Behind the Scenes at the Louisville Conference

The Church of God, a Worldwide Association took a unique approach to encouraging member involvement in its historic inaugural conference in Louisville, Kentucky, January 9-11, 2011.

 

Members were invited in advance to attend all of the plenary sessions of the conference and to give input on governance. The Church committed itself to take a longer period to study and then propose choices for its permanent governance structure at a later date. That date was left open, although preliminary work was reported on at the conference.

 

Members needed only to register in advance in order to attend so conference planners would know what size rooms were needed for meetings, church services and social gatherings.

 

Church members also heard presentations in the plenary sessions about administration plans, proposals for preaching the gospel, building a literature base, establishing camps, preparing for festival observance and caring for local congregations.

 

During the first day of the meetings, the chairman of the interim governance committee presented two options for the interim governance of the Church. The elders had breakout sessions to discuss those options which the committee had prepared based upon preconference submissions and meetings. Members were also welcome to attend these sessions and were able to join with the elders in asking questions concerning the two options.

 

In this manner, the ministry in attendance was fully informed about their options for interim governance so that they could then prayerfully consider the choice they would make by written ballot the next day. A Church member observed that the process made it obvious that no method or team of interim governance had been predetermined — that the elders attending the conference were truly deciding what it would be.

 

Later in the conference, there was a second series of breakout meetings to discuss the permanent government structure. In both breakout sessions (the one for interim governance and the one for long-term governance) the attendees were divided into three groups in order to keep the number at a level that would optimize the opportunities for everyone to make comments or ask questions.

 

All sessions had moderators who were serving on the respective committees for interim or long-term governance. The moderators led the discussions, answered questions and took notes on suggestions to add to the research and the planning that the committees had already done.

 

The members were able to see, hear and join in the respectful exchange of ideas as participants spoke of church, business and life experience. Ministers and members alike cited Scriptures that applied to the given topic as they collectively sought God’s will. A member from the Queens, New York, congregation offered how moved and impressed he was at what he witnessed, at how he was welcomed and at how respectfully his comments were treated.

 

There were also two planned social gatherings for members, elders and wives during the conference. Numerous additional informal gatherings took place over meals, in individual suites and during breaks between conference meetings.

 

Many additional members followed the conference’s plenary sessions by webcast, enabling them to share some of what the attendees experienced. The spirit of the conference was peaceful and inspiring, leaving all with a sense of “moving on” in the work to which God has called His Church.