Tag Archive for: Forum/Assembly Summaries

Author: Ryan Price | Student, Living Education – Charlotte, 2021-22

Estimated Reading Time: 3 min.

For the forum this week, the director of Living Education, Mr. Jonathan McNair, wanted to give the students a look into the final days of the Worldwide Church of God through a collection of interviews with Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong

about the early days of the Church and his visits with the prominent world leaders of the day. Mr. McNair explained that it was important for the students to understand who Mr. Armstrong was and recognize the legacy he left behind.

50 Years of Work

Mr. Armstrong was one of the pioneers of religious broadcasting. His broadcasting career began with a 15-minute time slot on the KORE radio station in 1933. But with the popularity of his broadcast, the station asked him to start a regular Sunday program, leading to the beginning of what would be called the Radio Church of God. On February 1st, 1934, the first issue of The Plain Truth magazine was released with only about 350 copies. Little did Mr. Armstrong realize at the time that this humble radio show and magazine were the start of what was to become a worldwide work to fulfill the great commission Jesus Christ gave His Church. Mr. Armstrong went on to write in his autobiography, “At last in the light of fast developing, world-encircling events, it became apparent what was actually happening back in 1934 was precisely this: Jesus Christ was opening the gigantic, mass-media door of radio and the printing press for the proclaiming of His same original gospel to all the world.” (Armstrong, 539).

By 1944, The World Tomorrow radio program could be heard throughout the United States, and by 1953 it was broadcast to all of Europe through Radio Luxembourg, the most powerful radio station on earth at the time. As The World Tomorrow program grew, so too did the circulation of The Plain Truth, first in the thousands, then in the millions. Mr. Armstrong remained active as editor-in-chief of the magazine until the end of his life.

“You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake.”

For almost 20 years, Mr. Armstrong traveled the globe meeting with kings, emperors, presidents, prime ministers, and leaders of many nations. The walls of his study were lined with gifts and mementos from these visits.

When asked about what he discussed with these leaders, Mr. Armstrong said, “I talk about the conditions that they are confronted with…The cause of these conditions, I go as an unofficial ambassador for world peace. I have to tell them why we don’t have peace; I have to show them how peace is going to come…Do I talk about the Kingdom of God? Yes, I do. And God is going to intervene, sometimes I tell them that straight out.”

When asked the reasons behind these visits, Mr. Armstrong said, “My whole purpose in going to the heads of state is to establish myself [in] the country and get the gospel message to the lay people… [In] many countries, I have found, you can’t get in there with a religious message that you want to get to their people unless you’ve been approved at the top.”

Mr. Armstrong lived his life doing God’s work until the very end. His life serves as an inspiring example of faith and service to the Church. Mr. McNair explained that what we’re doing today is the legacy of Mr. Armstrong’s work. God orchestrated it so that Mr. Armstrong was a witness to mankind, so we too have the potential to become witnesses to the world.

Author: Ryan Price | Student, Living Education – Charlotte, 2021-22

Estimated Reading Time: 3 min.

The Living Education students recently got to hear from Mr. Jonathan Bueno, a former Living University student and a pastor in God’s Church.

To help the students better relate to their local ministers, Mr. Bueno gave them insight into the ordination process and the responsibilities of an area pastor.

The Ordination of a Pastor

The office of a pastor comes directly from God the Father and Jesus Christ. This role is established only by appointment. Mr. Bueno was approached in Charlotte about whether he would be willing to serve in the ministry. He agreed, and after some training and nine months in Kansas City as a ministerial trainee, he was ordained on Pentecost in 2016. When one is ordained, they are presented before the congregation and have hands laid on them by a senior minister or group of ministers. They are recognized before the congregation as having an office backed up and empowered by Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. When hands are laid upon an individual to ordain him, ministers ask for an extra measure of the Holy Spirit to help him perform the functions of a pastor.

So, What Are the Functions of a Pastor?

John 21:15-17 shows that one of the responsibilities Christ gave to Peter as leader of His Church was to feed God’s people—to tend His sheep. These responsibilities fall on pastors as well, and Mr. Bueno believes these they are accomplished in three primary ways:

1. Teaching

When Christ told Peter to feed the flock, He was essentially saying to make sure God’s people are given spiritual food that promotes growth. A pastor must provide a balanced spiritual diet. He is to expound the word of God, which can be done through sermons and Bible studies, but also through informal occasions, such as Church activities and personal visits with the brethren. However, the pastor is not to promote his ideas, but to teach what he has been taught in his training.

2. Counseling

Counseling can look like teaching in many ways, but the basic difference is that teaching covers broad topics and is addressed to many people, while counseling is more specific to the individual and situation. It can be as simple as a member seeking advice, or more formal such as baptism and marriage counseling. The goal of counseling is not for a pastor to solve the problem, but to equip the counseled individual to handle the situation and help them to go to God’s word and seek out what it says on the matter. Something Mr. Bueno wanted the students to understand is that ministers are available to counsel whenever you need them. Mr. Bueno pointed to Exodus 18 as an example of leadership helping the congregation of Israel in applying God’s law to the various aspects of day-to-day life.

3. Administration

The responsibility of leading and organizing a congregation ultimately falls on its area pastor, who is directed by his regional pastor, who is directed by Headquarters—God’s Church is organized. And as the first-century Church was to imitate their headquarters in Judea, so too is a pastor to ensure that his congregation imitates Headquarters in Charlotte. This involves organizing the congregation and filing paperwork for Headquarters to review. This way, everyone can be on the same page.

There are many aspects of a pastor’s role, but Mr. Bueno believes they can be effectively broken down into teaching, counseling, and administration. He hopes this helped the students to better understand their local pastor and their relationship with him.

Author: Yolanda Watt | Student, Living Education – Charlotte, 2021-22

Estimated Reading Time: 2 min.

Mr. Jerry Ruddlesden opened his lecture to the students with the following questions: What comes to mind when you think about the Church? What do we do as a Church? How does that relate to those of us at Headquarters or in the local congregations?

Mr. Ruddlesden defines the Church as a body of believers from all from different walks of life who have a specific job to do. Matthew 28:18–20 describes the commission that the Church is given by Jesus Christ: We are to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all nations. We all have different functions that are needed in the Church, as illustrated in 1 Corinthians 12:1–23. 

Behind the Scenes

Mr. Ruddlesden went on to describe some of the ways in which the Church accomplishes this mission. One example would be locating and negotiating with facilities at which to keep weekly services, Feast of Tabernacles services, or even Living Youth Programs. The Church has a financial audit that is done yearly, which shows the number of programs and facilities that it sponsors. For all of this to happen, the Church must have a number of people behind the scenes who come together to help the Work continue to move forward.

Another example would be putting the telecast together. A telecast presenter will write his script and have the Editorial Department review it. Afterward, the Media Department will review it and begin to think about corresponding graphics. The media team must get ready for shooting, which involves putting makeup on the presenters, setting up the cameras and sound system, and a lot more. The Church will also need to buy a slot on a TV station in order to air that telecast.

Every member counts

Mr. Ruddlesden made the point that even though the Church is one body, there are many different parts of that body. Some parts of the human body do not get mentioned too often, but that does not diminish their roles. The same is true for the Church of God—there are many people performing functions behind the scenes in order to get the Gospel preached to the world. Of course, we also acknowledge the faithful members who pay their tithes and offerings consistently. Without them, it would be very difficult to get the Work done. Christ has given us big things to do, and through His spirit and power, the Work will continue until He returns.

Author: Yolanda Watt | Student, Living Education – Charlotte, 2021-22

Estimated Reading Time: 3 min.

For his assembly, Mr. John Robinson, Managing Editor of the Living Church of God’s printed publications, dove into the purpose of graphic design.

When an audience is reading something in print, such as an article or a magazine, the graphic design must clearly communicate the purpose, thought, and intent of the content it highlights. Mr. Robinson emphasized that the design matters much more than we might think it does. 

How a Tomorrow’s World Article is Designed

When a Tomorrow’s World article is first submitted for Editorial review, it is referred to as “raw” before it goes through its first edits. It is edited to ensure its spelling is correct, that punctuation marks are where they need to be, and that it matches the Editorial style of Tomorrow’s World. Once it passes this stage, it reaches the next, more involved stage of editing. This ensures that what the author wants to say makes sense and comes out clearly to the reader. However, quite a bit of effort goes into making sure that the article still retains the “voice” of its author. Once the article is edited, it moves to the next stage, which deals with finding a layout design that works with it. 

“Design can make or break what you are trying to communicate,” Mr. Robinson said. The design needs to be clear enough for the reader to understand what is being communicated. Having a design that uses too many bright colors or too many images may make the article harder to read. He demonstrated that even if an article is well written, the overall content can become poor if the design is subpar. Design includes using fonts that catch the eyes of readers. It also includes the use of color that works with the background and not against it. 

Once Mr. Robinson completes the layout of an issue of Tomorrow’s World Magazine, he sends it to overseas offices for translation into other languages. The articles also go through search engine optimization to make sure they are titled based on what people are searching for. For example, the booklet Your Ultimate Destiny was renamed What Is the Meaning of Life? based on what people are searching for. 

God Designs Our Lives

Mr. Robinson also encouraged us to remember that regardless of where we are in life, we should not feel as if we are stuck there, because God is probably preparing us for something else later. God has a master plan for us and will guide our experiences to prepare us for what He needs us to do. Throughout the Bible we see example after example of God preparing His servants before giving them the job He has in mind for them. 

Mr. Robinson assured us that though we might not always find ourselves exactly where we think we should be in terms of our career, we will find as we go through life that the experiences we have gained, even during the times when we felt stuck, will be beneficial as God reveals the roles He intends for us.

Author: Ryan Price | Student, Living Education – Charlotte, 2021-22

Estimated Reading Time: 3 min.

John Calvin, an important figure in the Protestant Reformation, preached, “All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation.” This teaching is known as the doctrine of predestination. It was first philosophized by Augustine of Hippo, who is considered the “greatest of the Catholic Fathers” and one of the four doctors of Catholic theology. For this recent Living Education forum, Mr. Wyatt Ciesielka gave the students a brief history of this false doctrine and examined what the Bible says on the matter.

What is Predestination?

Put simply, predestination is the teaching that one’s destiny is set in stone; one is either born to be saved or born to be condemned. It was originally taught by Augustine and later found use in Protestant theology by John Calvin and Martin Luther. However, nowhere does the Bible say that God predetermines some to salvation and some to condemnation. The father of this doctrine, Augustine, converted from Manichaeism—a dead religion similar to Zoroastrianism—and carried the doctrines of the immortal soul and predestination with him. John Calvin adopted this idea and expanded it, teaching that Adam was created good, but after Adam and Eve sinned, their souls were so corrupted that they were incapable of doing any good whatsoever, apart from God’s saving grace. 

One can see where issues arise with this belief—if we can’t do good, then why even try? That is precisely the conclusion many religious thinkers come to, believing that as long as someone loves Jesus, they are saved. Some go even further, as Martin Luther did, in believing that God created some souls predestined to be saved, but created others in a state of “reprobation.” Luther wrote, “Hence, God is the cause why men sin and are condemned,” falsely teaching that many are predestined to eternal hellfire.

What Does the Bible Actually Say about Predestination?

The Bible does address predestination—however, it’s not what many religions teach it to be. In Romans 8:29–30, we read, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” Here we can see that predestination has to do with being pre-called, not pre-judged!

God is fair, and He will give everyone an opportunity to choose Him. The predestination mentioned in the Bible simply determines when that opportunity will present itself.

God chooses to give us special knowledge as to where our deceased loved ones are and the future that awaits us if we keep His laws. We have an understanding of the Last Great Day, which pictures the time of the Great White Throne Judgment. However, those practicing mainstream Christianity do not have this knowledge, and many have been terrified as a result of ignorance. They don’t know whether their deceased family members are in heaven or hell, and this false understanding of predestination only makes it worse. Yet their time to understand will come. We have been blessed to be among those called to be potential firstfruits of God’s Family. However, that doesn’t mean we are guaranteed entrance into His Kingdom—for that, we have to do our part to develop God’s character within ourselves through His Holy Spirit. As 2 Peter 1:10 reminds us, we must “be even more diligent to make your call and election sure.”