2 The Church Advocate

This summer our church, Movement, spent twelve weeks walking to-gether through the book of Acts in a series called “Unstoppable.” What we said throughout the series is that there are very few things in this world that are truly unstoppable, but Jesus tells us that His Church is one of them. In Matthew 16, Jesus tells Peter this: “Listen, I’m going to build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” In other words, nothing is going to stand in the way of my people living out my mission.

That brings us here today; we are a part of this unstoppable movement called the Church. In the Unstoppable series we asked: “What made the early church so unstoppable?” What we see right from the beginning of Acts is that it was the power of the Holy Spirit that was the foundation of this un-stoppable movement (Acts 1:8). It was and is God’s power that makes the church unstoppable. But through God’s power, what are the things the early church valued that made it so attractive, irresistible, and unstoppable to the

people in the first century? What did they value that we can value in order to have that same impact that saw “the Lord add to their num-ber daily those who were being saved”?

One of my favorite pictures of what made the church so unstoppable is found in Acts 4. Here is how Luke describes what is go-ing on in the church: “32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they

Unstoppable Generosity

by Eric Ferguson

October/November 2017 3

THE CHURCH ADVOCATE (ISSN 0009-630X) is published bi-monthly by the Churches of God, General Conference. Vol. 182, No. 5.

Established June 5, 1835 as THE GOSPELPUBLISHER, re-established on May 1, 1846 asTHE CHURCH ADVOCATE.

Rachel Foreman, managing editor

The Church Advocate, official publication of the Churches of God, General Conference, exists toencourage an informed people to be the Church.

Correspondence: Address correspondence to The Editor, The Church Advocate, Churches of GodPublications, PO Box 926, Findlay, OH 45839, or email to communications@cggc.org.

Periodical rate paid at Findlay, Ohio and at additional mailing offices.

Postmaster: Send address changes to THE CHURCH ADVOCATE, PO Box 926, Findlay, OH 45839.

© 2017, Churches of God, General Conference

Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints (Jude 3b).

felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 33 The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. 34 There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need” (Acts 4:32-37).

Now, just let that soak in for a minute. This is such an incredible picture. It is really the church at its best. It sounds almost too good to be true. The church was united in heart and mind. There were no needy people among them because they provided for each other. And Luke tells us the mindset, the belief, the value that drove the church in this direction. He says it in a very simple way. “They felt that what they owned was not their own.” In other words, everything I have is God’s. Therefore, what I have is not really mine, it’s God’s. If we truly believe this to be true, then our posture changes from closed-handed to open-handed. If we are going to follow Jesus, we must come to understand that “what we own is not our own.”

This understanding is really the heartbeat of one of our values at Move-ment. We have a value that is simply stated: We are GENEROUS. Gener-osity is such an important value that we hold onto as a church. It’s one of the primary things that makes the Church irresistible and unstoppable. And what truly generous people have come to understand is this: Everything I have—my time, my talents, my resources—is from God and for God.

One way that we have lived this out in the three years Movement has existed is through an initiative in November called “Live Big.” We were a little over a month old when we decided that we were going to challenge peo-ple to give sacrificially and then give all of that money away to ministry partners we believe in and rally around. Our last weekend in Novem-ber was our “Live Big Give,”

4 The Church Advocate

and we gave over an entire month’s-worth of an operating budget. This was a huge commitment from a church that was nowhere near self-supportive yet, but we felt like if we were going to value generosity, we needed to live generously. God not only provided for what we gave away (which was His to begin with), He blessed us beyond anything that we could imagine. We have made “Live Big” an every year initiative from that point forward. Each year we have been able to give more away and bless more people.

Another way we have lived out our generosity value is through events called “Lunch for a Cause.” Over the past four summers, we have hosted free lunches downtown in our city. We have purchased all of the lunches and then have just encouraged people eating lunch to give to a highlighted community partner. This has been a great chance for our people to give to make it hap-pen, and it’s provided an opportunity for people in our city to express generos-ity. We have made an intentional decision not to promote Movement through these events. We view this as an opportunity to give, expecting nothing in return. This has helped cultivate an incredible culture of generosity.

Finally, this past Christmas we held our Christmas celebration at the performing arts center in our community. The goal was to make this a Christ-mas celebration for our city. We made the decision to partner with an organi-zation called Hope House that provides housing and resources to people in need. We made the intentional decision to not receive an offering for Move-ment but encourage people to support Hope House directly. As always, God has more than provided as we make bold decisions to live generously.

So the question is, how can you live out the value of generosity? How can your church live out the value of generosity? Will you trust God? Will you take a bold step to give, knowing that God will need to show up? Are the leaders at your church willing to give in such a way that it will require God to move? An unstoppable church understands that everything is from God and for God. CA

October/November 2017 5

Our Original Call to Stewardship

by Kara Bowers

Our young adult group, “Pasta and Prayer,” recently did a study about spiritual gifts. We discussed biblical spiritual gifts vs. acquired skills and spiritual disciplines. We debated why the church sometimes refers to “dis-ciplines” as “spiritual gifts,” and how we developed these beliefs. Things we often refer to as spiritual gifts, such as lawn care, cleaning, note tak-ing, commitment, and other disciplines—although good practical skills and rituals—are not Biblical spiritual gifts. Just because someone cleans the church every week does not necessarily mean they have the gift of clean-ing. Just because someone is a handyman and can fix almost anything at the church does not mean they have the spiritual gift of handiwork. These are skills and more importantly disciplines that anyone may de-velop throughout their life. Servants like this are often disciplined to serve one another and the church in ways many of us have yet to develop. From this, we can learn two principles:

1. We are all called to be committed to one another and to be servant leaders reflecting the light in a dark world. This in-volves being disciplined enough to serve one another, even when we are not “gifted” in that area. Disciplined to clean up, disciplined to volunteer, disciplined to give, disciplined to care for the poor, disciplined to be compassionate, disciplined to for-give after 777 times but, most importantly disciplined to serve.

6 The Church Advocate 6 The Church Advocate

2. It is important to remember that all members of the body should have the spiritual discipline of servanthood, as Christ demonstrat-ed. However, we each have biblical spiritual gifts (i.e. proph-ecy, teaching, healing, faith, distinguishing tongues, inter-preting tongues, etc.) of which we should be good stewards. Practicing these gifts will further God’s work.

Like cleaning and handiwork, stewardship is not a spiritual gift but rather a spiritual discipline. A primary area of stewardship is taking care of God’s Earth; not because of climate change or other political reasons, although those too may or may not be valid, but because we are children of God. The family business is caring for creation.

We see in Genesis, Adam’s first task was to care for the garden: “The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to care for it and work

it.” Genesis 2:15

And in the Psalms, we see that the Earth belongs to God:“The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it.” Psalm 24:1

If this Earth is a temporary situation for us, we may hold it in low regard. But when we recognize that it belongs to our Father, then there is a degree of responsibility that comes alongside of our short life. This temporary situ-ation can be likened to borrowing a library book. I would be terribly embar-rassed to give a library book back damaged, as I should be. We should feel the same way about the Earth. Are we mindful of the pollutants we are leaving on his creation? Are we considerate of the future? Just like we are to be stewards of our bodies, God’s temple, are we not to be stewards of the Earth and everything in it?

About a year ago, I joined a denominational leadership group. I noticed in the meetings there were always two types of coffee—coffee in a carafe and coffee in fancy K-cups of different flavors. When I asked which coffee we should be using, I was told that the coffee in the carafe was not very good, and so most people used the K-cups instead. I asked if anyone thought of putting higher quality coffee in the carafe, to minimize our car-bon footprint, trash, and guilt of selfishly filling the earth and ocean with

October/November 2017 7

plastic K-cups. “Well, I suppose that would be smart.” Not only would this minimize our carbon footprint, I would bet it would also cut costs, by purchasing just one type of whole coffee, rather than stocking up on whole coffee and different kinds of K-cups.

If we take time to think through our habits, we may find simple ways to become better stewards of the Earth. Here are some things to consider: Ways to practice everyday steward-ship of the Earth:

¬ Are we driving cars bigger than what we need? ¬ Are we using K-cups or biodegradable coffee filters? ¬ Will our waste rot in the ocean or ground in a biodegradable

trash bag or stay in plastic? ¬ Are we recycling everything we can? ¬ Are we reducing our plastic usage? ¬ Are we driving the most fuel-efficient car we can or using public

transportation when possible?

Steps for Churches to take towards better stewardship of the Earth: ¬ Practice recycling- have recycling bins placed in the narthex for

proper disposal of bulletins. ¬ Have recycling bins the same size as trashcans in the kitchen.

(Write notes on them to say what can and cannot be recycled.) ¬ Use paper products instead of styrofoam or plastic. Or better yet,

roll up those sleeves together and wash dishes. ¬ Make a pot of high quality coffee instead of offering K-cups. ¬ Switch to biodegradable trash bags. ¬ Start composting. ¬ Use non-GMO produce to promote healthier soil that can yield

crops longer. ¬ Start a church and community garden to promote good steward-

ship of the land. ¬ Stop using fertilizers and pesticides on the lawn. Allow God and

water to do their job.

What if we, the church, led the way in caring for God’s Earth? CA

8 The Church Advocate

Taking Care of Peopleby Don Dennison, CGGC Church & Mission Consultant

“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Cor. 4:2). When it comes to stewardship, we usually think of the three “T’s: time, talent, treasure. It is increasingly popular these days to add a fourth “T” to the group: “terrestrial,” meaning stew-ardship of the earth.

However, any discussion of stewardship should not be limited to just those common topics. Our responsibility also encompasses those per-sons entrusted to our care. That includes the role of spiritual leaders who have a responsibility for the people they serve. Peter provides us with a basic instruction for pastors to “Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God” (1 Peter 5:2). Pastors are indeed charged with stewarding those under their spiritual care. That

not only includes feed-ing congregations a balanced diet of sound biblical teaching but also protecting them from guest speakers who promote false teachings. Failure to exercise stewardship in these matters is pastoral malpractice.

But stewardship of personnel goes both ways. Just as spiritual leaders are account-able for how they pro-vide pastoral care, in the same way congre-gations have a respon-sibility towards those who lead them. It makes no difference whether those leaders are sala-ried or volunteer.

October/November 2017 9

Thanks to the Hallmark card company, every October is desig-nated as National Clergy Month. Since 1992, the second Sunday in October has been designated as Clergy Appre-ciation Sunday. Hallmark commer-cialized something that had been too long overlooked, that is: recogniz-ing, uplifting and encouraging pas-tors, missionaries and religious work-ers. Some church-es have expanded the event to encompass the entire month of October with well-deserved tributes being offered each week.

Historically, the African-American church has done a better job of celebrating the ministry anniversary of their pastors with a special day of recognition and generosity. This practice, which demonstrates the church’s loyalty and devotion to their pastor, seems to have originated at a time when their clergy weren’t compensated very well on a weekly basis. The anniversary gifts were intended to make up for a limited salary. But Paul reminds us, “Those who are taught the word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them” (Galatians 6:6, NLT).

Pastoral compensation has improved significantly over the years, but that doesn’t diminish the importance of properly honoring spiritual leaders. Scripture says “…honor those who are your leaders in the Lord’s work. They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work” (1 Thessalo-nians 5:12-13, NLT). Blessed are the churches and pastoral staff where ministry milestones are recognized and celebrated.

That being said, most churches could do a far better job in the “care and feeding of volunteers” who are essential to making any ministry effective. Since the church is the largest volunteer organization in the world, how can we become better stewards of those persons who are entrusted to our care?

10 The Church Advocate

If you want to add value to those who serve, consider implementing these ideas:

1. Prayerfully enlist according to strengths. Never guilt people into serving! Instead help people discover their spiritual gifts as well as their passion. Don’t’ confuse interest with ability. Everyone is gifted but not in the same way, and not all have the expertise to fulfill public roles they may crave. Persons will have a sense of greater fulfillment if they are able to fulfill a calling, enjoy what they do, and succeed at it.

2. Provide ministry description and training. People need to know the specifics of what is expected of them as well as how the task is best accomplished. This promotes confidence and builds account-ability into their service. Be sure the ministry description includes a time frame. People today (more than ever) want to know such spe-cifics before they commit, to avoid being “roped into doing some-thing until Jesus comes.”

3. Individually and publicly affirm volunteers. Everyone wants to be appreciated. Pastoral leaders and ministry directors should peri-odically identify specific ways the volunteers “go the extra mile” in serving. Periodic praise of ministry departments during Sunday wor-ship as well as personal notes, recognition dinners, and/or gift cards make volunteers feel their efforts are appreciated.

4. Encourage feedback and creativity. Volunteers demonstrate more ownership of the ministry when they have input in how it is administered. People need the freedom to make adjustments which improve the overall quality of service. Frequent communication with those in key roles—especially the essential, behind the scenes roles—sends an important message that ministry is a team effort.

What does your church do to value those who serve—whether pas-toral or volunteer staff? We’d like to know, so others can learn from you. Please email communications@cggc.org so we can post ideas on our CGGC Facebook page. CA

October/November 2017 11

Uptick is a leadership development track specifically designed for young leaders within the denomination.

This one-year intensive will be for those 23-32 years old who are already showing themselves to be potential leaders for the denomination, whether for paid or unpaid ministry. Each year, six men and six women will experi-ence life coaching, discipleship huddles, and six immersions designed to provide them with the necessary skills to excel in Kingdom leadership. They’ll encounter leaders and places not normally available to someone of their age so that they can be ahead of the typical curve.

For more information, visit http://tm.cggc.org/uptick

Dates** Location May 26-June 2 Sweden May 31 - June 7 MexicoJune 15-22 HaitiJune 17-23 Brazil June 19-26 New Mexico June 21-July 1 OklahomaJuly 7-15 Southern California **Dates are subject to change

2018 Locations and Dates

ACTS Teams are short-term, inter-generational mission trips. Participants have the opportunity to experience new cultures, grow in their relation-ship with Christ, and learn how to join Jesus in His redemptive mission at home. For more information, go to: http://tm.cggc.org/acts

2017 ACTS Team to the Dominican Republic

12 The Church Advocate

Reaching Your Community through

SIMPLICITYby Bill Shoemaker

Living on mission for Jesus isn’t as difficult as we sometimes think. Whether as individuals, families or even small groups we can begin to make significant impact through intentionally building relationship with those around us. Workplace, neighborhoods, school activities and other gathering places are ripe for building intentional friendships. Jesus dem-onstrated this process with His disciples as He walked through towns and villages encountering people and their needs. Below are some simple ways to begin to develop relationships that can lead to encounters with Je-sus where He invites them to follow Him as well as you. It is about leaving no one behind on this discipleship journey. You don’t need to pack a suit-case for this trip; just an open heart and a listening ear. These ideas come from Verge Network and can be found at http://www.vergenetwork.org/ wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Simple-Ways-To-Be-Missional-eBook.pdf.

Let’s begin in your neighborhood: Stay outside where neighbors and you can see each other while watering the lawn or watching your dog or kids or grandkids. Pass out baked goods (just make a little extra than you normally would). Hold an art swap night. Bring out what you are tired

October/November 2017 13

of and encourage neighbors to do the same. Have a neighborhood yard sale with what is left and use the money for a neighborhood picnic. Host a sports game watching night or a coffee and dessert night or (my favorite) a front yard ice cream party (root beer floats are hard to resist). Set up a lemonade stand, NO CHARGE! Rake leaves. Shovel snow. Have an out-side movie night (sheet hung on side of garage or house). Hold an outside game night: corn-hole, croquet etc.

Now let’s look at your workplace: Bring extra snacks, or take donuts, burritos or cereal once a month to share with everyone. Bring sodas or ap-propriate drinks to keep in break room to share. Instead of eating alone, intentionally eat with other co-workers and learn their stories. Make a list of birthdays and find a way to bless them and acknowledge their special day. Start a regular lunch-out with co-workers (don’t be selective). Invite workers to coffee or a group movie night. Join a city league team with co-workers. Get to know their names and the names of family members and ask about them. Talk to those who are often overlooked. Be the first to welcome and greet new people. Invite them to join in on service projects you are already involved in. Organize fellow workers to help other co-workers in need.

In general: Be a regular at local cafés, pubs, parks, food places, school events, service projects and anywhere people gather. Walk your neighborhoods regularly; try to do it at the same time others appear out-side. Eat with those unconvinced about God. Volunteer with non-profits. Participate in hobbies with others. Remember, you don’t have to make the mistake of making ‘missional’ another thing to add to your schedule. Instead, make your schedule missional. Pray and listen to the Spirit’s lead-ing. He will guide you. Be a better listener than a talker.

P.S. If you have trouble getting into a conversation with a stranger or someone you don’t know well, borrow a baby or a dog if you don’t have one and go for a walk in your neighborhood or nearby park. Seriously, this works breaking down walls for communication. CA

14 The Church Advocate

Medical Expense Reimbursement

Plan Newsby Bob Stephenson

Churches who discontinued reim-bursing medical insurance premi-ums and/or qualified medical ex-penses of employees because of the Affordable Care Act may want to re-visit this practice. Now there is a permissible non-taxable way to do so if the administration is in compliance with what is known as a Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA). This formal plan may be administered by the church, or the church may contract with a third party. Penalties apply if the plan is not administered properly and the church must be compliant with HIPPA regulations if it choos-es to administer the plan.

A QSEHRA has been provided for by the 21st Century Cures Act passed by the U.S. Congress. Because of its design, it is not subject to the same requirements of group health plans and is not subject to the $100 per day per employee penalty for failure to

comply with the so called market reforms of the Affordable Care Act that apply to group health plans. Although the reimbursement ar-rangement is still being fully in-terpreted by legal experts, at this point the following information seems to be generally accepted.

A QSEHRA can be offered by an eligible employer. An eligible em-ployer is one who has fewer than 50 full-time equivalent employees and who does NOT offer a group health plan to any of their employ-ees. The QSEHRA must be fully funded by the employer. Contribu-tions by employees through salary reduction or other contributions are not permitted. An employer may contribute on an annual basis up to $4,950 per employee or a maxi-mum of $10,000 per family.

A QSEHRA must be provided on the same terms to all eligible employees by an eligible employer except the following employees may be exclud-

August/September 2017 9

ed: employees who are part-time or seasonal, employees with less than 90 days of service, employees who are under 25 years of age, and nonresident aliens with no earned income from sources within the United States. Variations of bene-fits based upon age and the agreed upon participants such as employee only, or employee and spouse or dependents are permitted. But the variations must be applied equally to all employees. To participate on a non-taxable basis, an employee must provide proof of coverage by health plan insurance that has mini-mum essential coverage as defined by the Affordable Care Act. An em-ployee who obtains health insur-ance through a public exchange and qualifies for subsidized coverage must report the amount received from a QSEHRA. The federal sub-sidy will be reduced by the amount received from a QSEHRA.

A QSEHRA allows for the employ-er to reimburse the participating employee for medical insurance premiums and/or qualified medi-cal expenses not covered by the employee’s health plan insurance. No reimbursement should be made without documented evidence of the employee having actually in-curred the premium or medical ex-pense item being reimbursed.

An employer must comply with timely notice and reporting require-ments. Although new employees may begin participating immediately an employer may wish to stipulate a waiting period in the QSEHRA plan. Otherwise, an employer must pro-

vide written notification of the ben-efit to employees 90 days prior to the start of the plan year. The writ-ten notice must provide the amount of the available benefit, a statement that the employee must provide the benefit amount to any health exchange to which the employee applies for advance payment of the premium tax credit, and a statement that if the employee is not covered under minimum essential coverage for any month, the employee may be liable for an individual shared responsibility payment under the Internal Revenue Code 5000A for that month and reimbursements under the arrangement may be in-cludible in gross income. Further clarification regarding employer notice requirements are anticipated from the IRS. Failure to provide no-tice may subject an employer to a penalty of $50 per employee up to a maximum of $2,500 per year. An employer must also report the em-ployee’s permitted benefit for the calendar year on Form W-2 in Box 12 using the code FF.

Violations of the QSEHRA rules can leave the employer subject to the $100 per day per employee ex-cise tax as determined by the Af-fordable Care Act.

Contact Churches of God, Gener-al Conference Director of Finance & Treasurer, Bob Stephenson, at treasurer@cggc.org or 419-424-1961 if your church would like a sample plan document and a sample plan summary which are required for adopting this plan benefit. CA

Periodical RatePostage Paid

at Minster, OHPermit No. 110260

Churches of God, General Conference700 E. Melrose Ave., P.O. Box 926Findlay, OH 45839Phone (419) 424-1961Fax (419) 424-3433www.cggc.org

by Ben Tobias, Cross-Cultural Ministries Director

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES

Cross-Cultural Ministries is rolling out a NEW smart-phone do-nation option! Download the easyTithe Giving app and sign up to give with a few clicks to any of the CCM fields or missionaries. (Af-ter downloading the app onto your phone, search for and select “Churches of God, General Conference” to set up your account.) You can also TEXT donations too! Please contact Ben Tobias at

ccm@cggc.org for more information. CA