Joseph W. Tkach (; March 16, 1927 – September 23, 1995) was the appointed successor of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God. Tkach became president and pastor general of the church upon the death of Armstrong in 1986. Tkach spearheaded a major doctrinal transformation of the Worldwide Church of God, abandoning Armstrong's unconventional doctrines and bringing the church into accord with orthodox evangelical Christianity. His son, Joseph Tkach Jr., continued his work and in 1997 the Worldwide Church of God became a member of the National Association of Evangelicals.
During Tkach's tenure, the changes that he implemented stirred intense controversy and internal dissent among the majority who continued to follow Armstrong's theology. The dissenters labeled the changes as heresy and most left to form new church organizations. Within the mainstream, Protestant community, some hailed Tkach's reforms, which brought a church from the extreme fringes to modern orthodoxy, as unprecedented.Ruth Tucker, "From the Fringe to the Fold", Christianity Today, July 15, 1996, pp. 26–32.
Background He was born March 16, 1927, in Chicago, the youngest of five children and the only son of Vassil and Mary Tkach. The name Tkach is of Carpatho-Rusyn origin, and his parents were originally from Czechoslovakia.Telephone interview with Anna Bregin, sister of Joseph W. Tkach, as quoted in John Trechak, "Joseph W. Tkach - God's New Rep on Planet Earth (Part 1)", Ambassador Report, Issue 41, March 1989. See also John Trechak, "Joseph W. Tkach... (Part IV)", Ambassador Report, Issue 44, June 1990. The neighborhood where he grew up was composed mainly of blue-collar working people of Russian origin.John Trechak, "Joseph W. Tkach - God's New Rep on Planet Earth (Part 1)", Ambassador Report, Issue 41, March 1989. He graduated from Tilden High School in southwest Chicago. He then served a short term in the U.S. Navy near the end of World War II and afterward returned to his native Chicago.Joseph Tkach Jr., Transformed by Truth, Chapter 6, Multnomah, 1997. On March 31, 1951, Tkach married Alice Elaine Apostolos; they had three children: Joseph Jr., Tanya, and Jennifer.Jeff Zhorne and Michael Snyder, "Passing the Baton", The Worldwide News, January 27, 1986, as quoted in John Trechak, "Joseph W. Tkach - God's New Rep on Planet Earth (Part 1)", Ambassador Report, Issue 41, March 1989.
Tkach grew up in the Russian Orthodox faith, but eventually his family, including his parents, became interested in the Radio Church of God through the radio broadcast of Herbert W. Armstrong, the founder of the church. The Radio Church of God would eventually change its name in 1968 to the Worldwide Church of God (WCG), the church that Tkach would lead. It was a church characterized by the strong influence of its founder and his unique doctrines based on his own interpretation of the Bible. Initially, Tkach was the only member of his family who was not interested in listening to the radio broadcasts. However, a purportedly miraculous event was to change him. At the time, Tkach suffered from severe ulcers and was required to stay on a special diet. His wife then suggested that God would heal him if he were to become a minister in Armstrong's church. Although skeptical, he accepted the suggestion of becoming a minister and he found himself cured, never again to suffer from the ulcers. He was baptized by Radio Church of God minister, Dean Blackwell, on March 1, 1957. On June 7, 1961, Blackwell ordained him a deacon in the Chicago congregation, and on June 3, 1963, Roderick C. Meredith, who would eventually lead a breakaway church from the WCG, ordained him as an elder.
In 1966 Tkach moved his family to Pasadena, California, where he enrolled in classes at Ambassador College, a state-approved, but not regionally accredited, college that was sponsored by the WCG. In 1974, he was ordained to the rank of preaching elder.John Trechak, "Joseph W. Tkach - God's New Rep on Planet Earth (Part II)", Ambassador Report, Issue 42, September 1989. Armstrong taught that the Bible endorsed "ranks" in the ministry, and elders could progress up the ladder from local elder to preaching elder to pastor to evangelist. The highest rank, apostle, was reserved for the leader of the church.John Robinson, "How WCG's Top-Down Rule Evolved" In Transition, December 16, 1996, 7, as quoted in Joseph Tkach Jr., Transformed by Truth, Chapter 7, Multnomah, 1997.
In the late 1970s a period of financial and leadership disputes occurred within the church hierarchy, with church treasurer, Stanley Rader, at the center of many of the disputes. The gravest incident was the church being placed in financial receivership by the Attorney General of California, George Deukmejian, an action that was later disallowed in court. Tkach took an active role in the defense of Armstrong, Rader, and the church headquarters' operations. He rallied the WCG membership to take action against the court proceedings. Armstrong recognized his effectiveness and subsequently ordained him to the rank of evangelist on September 27, 1979."Evangelists ordained in Tucson", The Worldwide News, October 29, 1979, p. 3. See Evangelists of the Worldwide Church of God. In March 1981 Armstrong appointed him to the WCG's advisory council of elders, and eventually, Armstrong named him Director of Church Administration, one of the most prominent administrative positions other than Armstrong himself.
Selection by Armstrong Armstrong had recovered from severe heart problems in the late 1970s, but by the mid-1980s he was experiencing rapidly declining health. By 1985 this was common knowledge among church members as the 93-year-old preacher had not been seen in public for several months.John Trechak, "Herbert Armstrong's Sinking Ship", Ambassador Report, Issue 34, January 1986. According to The Worldwide News, the official church newsletter, Armstrong told his advisory council on January 7, 1986, of his decision to appoint Tkach to succeed him in the event of his death.John Trechak, "HWA Names Tkach Successor", Ambassador Report, Issue 34, January 1986 and John Trechak, "Herbert W. Armstrong Goes to His Reward", Ambassador Report, Issue 35, April 1986. It was also announced by Armstrong in a letter to members of the church. Armstrong died on January 16, 1986, only nine days after naming his successor.John Trechak, "Herbert W. Armstrong Goes to His Reward", Ambassador Report, Issue 35, April 1986.
Initially there were few visible changes within the church. Tkach continued Armstrong's tradition of traveling abroad, although his emphasis was more on visiting church members and operations than on Armstrong's agenda of visiting world leaders to attempt to witness to them. The church entered a period of rapid growth during the early years of Tkach's administration. In fact, the membership peaked during his tenure at 126,800 members in 1988.Joseph Tkach Jr., Transformed by Truth, Chapter 5, Multnomah, 1997. The finances were stable, largely due to the church's teaching that members should tithe, giving a tenth of their gross income to the church. The church magazine, The Plain Truth, continued to serialize the final and most controversial book by Armstrong, Mystery of the Ages. Tkach also continued, at least in public, to promote the church's unique doctrines.Joseph W. Tkach, The Worldwide News, August 25, 1986, p. 5.
Tkach did not have the charismatic personality of his predecessor. Unlike Armstrong, who kept a strong hold of the reins, Tkach delegated many tasks, including the presentation of the church-supported television broadcast, The World Tomorrow and the authoring of articles and booklets produced by the church. Although Tkach was not known as a theologian, and made no claims as such, eventually he was to have profound impact on the theological foundations of the WCG.
Doctrinal changes The first major change under Tkach's tenure was the WCG's doctrine on healing. Previously the church taught that true believers were healed by faith in God and not by doctors. Tkach asked the church leadership to study the question. Once Tkach was satisfied with the results of the study, he officially softened the church's teaching on the matter, encouraging members to seek proper treatment while retaining faith in God as a healer.Joseph W. Tkach, "New Understanding of the Meaning of Christ's Broken Body and the Church's Teaching on HEALING", The Worldwide News, March 23, 1987 as quoted in John Trechak, "Tkach Rewrites HWA's Healing Doctrine", Ambassador Report, Issue 38, April 1987 and Joseph Tkach Jr., Transformed by Truth, Chapter 8, Multnomah, 1997.
Another officially published doctrinal change was that women in the church would be allowed to wear makeup. In the earliest years of the denomination, Armstrong announced the prohibition of makeup for women. In the 1970s that prohibition was lifted, but in 1981 Armstrong reinstituted the teaching. In 1988, Tkach lifted the ban for good.Joseph W. Tkach, The Worldwide News, November 14, 1988, p. 1 as quoted in John Trechak, "WCG News in Brief", Ambassador Report, Issue 41, March 1989. See also Joseph Tkach Jr., Transformed by Truth, Chapter 8, Multnomah, 1997.
The first major sign of dissent occurred in 1989 when a WCG minister, Gerald Flurry, published a manuscript outlining what he and others believed were disturbing trends in the work, including the beginnings of the doctrinal departure from what had been established by Armstrong. Flurry and another minister, John Amos, were disfellowshipped and went on to form the Philadelphia Church of God (PCG). The PCG began an alternative radio program and magazine, and over the next several years a few thousand WCG members left to join the PCG. Despite this, Tkach continued to implement additional changes in thinking, including the shift in emphasis away from observing world events primarily through the lens of prophetic interpretation;Joseph W. Tkach, Editorial of The Worldwide News, July 3, 1989 as quoted in John Trechak, "WCG Growth Stalls As Doctrines Shift", Ambassador Report, Issue 42, September 1989. the removal of the prohibition of interracial marriage;Joseph W. Tkach, Editorial of The Worldwide News, July 30, 1990. the allowance of work on the Sabbath;John Trechak, "More Oxen, More Ditches", Ambassador Report, Issue 45, September 1990. the acceptance of the trinitarian doctrine;John Trechak, "WCG Adopts Trinity Doctrine", Ambassador Report, Issue 53, September 1993. and the acceptance of the validity of other Christian denominations,John Trechak, "Tkach: There Are True Christians In Other Churches!", Ambassador Report, Issue 56, October 1994. among many other changes. Older Armstrong publications that supported the church's once unique doctrines were allowed to go out-of-print.David C. Pack, "Doctrinal Changes of the Worldwide Church of God", Ambassador Report, Issue 53, September 1993. However, in order to settle legal matters between WCG and splinter group PCG, WCG agreed to sell PCG the copyrights to many of Armstrong's publications, allowing PCG to continue to publish them.Source: Church Sells Armstrong’s Works, Christianitytoday.com. July 2003.