Restored Church of God
Encyclopedia
The Restored Church of God (RCG) is led by President and Pastor General David C. Pack. It is one of the churches formed after its founders perceived that the Worldwide Church of God
had begun replacing Armstrongist
teachings with mainstream Christian teachings. The Restored Church of God claims to retain the tenets, style, and structure of the earlier Worldwide Church of God, before the death of Herbert W. Armstrong
in 1986. RCG provides its congregations with sermons, magazines and other materials.
Through its websites (www.thercg.org, www.realtruth.org, and www.worldtocome.org), The Restored Church of God freely offers their teaching of the Bible.
As RCG was getting underway, a tool was capitalized upon first—sermon audiotapes were prepared for distribution around the world. These sermons covered topics that helped members coming out of the WCG understand what was happening. The series of three sermons on the “30 Reasons to Follow the Truth,” including another sermon entitled “Truth,” were prepared from mid-1993 through 1994. A book There Came a Falling Away, was also prepared, which documented the extent to which the new leadership of the WCG had abandoned Armstrong doctrine.
This reorganization of the Church of God began not as an offshoot of the Worldwide Church of God, but rather as the continuation of the Church as originally founded—carrying on the original ministry and teachings.
The first several years of The Restored Church of God’s existence were primarily preparatory to the continuation of the work Herbert W. Armstrong had started. While also supporting a growing membership, all the tools that the Church once used—free books and booklets, Bible lessons, articles, short-answer Q&As, magazines and video/audio broadcasts, with distribution programs—were put into place.
An inventory of literature was produced very quickly. Although the courts banned the reproduction of Herbert W. Armstrong’s literature, RCG implemented plans to rewrite all of the original WCG booklets, until all doctrines were once again in place. This goal was quickly realized, as booklets and articles appeared on all the teachings necessary to provide the doctrinal foundation to inform new members.
Born in 1948, Mr. Pack grew up in the American Midwest, in Lima, Ohio. Focused largely on sports and competitive swimming for 14 years, and having achieved high school all-American honors, as well as having begun training for the 1968 Olympics, Mr. Pack experienced a major turning point.
He began to listen to The World Tomorrow radio program, sponsored by the Radio Church of God, and heard Herbert W. Armstrong.
Declining acceptance to Dartmouth College, as well as an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, and numerous scholarship offers, Mr. Pack chose Ambassador College at Pasadena, California, world headquarters of the Church. Upon graduation in 1971, he married Shirley Ochs (who died in 2007), a fellow Ambassador College graduate and former personal secretary to Mr. Armstrong, and entered the ministry. He served congregations in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey and Ohio, and trained and supervised other ministers in a wider region.
Upon Mr. Armstrong’s death in January 1986, virtually every teaching was rejected by his successors. Mr. Pack then left the Worldwide Church of God in 1993. Mr. Pack started RCG in May 1999.
Providing plain answers to life’s greatest questions, RCG’s websites collectively carry a large and ever-expanding array of tools to guide people seeking to live God’s way of life. With over 100 books and booklets, scores of articles, a 30-lesson Bible Introduction Course, 209 “Question and Answer” letters, numerous other pieces of literature and scores of videos and audio broadcasts, RCG explains the biblical teaching on a broad spectrum of subjects.
The Church’s flagship magazine The Real Truth, of which Mr. Pack is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, and The World to Come program have an audience of millions and reach every nation and territory of the world, including heads of state and other leaders in government, religion, education, industry and media.
David C. Pack has also written a 2-Volume Biography, along with a booklet titled Here Is The Restored Church of God, which explains more about the Church.
The following are some of RCG’s materials and services:
It explains the world’s lack of great leaders and what will replace them, and how peace will come in our time, how to build strong families—rearing happy productive children—how to end your financial worries, why new diseases are appearing and older ones are re-appearing—stronger than before—and whether the United Nations is really mankind’s ultimate answer.
It explains why there are thousands of differing—and disagreeing—forms of Christianity, why religion has not solved the world’s great problems, the way of “give” vs. “get,” the law of cause and effect, the origin of human nature, principles of healthful living, and a great many other subjects. It brings plain understanding of the insoluble problems now overwhelming mankind, and points to the lasting peace of the world to come.
Worldwide Church of God
Grace Communion International , formerly the Worldwide Church of God , is an evangelical Christian denomination based in Glendora, California, United States. Since April 3, 2009, it has used the new name Grace Communion International in the US...
had begun replacing Armstrongist
Armstrongism
Armstrongism refers to the teachings and doctrines of Herbert W. Armstrong while leader of the Worldwide Church of God , and is professed by him and his followers to be the restored true Gospel of the Bible. Armstrong said they were revealed to him by God during his study of the Bible....
teachings with mainstream Christian teachings. The Restored Church of God claims to retain the tenets, style, and structure of the earlier Worldwide Church of God, before the death of Herbert W. Armstrong
Herbert W. Armstrong
Herbert W. Armstrong founded the Worldwide Church of God in the late 1930s, as well as Ambassador College in 1946, and was an early pioneer of radio and tele-evangelism, originally taking to the airwaves in the 1930s from Eugene, Oregon...
in 1986. RCG provides its congregations with sermons, magazines and other materials.
Through its websites (www.thercg.org, www.realtruth.org, and www.worldtocome.org), The Restored Church of God freely offers their teaching of the Bible.
History
The Restored Church of God was formed in May of 1999, in the midst of ongoing upheaval in the wake of a departure from beliefs in the Worldwide Church of God, which occurred after the death of its Pastor General, Herbert W. Armstrong, in January 1986. Though all of the original beliefs of the WCG were thought to have disappeared, each has been restored to its original state.As RCG was getting underway, a tool was capitalized upon first—sermon audiotapes were prepared for distribution around the world. These sermons covered topics that helped members coming out of the WCG understand what was happening. The series of three sermons on the “30 Reasons to Follow the Truth,” including another sermon entitled “Truth,” were prepared from mid-1993 through 1994. A book There Came a Falling Away, was also prepared, which documented the extent to which the new leadership of the WCG had abandoned Armstrong doctrine.
This reorganization of the Church of God began not as an offshoot of the Worldwide Church of God, but rather as the continuation of the Church as originally founded—carrying on the original ministry and teachings.
The first several years of The Restored Church of God’s existence were primarily preparatory to the continuation of the work Herbert W. Armstrong had started. While also supporting a growing membership, all the tools that the Church once used—free books and booklets, Bible lessons, articles, short-answer Q&As, magazines and video/audio broadcasts, with distribution programs—were put into place.
An inventory of literature was produced very quickly. Although the courts banned the reproduction of Herbert W. Armstrong’s literature, RCG implemented plans to rewrite all of the original WCG booklets, until all doctrines were once again in place. This goal was quickly realized, as booklets and articles appeared on all the teachings necessary to provide the doctrinal foundation to inform new members.
David C. Pack
As Pastor General of The Restored Church of God, David C. Pack oversees the operations of the church. He attended Ambassador College, entered the Worldwide Church of God ministry in 1971 and was trained by Herbert W. Armstrong. He has established over 50 congregations, authored more than 20 books, written hundreds of booklets and articles, and appeared on The History Channel. As Editor-in-Chief of The Real Truth magazine and voice of The World to Come program.Born in 1948, Mr. Pack grew up in the American Midwest, in Lima, Ohio. Focused largely on sports and competitive swimming for 14 years, and having achieved high school all-American honors, as well as having begun training for the 1968 Olympics, Mr. Pack experienced a major turning point.
He began to listen to The World Tomorrow radio program, sponsored by the Radio Church of God, and heard Herbert W. Armstrong.
Declining acceptance to Dartmouth College, as well as an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, and numerous scholarship offers, Mr. Pack chose Ambassador College at Pasadena, California, world headquarters of the Church. Upon graduation in 1971, he married Shirley Ochs (who died in 2007), a fellow Ambassador College graduate and former personal secretary to Mr. Armstrong, and entered the ministry. He served congregations in Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, New Jersey and Ohio, and trained and supervised other ministers in a wider region.
Upon Mr. Armstrong’s death in January 1986, virtually every teaching was rejected by his successors. Mr. Pack then left the Worldwide Church of God in 1993. Mr. Pack started RCG in May 1999.
RCG's Products and Services
The Church’s materials address the everyday concerns of the average man and woman without soliciting funds, proselytizing or involvement in politics. All literature and programs are offered free of charge and in the public interest. RCG is dedicated to teaching the only path to world peace—the good news beyond today’s bad news. In this regard, David C. Pack has produced or guided into production a reservoir of educational material for people of every age.Providing plain answers to life’s greatest questions, RCG’s websites collectively carry a large and ever-expanding array of tools to guide people seeking to live God’s way of life. With over 100 books and booklets, scores of articles, a 30-lesson Bible Introduction Course, 209 “Question and Answer” letters, numerous other pieces of literature and scores of videos and audio broadcasts, RCG explains the biblical teaching on a broad spectrum of subjects.
The Church’s flagship magazine The Real Truth, of which Mr. Pack is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, and The World to Come program have an audience of millions and reach every nation and territory of the world, including heads of state and other leaders in government, religion, education, industry and media.
David C. Pack has also written a 2-Volume Biography, along with a booklet titled Here Is The Restored Church of God, which explains more about the Church.
The following are some of RCG’s materials and services:
- The World to Come Program: found at www.worldtocome.org, and provided in weekly video and daily audio, this program explains the causes behind mankind’s greatest problems—and the only possible solutions. Like all of the Church’s materials, The World to Come takes a strictly neutral position in regard to politics, not siding with or against men’s governments or leaders.
- Hundreds of free books and booklets, articles, lessons and magazines (also in Spanish, French, German, Dutch and Afrikaans)
- The Real Truth: monthly flagship magazine analyzing world news in the light of Bible prophecy—the continuation of The Plain Truth magazine as produced from 1934 through the mid-1980s
- Bible Introduction Course: 30-lessons introducing the basic doctrines and Plan of God
- The Splinter Explanation Packet: ten books, plus sermons, for all with a Worldwide Church of God background, explaining events affecting the Church in the late-20th century
- Ambassador Training Center: an advanced two-year institution to train future ministers and leaders
- Feast of Tabernacles sites around the world
- The Pillar: the church’s bi-monthly magazine for members.
- Ambassador Youth: bi-monthly magazine for teenagers
- Ambassador Youth Camp: held annually for the Church’s teenagers
- Ministry: The Restored Church of God has full-time ministers in place around the world, and continually trains and places additional ministers, who regularly establish new congregations.
The Real Truth Magazine
Produced monthly, The Real Truth magazine carries articles explaining the cause of war, what’s wrong with the weather, can science eradicate pollution, the meaning of events in Europe, why earthquakes are increasing, the complete failure of science to bring the utopian world that all long for, how racial bigotry will eventually disappear, where the world economy is going, what lies ahead for the nations of the world, the value of right ethics—and the definition of true character, the real cause of the moral crisis in the West, what’s wrong with modern education, why so many seek escape and pleasure, and the definition of true success.It explains the world’s lack of great leaders and what will replace them, and how peace will come in our time, how to build strong families—rearing happy productive children—how to end your financial worries, why new diseases are appearing and older ones are re-appearing—stronger than before—and whether the United Nations is really mankind’s ultimate answer.
It explains why there are thousands of differing—and disagreeing—forms of Christianity, why religion has not solved the world’s great problems, the way of “give” vs. “get,” the law of cause and effect, the origin of human nature, principles of healthful living, and a great many other subjects. It brings plain understanding of the insoluble problems now overwhelming mankind, and points to the lasting peace of the world to come.