To: Board of Directors, The Church of God, a Christian Fellowship

From: Council of Elders, The United Church of God, an International Association

Date: May 11, 2000

Greetings from Cincinnati,

The attached letter and invitation were discussed yesterday at our May Council session held in Cincinnati at the close of our annual General Conference of Elders meeting. The letter and its invitation met with unanimous approval from the Council of Elders.

We understand that you too will be holding a meeting for all of your ministers at the end of May. Not having access to all their names and addresses, we have chosen to write each member of your Board of Directors as the representative body of the ministry of the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship. We hope you will discuss our letter with your entire ministry when you meet later this month.

May God be with your upcoming meeting,

[signature on original document]

Robert Dick on behalf of the Council of Elders

May 10, 2000

[individually addressed to each member of the Board of Directors, per cover memo]

Dear Fellow Ministers of Jesus Christ,

The Church of God has been subjected to many trials since the death of Mr. Armstrong. Could any of us have predicted the progressive abandonment of the doctrines that we hold dear? Could any have foreseen the appropriation of our Church that drove away those who held fast the commandments of God?

Looking back, it is apparent that each of us at our own time was faced with a need to act to preserve our belief in the faith to which we were called. The resultant fragmentation of God’s people was a sadness to us all. We are aware that those elders who comprise CGCF stood fast in the truth despite the loss of jobs, friends, and even family members. Your courage has not gone unrecognized.

If we could turn back the clock we probably would have dealt with many things differently. However, that is not possible. We must "leave those things that are behind" and press forward, continuing to preach the gospel to those God may call and preparing for His kingdom those He has already called.

We recognize as the various groups formed during the past decade many hurtful and unchristian things have been said, both in public and in private. Virtually all of us in the ministry at one time or another have been judgmental of others and have made statements that we regret. We hope these things can be put behind us, and that we as brothers in Christ’s ministry can forgive each other and that God’s people will also extend the hand of forgiveness to us and to each other.

Many have asked the question in recent years, "Why do people who believe the same doctrines assemble in different places and refuse to meet together?" We need to answer this question. At recent Feasts members and ministers of both of our churches have enjoyed fellowship, combined youth activities, talent shows, and visiting for services. It has been recognized by most of us that our common heritage remains strong, our teachings and understanding of God’s word are the same, and what differences remain are primarily a matter of perceptions or past hurts.

We are formally and personally writing you with an invitation to continue the dialogue begun several months ago on how we might serve God’s people and preach the truth of the Gospel to the world. If this meets with your approval, we would like to suggest that a joint task force comprised of elders from both of our organizations be formed to work out the details of how we might go about developing a closer relationship. They would report their findings to both bodies and make recommendations on how to proceed. Knowing that you will be meeting May 28, could we ask for your thoughts on the formation of a joint task force following the conclusion of your conference?

We hope you will accept our invitation, considering what a tremendous example it would be for God’s people to see coming together instead of splintering, and to have the ministry be a model of Christian forgiveness and reconciliation.

As a Council of Elders we are asking you to join us in prayer concerning this proposal and the unity that should be among God’s people.

With Christian and Brotherly Love,

[signatures on original document]

Robert Dick

Leslie McCullough

Leon Walker

Roy Holladay

Richard Thompson

Dennis Luker

Gary Antion

Aaron Dean

H. Burk McNair

Donald Ward

John Jewell

Victor Kubik