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Note: Right-click on these links and then click Save As... to see parts of the Report to the EP from The Commission to Study General Council Schools January 18, 2005 (Adobe Acrobat Reader required):
[1] - [2] - [3] - [4] - [5] - [6] - [7] - [8] - [9] - [10] - [11]

General Council Merger Report Primer


I. Notice in the first paragraph of the Executive Summary of the Report to the Executive Presbytery from the Commission to Study General Council Schools, dated January 18, 2005
A. “The Commission was requested…to provide a design plan to the Executive Presbytery to unify the General Council Schools in keeping with the recommendations of the 1989 Committee Report on the Division of Higher Education.”
B. “Unify” is a euphemism for “merger” since the recommendation of the 1989 Committee was to merge the schools
1. The General Council voted down the merger idea that year for the sixth consecutive time

II. Notice the “Confidential” paper at the very back of the Commission’s report:
A. It is entitled “Model: Immanuel University—A Merged Institution…”
B. This document proceeds to argue for a merged school using several very faulty arguments

III. Read the February 27, 2005, Springfield News-Leader article entitled, “Vision would merge city’s three AG campuses”
A. Arguing for the merger, the General Superintendent is quoted as saying, “If our ministers are going to be able to minister to people who are educated, they are going to have to be educated themselves.”
B. Implication is that CBC graduates are not educated now but the merger with a university will help this
1. If CBC graduates are not educated, then why did the accrediting agency that also reviews Evangel give CBC the highest possible accreditation report (with zero recommendations [bad things to fix])?

IV. BOTTOM LINE: when the General Superintendent says he is not for merging the schools, the official documents he releases from headquarters directly contradict his words
A. What should the Fellowship believe? What he says or what he writes/allows to be written about him? And if one, why would he insist on the other?
B. And why would he not allow the Commission’s report to be released to the A/G public? Was there something to hide?

V. RECOMMENDATION: Vote down the proposed bylaws changes as a whole since they give the General Superintendent and the Executive Presbytery the power to merge our last bible college (should we not train ministers and missionaries using bible-centered education?) into a university without consulting the General Presbytery nor the General Council

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