The policy reads as follows: "All members and elders of the
United Church of God are encouraged
to show Christian hospitality and outgoing concern to all and to warmly welcome visitors having a sincere desire to peacefully worship
with us and learn God's way.
It should be understood, however, that Church services and most other functions and meetings of
the
United Church of God are designed primarily for members or affiliates of the Church and are essentially private meetings, the
participation in some of which may also be limited to members only and that restrictions can also be placed on attendance by persons
who are not members or affiliates in good standing. The Church is also not obliged to tolerate disruptive, antagonistic, or contentious
behavior or those who have been asked not to attend with us and may exclude such individuals from Church meetings or functions.
Consequently,
in accordance with the foregoing, attendance at all worship services or other Church functions may be limited by the local pastor
or other presiding elders of the Church, or their designee(s), as they deem appropriate under the circumstances."
Besides the
general question of "Exactly what does all of this mean?", several other questions suggest themselves:
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2. Who are the "members": referred to in this policy?
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3. Finally, who are the "affiliates of the Church" and how are they different
to members?
Anyway, that's the latest from corporate COG Inc. land
UCGIA Inc. style. This is looking more and more like this corporation
is borrowing from the South African apartheid model for how they relate to the world around and among them. Or as George Orwell observed
in Animal Farm, "All men are created equal, it's just that some are more equal than others." ---Posted on LM by Tim McCaulley
