Worldwide Church of God

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The Worldwide Church of God , WKG for short, English Worldwide Church of God (since April 3, 2009 Grace Communion International ) is an evangelical free church with evangelical character with currently approx. 42,000 members in 900 local congregations in around 90 countries around the world. It was founded in 1933 in Oregon / USA .

Size and organization

The Worldwide Church of God is hierarchically organized from its headquarters in Glendora, California (USA) . It is headed by a President ( Pastor General ) - currently Joseph W. Tkach jr. -, a board of directors and a council of elders. The individual congregations are led by a pastor who is assisted by elders, deacons, and lay members. Since 2007 women can also be ordained as elders in the WKG and lead a church.

In the United States, the Church has been a member of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE), part of the World Evangelical Alliance , since April 15, 1997 .

In Germany the church is registered in the legal form of a foundation under private law with its seat in Bonn. Until December 31, 1997 it was called "Ambassador College". Since July 1997, Santiago Lange has been responsible for Germany and Austria in the WKG. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland there are eight local parishes with around 160 members.

The first WKG congregation in German-speaking Switzerland was founded in Zurich in 1968. In the German-speaking Switzerland the church since January 1, 1998 as is club Worldwide Church of God, Zurich organized.

history

prehistory

BF Snook and WH Brinkerhoff, two elders of the then still new Iowa Conference within the Seventh-day Adventists , left them and founded a new church in Marion, Iowa , in 1886 . In 1889 they chose Stanbury / Missouri as their new location. They named their congregation Church of God (Adventist) .

Herbert W. Armstrong, who grew up in a Quaker family and trained as an advertising specialist, had joined the Church of God (Adventist) with his wife . Due to a dispute about the line, he left this church with many believers and founded the Church of God (Seventh Day) . Because he supported the Anglo-Israelism theory, he left it too and founded his own church, the World Church of God .

Under Herbert W. Armstrong

Teaching under Armstrong

Armstrong's theology in the early days was in many ways identical to that of the Seventh-day Adventists. He expanded this system in an eclectic way : he rejected the doctrine of hell and the eternal punishment of the damned and replaced it with the doctrine of annihilationism, which is widespread in Adventist circles . Similar to the Jehovah's Witnesses , he rejected the doctrine of the divine Trinity and the physical resurrection of Jesus Christ. Similar to the Mormons, he taught that after the return of Christ man could be born again into the family of God.

Armstrong rejected festivals such as Christmas and Easter as "pagan". Instead, he concluded from the books of Moses ( Pentateuch ) that the weekly holiday Sabbath from Friday evening to Saturday evening and annual festivals such as the Day of Atonement ( Yom Kippur ) and the Feast of Tabernacles ( Sukkot ) are also binding for Christians. He also declared tithes and the Mosaic dietary regulations to be binding.

In addition, he adopted the Anglo-Israelism theory (also known as the “ British Israel theory ”) and developed it further. According to this theory, the Anglo-Saxon world descends from the ten "lost tribes" of the " house of Israel " and the English royal family continues the kingship of the house of David .

Armstrong also focused on the end-time descriptions in the Bible, especially in the books of Daniel and Revelation . On the basis of “prophetic inspiration” Armstrong announced the return of Christ for 1972 and 1977 respectively .

For 1975 the destruction of the USA by Germany was also prophesied, which church members could escape by fleeing to the ruins of Petra (Jordan) .

Media mission

The Worldwide Church of God began the radio mission in 1934 after a local radio station had offered airtime a year earlier. From the radio work, called the Radio Church of God , new churches emerged. In 1947 Armstrong moved to southern California to be closer to the broadcasters. The WKG then had more airtime on radio and television and on more stations than any other Christian special community in the world.

The radio program has been broadcast in Europe since 1953 and in Germany since 1960. A television program was added later , The World Tomorrow , which was later also broadcast in German under the title Die Welt von Morgen on RTL plus .

From the radio work that gave the movement its first name, was born in the year 1934, a magazine called The Plain Truth ( The Amazing Truth , from 1961 also in the German language, from 1971 onwards under the title clear and true ) missionierendem focusing . Later, the in-depth magazine came Good News (Good News) to do so. In addition, the teachings of the Church were detailed in a variety of themed brochures.

Training of pastors

In the course of growth, the Ambassador College in Pasadena, California, opened its own training facility for Church employees in 1947 . Another college was established in 1960 in St Albans near London , but was soon closed again, a third in Big Sandy (Texas) in 1964 . The college in Pasadena was moved to Dallas , Texas in 1990 .

Spin-offs from 1974

In 1974 various preachers left the church. They had different views and a. on the appointment of Pentecost and the remarriage of the divorced. They founded the Church of God, the Eternal.

In 1978 Armstrong's son, Garner Ted Armstrong, was expelled from the Church on charges of sexual misconduct. He then founded the Church of God International (USA) based in Tyler / Texas.

Changes after Armstrong's death in 1986

After Herbert W. Armstrong's death on January 16, 1986, Joseph W. Tkach (senior) was elected as his successor. Gradually there were changes, also supported by the fact that one's own examination against the Bible was never completely suppressed.

In 1988 the ban on make-up was lifted and the long-frowned state accreditation for the Ambassador College was applied for. In 1989, brochures that taught a now no longer recognized concept of healing God were stopped. Since 1991 it has no longer been taught that man's goal is to become God, but that he is already born again when he comes to faith. In late 1992 it was recognized that there were true Christians outside the WCG. In 1993 the denial of the eternal sonship of Jesus was abandoned, the doctrine of the Trinity was introduced and Anglo-Israelism was rejected.

On December 24, 1994, Tkach delivered a fundamental Christmas sermon entitled Understanding the Covenants , which marked the real turning point. At the beginning of 1995 the development was irreversible. As a result, followers of the ancient teachings founded their own church in Indianapolis in May 1995 , the United Church of God .

After Tkach's death on September 23, 1995, he was followed by his son Joseph W. Tkach jr. (* 1951) as Pastor General .

The Worldwide Church of God had around 125,000 members by 1992, 110,000 in 1994 and 58,000 in 1997.

Establishment of church relations from 1996

After the Church under Armstrong had regarded itself as the only true Church, in 1996 it publicly asked for forgiveness for its previous exclusive thinking and behavior and for false beliefs. In her transformation process she was supported by leading American evangelicals .

In the United States, the Worldwide Church of God has been a member of the National Association of Evangelicals , an association of evangelical denominations, since 1997 .

In 1999, representatives of the Bonn community of the WKG were unanimously accepted as members of the Evangelical Alliance Bonn. In the same year the church became a member of the Christian Churches Working Group in Bonn.

In Basel, the WKG congregation is a member of the local section of the Evangelical Alliance .

Today's teaching and practice

The Worldwide Church of God affirms the Apostles' Creed and the base of faith of the Evangelical Alliance .

She practices adult baptism by immersion in water after a person to be baptized has expressed repentance and faith in Christ. If someone who was baptized in Christianity as an infant wishes to become a member of the WKG, no new water baptism is required, but is possible on request. What is decisive for them is the reality of the rebirth, not the form of the baptism ceremony.

In addition to baptism, followers of the Worldwide Church of God also celebrate the Lord's Supper as commanded by Jesus.

literature

  • Living Hope Ministries: Called to be Free. A video about the transformation of the Worldwide Church of God. 2004.
  • J. Michael Feazell: Liberation of the Worldwide Church of God. 2001.
  • Thomas Schirrmacher : A sect becomes Protestant . The Reformation of the Worldwide Church of God. idea documentation 11/2000.
  • George Mather / Larry Nichol: Rediscovering the Plain Truth . InterVarsity, 1997.
  • Joseph Tkach: Transformed by Truth. Multnomah 1997. Online version: http://www.gci.org/aboutus/truth
  • Ruth Tucker: From the Fringe to the Fold: How the Worldwide Church of God Discovered the Plain Truth of the Gospel. In: Christianity Today. July 15, 1996.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of March 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on: March 8, 2012).
  2. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 20.
  3. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 18.
  4. ↑ http://www.inforel.ch/i1124.html (accessed on: March 8, 2012).
  5. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, pp. 18-20.
  6. ↑ http://www.inforel.ch/i1124.html (accessed on: March 8, 2012).
  7. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 17.
  8. ^ Walter Martin: The Kingdom of the Cults. 36th revised and expanded edition. Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis / Minnesota 1985, ISBN 0-87123-796-2 , p. 305.
  9. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 16f.
  10. ^ Walter Martin: The Kingdom of the Cults. 36th revised and expanded edition. Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis / Minnesota 1985, ISBN 0-87123-796-2 , p. 305.
  11. ^ Walter Martin: The Kingdom of the Cults. 36th revised and expanded edition. Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis / Minnesota 1985, ISBN 0-87123-796-2 , p. 305.
  12. ^ Walter Martin: The Kingdom of the Cults. 36th revised and expanded edition. Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis / Minnesota 1985, ISBN 0-87123-796-2 , p. 305.
  13. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 17.
  14. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 17.
  15. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 17.
  16. ^ Christian News (St. Paul, MN, USA): Dispatches July 3, 1985
  17. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 16f.
  18. ↑ http://www.gci.org/aboutus/history (accessed on: March 8, 2012).
  19. ^ Walter Martin: The Kingdom of the Cults. 36th revised and expanded edition. Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis / Minnesota 1985, ISBN 0-87123-796-2 , p. 304.
  20. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 17.
  21. ↑ http://www.gci.org/aboutus/history (accessed on: March 8, 2012).
  22. ^ Oswald Eggenberger: The churches, special groups and religious associations. A manual. 6th, revised and expanded edition. Theological Publishing House Zurich 1994. ISBN 3-290-11639-5 , p. 145.
  23. ↑ not to be confused with the Church of the Eternal God , another split from the Armstrong group
  24. ^ Oswald Eggenberger: The churches, special groups and religious associations. A manual. 6th, revised and expanded edition. Theological Publishing House Zurich 1994. ISBN 3-290-11639-5 , p. 146.
  25. ↑ Harold J. Berry: Armstrongism. Is it the plain truth? Back to the Bible, Lincoln / Nebraska 1985, ISBN 0-8474-0753-5 , p. 4.
  26. ^ Oswald Eggenberger: The churches, special groups and religious associations. A manual. 6th, revised and expanded edition. Theological Publishing House Zurich 1994. ISBN 3-290-11639-5 , p. 146.
  27. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 17.
  28. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 17f.
  29. ↑ Evangelical Information Center (ed.): Information sheet. 48th year, No. 3 and 4, Rüti ZH 2011, p. 20.
  30. ^ EA Basel ( Memento from September 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (accessed on: March 8, 2012).