According to Multiple CGGC Authorities, ERC Leaders are Wrong

The currently running, year-long, emphasis of CGGC General Conference leaders on APEST and the recent "double down" of ERC leaders on pastor-dominated leadership, may, in the end, expose, in ERC leaders, the insubordination that, for years, has been the hallmark of their leadership philosophy.

As the ERC has placed greater and greater emphasis on the pastor/parish priest as a provider of religious products and services to be consumed by a passive laity, it has been defying what everyone has to agree is the core belief of the Church of God which is stated repeatedly in its Faith documents, that is, that the Bible is our only authority, our only rule of faith and practice.

The ERC's emphasis on the local congregation being shepherded by its pastor(s) who look to the Conference hierarchy as his/her/their leader doesn't come from the Word.

For generations, ERC leaders have ignored the authority of CGGC faith statements to follow their own traditions...

...and, during those generations, the ministry of the Conference has declined numerically and it has decayed spiritually.

Then, nearly a decade ago, the CGGC General Conference in session upped the biblical ante by reclaiming the vision of the founders of the Church of God. The delegates created a Mission Statement for the whole CGGC body, the ERC included. That Mission Statement demands that, as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we establish churches on the New Testament plan.

Now, in 2018, beginning with the February/March issue of The CHURCH ADVOCATE and with the latest installment of the CGGC eNews, the leaders of the entire CGGC body, the CGGC Executive Director and his staff are:

1. Calling on the CGGC body to practice APEST, or Fivefold Ministry, in place of the pastor-dominated approach to church leadership, and
2. Making an intelligent, even compelling case, from the Word, that APEST is based on the teaching of the Bible, our only authority and our only rule of faith and practice...that APEST is, actually, important to the New Testament plan.

So, according to multiple authorities, ERC leadrrs are off-base. The CGGC Statements of Faith, the Mission Statement and, now, General Conference leaders call for the ERC to stop doing what it now plans to do by focusing, more than ever, on pastoral leadership.

What's the ERC going to do about this?

If the ERC hierarchs do nothing, what's the General Conference going to do about it?

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In the past, I've pointed out what no one disputes: There's a great deal of cynicism among the people of the CGGC toward leadership.

And, as time moves forward, and the people of the CGGC become aware of the APEST/pastor as parish priest divide between multiple CGGC authorities and what the ERC's planning they'll be looking for integrity on the mountaintops.

They'll be looking for CGGC leaders to do what they haven't done for some time: Practice what they preach, and, since they fancy themselves leaders, to lead.