Joseph Tkach Jr.
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Joseph Tkach, Jr. (pronounced "Ta-cotch") is the current pastor general of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). He was appointed to this position by his father, Joseph W. Tkach, who had initiated a process of major change where the church’s original, founding doctrines were radically altered. Joseph Tkach, Jr. has furthered these changes to the church's teachings, infrastructure and governance. Other than the name and a core membership, today's Worldwide Church of God bears very little resemblance to the group founded by Herbert W. Armstrong in the early part of the 1900's.
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[edit] Background
Joseph Tkach, Jr. was born on December 23, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois. He spent most of his childhood in Chicago until his parents moved to Pasadena, California in 1966. He attended the WCG's private university, Ambassador College, from 1969 to 1973 where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology. He was ordained a minister of the church in 1976.
From 1976 to 1984, he was mainly involved in social work initially with a private agency working on rehabilitation programs for juvenile delinquents and later for the state of Arizona serving the developmentally disabled.
He married his wife Tammy in 1980 and they had one son, Joseph Tkach III, and one daughter, Stephanie.
From 1984 to 1986 he worked for Intel Corporation in Phoenix, Arizona, where he supervised the corporate services training department. He was hired to work in the Church Administration department of the Worldwide Church of God in 1986.
[edit] Following his father’s initiatives
In September 1995, his father, Joseph W. Tkach appointed his son to succeed him on the event of his death. [1] As Pastor General and with the support of several key leaders in the church, Joseph Tkach, Jr. continued the doctrinal transformation of the WCG. In the process, he encountered significant resistance from members within the church, who could not accept the changes, as well as skepticism from persons outside the church who could not accept that the WCG had truly changed.
Aided by several influential individuals within the mainstream Christian churches, the WCG leaders convinced the evangelical community that the changes in the WCG were substantial and real. These individuals included Hank Hanegraaf, a leader of the Christian countercult movement and Ruth Tucker who wrote an article on the changes in the WCG in the July 15, 1996 issue of Christianity Today.
The Worldwide Church of God became a member of the National Association of Evangelicals in 1997.
[edit] References
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- Tkach Jr., Joseph, Transformed by Truth, Multnomah, 1997, ISBN 1-57673-181-2.
- Worldwide Church of God, Administrative Leadership, http://www.wcg.org/pastorgeneral/tkach.htm
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Joseph W. Tkach |
Pastor General of the Worldwide Church of God 1995–Present |
Succeeded by - |
