Church Administration exists to serve the Worldwide Church of God: the regional pastors, local pastors and each individual member.
"We consider ourselves servants of the pastors and members," said Dan Rogers, superintendent of U.S. ministers.
To show you who we are and how we can assist you, we have photographed the employees from each subsection of the department and written a small item about what that subsection does. Those photos and write-ups appear on pages 10 and 11.
You can either telephone us at 1-818-304-6140 or send us electronic mail messages. The general format for our e-mail addresses is john_doe@wcg.org
"I'd like for the local members to understand what Church Administration is and what it does it for them," Mr. Rogers said.
"If we can help you in any way please let us know. There aren't as many of us as there were several years ago, and those who remain often have many duties to perform. It may take longer for us to serve you, but we are here and we care," Mr. Rogers said.
Church Administration serves as a resource center for ministers and members, Mr. Rogers said. "We provide resources that will help pastors equip the members for ministry." These include training programs for pastors and regional pastors, books, courses, seminars, conferences, in-service training, publications and personal visits.
Also, Mr. Rogers visits local congregations at least once a month. Other visiting ministers include Ron Kelly and Carn Catherwood.
J. Michael Feazell, director of Church Administration, said that the department's top goal is to have a trained, Spirit-led, resident pastor in every congregation to equip members for Christian service as the Spirit has gifted them. The church needs to be a priesthood of believers. Everybody in the church has a stake in that--whether it's men, women, teenagers or children.
The superintendent of U.S. ministers and his administrative advisers are Gerald Schnarrenberger, church planning; Nancy Akers, member assistance and ministerial expense; Dan Rogers, superintendent of U.S. ministers; and Ralph Lucia, conference planning and tape distribution.
Church Administration International (CADI) serves areas outside the United States. It's merely a type of hub in a wheel that spans seven continents and more than 90 countries. The department is a conduit for news and information from the offices in Africa, Australia, Asia, Canada, Caribbean, Europe and Philippines and provides resources and training materials for the international church leaders.
One of CADI's main responsibilities is to help orchestrate regional development projects that allow congregations to share the gospel in a way that's most conducive to their culture. These projects come in many forms from publishing newsletters or magazines to supporting educational programs. CADI guides and encourages international brethren to use their insights and creativity when sharing God's Word so the Bible will have meaning and application to their people.
Full and part-time employees below are Elana Sargent, administrative assistant; Charles Albrecht, business manager; Susie Dick, project assistant; Randal Dick, superintendent of missions; Christina Kuo, project assistant; and Marla Smith, Caribbean file support.
Pastoral Development is supervised by Ronald Kelly, with staff members Dorcas Taylor, Norva Kelly and Ralph Orr. Pastoral Development helps ministers better serve members and assists in maintaining lines of communication among members, ministers and headquarters.
Their newest project is an in-service continuing education program for ministers that includes taped classes from respected universities, theologians and professors. This will be a way to further education for ministers while staying within a limited budget. The classes are required for church pastors who are not currently enrolled in a degree program. Information regarding the program will be made available so interested elders, and all church members who wish to can obtain the tapes and textbooks for growth and edification.
The staff is in the final editing stages of a code of ethics for ministers. The code will clearly communicate the ethical requirements of ministers--a profession with high ethical expectations. The code will be ready for distribution to all ministers in December.
Pastoral Development is the conduit for members and ministers to file an official appeal and is a channel to resolve grievances, whether between members, between ministers or between a minister and member. The department provides the neutrality that members and ministers can use for objective mediation for problems that have not been successfully resolved locally.
The department is developing and will maintain ministerial performance reviews and evaluations. The evaluations will include comments from regional pastors, pastoral peers and annual forms completed by church members. These confidential reviews will help pastors evaluate their effectiveness in continuing service to the congregation. Ministers will better see how to improve in service, visiting, preaching and many other facets of pastoral care.
A church visiting program is maintained, as budget allows. Pastoral Development is committed to regularly communicate with regional pastors, church pastors and church members of local congregations. Members are welcome to call Pastoral Development at 1-800-924-4644 (extension 6125). Or write any member of the staff if they can be of service.
These two departments work together to provide support services for the women in the church. Connections is a quarterly journal by and for ministers' wives. Nurturenet (a computer forum) and a library and resource center are also provided for ministers' wives by the Connections department.
Women's Ministry Support serves as a resource for pastors, pastors' wives and women's ministry directors to help promote women's ministry in the church. The volunteer staff also produces presentations and workshops for pastors conferences and for women's ministry retreats and conferences.
Staff members are Denice Orr, managing editor of Connections; Tammy Tkach, editor of Connections, Women's Ministry Support coordinator and adviser for Women's Ministry; and Sheila Graham, right, senior editor of Connections and Women's Ministry Support coordinator.
Michael Morrison is the supervisor of church publications, which includes The Worldwide News, Cross Road and a small number of booklets.
"Tom Hanson and Ron Grove take care of the WN," Mike said. "We have only half the number of employees we did one year ago."
Cross Road is the newsletter for our ministers (replacing the Pastor General's Report). Mike manages the editorial cycle, electronic distribution and the mailing of printed copies. Dorcas Taylor (from Pastoral Development) takes care of the formatting and desktop publishing.
The Personal Correspondence Department is also part of Church Publications. It has three employees: Dave Hunsberger, Paul Kroll and Stuart Meier.
"There used to be 70 employees in this department," Mike said. "With only three now, we can't do as much as we used to--and that's OK. We don't need to do as much. We don't have to have answers on everything. We don't have to explain every scripture. We are not the one true source of all information."
PCD also assists Mr. Tkach with some of his letters. "Many members want to go to the top for answers, but Mr. Tkach simply gets too many letters to answer them all himself. He doesn't have time to read every 40-page manuscript that comes in, even if it is marked `personal.'
"If Mr. Tkach had to answer all his own letters, in addition to his leadership duties, it would be like Moses in the wilderness, when the people lined up to ask him questions from morning until evening (Exodus 18:13). It was wearing everyone out, so Jethro advised Moses to delegate the workload (verses 17-23). That's what Mr. Tkach has done."
Mark McCulley oversees the Festival area with assistance from Don Hall and Tom Ecker. Planning goes on year-round for the annual Feast of Tabernacles. The Pasadena office is responsible for preparations for all U.S. sites, but also coordinates plans with the regional offices outside the country.
As well as contracting for meeting space and arranging for sufficient staff at the sites, the Festival Office oversees production of the fall lectionary, sermon outlines given to ministers speaking at the Feast.
Festival 1997 will include sites meeting across the United States for the full eight days of the Festival, as well as a cruise in the Caribbean. A basic framework of checklists and recommendations is also being formulated for pastors to use in planning local worship meetings over the weekend of Oct. 17-19. Those local celebrations will allow members to worship and rejoice before God without traveling to a larger, eight-day gathering.
Pastoral Support Services provides support and resources for the ministry, the local congregations and Church Administration. One of the goals of Pastoral Support is to provide assistance as each congregation moves forward in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The staff also works with pastors in maintaining, planning and developing new congregations. According to Charles Albrecht, "Our congregations and pastors operate on the local level, and an important part of our staff's ministry is to support them."
Further, as a section within the operation of Church Administration this section carries out many of the church-related administrative functions for headquarters. These include constructing and maintaining an operating budget, coordinating personnel issues, compiling reports and functioning as a communication center.
Full and part-time staff are Susi Albrecht, project assistant and ministerial reports; Charles Albrecht, CAD office manager; Pat Shaw, budget assistant; Delores Schroeder, receptionist; and Roman Borek, ministerial transfer and supply coordinator.
Dec. 17, 1996, Worldwide News, pages 1, 10 and 11
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