Considering the discussion going on and the attempts made to reduce the Tithe of Tithe in the COG, I thought the article below was worth sharing.
From the November 2007 Evangel:
Download covenant_connection_for_pastors.pdf
(Click images below to enlarge)
I got a call from Tony Lane in the Youth Department for the Church of God about an upcoming conference for emerging, missional pastors in the COG. We talked about what needed to be done to connect with this group. It was a good, engaging conversation...thought I'd pass the ad for the conference along as published in the Covenant Resource Magazine.
PDF Download of Top 100 Church Attendance & Tithing Comparison
The above PDF is a document that contains a synthesis of attendance and tithe stats (a 6 month average) on the Top 100 largest churches. From this document, you can get an idea of how heavily dependent corporate bureaucracy of the COG is on such a small number of churches and see the per capita break down of individual churches. The image below is a jpeg of the first page only of the entire 4 page pdf document.
PDF Download of Top 100 avgmorningworship11060407
The above PDF is a document that contains the attendance stats (a 6 month average) on the Top 100 largest churches and the pastors name. The image below is a jpeg of the first page only of the entire 3 page pdf document. In the next post, I'll post a synthesis of the attendance and giving documents.
PDF Download of TOP 100 Tithing Church11-06-04-07.pdf
The above PDF is a document that contains the tithing stats (a 6 month average) on the Top 100 churches, the total amount given by all Top 100 churches, the pastors name, and the state where they are located. The image below is a jpeg of the first page only of the entire 3 page pdf document. In the next two posts, I'll post the attendance average as well as a synthesis of the two documents.
This information was recently presented at the Top 100 Pastors gathering in Atlanta, GA.
PDF Download of the COG Congregation Size USA and Canada 3 Month Avg
JPEG Image of Document below:
I haven't posted here in quite some time. I have to do it now as I tip my hat to the COG Evangel for publishing what I'd like to call, "The Porn Edition of the COG Evangel." Kudos to you guys for taking a swing at some big time real issues (even if the artwork and style seems a little stodgy). This is a massive issue in the church, an issue that has gone untalked about for too long. Thanks for providing some great resources.
Writers Guidelines for the Evangel
Church of God
Evangel Website
On Actscelerate, a discussion came up concerning the supposed practice of pastors misreporting their church's tithe as a way to circumvent our denominational tax or "Tithe of Tithe." I call it a tax because it is a set fee levied on churches. And, while I do honor this requirement, I do so out of a commitment I made and will keep and not a recognition of a Biblical mandate. I see zero Scriptural support for a denominational tithe or a retithe.
During the conversation on Actscelerate, someone stated that pastors who do not fully report their church's tithe receipts should be removed. I think that anyone misappropriating funds should be removed. I do not engage in that practice. In fact, I do not know anyone that engages in that practice. But, if we are going to go after pastors for skirting the system, we need to do the same for denominational departments and department leaders.
I then referenced a report mailed out to every Florida COG pastor that showed how the state home missions' budget is allocated. First, the report is incredibly vague. Second, it explicitly shows that we on a state home missions level have in the past misappropriated home missions funds at worst. At best, we have forgotten what our mission is and have severe organizational problems. Read for yourself in the words of our denominational offices how that less than $30,000 of our $1,000,000 per year home missions budget is spent on church planting. Notice how well over $800,000 is virtually lost in a giant bucket of administrative expenses and the wonderful heading of "other"...whatever that means.
Download home_missions_front_page.pdf
Download home_missions_budget.pdf
As a quick note, I have to say that to my knowledge, the COG in FL is more on task now than at any point that I know off with hundreds of thousands of dollars going to start "intentional church plants." This is an initiative of the State Office and a nearly identical plan was hashed out by Waymon Miller, Dwight Allen, and myself with the exception that the state is giving more than our proposed $100,000 per church plant.
Further, I am not writing this out of rebellion but out of a concern for the denomination of which I am involved. My heritage is thick in the COG with my uncle Otis McCoy editing and publishing "Hymns of the Spirit" and serving as the first music minister in the COG, my great grandfather serving as Asst. GO of the COG for 21 years, my great grandmother, Ida McCoy who I believe was the first licensed lady evangelist, and my Uncle David Lemons and his father, M.S. Lemons having a prominent role in the beginnings of the COG (his ordination being the 4th ordained minister in the COG).
I have spoken with everyone that I know to speak to, including our Presiding Bishop, Dennis McGuire. It was an engaging and friendly conversation where I heard many great ideas from a passionate and gifted leader. Yet, the fact remains that this unfocused, top heavy machine is wobbling off course and off mission.
Now is not the time to focus the cross hairs on the ministry. It is time to reform this behemoth of a bureaucracy that is totally out of control by making sure that money earmarked for missions, goes strictly to missions. Should anyone on a denominational level like to discuss this with me, I will make myself totally available. You may also discuss the topic here as other officials have done in the past. I am speaking out of love and passion...nothing else. Peace and Blessings.
-travis johnson
In a previous post , I shared that I was in Pursuit of a Missional Denomination. I actually meant that I wanted to see the Church of God become missional in its appropriation of trust and resources. However, thanks to Art Rogers at the 12 Witnesses blog, I have found a new expression that may more accurately reflect my heart for missionality- "A Missional Denomination is an Impossibility." Art via his blog also introduced me to a denominational change model (pdf download) to learn from.
I've had a personal conversation with our Presiding Bishop, Dennis McGuire...
(Read the rest here)
One of our COG Catalyst contributors, Pete Zefo had an article about Progressive Healing published today on theooze.com. Check it out.
posted by travis johnson
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