Church of God (Anderson) affirm petition

[Disciple.Luke]

Although this has been a long time coming there is a certain congregation on the Anderson University campus that tends to see themselves as more "intelligent" or "enlightened" than the rest of the congregations.

While all affiliated churches are seen as autonomous there are still certain restrictions to what individual Pastors can teach and regulations for performing a wedding ceremony.

The main overseer of the ChoG is  called the General Director and there is a assembly of others who help him lead in many different areas. All these leaders are voted in by the members from congregations all over the world.

Recently  several members of the church I referred to at the beginning began an "Open and Affirm" petition and posted it it online without the knowledge or consent of the Church of God ministries. It was an attempt to push the leadership into excepting their personal beliefs.

To my surprise the leaders attacked this issue head on and was rejected publicly on the national and state levels.

I suspect the leadership has been paying attention to the United Methodist split and knows this could divide them if they just "tolerate" the radical progressives.

I live in Anderson so I have observed this shift and know many of the key people on both sides. White I disagree with most of their theology...I am thankful they have refused to bend on this issue while most are caving in.

https://www.chogaffirm.com/

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by Disciple.Luke

[BrotherTony]

1 hour ago, Disciple.Luke said:

Although this has been a long time coming there is a certain congregation on the Anderson University campus that tends to see themselves as more "intelligent" or "enlightened" than the rest of the congregations.

While all affiliated churches are seen as autonomous there are still certain restrictions to what individual Pastors can teach and regulations for performing a wedding ceremony.

The main overseer of the ChoG is  called the General Director and there is a assembly of others who help him lead in many different areas. All these leaders are voted in by the members from congregations all over the world.

Recently  several members of the church I referred to at the beginning began an "Open and Affirm" petition and posted it it online without them knowledge or consent of the Church of God ministries. It was an attempt to push the leadership into excepting their personal beliefs.

To my surprise the leaders attacked this issue head on and was rejected publicly on the national and state levels.

I suspect the leadership has been paying attention to the United Methodist split and knows this could divide them if they just "tolerate" the radical progressives.

I live in Anderson so I have observed this shift and know many of the key people on both sides. White I disagree with most of their theology...I am thankful they have refused to bend on this issue while most are caving in.

https://www.chogaffirm.com/

 

I saw this coming a short while back. There have been grumblings in some of the Tennessee and Kentucky CoG ranks about this issue. I'm glad to learn of this rejection of the LGBTQ agenda.

[Disciple.Luke]

Yes this has been playing out for awhile. There was coordinated effort by the progressives at AU campus church to get the previous Pastor to retire. It wasn't coincidence that within a week of his leaving a prayer was posted on their website addressing God as 'Father/Mother/.

The backlash wasn't just done in public by the leaders but someone told me the other day that over 30 people had left since the Pastoral change .

I know people who are 4th generation Church of God and have left to attend churches with very different backgrounds.

I don't think I would even consider the General Director as fundamentalist because he/church of God allows women Pastors...but for some reason they draw the line when it comes to marriage