What Is the Global Council?

Summary

Summary prepared by Acts 2:38 Life from the transcript below — the preacher’s words follow in full.

Background — presence in 199 nations, and what 'nationalized' means

• The frame: this week, leaders from around the world are scheduled to meet, in St Louis, Missouri (as the preview announces it), to find out what will be on the agenda, and to learn more about what God is doing globally, through the United Pentecostal Church International. The host's question: this week, the global Council (as the question styles it) of the United Pentecostal Church International is scheduled to convene, right not too far from World Headquarters, where we're filming this podcast episode. This week (the question names the day and the afternoon), the delegates from the global Council are going to be coming here, to World Headquarters. We're excited about hosting them. We're going to give them a tour of the building, show them what we do here. But I think probably a lot of people, that are listening to this podcast episode — they don't maybe have any idea, what the global council is. So could you start today, by just telling us: what is the global Council? The answer: sure. Let me give you a little bit of background, on the upci. The United Pentecostal Church International is a worldwide organization ('Sign is a in worldwide organization', as the sentence's letters stand). We now have some kind of presence, in 199, out of 210 nations. In some cases, it might be just a contact, a Bible study, someone we've won to the Lord. In other cases, we might have a few churches, under the supervision of a missionary. In other cases, we may have a strong National church. And then finally, we may have what we call a nationalized church, which means: the leaders are all chosen, by the national leadership. And so, to be an organization, akin to what we have here in North America — yes, but it would have its own Constitution, its own bylaws. It would adopt the international articles of Faith. So we have common articles of Faith. But as far as their governance: they would have their own structure. They would elect their own leaders. And legally, they would be a separate entity, under the nation's laws. So — and by the way, I said 199, out of 210 Nations. But we also count territories. For example: Guam is U.S territory, but it's separated, and we have a work there, so we count that separately. And likewise, Hong Kong is part of China, but it has a different governance. And we have missionaries there, in a way that we can't have in mainland China. So we count that separately. So when you count the territories, I believe we're now at somewhere around 238 Nations and territories. And so, the upci as such, is a legal entity, in the United States and Canada. So we treat those two Nations as one. And then most of the missionaries, around the world, come from the U.S and Canada. So we — hear from our headquarters in St Louis, Missouri, USA ('we hear from our headquarters', as the letters stand) — we oversee all the missionaries. So the upci, technically, as a legal entity, consists of: the churches in the U.S and Canada, the governance structure for the U.S and Canada, and the oversight of all the missionaries, around the world. But, as churches come to maturity, they establish their own Constitution, their own governance, elect their own leaders. Then, technically, that's a different legal organization. So, to keep us all in one Fellowship, we have what's called the global Council.

The three selves — and what the Council actually coordinates

• The host interjects: let me stop you just for a second, ask one question. How many nations, right now, have a nationalized work? The answer: I don't know the exact number. But it would be probably — you're talking about 50 or so. And that, of course, fluctuates. That changes, from year to year. Our goal is to have each Church — it's called the three selves: self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating. So, in a national church: has mature leaders, and they can elect their own leaders — they don't need leaders from the US and Canada — that's self-governing. When they're self-supporting, that means: they can operate their normal operations, through their own tithes and offerings. So they don't need us to pay salaries. They don't need us to support the Bible school. Now, we may still give special contributions, for special projects ('special contributions on for special projects', as the sentence's letters stand), or to supplement, or to help them. And we may still send missionaries — not as Leaders, national leaders anymore — but as teachers, or facilitators. But essentially, they're able to support their own regular operations. That's self-supporting. And then self-propagating is: they are growing, through their own National efforts. So they're planting churches. They're winning souls ('they're when winning souls', as the letters stand). And again, we might still have some missionaries, who are helping them to evangelize, or to reach new areas. But we see that the National Church is able to continue growing, and reaching its own country. That's called self-propagating. So when they've achieved those three goals, then we have a ceremony. We call it nationalizing the church. So, let's go back to the global Council, then. So each nation, that has an organized work, sends two delegates, to the global Council. It meets once every five years. Then in between, at the two and a half year mark, we have the executive Global Council, which is a smaller unit, that's selected from the larger group. And the goal is, to coordinate International efforts. So, again: the delegates can come, from organized works, and from nationalized works (as he distinguishes them). So an organized work is strong enough, to have an organization. But missionaries are still in leadership, at least in part. The church is still getting support, from the U.S and Canada, for its operations. So it's not fully nationalized. But it is organized. So both the organized works, and the nationalized Works, will send delegates, to the global Council. Now, the global Council does not govern, the internal structure of each Nation. But rather, the global Council coordinates International efforts. So we coordinate International evangelism. We coordinate the global Association of theological studies, which consists of our Bible colleges, and training seminars, all across the world. We have policies, such as the international transfer of credentials. So: if a minister moves, from one nation to another, what are the guidelines, for accepting their credentials? Or International Ministry: so let's say someone has a contact, in another Nation, they want to start a church. Well, they need to go get approval, from that country, where they're wanting to start a church — not just from their home country. So we have policies, for International Ministry, International transfer of credentials. We have judicial procedure. So: what if a minister, in one country, does something allegedly wrong, in another country? Or what if a church, in one country, has an accusation, or complaint, or at least a grievance, against a church, minister, of another country? Well, how do we handle that, internationally? And, as I mentioned earlier: the international articles of faith. We have articles of faith, in the U.S and Canada. But some of them have statements, that are more relative to our culture — such as public schools, and things that would relate to the North American context. So we have the international articles of faith, is very similar. But it just omits a few paragraphs, that are not Doctrine — primary Doctrine in nature — but would deal with certain cultural, or governmental, issues ('once a certain cultural or governmental issues but not others', as the sentence stands). And so the international articles of Faith would have 95 percent (as he puts the overlap). But all the nations of the world vote on those, and have adopted them.

Fellowship, not hierarchy — consensus, and a truly international missions force

• So what we're trying to do, with the global council, is: even as each nation has its own National Church, with its own governance, its own legal status, and could operate independently, for everybody else (as the phrase stands) — but the global Council organizes us, on the basis of Fellowship, first and foremost. Doctrinal Unity. Then our International Evangelistic efforts. Our international prayer — the world network of prayer. Things that we all cooperate on, together. And what we're also trying to do, is create a culture. So: if there's a problem, in one country — technically, that nation is an independent nation, and that National Church is a self-governing church. But yet, the influence of the International Fellowship can help guide that Nation, that's going through a struggle. So that, instead of it looking like — or being — that, well, someone in the U.S is dictating, to someone in another country: no, it's the whole world, in a consensus, saying: this is what we believe. Or: these are our best practices. Or: these are problems, and we would like to help you with those problems. And that has really come to pass, that as there have been issues, in different nations: we don't go in there — if the church already has national government, we don't go in there, and try to tell them what to do. But we can advise them. We can come alongside, to help them. We can share: this is the consensus of the international body, in situations like this. And that has proven very helpful, to create that International Fellowship, camaraderie. Maintaining doctrinal Integrity. Maintaining our teachings of Holiness. Maintaining standards for our ministry, as far as what is appropriate, for ministerial ethics, and ministerial life. All those things are strengthened, because we have a global Council. And so we're coming — the exciting thing: for the first time ever, we're coming to the U.S. We're coming to the St Louis area. And so, many of our national leaders will get to see our headquarters. We'll get to see the college, and graduate school campus ('the urchin college and urson graduate school campus', as the letters carry the schools' names). The center for the study of the movement's founding doctrine ('the center for the study of one is Pentecostalism', as heard), with the Historic Museum and archives. So they'll get a better picture, and appreciation, of our International efforts. Now, right now: the chair of the global council is the general superintendent of the upci. Because we're the mother Church. The other churches have all come out of the mission's efforts of the mother church. And they still look to us, in that way. The co-chair is the director of global missions. But we elect a secretary, from the various regions — they rotate, from the regions of the world. So this is a way, to incorporate leadership, from outside the U.S and Canada. And I think: one day, when almost all the churches would be nationalized, we would probably rotate the chairmanship as well. But right now, we haven't gotten that far. And even most of the Nations that are nationalized would prefer a leader, from the North American church. Because they look to us, as the world leaders. But we're really evolving, into a truly International Fellowship. And as one practical example of that is missionaries: we now have — I don't know the latest statistics, but I think it's 60 or more, what we call Regional missionaries. They are not from the U.S and Canada, but they're from another Nation: like Madagascar, going to another country in Africa. Or Brazil, going to portuguese-speaking Nations, around the world. Or one nation of Europe, to another nation of Europe. So that's another purpose, of the global council: is to coordinate International missions efforts. And so, even though the vast majority of missions efforts — the finances, and the personnel — have historically come from the U.S and Canada, that's gradually changing. So that missions efforts are truly International, from one nation to another. So that we're becoming, a truly International Fellowship. So, let me contrast this, with a hierarchical church, like the Roman Catholic Church. Well: the pope is the head. And he appoints all the Bishops, all over the world, in regards to what nation they're in ('in regards to what nation', as spoken). The Vatican controls the governance, from A to Z. We're not like that. We're self-governing. We're more on the model, of what you might call the United Nations, where each member nation is Sovereign. Well, in our case, each church is self-governing. But we're different from the U.N, in that we have common values, and common Doctrine. A common lifestyle. We all get along a lot better (as he jokes, twice). And there's a much closer inner working — because, as I said, we have missionaries now, not only from North America, from other countries. And so we're interwoven. So that's why somebody might ask: well, your general board — why don't you have people, from other nations of the world? Well, actually, the general board is for the U.S and Canada. And Great Britain and Ireland, they have a general board. And, you know, Brazil, they have a general board. But what unites all of us, around the world, is the global Council.

The works highlighted — Philippines, Mizoram, and the Portuguese-speaking world

• The host interjects: I think a lot of people probably don't realize, just how influential the church (the question names it in full) has been, outside of North America. Those of us, who live in North America — we grew up, in the North American Church. We're used to thinking, in terms of what God's doing, in North America. But can you just briefly tell us, maybe what some of the significant nationalized works are? What God's doing, around the world? The answer: I can give you some highlights. Our biggest National Church — which probably has even exceeded the amount of constituents, in the U.S — would be the Philippines. They have over 1 million constituents. Now, when we say constituents: we're counting all those who identify with the church, even if they don't regularly attend. And the reason why we do that: that's our reach. That's our influence. And if you wanted to compare, what we're doing, with what the Baptists are doing, what the Catholics are doing: they would count everybody, that ever got baptized, whether they go to church or not. Well, our constituents numbers will be much more closely aligned, to the numbers for actually attending: those who baptized in Jesus name, receiving the Holy Ghost. So the Philippines will be our number one Nation, with well over a million estimated constituents. And the place where we have the largest concentration of constituents, in the whole world, is in Northeast India. In that — we have, in India — we actually have three different units, because India is such a big nation, with different tribes and languages. So we actually have three National organizations. But the upci of Northeast India — the core of that, is the state of Mizoram (carried in the letters as 'mizoram'), the people of that state ('the Miso people', as the letters hear their name). And Mizoram has, perhaps, about 700 000 in the population. And over 70 000 United Pentecostal constituents (as the figures stand). So there we have 10 of the population of the state ('10 of the population', as the telling gives the share — ten in every hundred, in its sense) identifies with the United Pentecostal Church. That's the highest concentration, of any, in the world. Uganda, in East Africa, is perhaps — and again, I'd have to look at the statistics, because they can change — but possibly our most rapidly growing. In maybe 25 years ago, we had a very small constituency. Now we have one of the largest, in the world: well over two hundred thousand. Madagascar is another example, of rapid growth, over somewhat longer time. But well over 200 000 constituents (as the figure stands). Our largest constituency, in South America, is Venezuela, where we have over 400 000 (as the figure stands). And even though the economy's in shambles ('the economies in shambles', as spoken), the government is socialist, and there's, you know, it's very difficult to operate — yet the churches — and many people have immigrated out of the nation, because of economic hardship — still, we have a rapidly growing church. So I'm just giving you some of our numeric — the largest (as the sentence breaks off). Brazil is also over two hundred thousand. What's interesting about that: we're heavily concentrated, in the Amazon basin ('in the Amazon basis', as heard). In Manaus (as the city stands in the letters), which is kind of the capital of the Amazon region, we have many churches, thousands of Believers. And of course, that was pioneered, by brother and sister de Merchant (as the name stands). But as I mentioned earlier: Brazil is Portuguese speaking. So, since the Brazilian church is so strong — it has National leadership, and they have missionaries — so almost, if not every country now — I think, in every portuguese-speaking nation, around the world, we now have Believers. I think maybe there's one more we're trying to open. There's one remaining small country, in Africa, they were trying to open (as the telling runs). But most of those have been opened, or assisted, by people from Brazil.