Cincinnati, Ohio—The United Church of God held its annual meeting of the General Conference of Elders on May 6-8, 2023. Attendance this year was over 275, including elders, wives and home office support staff. This year’s theme was “speaking the same thing”
(1 Corinthians 1:10).

Elders and wives enjoyed a welcome reception Friday evening, followed by a group breakfast on Sabbath morning. This was followed by a Bible study, “The Plan and Purpose of God for Humankind” led by Don Ward. Sabbath services were held in the afternoon and included sermons by Rick Shabi and Len Martin and a performance from the ABC chorale.

A dinner in the evening allowed members of the GCE and home office support staff to enjoy further fellowship. After the meal, Len Martin presented some welcome comments. These were followed by a tribute to deceased elders and wives, a ministerial recognition ceremony and employee recognition.

Balloting and Financial Report

While the ministerial wives enjoyed breakfast and a workshop, the GCE sessions commenced with the approval of last year’s minutes, some opening comments from the Council chairman Len Martin and the balloting process, led by Council Secretary Frank Dunkle. The balloting was followed by a financial report, including updates to the salary ranges by treasurer, Barry Korthuis, who focused on the truth that any blessing we receive comes from God (1 Corinthians 3:6-7). Mr. Korthuis shared the encouraging update that UCG has been spending less than budgeted and that our net assets have been steadily building for several years. He encouraged the GCE to consider what God wants us to do with these resources, as He has blessed us with a time of plenty.

After the ladies’ workshop concluded and the women rejoined the group, Andy Lee led a training session for the Menti app—a feedback tool that would be used throughout the GCE to solicit audience questions and input. With this exciting new tool, participants could submit and upvote popular questions.

Hebrew Calendar Paper Updates

For some time, the Doctrine Committee has been working on developing a more in-depth resource explaining the use of the Hebrew calendar. The committee shared an update on their work on this project and answered questions about this calendar and why we keep it.

The first part of this presentation was led by Jorge de Campos, who explained that use of the Hebrew calendar is an important topic, because this calendar points us to the Holy Days. UCG already has a 10-page paper on this topic that is easy to read, but to address more in-depth questions, a 121-page set of appendices has been added to provide more detail. This paper has been unanimously approved.

Next, Scott Ashley delved into some of the common questions about the Hebrew calendar and explained what calendar details are described in the Bible, and which are not given. He discussed how long a month is, when it begins and how many months are in a year. Mr. Ashley explained the problems that arise from following a solely solar or lunar calendar and gave a basic overview of the 19-year time cycle concept.

Mario Seiglie led the next portion of the presentation with a discussion on the history of the calendar through the Scriptures. He began with a review of verses from the introduction of the calendar in Genesis 1:14 to verses in the New Testament that illustrate the importance of keeping God’s established commands. After this discussion, the Doctrine Committee addressed a few questions that had been submitted by those in attendance.

Rex Sexton continued the discussion by describing the major historical events in the world that led to the development of the calendar currently in use by much of the world and a comparison of that timetable to that of the Bible. He explained the use of intercalary months and how it is important to keep the Holy Days in the same position relative to one another.

Darris McNeely followed this presentation with a commentary on how the calendar is of vital importance to the observance of the Holy Days. He described the very first calendar issue involving the Holy Days from 1 Kings 12, when Jeroboam led many astray, and emphasized the importance of guarding against similar issues that can affect our observance of holy time. A final question and answer session from the panel concluded the Hebrew calendar discussion.

Address from the Chairman

After a break for lunch, Council chairman Len Martin spoke to the GCE on the topic of engagement. He encouraged increased participation in the balloting process and surveyed elders on their use of a handful of tools aimed to increase awareness among the Church elders. Mr. Martin then opened the discussion for feedback and questions through Menti.

Address from the President

Following this, President Rick Shabi presented a review of the past year, reminding elders and wives that the contributions of “what every joint supplies” are important to the work of the Church. Mr. Shabi indicated that education for ministers and members is of great importance. He spoke about some of the media outlets we are beginning to explore, sharing that most people find UCG through an internet search. After sharing these updates, Mr. Shabi answered questions from the audience.

Address from Ministerial and Member Services

Steve Myers spoke next, addressing some of the current issues faced by elders and members in the Church and sharing some of the goals for education and growth on the horizon. Some of the questions in the subsequent Q&A delved further into the specifics of the Church’s goals for developing educational programs and materials. One major takeaway for the elders in attendance was to encourage members to review UCG’s materials, such as the extensive library of Bible studies and sermons to give them something spiritual to talk about with others at Sabbath services.

Ballot Results

After these presentations, Council secretary Frank Dunkle reported the results of the morning’s balloting.

International—Tim Pebworth

U.S.—Aaron Dean, Dan Dowd, Victor Kubik

Strategic Plan—Approved

Operation Plan—Approved

Fiscal Budget—Approved

Constitutional Bylaw 8.3—Not Approved

Procedure for Amending Constitution Bylaws—Approved

After a concluding prayer, Sunday finished with a group dinner and dessert reception.

International Reports

On Monday morning, a series of international reports were presented to the GCE.

Wim Dekker provided an update on the work in the Netherlands. There is currently one congregation in this country with 42 attendees, including children. All age groups are equally represented, and 26 of the brethren are baptized members. The congregation has a barbeque once a year, open to members of other Churches of God. They also host Bible studies, socials and an annual Pentecost picnic. Some exciting updates are a new Dutch hymnal and revamped website in 2021 and an update to the UCG hymnal app in 2022 that includes lyrics and music for the Dutch hymns. Mr. Dekker shared that some future goals include producing Dutch audio study aids (there are currently 30 print study aids available in Dutch) and reinstituting services in Flanders.

Bong Remo shared greetings, “Mabuhay” (a word that means both “welcome” and “farewell”), from the Philippines. The UCG congregations in this country are divided into three regions geographically.  The Philippines also hosts three Feast sites each year, in addition to a smaller site in Malaysia. The senior pastor, David Dobson, will periodically broadcast a sermon from Alaska, connecting all of the congregations. The Beyond Today magazine has 4,439 subscribers in the Philippines. As the Church has grown in this country, they have reached out to a local printer to print copies of Beyond Today and select study aids. UCG Philippines has thriving programs for its youth—a young adults’ Bible forum and a summer camp at Eden Nature Park.

Next was a recorded video presentation from Paul Kieffer featuring the German work. UCG Germany has approximately 160 brethren attending in nine locations (some locations don’t have services every week). There is also a congregation each in Switzerland and Austria. UCG Germany publishes Gute Nachrichten (the German equivalent of the Beyond Today magazine) on a bimonthly basis, alternating with the bimonthly publication, Intern (similar to United News). Gutenachrichten.org was redesigned in December 2022. This new website allows the creation of user accounts and features a newsletter that has been published since early January of this year. Some goals for the future are publishing two or three new study aids each year.

Another video presentation recorded by Roy Demont featured updates from the Church in South Africa. There are eight areas in which UCG has members in this country, six of which have regular attendance. The largest congregation averages 39 attendees. A new website, ucg.org.sa, was recently launched. One of the continuing projects is to translate study aids into Afrikaans, which is a widely spoken language in this area. UCG in South Africa has held a highly successful youth camp for the past two years, with about 30 campers ages 8-18. Staff and assistance are provided by United Youth Corps.

Grant Chick presented updates on the Church in Australia. This country has 24 congregations in seven states, serving 640 brethren with nine employed pastors. UCG Australia also cares for many of the Southeast Asia, South Pacific and New Zealand brethren. This includes a new congregation in Vanuatu, a family of six living in Tonga and about 20 members in Indonesia. UCG Australia runs a 10-day summer camp for youth ages 11-18. The Church uses many avenues to preach the gospel. In addition to airing the Beyond Today program, they have filmed 15-30 second video ads and send out a Bible insights weekly email to potential members.

Engaging our Young Adults

The final session of the GCE centered on discussing the needs of, and opportunities for growth among, the Church’s young adults. Steve Myers introduced this session, which was then presented by Scott McKeon. After covering the educational, relational and functional needs of young adults, Mr. McKeon and Dr. Philip Aust facilitated a panel discussion, gathering questions from the audience and having them answered by a panel of young adults—Ben Emehiser, Sean and Leah Powell and Heidi Braun.

Final Discussions

After the GCE itself concluded, a couple of separate groups met for international and camp meetings. As a whole, the 2023 General Conference of Elders brought the group of elders and their wives a deeper sense of unity as they returned to their home congregations with a renewed sense of vision and “speaking the same thing.”