A Guide to My Articles on the General Assembly Agenda

Dale M. Coulter

Over the past month, I have written 18 articles for the General Assembly that begins on Tuesday of this week. For convenience, I have organized them according to what agenda item they address.

Let me summarize the basic points I have made:

• We need clear and robust statements defending biblical principles on how we talk about God and how we understand transgenderism (I have given two examples of the kind of statements I have in mind)

• We need to allow female ordained ministers to serve on the General Council because it’s biblical and it makes our current teaching on women as pastors and members of the General Assembly more consistent

• We need to use the doctrine & polity committee under the authority of the International Executive Committee to address the doctrinal and moral issues of our day

• We don’t need any more resolutions on cultural issues or that try to articulate doctrinal and moral responses to current crises

• We don’t need to use culture-war rhetoric and confrontation that is distinctive to North America when we respond to moral or doctrinal issues

• We don’t need to continue to add to the obligations for ministers, which is effectively creating a new code of laws

• We don’t need to pass a motion that makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for chaplains and bi-vocational ministers to do the work of ministry

Agenda Item #2: Women in Leadership

1. Women in Leadership: It’s Time to Act

2. Women in Leadership: The Biblical Argument

3. Women in Leadership: The Current Debate

4. Women in Leadership: 1 Timothy 2

5. Sola Scriptura and the Interpretation of Scripture

Agenda Item #6: Resolution Concerning Human Identity and Sexuality

1. On Resolutions and Church of God Teaching

2. On the Resolution Concerning Human Identity: A Better Way

3. Statement on Human Dignity (Part I)

4. Statement on Human Dignity (Part II)

Agenda Item #7: Biblical Fidelity in Gender Identity Affirmation

1. Church of God Canon Law?: The Gender Identity Affirmation

2. Transgenderism and the Complexities of Ministry

3. Motion on Gender Identity Affirmation: A Conversation with a Hospital Administrator

Agenda Item #20: Usage of the Titles of God

1. Titles for God: Facts, Perceptions, and a Second Declaration of Faith

2. Scripture and Naming God: Avoiding Heresy

3. The Name and Identity of God: A Different Approach

4. Names, Titles, and Descriptions: Why Item 20 Overreaches

5. The Holy Spirit: Examining the Grammar of Scripture

Final Thoughts

1. Fighting in the Power of the Spirit

2. My Hope for the Church of God