Budget issues a major focus at GA
By Joseph D. Allison
The ninety-first General Assembly of the Church of God concluded on Wednesday morning, July 1, with a sense of renewed commitment to supporting the global work of the church. A total of 681 delegates registered for Tuesday’s opening session, and GA chairman Robert Moss observed that they decided “the Holy Spirit’s agenda is more important than Robert’s Rules of Order.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Dewayne Repass, of World Ministry Advance, reported that 1,021 congregations (about half of the total in North America) had given nothing to the World Ministry Budget through the end of May. Total giving has fallen $224,000 below budget, so Church of God Ministries has to make additional cuts in its ministries.
CGM general director Ronald V. Duncan told the Assembly that we have a “theological problem” with respect to giving, because so many congregations designate their giving for specific projects instead of allowing the funds to be used for the general work of the church. “We do not take our hands off of our gifts,” he said, and this is not the New Testament pattern. Dr. Duncan challenged the Assembly to pray for “a change of heart” within the movement.
Delegates gathered in twos and threes to pray about this. Then Dr. Cynthia James came to the microphone and stated that she was signing over a check for more than $1,000 to CGM to help close the funding gap. Delegates responded by bringing checks and cash to the platform, where they deposited their spontaneous offering in tellers’ empty paper boxes. A total of $31,950 was given in this way.
In other business, the Assembly ratified Dr. Andrea Cook as the new president of Warner Pacific College in Portland, Oregon; established a study committee to make recommendations for the future of the North American Convention; received a report from the Reconstituted Board of Church Extension, which expects to repay about 70 percent of unsecured note holders’ investments by the end of this year; and celebrated the Peace Fellowship’s “Peacemaker of the Year Award” to Pastors Angel and Jeaneth Pinto of Puerto Assiz, Colombia.
A version of this article appears in the Thursday, July 2, 2009, edition of the NAC roundup/09 newsletter. To view the newsletter in its entirety, click here (1.24 MB). The document is in PDF format and requires Adobe Acrobat in order to read and/or print it. If you do not have Acrobat installed on your computer, you can download a free copy of Acrobat Reader here.