Chapter Eighteen – The Second Commission Operational Plan
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Jesus taught His disciples—recall His question and follow-up statement three times to Peter—;If you love Me, feed My sheep (John 21:15-17). Later, the then apostle Peter, having gotten the point, instructed in his first epistle, ;Feed the flock of God (1 Peter 5:1-2).
We recognize the importance that the Head of His Church placed on the Second Commission—feeding His flock.
Of course, and this is obvious, all of the previous chapter’s plans and programs would be in addition to field ministers we will continue to hire. Anyone experienced with God’s Church and Work knows its development would be limited—that it could not truly grow even close to its full potential—and potential size—unless there are sufficient ;labourers in the harvest (Matt. 9:36-38) who can baptize and care for those around the world learning God’s truth and coming to repentance.
This means field pastors.
The Restored Church of God has grown by 257% since 2005—or in six years. By every account this is stunning growth. Pause and savor it—and what it means.
All of these percentages reflect many hundreds of new brethren to be cared for. And what if events in the splinters catapult larger numbers our direction due to significant events and/or even worse doctrinal changes there that no one can anticipate? Things you are reading about here could trigger more brethren to soon recognize the ;fingerprints of God all over THIS WORK, and none other. In fact, this is happening!
This presents an extraordinary ongoing challenge: The Church is charged with taking care of—feeding and protecting—Christ’s growing number of sheep in future years. We are continuing to rapidly hire additionaltrained pastors across the world.
Another Way Time Is Running Out!
It is apparent to even the most undiscerning person with God’s Spirit that the great majority of ministers in the WCG completely fell away during the apostasy. But this is only the obvious part of an ugly story.
When looking across the landscape of the splinters, to where the ;surviving ministers and elders went, the picture is hardly more attractive. Already-trained pastors that God may still intend to send us from those organizations will almost certainly have to come soon.
In a tragedy of epic proportion, so many of these men have simply thrown out, altered or forgotten too much truth, too much about the Church’s commissions, too much about the government of God, too much about even what is and is not the Church, too much of all that happened under Mr. Armstrong’s leadership—and so much more—to recover. Most have become too weak, confused, blind and compromised to find their way out of ;the swamp. No matter how much we might wish the situation to be otherwise, we must accept God’s Master Plan for His Church and Temple at the end as that Plan is. Thus, we are going forward with or without more ministers and elders having anointed their eyes.
Therefore, already having existing members or prospective members in over 50 countries, we have furtherdeveloped a SECOND COMMISSION OPERATIONAL PLAN. It includes more Feast sites, more field pastors, larger general conferences, more congregations requiring halls because they have become too large to meet in homes, and more.
Pastoral Training Program
We have established an extensive training process for ministers. There are no more Ambassador Colleges as such, so a different and sophisticated plan had to be enacted. (More on our Training Center later.)
We pray constantly in the spirit of Matthew 9:36-38 that God will ;send forth more laborers into the harvest! Of course, He has never failed to do this, either today or in any previous age. We are confident the all-powerful Christ will meet the needs of His Church.
Two maps are included to show our full-time ministers by the end of 2012. They reflect the minimum by that point to properly supervise God’s people in the United States and internationally. We hope to hire at least four to eight or more pastors or associate pastors annually. Of course, more faithful local church elders continue to be ordained or to join us.
Why Did You Wait So Long…?
An inset here is helpful: Some few could wonder why we ;waited so long to greatly expand our full-time ministry. Obviously, such questions would most naturally come from those in the big splinters who attracted the most ministers when they left the Worldwide Church of God. These would be unfamiliar with or have forgotten that it was over 20 years into the Philadelphian era of the Church before Mr. Armstrong was able to hire even a single pastor anywhere in the world.
As with the First Commission, certain things had to happen sequentially for us to go forward in a bigger way with more pastors:
(1) We had to grow large enough to need more full-time pastors. Our early annual rate of growth was generally in the 8-15% range, with these increases also coming off smaller base numbers in those years. Now growth is 20-30% every year!
(2) As with construction of a building or any major expenditure, we had to be able to afford ministers, including their expenses, within a grander budget of competing needs.
(3) We were able for a long time—and still can in some areas a while longer—to effectively manage God’s flock through local church elders, deacons, experienced local pillars, the Host Information Manual, the marvels and availability of powerful technology, a strong Headquarters Church Administration team, as well as weekly sermons and Announcement Bulletins, and The Pillar magazine. There was also the remarkable efficiency attributable to the government of God at work.
(4) Another ;invisible element about RCG has also been present—and in a big way. Because of the unparalleled wonderful unity and peace that prevails among the RCG brethren as a whole, the need for pastors in any significant number early on remained suppressed. Just the complete lack of doctrinal confusion and division has paid—and will continue to pay—its own incalculable dividends for the rest of the age.
(5) We wanted to be sure that those ministers (and wives) whom we hired were properly trained—that they would not make the same kinds of mistakes the vast majority of almost 2,000 ordained men and wives before them had made! This meant patiently and properly preparing them for service.
Besides having almost 30 full-time ministers already, our strategy involves, in what is just our 13th year of existence, the hiring of a great many more pastors over time. We know this plan is ambitious, but it will happen because all the ingredients are in place!
One of the three buildings on our Headquarters campus will be devoted to Ambassador Center. A powerful, broadly based—and very experienced!—faculty is in place. It is every bit on par with the Ambassador faculties of the past!
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