I expect women to be permitted into the General Council no later than 2024. This may not be due to being granted bishop status, but rather granted access if they are Ordained.I expect it to take some getting used to. Men and women don't always speak the same language. If a woman says something sharp to a man--one that would sting if from another male--I think that in some cases a man will stand down (not a good thing) out of respect...and in some cases, will hit back hard (still not a good thing), which can make for extreme discomfort.Within 20 years, assuming the Lord tarries and there is even a Church of God, I think we will see the following:A merger or proto-merger with our sister organization, the Church of God of Prophecy. (By the way, the Assemblies of God is our big sister only in the sense of size, not age.)An expanding of the General Assembly to either meet in other countries every so often, to permit some form of internet access/voting (so pretty much everyone can be included), to allow other countries/regions to host their own General Assembly with a degree of autonomy (e.g., so long as there is no break in doctrine), or may move to a representative Assembly, with, say, 10 ministers from each country/region who will debate and discuss any changes.I also expect this to be problematic (I suppose any change is). As long as there is an strong element from the southeast, I imagine that there will arise issues of not wanting to fund things that they believe are contrary to the way the Churches of God want to do things. I don't know the numbers, but I wouldn't doubt that the southeast raises more tithe money than most Church of God countries--certainly enough to make waves.Within 20 years, there will almost certainly be an effort (I don't know if it will make the agenda or not, but I wouldn't be surprised) to soften our stance on homosexuality. I don't think this will be anything like ordaining homosexuals, but it may call for a more compassionate response (which, in itself, is a good thing), but will eventually lead to greater questioning. It will almost certainly be argued that the whole Biblical thing was cultural expression due to the times. But that today, with our enlightened understanding of matters, we should consider some changes. This may arise in conjunction with some sort of genetic proof that it is congenital.The General Overseer and the Assistants will be meted out based on region. And as we move to allowing internet voting, etc., the General Overseership, unless it is required by the Minutes (e.g., that someone from a different region must be selected after each GO's term ends), will move, probably forever, from being in the hands of Americans. The countries with larger Church of God populations will be ascendant. This is not in itself a bad thing, but it may lead to a break off, if the whole regional autonomy thing doesn't work out.The MIP program will be revamped to specifically address issues that pastors face, as well as key skills they must have. There will an attempt to require that each minister have a college education. This will lead to further weakening of the Pentecostal fervor of our denomination. NOT because Education is in itself bad, but because some of our professors are, to a significant degree, liberal. Further, being exposed to all sorts of criticism about the Bible and Pentecost in the course of their education, there will be a weakening of the belief in our exceptionalism and the seeming clear statements of scripture. (There is nothing wrong with criticism of these things, so long as there is an appropriate response to it in the teaching also.)OR...OR...OR....There will be a revolt against upper education, due to the perceived liberalism, political and religious, of some of the teaching and/or professors. Note: this will be the perceived view, not necessarily the correct one. All it takes is a handful of such professors to cause the whole to be tainted.There are already two Churches of God in the U.S.--the very conservative churches...and pretty much everyone else. The uber-conservatives already go to separate Youth Camps and, often, Camp Meetings. (I cannot blame them about the Youth Camps--who wants to send their youth to camps where the girls can wear ffairly short shorts, while your girls have been taught that that is immodest? And who wants their boys in such an environment?) This may lead to a more official split, but since it is already such a small segment of the Church of God (hard to believe that almost every Church of God used to be this way), it will not make much of a difference, I don't think. What may cause trouble is if these church properties are not relinquished to them. If it were me, I would file suite based on the fact that I signed up under a certain understanding of the Bible/Minutes, and that I did not leave the Church of God, but they left me. Of course, if a local church remained with the Church of God for years after such changes, it might make it harder to make the case.With the exception of a few 40-ish men and women, the passing of the Old Guard will be our last link to what I call the classic Church of God. The one that had Ray H. Hughes, T.L. Lowery, Carl Richardson, Paul Henson, Paul L. Walker, Lamar Vest, etc. as key players.When that link is gone, the mooring we had to certain understandings and views will be largely gone. For instance, there was a time when young ministers in the Church of God wanted to preach like a Hughes, Lowery, Richardson, Henson, etc. Today's generation--some never having heard even a TAPE of these giants--seem to aspire more to an Andy Stanley approach. Nothing wrong with that, but while it may draw more people, I cannot imagine it impacting people like our preacher heroes once did.
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