By Thomas C. Hanson
Regional pastors and wives met for their final quarterly conference of 1996 in Pasadena Nov. 10 to 15.
The conference began Sunday night, Nov. 10, with a session conducted by Pastor General Joseph Tkach and Mike Feazell, director of Church Administration.
Each day of the conference began with a praise and worship session. Then the men met with Marlin Thomas for a weeklong session on conflict resolution.
The women heard from headquarters personnel, including Tammy Tkach, and some outside speakers.
In the opening session Mr. Tkach noted that 40,000 former members of the Worldwide Church of God are not attending anywhere. They have not joined one of the splinter groups. We need to pray that God would restore, reconcile and reclaim these people," he said.
"We have trimmed down to 184 full-time employees in Pasadena," Mr. Tkach said. "We can't do everything as fast as we used to."
Mr. Tkach said that he gets input in many ways. "I talk with people. I receive mail from many members, much more than I can write replies to. I receive input from pastors, elders, deacons, deaconesses and members, both when they are happy and when they are sad. I go out and visit the churches. I'm going somewhere every other week."
Then Mr. Feazell discussed the church's mission: preaching the gospel in all the world, baptizing believers and teaching believers.
Mr. Feazell said that the church's immediate objectives are to equip members for ministry according to their spiritual gifts and assign them to meaningful ministry, referring to Ephesians 4:16.
"The church needs to be a priesthood of believers," Mr. Feazell said. "It needs to be doing ministry. Everybody in the church has a stake in that--whether it's women, men, teens or children."
Mr. Feazell then led an interactive discussion on how to equip members. The regional pastors saw their pastoral roles as casting the vision; educating members about spiritual gifts and helping them identify those gifts; training leaders; equipping members for ministry; and helping members get involved in a meaningful form of ministry according to their gifts.
Church treasurer Bernie Schnippert conducted a financial update the evening of Nov. 12.
"I was director of Media Operations when the budget was $54 million a year," Dr. Schnippert said.
"It is now less than $2 million for the next year. We've gone through a lot of downsizing. Of all the responsibilities I've ever had, downsizing personnel has been one of the most difficult. We laid off at one time, 179 people in one fell swoop, friends, fine people, and I lived with headaches for weeks on end at that time."
Dr. Schnippert told the regional pastors and their wives: "I think it will help you if you are fully apprised of church finances. That way you can have the confidence of seeing whatever alternatives are available, and I can listen to any advice you might have."
Dr. Schnippert said that the daily average mail income for October was $130,214, the lowest monthly total. The church had budgeted for $150,000 per day for the year.
"When we began to realize that the yearly average would fall below the $150,000 mark, then we set next year's budget at $120,000 a day," Dr. Schnippert said.
Dr. Schnippert went through a department by department budget, showing how far each has been cut. He noted that now there is nowhere else to cut but in the field ministry.
During the week the men met daily with Marlin E. Thomas, founder and director of Resources for Resolving Conflict, for sessions on conflict resolution.
Dr. Thomas identified four areas for role playing based on suggestions from the regional pastors. These dealt with real-life situations they and the other field pastors would experience. Those areas are: 1) theology and standards; 2) misbehavior and boundaries issues; 3) abuse issues; and 4) policy issues.
Allan Barr, regional pastor from Atlanta, Georgia, said: "I believe we need men and women who are led by the Holy Spirit and who can mediate conflict between members and between the pastors and the congregations.
"As long as we are human, we will always have conflict. But it is vital for Christians to seek resolution to their differences. When a conflict goes unresolved, dissension will increase among members of that congregation.
"Churches have divided over minor issues because they did not resolve conflict in its early stages. Mediation allows the two parties to listen and talk to each other.
"Many times the two parties are not able to resolve their conflict privately. Sometimes our members are afraid to talk to the pastor with whom they have the conflict.
"We encourage all to practice the Matthew 18 principle (going to your brother privately), but sometimes our members are afraid to. There should be another level to seek reconciliation."
Mr. Barr said: "I learned that we all listen and see things differently. We have different personalties that effect how we relate to others. I learned also that the conflict is not as important as the relationship between the two parties. Loving each other, respecting each other, and living at peace is most important."
"Conflict can be good if we solve the conflict in a spiritually mature manner for the good of everyone."
"I have found that the team at headquarters does listen to the regional pastors. I have freely voiced my opinions on subjects at regional pastors conferences (the wives are allowed to express their opinions also).
"I have expressed my agreements or disagreements, and I believe they heard what I had to say. This is good. But I also realize that Mr. Tkach makes the final decision in our ecclesiastical form of government. And I support his decisions."
Craig Bacheller, regional pastor from Miami, Florida, said: "Unfortunately, the field ministry has been taught to maintain unity among the brethren, even if the only way was to remove an individual from fellowship.
"We have not faced the fact that conflict among Christians is normal and expected. We were also taught only how to adjudicate and not mediate.
"We were the `Mr. Fix-it man' in the local area. This conference taught us that we no longer have to fulfill that inappropriate role.
"Now, we can put the responsibility back on the shoulders of the brethren, where it belonged in the first place, to guide them to make acceptable decisions about their conflicts."
John Comino, regional pastor from Washington, D.C., said: "The ministry has had little formal training in using the Christian tool of resolving conflict by mediation.
"We are all familiar with Matthew 18 and Jesus instruction to `go to our brother' when offense has taken place. Going to our brother implies a healthy, responsible, adult relationship between members rather than simply running to some church authority to render a judgment whenever disagreement first arises.
"All too often legalistic churches stunt the spiritual development of their members by making too many decisions for the congregants. The biblical model is to place responsibility for resolving conflict upon those who generated it.
"In a healthy new testament congregation, members are encouraged and trained to repair relationships when conflict arises.
"Pastors will not be constantly placed in the position of having to render judgments in member conflicts. Too often one or even both members can harbor resentment at the decision rendered by the pastor.
"Mediated settlements enable both conflicted parties to take ownership of the decision they mutually arrive at. Mediated agreements do not have a winner and a loser but aim at a resolution in which both parties can say `I can live with that.' "
Keith Brittain, regional pastor from North Carolina, said: "In the past we might have taken an approach more like arbitration, telling members what to do.
"Mediation, on the other hand, helps members to arrive at an agreement of their own. In the level of conflicts that we deal with, it will most likely be a compromise solution, with give-and-take on both sides, but it is an agreement that both feel they can live with.
"In other words, it is a solution of their own creating, with the mediator's help, of course, and in consequence they move from ownership of the problem to ownership of the solution."
Dec. 17, 1996, Worldwide News, page one
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