A Call To Ethics by the COG

I have recently been researching some items in the Minutes of the Church of God General Assembly, years 2002-2006. I came across this from the 2002 General Assembly Minutes.  The resolution is a really great document…sincerely. The modifications I made are NOT intended as satire or sarcasm…but represent my concern with the pointed pursuit of reestablishing credibility and trust among ourselves.

The “strike through” text is the original language in the resolution. The red underlined text are the substitutions I inserted.

Resolution on Ethics in the Marketplace

2002 - 69^th Church of God General Assembly

WHEREAS; the frequency of corporate scandals are being highly publicized, and

WHEREAS there is the strong tendency in many businesses humanity toward short-term thinking, planning, and commitment which can lead to morally questionable decisions and practices; and

WHEREAS it is arguable that the long-term survival of even very large businesses organizations with an extended history and legacy , such as the Church of God will depend increasingly on the permission of society continued support, involvement, and contributions of constituents rather than on short-term financial statistics; and

WHEREAS people in business church leaders need to be sensitized to the issues of ethical dimensions heretofore ignored; and

WHEREAS increasingly there is a recognition that areas of business policy about the treatment of employees, customers, shareholders, ministers, and others, as well as corporate impact on the environment and indeed the world, are not such discrete and isolated issues as may have been thought; and

WHEREAS integrity calls for business denominational leaders to assume full accountability for their actions, responsibility for the outcome of their actions, and for respecting codes of conduct, rules of business, and laws of countries, abiding by both the letter and the spirit; and

WHEREAS continuing attention to ethics in the workplace Church of God sensitizes denominational leaders and staff pastors to how they want to act-consistently; and

WHEREAS managing ethical values in the workplace legitimizes managerial actions, strengthens the coherence and balance of the organization’s culture, improves trust in relationships between individuals and groups, supports greater consistency in standards and qualities quality of products morale, and cultivates greater sensitivity to the impact of the enterprise’s values and messages; and

WHEREAS the marketplace church of Jesus Christ is to reflect a working environment on the foundation of integrity; and

WHEREAS high standards reward business any ministry with the solid reputation of integrity, honesty, and trustworthiness;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Church of God reaffirms our commitment to encouraging business church leaders to meet the high expectations of Biblical integrity and commitment; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the public trust of business church leadership be preserved by following Biblical principles and guidelines; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we model right behavior in all business dealings, General Council meetings and fiduciary responsibilities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we expect business church leaders to commit to making a positive difference in their business dealings with one another, their communities, and society; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that business church leaders seek to understand, value, and leverage diverse cultural differences and perspectives in ministry expression; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that we expect leaders to adopt business ethics for the improvement of society, to develop a code of practice and a statement of ethical principles, and act according to these values so as to preserve a sense of credibility and trust as a primary value unto coalescing unity in the Church of God.