Dear Brethren and Friends,
The Work will go on! This has been a recent theme, and we continue to address it at our annual Church conferences as we focus on ways to do the Work of God together.
As has been alluded to in a recent Q&A by Kalon Mitchell entitled, “Why do we have a ministerial conference?”, he states: “What is most important is that we continue doing the Work of God with fervency and zeal… While the ministry continues to carry out its responsibilities, the membership also has a responsibility to grow spiritually. Together, the Church should be growing and maturing as one unified Body.”
Unity is something we have focused on throughout our years of existence and continue to uphold. As was stated in our 2024 Member Letter, “We have consistently expressed the importance of unity in our organization, especially during our annual conferences when doctrinal topics are addressed, as well as other methods to continue and improve our efforts in continuing the Work for the very goal of speeding up the return of Jesus Christ to establish His Kingdom on earth.”
And that is still our mission today. We remain consistent in this goal. What we do NOW will benefit all of mankind in the future when Jesus Christ returns. Therefore, the Work will continue!
This year’s conference of 2026 has just concluded, and our goal to spread the Truth to the world has been quite successful, especially when it comes to our Google advertising campaigns with the distribution of our booklets. Our advertising of The Fall and Rise of the Jewish People booklet in English continues to be strong, with over 2.5 million views of our YouTube video, as well as over 7,000 booklet requests. We have also continued with the advertisement of the German Ten Commandments booklet, leading to reprints and further reprints of the above-mentioned booklet, along with some other booklets. We have added clickable links to our StandingWatch and AufPostenStehen programs to subscribe to our Updates and Weltnachrichten (the German version of our “Current Events”), which has led to an increase in our Update subscription list to around 1,460 presently. We now have about 225 subscribers for the Weltnachrichten, including links to our booklet promo videos, which have also prompted booklet requests.
We have also begun using YouTube short videos in both English and German to promote our booklets, as well as Bible Story videos and private videos for our German members with families. We have set up Instagram and WhatsApp accounts for both StandingWatch and AufPostenStehen, where we post our videos and material, which has also led to an increase in followers. We plan to create a new booklet promo video and ad campaign on Human Suffering in both English and German.
When it comes to the internet and our websites, we discussed ways to increase our website recognition through Google ads and also additional avenues to promote our booklets. We are in talks with a Google freelancer who could help us improve the content on our websites by designing our home page to be more engaging, encouraging people to order our booklets, view our YouTube videos, read our material, and sign up for the Update. We need to be specific with guidelines on how to structure our content going forward and to index our pages so we are searchable on Google. This could help in our endeavor to further spread the gospel to the world.
Our Spanish site www.dioseterno.es has been successfully launched, where we have posted 11 translated booklets so far, along with Q&As and editorials, and plans to create videos to promote these booklets are in the works. Plans for creating an updated French website are also in the making, with six booklets having been translated so far, which are available on www.eternalgod.org/articles-francais.
We discussed ideas on how we can better manage our broadcast worship services. Since there is a need for speakers in the USA, we could perhaps try a multi-task system, switching between Colorado and California in Church services, for example, with prayers, sermonettes, sermons, song service, etc. We have English speakers in Germany who can give recorded messages in English, and through the use of technology, this can be done with a simple green screen and a camera. For our other scattered English speakers, the same can be done for future recordings. This is how we work together to accomplish the goal of fulfilling God’s Work.
When it comes to doctrinal issues, we discussed baptismal procedures. In the former Worldwide Church of God days, some ministers might have required lengthy lectures and correspondence courses before someone got baptized, with long procedures, and other Church of God organizations continue that process. However, Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong did not teach this, pointing out that lengthy procedures before baptism are not biblical. When someone is ready, we will baptize right away. Examples in the Bible include Paul and Philip, who baptized people right away. Our booklet, Baptism – A Requirement for Salvation?, includes all the questions we normally would ask, and we have them read this beforehand. When it comes to the initial procedure, it depends on the background of the person, including which booklets they need to read beforehand, before their baptism. We also recommend counseling with a minister who is not a close relative, and informing the ministry about the decision beforehand. Unless there are serious doubts, the baptism would go forward. We do have a baptism outline, which is also explained in our baptism booklet.
We discussed what roles unbaptized Church attendees could perform during services. It is important for young people to be involved, especially in this day and age. For those who are unbaptized, age and maturity have a lot to do with it when they become involved with Church activities like song leading, special music, collecting offerings on the Holy Days, choir participation, and setting up and organizing chairs and tables before services and removing them afterwards. Prayers, however, should only be done by baptized members, but unbaptized young people are encouraged to pray at home. We plan to have a Youth Day during the Feast of Tabernacles, where everything can be done by the youth, except for the sermon. A special flyer could also be prepared by the youth for that day. We would like to continue with Forum contributions for anyone who is interested.
When it comes to what roles women could perform in the Church of God, they can participate in choir, flower arrangements, kitchen duties, technical assistance, preparing schedules, for instance, for song leaders, special music, etc., after obtaining direction and approval from a minister, and broadcasting during services. Women can help other women with families and children. When it comes to unruly children or crying babies during services, a minister or deacon should tell the parent to leave the service until the baby falls asleep or the unruly child has changed his or her behavior and calmed down. A parent should be addressed privately, politely, but firmly, and preferably by a minister or deacon who is a parent themselves. We are to train the child in the way they will go up to a certain age, which involves bringing young children and even babies to Church.
Due to advancements in technology, we discussed what guidelines we should use when it comes to Artificial Intelligence, or AI. Although it is a useful search engine and a time saver, we should not use AI for writing sermons. We need to be inspired by God, not by AI. AI is not perfect and does not always provide correct information. The future of AI is dangerous and can be destructive, so we need to be careful. We have been using AI for our YouTube videos, which have been quite successful and captivating, but we are still working on ways to improve them, especially when it comes to the voice, as we are still experimenting with cloning our own voices to use for the videos, since we are presently using a common standard AI voice.
We discussed the question of whether Jesus Christ of the Old Testament, who was married to Israel and then divorced from her, which ended the marriage, would be able to marry the same wife again after she changed. It is a different wife, as the Church is a different body, since the new wife has the Holy Spirit. The moment Old Testament Israelites become converted and receive the Holy Spirit, they become part of the bride as begotten children, and when Christ returns, the marriage is consummated. Under Old Testament law, if the wife leaves the husband after playing the harlot and then wants to return, he cannot remarry her. This principle should also apply in our case, which means that Christ is not going to remarry His former adulterous wife. There are two different entities and two different concepts—a physical wife and then a spiritual wife.
The Feast sites for 2026 have been established for St. George, Utah, in the United States, and Kalkar, Germany.
As we have said in previous member letters following our annual Church conferences, the Work continues and will not end, as we can see from the fruits of our labors in getting the Gospel message out. God has continued to bless us financially through the help from the members and contributors of the Church, which does not go unnoticed. Your gracious contributions have made it possible to continue doing the Work and preaching the same unaltered message. We pray that God will continue to bless our efforts, and God bless you all for your continuous diligence.
In God’s service and with Christian love,
Michael Link