The UPC Rev.'s Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Not
 

Saw these listed by SheltieDad a few years ago ...

In addition to a minister not having a TV in his home or never being allowed re-admittance to the ministerial fellowship if he leaves because of sexual sin ...

Here are some other Shalts and Shalt nots:

Any missing? Your thoughts on these items?

Re: The UPC Rev.'s Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Not
 

Some of these are a trifle "dated" but I would say that most denominations have some similar rules.
Even the rules that I would disagree with, I can see what led them to being put into place.
I think most ministers view the manual as somewhat "outdated".
Including conservative ministers.

Re: The UPC Rev.'s Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Not
 

Which of these are dated? Which of these are considered " outdated" by cons?

Re: The UPC Rev.'s Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Not
 

Also AEGSM, which ones do you disagree with?

Re: The UPC Rev.'s Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Not
 

This may surprise you.

No video except family pictures and church activities, etc. You must modify all video receivers so that they cannot receive television channels.

A minister cannot accept a member into his church who came from another UPC church without a letter of release or transfer from his old church.

I do not know of any, any minister who follows the video "rule", anymore.
Most do have access to the internet, so that rule is very outdated.
I also do not know of any UPC ministers who have a "tv", either.

Also, I have attended 4 different UPC churches and have never had one ask anything about a letter.
I knew this rule was in there, because my old childhood pastor used to follow it.

Re: The UPC Rev.'s Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Not
 

I disagree with "rules" in general.
Because they tend to box you in and keep you from dealing with people who have problems, but are following the "rules".
I have noticed in my professional life, the more rules you make, the worse it makes the people who work for me perform.
We try to focus on our mission statement and our overall performance,
If you try to make people perform within the "rules" they will make it a game of seeing how little they can do and still stay within the rules.
This same thing occurs within the org's framework of rules.

Re: The UPC Rev.'s Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Not
 

I am very aware of the rules AEGSM, for the most part. My dad was UPCI for almost 28 years and I was licensed for 2 - so these are not surprising.

The video rule was ignored from the get-go. With most ministers applying for a Blockbuster card in the 80's.

Was that a typo that you don't know any who owned a TV? Dad sat on the district board in NYC and I can tell you 95% had a TV, including those on the board.

Re: The UPC Rev.'s Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Not
 

I know some pastors got around the tv rule by saying the tv was their kids... ;) Apparently it just takes some creative justification to get around that rule.

Re: The UPC Rev.'s Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Not
 

Also I found it interesting that a few years after I left church I visited another UPC church. The pastor was awfully concerned about knowing if we were still members of the other church and visiting his. There must be some rule about that too... which is all a little weird.

Re: The UPC Rev.'s Thou Shalts and Thou Shalt Not
 

The letters of transfer was and probably still is a hot topic among org Spanish pastors - within the org.

In its heyday more than a third of the churches in NYMD were spanish speaking. Many of the congregants who were apostolics before emigrating were instilled to have letters of transfer - while new converts here, not so much.

With so "many" choices in the city there were many who would church shop causing drag outs among pastor which Dad usually had to mediate.

I know there have been similar issues here in Houston.