Review of the WKG

221 looks back at the wkgIn January 1986, Herbert W. Armstrong died at the age of 93 years. The founder of the Worldwide Church of God was a remarkable man, with an impressive speech and writing style. He has convinced more than 100.000 people of his interpretations of the Bible, and he has built the Worldwide Church of God into a radio / television and publishing empire that at its peak reached more than 15 millions of people each year.

A strong emphasis on the teachings of Mr. Armstrong was the belief that the Bible has more authority than tradition. Subsequently, the WKG adopted its interpretations of Scripture wherever its views differed from those of other churches.

After Mr. Armstrong died in 1986, our church continued to study the Bible just as he had taught us. But we gradually discovered that it contained answers other than the ones he had once taught. Again, we had to choose between the Bible and the tradition - this time between the Bible and the traditions of our own church. Again, we chose the Bible.

It was a new beginning for us. It was not easy and it was not fast. Year after year, doctrinal errors were discovered and corrections made and declared. Prophecy speculation has been replaced by preaching and teaching the gospel.

We used to call other Christians unconverted, now we call them friends and family. We lost members, colleagues, we lost our radio and television programs and almost all of our publications. We lost a lot of things that were once very dear to us and we had to “crawl to the back” over and over again. Why? Because indeed the Bible has greater authority than our traditions.

The doctrinaire changes took about 10 years - 10 years of confusion, of tremendous reorientation. We all had to reorient ourselves, rethink our relationship with God. The most traumatic change for most members happened about 10 years ago - as our continued study of the Bible showed us that God no longer requires His people to keep the seventh-day Sabbath and other Old Testament laws.

Unfortunately, many members could not accept this. Of course, they had the freedom to keep the Sabbath if they wanted, but many were not happy to be in a church that did not require people to keep it. Thousands left the church. The church's income fell sharply for years, forcing us to cut programs. The church was also forced to drastically reduce the number of its employees.

This required an enormous change in the structures of our organization - and again it was not easy and it did not happen quickly. Indeed, the restructuring of our organization has taken about as long as the doctrinal reassessment. Many properties had to be sold. The Pasadena campus sale will be completed soon, we pray, and church headquarters employees (approximately 5% of the former workforce) will move to another office building in Glendora, California.
Each community has also been reorganized. Most have new pastors who work without pay. New services have evolved, often with new ladders. Multi-level hierarchies have been flattened and more and more members have taken an active role as communities engage in their local communities. Community Councils learn to work together to make plans and set budgets. It is a new beginning for all of us.

God wanted us to change and He pulled us through thickets, winding canyons and raging torrents at about as fast as we could go. It reminds me of a caricature in an office about eight years ago - the whole department had been dissolved and the last clerk pasted the caricature on the wall. It showed a roller coaster with a wide-eyed person clinging to the seat, concerned for their precious life. The caption below the cartoon read, "The Wild Ride Isn't Over." How true that was! We had to fight for our lives for several more years.

But now it looks like we are over the top of the hill, especially with the sale of the properties in Pasadena, our move to Glendora and the restructuring that has given the local communities responsibility for their own finances and services. We have left the traces of the past and now have a new beginning in the ministry to which Jesus called us. 18 independent communities have joined us and we have established new communities for 89.

Christianity brings a new beginning to every human being - and the journey is not always gentle and predictable. As an organization, we had our turns, turns, false starts and turns. We had times of well-being and times of crisis. The Christian life is usually similar for the individual - there are times of joy, times of worry, times of well-being and times of crisis. In health and illness we follow Christ over mountains and through valleys.

The new magazine accompanying this letter reflects the unpredictability of the Christian life. As Christians we know where we are going, but we do not know what may happen along the way. Christian Odyssey (the new Christian Odyssey magazine) will offer members and non-members alike biblical, doctrinal and practical articles for the Christian life. Although such articles have previously appeared in Worldwide News, we have decided to separate church news from biblical teaching by creating two magazines. In this way, Christian Odyssey will be able to minister to people who are not members of our church.

Church news will be published in the WCG Today magazine. US wcg members will continue to receive both magazines, along with a letter from me. Non-members (in the US) can subscribe to Christian Odyssey by phone, mail or web. We would like to encourage you to share the Christian Odyssey magazine with your friends and invite them to order their own subscription.

by Joseph Tkach


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