The Council of Elders met in Milford, Ohio, at the home office of the United Church of God for its quarterly meeting on December 6-8. The meetings were scheduled slightly different than the normal meeting format to accommodate a day’s worth of strategic planning exercises on Monday, December 5, with the intent for each Council member to give input and to explore the vision of the church before formally evaluating the matter of the strategic plan the next two days during the normal Council meetings.

On Tuesday, December 6, the meeting was kicked off by a report given by Robin Webber on the results of the member survey recently conducted. Overall results from the survey indicate a greater level of happiness and excitement regarding the forward movement of the church. One notable element of this is what’s called the “Net Promoter Score,” which in the case of the church is measured by the number of members who enthusiastically responded to the survey question: “How willing are you to recommend contact with the United Church of God to non-members?” The results showed a large gain, rising since the last survey given from 0.22 to 4.54 on a scale average of 1 to 10.

The next item on the agenda was a formal discussion of the strategic plan, which was led by Mr. Webber and Bill Eddington. They led the Council in a session to analyze the vision statement of the church, with the consideration of updating and refining it. Each operation manager in the administration was asked to develop goals within their area of responsibility for submission to the Council.

On Wednesday, December 7, the meeting began with a discussion about the media philosophy, led by Darris McNeely and Scott Ashley, who requested the Council remand, to the Media Committee, a project to update the philosophy for redrafting and presentation to the Council at the February meeting for approval.

Next came the operation managers’ reports, starting with president Dennis Luker. He reviewed his and his wife’s extensive Feast trip to the British Isles and Europe. He noted the warmth, love and enthusiasm of all the brethren in each area. He also reported on the launch of the elders’ wives forum in November. Over 150 ladies have signed up for the forum and 60 have participated in discussions thus far. Many comments on the forum are enthusiastic and appreciative, noting a feeling of greater connectedness experienced because of the forum.

Ministerial and Member Services manager Vic Kubik gave his report next, mentioning the number of ordinations made since January (36) and the stabilization of attendance in the United States (7,621). He also commented on progress made in international areas with rising attendance in some areas where many people left or there was no congregation left at all.

Media Services manager Peter Eddington then gave his report on his department, highlighting the recent good news of Beyond Today airing on an additional network, the Word Network. He also mentioned that Australia is testing the program on a station in Brisbane.

Financial Services manager Aaron Dean then reported on his department. God has blessed the church greatly during this crucial year, including financially. Most notably, the annual audit was performed, which revealed, after the initial loss of income, the church is “going and growing.” He commented, “When I look at our much smaller income and the amount of work accomplished compared to, say 1986 with its much larger income, we look like Gideon’s army!”

Mr. Luker, Mr. Eddington and Mr. Dean then updated the Council on a potential project to expand the home office building. The original idea proposed earlier in 2011 was to expand the television studio, but as plans progressed, concern for the expansion needs of the entire office and local congregation came to light. So a complete expansion was discussed, and a preliminary concept was drawn up. Input was solicited from the home office staff and the concept updated. At the report during the Council meeting, Mr. Eddington explained that the proposal is for expansion and remodeling, not a new building. Mr. Dean explained that, if done, the expansion would be able to be done in stages without interrupting the work of the church. Mr. Eddington also made clear that input is welcome from all members and elders on these initial plans before they are voted on by the Council and put before the GCE.

The rest of the day saw reports from various committees and discussions about other Council-related business.

On Thursday, Dec. 8, the final day of meetings, Bill Eddington led the Council through a working discussion on the developing strategic plan. Updates were made to the public proclamation goal, the congregational care goal and the organizational goal. Suggested edits were made to each goal and the final version of each will be decided at the February/March Council meetings before being submitted to the General Conference of Elders for ratification. The overall emphasis for the changes in the goals and vision statement were to stress Christ-like service, humility with boldness and greater, overall church involvement.

Most of the rest of the day concluded with an executive session to discuss and decide various credentialing, ordination and personnel matters.

The full Council reports for this meeting are available online here:www.tinyurl.com/coe-12-11 and the videos of these sessions available here: http://coe.ucg.org/videos.