Tkach Axes Canadian Church Governance - "Inability to Govern" Worldwide?

The WCG Canadian Board, at the WCG Canada Annual Board meeting in Montreal June 1st, 2008, voted unanimously to cave in and repeal-completely abolish! -the entire Canadian WCG Policy Governance Manual, at the directive of the Pastor General. By what secret written authority, or power claimed by a reform school Pastor General, does Tkach do this?

The Canadian board had formally adopted the board policy governance model advanced by John Carver, only four years ago - in 2004, trumpeting the Canadian board policy as a desired change for a reformed Canadian WCG.

The Canadian board discussion and vote to rescind the Carver policy of governance came from procedures and directives ordered by the "parent" of the Canadian WCG, known as the "Worldwide Church of God USA ("the Denomination")". Because the WCG has not published its organizational constituent documents in years, it is not specifically known if the "parent" of the Canadian WCG refers to the California religious corporation founded by Herbert W. Armstrong in 1948, or the parent umbrella, unincorporated, international church Association, specifically created by Armstrong in the WCG church bylaws, for which Joseph Tkach Jr. claims to rightfully be the lifetime religious Pastor General.

The Canadian board was also informed by the Tkach "Denomination" that the denomination is requesting all of its churches worldwide, including the Canadian WCG, to immediately conform their current management and administrative systems to the new Glendora standard.

After discussion and some questions mulled over on the Carver governance issue, the Canadian board did their oversight duty as expected. The board found sufficient grounds to rescind their Carver model of governance, finding instead the new Tkach governance model to be in the best interests of the Canadian church and local churches and members. The Canadian "Board decided unanimously to rescind each and every provision of the Worldwide Church of God Canada Policy Governance Manual."

Why the change? As reported here earlier, Tkach may be worried about his locally chartered churches leaving the WCG fold, losing control of denominational assets internationally, or other perceived problems looming on the horizon. Tkach, just as his predecessor Armstrong did, makes the questionable, but highly comforting personal assertion, the WCG is supposed to be very hierarchically organized- indeed, exceedingly hierarchically organized. The Pastor General is at the top of the Church Association, makes all of the laws, and- is above the law!

With himself as Pastor General at the controls of the unincorporated WCG church association's board of elders, the bottom line is he personally appoints, at his sole discretion, all those whose votes he actually controls. Maybe that's why there is no prominent WCG webpage- covering the Board of Elders of the WCG Association, their supposed powers or legal oversight responsiblities as defined in WCG church articles and bylaws, or even their qualifications for the job (other than being a Tkach crony). And the only ballots that truly count in the WCG "denomination" are the votes taken by the Board of Elders of the Church Association. Only the Board of Elders, under the voting control of the Pastor General, have the authority to ultimately decide denominational governance matters. The recent move to eliminate the Carter model of policy governance internationally may be a move to solidify and buttress his legal position, if the WCG breaks up into further pieces. Or, it could mean a major change is in the offing for the constitutent documents which control the way the denomination is to be run- namely, the WCG unincorporated church association's articles and bylaws. Supposed upcoming changes to be made are noted in the present WCG Policy and Procedure manual.

The present WCG unincorporated church association bylaws below were voted and signed into WCG Church Law on Feb 21, 1986 (which is the most recent copy obtainable) by Joseph W. Tkach Sr. They were first enacted into WCG Church Law by predecessor "get the Church back on track" Herbert W. Armstrong, through his "dummy" oversight Board of Elders on June 30, 1981.

The unincorporated church association bylaws give important legal definitions to the following terms within the WCG church association (my comments or emphasis are in red, WCG church bylaws text default in black):

BYLAWS OF THE CHURCH OF GOD (a/k/a WORLDWIDE CHURCH OF GOD) AN UNINCORPORATED ASSOCIATION

1.1 "Church" shall mean and include the Church of God, a/k/a Worldwide Church of God, an unincorporated association. (Note here the term "Church" is defined as referring to the Worldwide Church of God, which Church is specifically defined here to include an unincorporated association. Churches may choose to organize themselves as associations; and may or may not prefer to incorporate the church association in question. Lack of incorporation of his church association provided Armstrong greater secrecy and less possibility of governmental intrusion. Even though unincorporated at the highest level, church associations may choose to govern themselves with sets of formal, written articles and bylaws. Church associations may also form affiliated religious corporations with which to conduct business (as was the case of the WCG California incorporation in 1948), or to form religious schools and colleges.)

1.2 "Church Authority" (meaning Tkach) shall mean and include the power and authority vested in the Pastor General and his duly authorized delegates, and in the event that either of the conditions occur set forth in §5.4 and §5.5 of Article V of the Articles of Association (Note reproduced here are the Bylaws (and not Articles) of the Unincorporated WCG Church Association; to my knowledge, the written general Articles governing the unincorporated WCG Church association have never been made public. For example, sections "5.4 and 5.5 of Article V" refer to the most basic WCG church organization unincorporated Articles of Association, which Tkach holds as his secret) (or any corresponding renumbered section or article), then it shall mean and include the Advisory Council of Elders and their duly authorized delegates.

1.3 "Church Law" shall mean and include the Church's Articles of Association, bylaws, (once again the Church's Articles of Association and bylaws are referred to separately here) resolutions, and its ecclesiastical doctrines, Determinations, tenets, rules, customs and teachings, all as they are now in force or may hereafter be adopted, amended or repealed, with or without notice, by the Church Authority. (Church Authority, defined as primarily meaning Tkach - ed.)

1.4 "Ecclesiastical Determination" shall mean and include a decision that requires spiritual discernment. Such decision shall be within the sole and subjective discretion of the Church Authority (meaning Tkach alone has the sole and subjective discretion to make these decisions), shall be conclusive and final, subject to review by the Church Authority(Tkach), and shall not require oral or written evidence as to its basis.

ARTICLE II -- Offices

2.1 The principal Office and other offices of the Church, for the transaction of its ecclesiastical and temporal activities, shall be designated by the Church Authority as they deem advisable according to circumstances.

ARTICLE III - Members

The Classes of Members

3.1 Associational Members. The Association as an entity shall have one class of members. The only members of the Association shall be the Pastor General and the Advisory Council of Elders as it shall from time to time be constituted. (And only Tkach, the Church Authority, has the power to appoint and summarily dismiss Elders of the unincorporated Association for any cause and without a hearing, and only they collectively have the power to make decisions to govern the entire denomination.)

In the interests of determining exactly what section 1.2 above refers to when it mentions specificially "§5.4 and §5.5 of Article V of the Articles of Association", numerically §5.4 and §5.5 of these Bylaws of the Association simply define the place, call, and proper notice for Board of Elders meetings. The subject matter does NOT have to do with the stated conditions in the above bylaw §1.2 on "Church Authority". The WCG church association Bylaws further refer to a specific, §5.5 of the Articles of Association of the Church (see below). This means § 5.4 and 5.5 cannot possibly refer to the WCG California corporate bylaws, which the WCG was already infamously forced to publish in the Worldwide News. Nor could it possibly be referring to church association Bylaw §5.5, which merely defines the call and proper notice requirements for a meeting of the WCG Board of Elders. Sections 5.4 and 5.5 therefore must refer to provisions found in a separate document detailing the WCG unincorporated Articles of Association. For instance, it refers over to the WCG Articles of Association in another church bylaws section besides § 1.2 (as follows in bylaw §5.6) :

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5.6 "Inability . . . to govern" as used herein and in § 5.5 of the Articles of Association of the Church (another specific reference here over to Articles of Association of the Church - so what does Tkach's complete Church Association law §5.5 provide for, in this incapacitating instance?), shall mean:

5.6.1 The unambiguous oral or written statement by the Pastor General that he is subject to an "inability to govern," which statement is made in the presence of four members of the Advisory Council of Elders, which four members subsequently reduce such event to writing and affirm to the same as having taken place,"
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Based on the foregoing excerpts, the conclusion must be the WCG has certain longstanding Articles of Association of the Church, which Tkach has yet to publish to his worldwide denomination, the terms of which cover many legalities- including Tkach's present term of office as Pastor General, and power relations within the entire multi-national WCG church association. The as yet unseen, and publicly unincorporated, WCG Articles of Association would also deal with such matters as the Canadian Church having, or not having, the right to independently adopt the Carter model of governance. They include still unknown, cultic provisions which deal with all possible future conditions involving the probable inability of the Pastor General to govern the WCG, and the rules which govern precisely how his eventual successor is to be selected by the WCG. This probable inability to govern the WCG becomes higher and the secret selection mechanism for his successor becomes all the more important, as Tkach ages towards his upcoming retirement. Time is running out for both Tkach and Feazell to reform the church association bylaws, if they intend to do so as current church employees.

Since Tkach called for a review and reform study of the church law in the Worldwide News in 1997, isn't it by now time for Tkach to make known at least the secret, cultic, legalistic WCG Articles of Association governing his entire cult? Just how long does it take to complete a thorough review with reform recommendations of the secretly held WCG constituent legal documents? Or to quote WCG bylaw § 5.6, does Tkach have a certain "inability . . . to govern" with credibility, frankness, or moral integrity?

Tkach's Tithing Tactic

Is tithing voluntary in the Worldwide Church of God for pastors?

Quoting chapter and verse from the currently-in-force "WCG Administrative Manual", section 6375 (June 2007 version, source below):

"Pastors should teach that financial
giving is an aspect of worship. As teachers, pastors
should be generous stewards (it is the policy of the
WCG that all employed pastors tithe their income;
bivocational pastors are expected to be generous
donors in accordance with their income levels)."

It would be interesting to see what New Testament scriptural support, if any, Tkach claims for his policy of requiring WCG pastors to tithe on their paychecks.

Since tithing on their paycheck is required of WCG pastors, just exactly how would Tkach know his pastors were tithing, without doing a tithe check on the entire ministry? Does he run periodic tithe checks on the ministry to determine compliance with his tithing policy? On the HQ employees? And how would the the ministry know if the Tkachs themselves were tithing, without knowing the amount of secret salary the WCG pays to the Tkachs? Would WCG pastors check out the private donation records of their members to determine who is actually donating the most (or least?) in their congregation and district?

Herbert Armstrong repeatedly said, "Tithing pays off!" He also claimed, "This Is the Life!-Real Abundant Living!" True, as a means of financing WCG government, it really does pay off.

Perhaps this is why the current Pastor General Tkach believes in pastors tithing so much as an official WCG church policy. He has his pastors tithe on their own monetary income to HQ, to set such a high standard of giving for their congregations. Perhaps someday the Tkachs will become accountable on the WCG's complete lack of HQ financial reporting to it's constituent congregations. It would also be interesting to let Worldwiders know if tithing on pastoral incomes to the WCG HQ has played a key role in ending their HQ financial worries.

Your valued comments on AmbassadorReports.blogspot.com are appreciated and may even be posted anonymously should you desire anonymity. ;)

Stan

Source: Chapter Six - WCG Administrative Manual

Are Local WCG Congregations Following HQ Financial Reporting Policy?

A poster commented:

Stan,

It's not just HQ that's not being willing to be up front with the membership about offerings and what's being done with them. The local congregations (at least this one) bears watching as well.

While we were just shown a budget for this year recently, we have never been told how last year's funds were actually spent. It's one thing to say you plan to do something; actually doing it is another thing entirely.

After our previous experiences with the WCG under HWA, you would think a minister would know better than to say give your money to Jesus and let it go, and expect people to just go along with it.

Thank you for drawing attention to this most important aspect of giving in the WCG, but not getting appropriate financial reporting in return.

You do well in drawing a distinction between a congregation's projected budget and spending with what actually takes place during the fiscal year. Rarely if ever do the two perfectly coincide. If the budget, donations and spending did match exactly, your pastor must be able to prophesy the future, well in advance. Even Alan Greenspan isn't that good at forecasting!

Ambassador Reports has knowledge of other members reporting that they can't get the HQ mandated local financial information from their Pastor. Dan Rodgers, Director of WCG Church administration, and your regional pastoral leader should be notified about this troubling situation in your church. Local church pastors must keep their congregations fully informed with certain periodic financial reports, not just how well the local budget is doing. If the pastor doesn't give after a friendly reminder, perhaps some further administrative action may be in order.

Tkach has demanded financial and administrative accountability from local WCG congregations through highly detailed rules and regulations in the WCG financial and administrative manuals. Part of his financial rule is to require local congregations to develop and locally approve of an annual budget which calls for electronic funds transfer of 15% of donations given ("apportionment income") from the local offerings over to the Glendora headquarters bank account on a set day each month. All the better to electronically monitor local weekly attendance and giving records! Local pastors salary and compensation is similarly transmitted electronically from Glendora back to the local pastor's separate account.

The manuals also direct the pastor of the local congregation and finance committee to keep the local WCG members fully informed in specific ways about the local finances, not just the lack of donations or if meeting budgeted expectations. The local congregation is to receive a certain number of stipulated, written financial reports with detailed information on at least a periodic basis. Summary financial information from the previous year is to be used locally to plan next year's budget. Your congregation may want to go above and beyond the minimum reporting requirement standards as required by the financial manual.

Chapter 8 of the WCG Financial Manual should prove helpful to you. Required financial reports of local congregations are described in this section, along with frequency of reporting and designated recipients in the pecking order. It specifically states that reports to be received by the congregation are to be posted on a bulletin board or in a bulletin or newsletter available to all members. Are you getting these reports through bulletin boards? Perhaps your local newsletter is getting filtered out as spam by your internet service provider.

Reports to be received by Glendora HQ are to be submitted electronically, through the Internet. If required financial reports become overdue by more than six months, HQ may audit the congregation’s records or take other appropriate action, charging your congregation for associated costs for the inquisition. Local congregations are responsible for reporting to HQ according to certain deadlines.

WCG financial reporting deadlines are:
Weekly reports are due by Tuesday of the week following
Monthly reports are due by the 10th of the month following
Quarterly reports are due by the 30th of the month following
Year-end report is due by March 1 of the year following

WCG Financial Manual

Good luck in your quest to get your Pastor to follow Tkach' local disclosure financial rules. You always have the option of not donating to an unaccountable Worldwide Church of God! What are they going to do, run a tithe check on you?

Read Top Secret Plain Truth Ministry Tax Reports

It's been next to impossible to get any consistent, solid financial information on the WCG since the Tkachs took over in 1986. You see, under the Armstrong era, the cult invented the absurd "Catch-22" glitch that one has to be a member of the WCG "in good standing" (meaning passing a computer "tithe check", maybe?) to qualify to ask for any HQ financial information. But then, a loyal, lowly WCG tithe payer who dared presume themselves to be "in good standing" would then likely be marked, branded and disfellowshipped with the excommunication boot for even asking HQ for such information. The Tkachs have a Statement of Financial Stewardship on the wcg.org website, but don't let it lead you to believe the Tkachs are open with the lowly WCG donors about disclosing their salaries, lifetime employment compensation contracts or even the Worldwide headquarters financial statements.

What Christian grace is that kind of disclosure, taking income from the offering plate, but not disclosing salary and financial statements to the Church you supposedly serve?

There is a way to penetrate some of the secrecy surrounding the WCG financial empire. PTM tax returns or 990s, can now be obtained through the Office of the California Attorney General website.

Click on the link below for summary information and tax return pdfs for tax information filed by the Plain Truth officers for a particular year. It is in the pdfs you will find a greater level of disclosure, but not enough for Worldwide Church of God members and donors to know what's really going on. For example, Tkach's hidden six or seven figure compensation on these tax returns is reported as zero - meaning none of your da$%n business! Of course, Greg Albrecht's compensation as the Plain Truth director has to be disclosed, because the IRS mandates such salary disclosure of top employees by tax exempt organizations. Plain Truth Ministries Worldwide (California corporation C0742587) was incorporated March 17, 1975 by the Worldwide Church of God. The summary link notes the PTM tax ruling was approved after incorporation in 1975.

Also, please realize that in no way these 990 tax information returns qualify as any kind of endorsement or approval of the reported spending or the financial actions of the church or ministry by the Attorney General. Absolute, unchecked power in any organization tends to lead to corruption of a variety of sorts. The board of directors of the corporation with the council of member elders of the WCG church association have the very same fiduciary duties of loyalty and fidelity to the WCG (which duties were continually breached before, during and after the 1979 receivership) as they do today under Tkach Jr.

The forms are supposed to be filled out according to Internal Revenue Service guidelines. The 990 forms in Adobe Acrobat are information required to be sent to the IRS and put into format by Guidestar to help the public figure out how donated nonprofit money is utilized, and for what overhead expenses and purposes. Obviously, this kind of information is not yet legally required to be published on the PTM and other ministry websites, but it should in the Church's best interest be easily obtainable.

Just scroll around on the summary page or if you want more, click on the yellow 990 pdf icon in the upper right hand corner for a particular tax year. Until just recently, Joe Tkach Jr. was President and Director of PT Ministries with a controlling vote on the PTM board of directors. The 990s reveal a substantial amount of asset transfer and financial support by the Worldwide Church of God.

For easy access, click on this Guidestar link, type "Plain Truth" in the search box, hit the return key (enter), click on choice #2 "Plain Truth Ministries Worldwide, and you're there! Get ready for some Plain Truth on the finances!