington, who proofreads the responses with Mike Bennett and e-mails them to the original sender from the official UCG e-mail address. The messages are signed by the ministers who answer them, establishing a personal contact with the people reaching out to us. Mrs. Eddington maintains a database of answers by topic. (See below for more on Internet Personal Correspondence as well as Vertical Thought PC.)

In addition to the burgeoning Internet services we provide, we still receive approximately 100 letters by surface mail each month that require a personal response. Alec Surratt and Barbara Antion, in the home office, read and note the portions of these letters that require a response. Wendy Lovelady faxes them to Cecil Maranville, who answers them, working out of his home in Glendale, Arizona.

He e-mails the answered letters back to Mrs. Lovelady for proofreading, printing and mailing from the home office under the supervision of Richard Pinelli, operation manager of Ministerial Services. Mr. Maranville also maintains a topical database for the sake of monitoring and reporting on trends and interests.

Although we do not have a toll-free telephone line for subscribers, people will occasionally call the home office with questions of the type we handle through the Personal Correspondence Department. These include chaplains who want information on the Church, due to the application of an inmate for time off for the Sabbath and Holy Days or for a pork-free diet. These telephone calls are also routed to Mr. Maranville.

Form Letters and Personalized Responses

Many years ago, the Church had a series of printed form letters that it sent in response to questions. By contrast, today we are able to personalize every response. We have a complement of over 300 form letters to assist our writers in answering letters. These letters were written and reviewed by a team of elders and approved by the Council of Elders. Using computers and the Internet, our writers incorporate information from the form letters as appropriate, but always include a personal touch.

Mr. Maranville generates a detailed report on the PCD activity every month, keeping the administration abreast of trends. The president usually shares highlights of this report with the ministry and membership via the "Home Office Updates."

Inmate mail continues to be a sizeable minority of surface PCD mail. One of the most common requests from men and women who want to live God's way of life is for a letter of support in their pursuit to keep the Sabbath, Holy Days and the food laws.

We send out many letters of encouragement to people who are dealing with difficult trials. For example, we sent a letter of encouragement to one of our readers who asked for help a few months ago, because she is unable to overcome smoking. She feared she has committed the unpardonable sin. We also provide counseling to subscribers who write for advice and guidance. Some other counseling situations this year include how a mother could improve her relationship with her teen daughter and how a person could deal with her marriage breaking up.

Our members often enjoy hearing about the unusual requests we receive. This year, we heard from a 90-plus-year-old asking about attending church. Another octogenarian asked if she was too old to attend! A teacher in Africa inquired about ABC, having learned of it from a newspaper in which his groceries were wrapped.

Subscribers asked various questions about the rapture doctrine all year long, including one who was thunderstruck by the revelation that the doctrine is false. He asked, "Are you absolutely sure?"

Another common category of questions is on the role of women in the Church, as well as specifically in our organization.

And, we regularly deal with people who are attempting to convert others to their new understanding. For example, we corresponded with one teen who is using our literature to conduct private Bible studies for her friends.

Sampling of Questions

Here is a sampling of the doctrine or Christian living questions from this year:

• Is anointing oil for anyone to use or only for the ministry?
• Can every sin be forgiven?
• What significance is the recently formed Sanhedrin?
• How is it possible for true believers to fall away?
• On military service and war, doesn't the United States have the right to defend itself?
• Will one have visions and dreams if God is truly calling a person?
• How can a layman recognize a false prophet?
• Is potassium bicarbonate a leavening agent?
• How can a person tell if he is spiritually dead?
• Do we view Paul's letters as changing Christ's teachings?
• Can we pray to saints?
• Should believers go to a prom?
• Why did God allow war in the Old Testament?

UN

Internet PC: Handling Questions From All Over

Internet Personal Correspondence was designed primarily to answer questions from nonmembers who do not have access to a pastor. We receive an average of about 1,500 messages per month from our Web site e-mail addresses. Approximately 100 to 120 of those are Internet PC e-mail questions that cover a broad range of subjects.
Most of these questions are doctrinal in nature; however we also receive a number of messages from individuals who write in for encouragement and advice on how to deal with trials and difficult situations in their lives.

A Sampling of Messages

Recent messages asked how to fast, how to keep the Sabbath, when the Holy Days are kept and whether baptism is necessary. Others took exception to our teachings on the second resurrection and military service. One asked questions about ghosts and others asked for help with marital problems. Here are a couple interesting letters:
"I just found out yesterday that you existed. I am presently a Seventh-day Adventist who has been keeping God's Holy Feast Days ever since I first read about them in the Bible nine years ago. However, Seventh-day Adventists don't keep the Feast days, so it has been lonely for me. Imagine my joy to learn that you do keep them, and the Saturday Sabbath!... Will you please help me find you? I want to learn more..."

"I read the Fundamental Beliefs of the United Church of God. The topic that really struck my mind was 'Military Service and War'... I am serving in the military since almost all Eritreans are in the army at this time due to the bloody war with Ethiopia..."

The Team

The Internet PC team consists of 26 pastors who are on a monthly rotational list. They are responsible for writing a personal response to each message they receive, in addition to their regular duties.

These men include: Gary Black, Michael Blackwell, Randy D'Alessandro, David Dobson, Dan Dowd, Bob Fahey, John Foster, Jim Haeffele, Michael Hanisko, Vernon Hargrove, Don Henson, Joe Horchak, David Johnson, Doug Johnson, Frank McCrady, Dave Mills, Steve Moody, Camilo Reyes, Earl Roemer, Larry Salyer, Rex Sexton, Gary Smith, Herb Teitgen, Larry Walker, Roger West and William Winner.

In addition, Noel Hornor is helping answer questions every month. More recently, some of our retired ministers have also begun to help with this task.

Internet PC Insights

Many of the men who serve in this way have found that the PC experience gives them a unique perspective, and a few have shared their insights:

"Serving on the Personal Correspondence team has been very rewarding to me. The thing that stands out in my mind is that the Web is a very powerful and pervasive tool for preaching the gospel into all the world. We receive questions from people from every [inhabited] continent; some of them have only a limited usage of English, but they are intrigued by our message. Many of them reflect limited understanding, but they are searching. Our Web site will lead them to deeper understanding as they continue their studies."—Dave Mills

"With the technology today, many of us are able to sit in our own homes and answer questions that come from around the world and from most of the United States. We respond to people we've never met about doctrinal issues and how to apply God's way of life to everyday living. It's an awesome responsibility, and mentally stimulating, to write to people on behalf of the Church."—John Foster

"Many of these individuals have different and varying philosophical and religious beliefs from our own. We find ourselves communicating with devotees from other beliefs who may not accept our teachings of Christianity. They challenge us to prove our premise, some even taunt us.

"This is a new manner of discussion for many of us, but it helps us to better understand the commission of going to all nations with the good news. It also forces us to go back to the simplicity of the message and to the accuracy of the biblical statements. It's all well worth the effort when some few reply and tell us how the words we spoke to them via the Internet helped to change their lives and give them an accurate view of themselves and a positive view of the future."—Vernon Hargrove

"It reminds me of the days when we were visiting prospective members on a regular basis. They always had many questions to ask that were important to them. I have conducted several local Bible studies for the members during which we simply dealt with some of the questions that would come in over e-mail. The members appreciated this, and often found that questions were asked about subjects that they had wondered about as well."—Steve Moody

"It has been a real pleasure to be a part of the Personal Correspondence team over the last couple of years. It's a challenge to look at the questions that are submitted and to seek to prayerfully and accurately give a reply. Some of the questions are so heart-wrenching and the hope is to write a response that hopefully gives them some comfort, hope or guidance for the question or challenge that they are facing. More than anything, answering questions for Personal Correspondence has emphasized how desperate this world is for answers to its spiritual questions."—Gary Smith

"I have tried to improve my approach and techniques to be able to relate individually to each person who writes to us and to address each topic in a clear and caring way, even if the reader obviously disagrees with the specific teachings of UCG. I have probably learned as much or more in researching and pondering an appropriate answer than the person asking the question!
"There is the challenge in deciding how much material to give to the reader and yet to encourage them to explore the Scriptures and our booklets more thoroughly to understand and own the answer themselves. It is quite rewarding to get feedback from a reader who expresses appreciation for the answer."—Herb Teitgen

"Answering PC Internet mail is a challenge each month as we receive questions from all around the world. Regardless of where people live, God's Word applies to them. It keeps us aware of what people want to know and sharpens our ability to explain and defend God's way (1 Peter 3:15)."—Roger West

—Terri Eddington

Personal Correspondence Statistics

Year Surface - "Snail" Mail - Internet PC - Vertical Thought PC
2000 - 756 - 462
2001 - 1,086 - 551
2002 - 931 -793
2003 - 1,081- 1,087
2004 - 1,248 - 1,223 - 841
2005* - 719 - 937 - 573
*(through September)

Vertical Answers for the Next Generation

Vertical Thought Personal Correspondence (VTPC) has the opportunity to answer the questions of younger readers within and outside the Church of God.

The Vertical Thought magazine was created to address the needs and concerns of the teen through young adult age group. As the circulation of the magazine continues to grow (both in print and online), we are finding a steady increase in the number of questions that are being asked by readers and their parents. Since the younger generations are very computer literate, nearly all of the questions to Vertical Thought are sent in via e-mail.

We have a team of 10 pastors who serve on a rotating basis to answer the approximately 70 questions we receive each month. Andy Burnett, Todd Carey, Tom Clark, Tom Damour, David Dobson, Mike Hanisko, Doug Horchak, Jim Servidio, Gary Smith and Ken Treybig work to field the questions. As one writer said, "Being part of VTPC has been a very rewarding and exciting part of my ministry in the past several years."

The questions we receive run the gamut from comments sparked by a recent article to serious doctrinal questions. Very often we are asked about matters of relationships, dating, marriage and God's view of sexual activities before marriage. Not only do we receive questions from teens and young adults, but occasionally also from their parents. We find that parents both in and out of the Church often struggle with the task of guiding and teaching their children to live uprightly with their growing maturity and freedom.

With the Internet, questions come from literally all over the world. An interesting phenomenon has been the number of questions that come from disadvantaged parts of the world—especially Nigeria. In this regard Ken Treybig wrote: "I'm not sure of all the reasons why we have such a response from Nigeria, but I think part of the reason is 'hope.' In an area of the world where economic hope is minimal, Vertical Thought offers a positive message of hope, since the plan of God is the only sure hope for all humanity."

— Tom Clark