Page Last Updated – January 11, 2020

This website is dedicated to gathering and supporting Evangel members who are in agreement to remain as an active church.

We want to remain prayerful about all we say and do. Please seek God’s will, guidance, and involvement in this matter.

Beliefs & Purpose

What does this Group stand for and what do we hope to accomplish?

We stand to:

1) Restore Evangel to working as a fully member directed entity as it was originally intended.

2) Rescind all partnership/merger agreements with any & all church entities so that Evangel remains an independent church.

3) Reinstitute all paused Christian Education Ministries that foster congregational development; and original branding to Evangel Ministries signage.

We consider our church to be under attack and bear no witness in our spirit that it is being led in the right direction.

Offenses

  • Non-Adherence in following Evangel’s Corporate Charter to allow a membership voice and require membership approval in major decisions.
  • Scattering of the flock – the loss of more than 200 longtime members in 2019, including the requesting of many to leave.
  • The intended plan to merge Evangel Ministries’ assets into another organization and the ultimate dissolution of Evangel.
  • Unexpected firings and the forced requirement for staff to sign non-disclosure agreements in order to stay or receive due payroll.
  • The dismantling of Evangel’s Christian education infrastructure including Sunday school, DBI, and others.
  • Abuse of power and untrustworthy leadership
  • Banning of Pastor Bogle’s family and others from entering the church
  • Refusal to respond to member requests for copies of the Bylaws the leadership is operating under, copies of financials, copies of any agreements considered or entered into with other organizations; and more.

It should be clear that the ultimate plan of Evangel’s leadership is to merge Evangel and its approximately $1,000,000 in church assets; into the Triumph Church umbrella.

Although the term “Collaboration” is used to describe this transaction, NO AUTONOMY is intended. The Collaboration would result in Evangel being dissolved.

We believe because of the efforts to organize the membership who oppose the merger, the story is being softened.

In 12-15-19’s services it was announced that the Collaboration which was described as “a marriage, would now become an engagement”.

The details being given to the congregation are constantly shifting. Decisions appear to be made ad-hoc, without a clearer defined Board voted plan being presented.

The following details changed at 12-15-19’s 11am service from the Sunday prior.

  • The planned January 5th move was delayed, no specific date given
  • The Evangel name/brand would now be “Evangel Ministries Campus – Triumph Church”
  • The merger is now a trial period
  • The Evangel membership will be granted a say in the matter.

The following announcements were also made:

  • Developers invested $100,000’s of thousands of dollars to help evangel out (a deceptive, untruthful statement)
  • New Service Times beginning January 5th – 8:45 and 10:45
  • There was no existing Evangel Membership and a new membership count was being taken.
  • Evangel Members will always have a voice in major decisions (This is all we are asking)
  • New vision is to establish and sustain over 500 urban epi-centers and this can only be done by joining the other churches.
    (What is the definition of an Urban Epi-Center? And shouldn’t we start with establishing 10 before committing to 500?)

The Silencing of Member Voices

On Sunday 12-15-19 approximately 70 Evangel Members who oppose the direction the church is headed, attended the service.

After service had concluded, Tim Bogle stood to make a short statement asking the Elder Board Members to come to their section so these members could address them.

Before this statement could be completed, an aggressive action was taken to stop any voicing by membership.

Music was ordered to be played in order to quell any member opinion and a threat of calling the police was invoked.

You can watch both the announcements made to the membership and hear the way this situation was handled by church leadership in the following video.

 

Tim Bogle, Amy Bogle, & Tara Bogle continue to be banned from attending Sunday Service. In a December 24th meeting with Pastor Sewell, Tim Bogle and 5 other Detroit Area Pastors; brother Sewell stated that Tim would be allowed to attend services. However, on Sunday December 29th and January 5th, Tim was once again denied permission to enter the building.

The Objective

Our objective is to restore power to the congregation!  And to craft bylaws and procedures that keep a take-over of the church by a handful of people FROM EVER HAPPENING AGAIN.

Evangel’s original Articles of Incorporation state it is a member directed, Ecclesiastical Corporation which means WE THE MEMBERS have the authority and control over the church. Evangel is not a business, it is not owned or controlled by any ONE PERSON.

If you love this church and want it to remain, NOW IS THE TIME TO WAKE UP, STAND UP AND SPEAK UP!  Tomorrow will be too late.

If we as the congregation are apathetic, lethargic, or just too sick and tired to ACT….the outcome will be on US, no one else.

  • Attend church at Evangel this Sunday.
  • Be certain to register as a member in the kiosk system or write a letter to the church declaring your membership and sign it.
  • And Spread the News!

There are more members who oppose what is happening than who support it.

The purpose of this group is not to change minds.

Participating members should have already done enough research and engaged in prayer to know they do not bear witness with how Evangel is being led.

While we’re organizing, our policy is to limit Group membership to those who share our common goal; however, we are dependent on the honesty of those requesting access. If you agree with our purpose: join our Facebook group, Text list, and Email list.

Ultimately, we believe all members of every opinion must and will come together to decide the future of Evangel Church.

Next Steps

Many are asking about next steps. It’s good to see the congregation engaging,

Know that plans are laid and preparation is taking place.

Many can confirm that “attempting to discuss and reason” has been fruitless. There may be more than 50 individuals who have engaged in direct conversation with leadership. The verified number exceeds 20, some of which have been other pastors. No real change is taking place except for the announcement to delay the January 5th move.

Wisdom, Patience, & Prayer are required. It’s not to our advantage to have a mob type response and move without a sound plan and strategic action.

The solution is not 50 angry, upset, vocal members crying in the wilderness. The solution is organizing a majority of members who agree on anything. Michigan law is in our favor.

The MOST IMPORTANT SINGLE ACTION this group can do is to gather more members who share our purpose. Do not get hung up on the definition of a member right now, that battle will be one of the key ones waged. For now, anyone who was attending January 1st, 2019 or prior, especially those who paid support to the church, are good candidates should they desire to be a member and vote. Do not be concerned if they have stopped attending over their disappointment in leadership…that is NOT a disqualifier.

Keep getting educated, keep praying for God to intervene, and keep CONTACTING MEMBERS. Both God and the law is on our side. Know that not all members use facebook, we already have a list started of those members and Pastor George Bogle Sr. and Sister Shirley Bogle are at the top of that list.

If you know people who do not Facebook, but do email. Ask them to send an email to support@standwithevangel.com giving their name, address, phone number, date they started attending, and if they gave tithes or offerings. (More will be said about this)

Some are concerned that manipulation will take place in the leadership’s member tabulation. There will likely be some of this, but know 2 things:

1) This will be watched and monitored intently, with rules that have to be followed. We are prepared to go before a judge if necessary to insure a fair process.

2) If the process is fair, there is no way we fail except for apathy. The number of legitimate members who oppose what is happening to Evangel FAR OUTNUMBER those members who support it. We simply need to be organized.

This is an Evangel Church family problem and we should do everything we can to keep it out of the press, and out of the public; the Evangel family should handle their business amongst themselves. This is our hope and goal. We are aware of the other tools and are not opposed to using them, in particular, the courts. However, our strategies are crafted to avoid them if we can.

Have no doubt about it, we’re in a battle. It’s likely to get messy before it’s over. We don’t relish that thought. Much depends on what the Elder Board does or does not do. Our attorney tells us the situation will be dynamic. The landscape will change significantly every few days.

May God Bless Evangel Church

Those Standing

ATTENTION THERE WILL BE AN EVANGEL MEMBER MEETING – ALL MEMBERS ARE INVITED

We will meet Sunday Jan 12th at 1:30pm

Location: Body of Christ International. Our meeting will be held in their sanctuary at 9555 St. Mary’s, Detroit MI 48227

Download letter presented to Evangel’s Elder Board: https://www.standwithevangel.com/Evangel.pdf

Download letter delivered to Pastor Kinloch of Triumph Church: https://www.standwithevangel.com/Kinloch.pdf

Note from Tim Bogle

I feel led to ask a very basic and direct question of L. Sewell and the Elders of Evangel. Perhaps some of the Sewell supporters who monitor this site will take my question to him. What exactly is it that Sewell wants from Evangel to take to Triumph? If he and some of his followers truly believed it was God’s will that they go and fellowship with Triumph then there should be no problem if there were a group of believers that would stay behind and continue to preach God’s word at that location. Sewell has not been willing to leave in that manner so what is it that he wants/needs? Or Perhaps more accurately, what does Solomon Kinloch want/need from Evangel.

  1. We know it’s not the physical building because the message from the beginning was that the building is in horrible physical shape and is virtually worthless. The plan presented by Sewell from the beginning was that the building would be sold and Evangel assets liquidated. The only reason they have softened this stance is to pacify the membership.
  2. We know it is not the name and 501c3 status of Evangel. Every draft of operating agreements that have been shown to Evangel’s Elder Board have had Evangels funds and non-profit status being placed under the Triumph umbrella and working through that parent organization. The only reason they have softened this stance, saying that Evangel will remain as a separate organization, is to again pacify the membership.
  3. We know it is not the congregation because Sewell has stated that those who do not agree with him can leave. Over 200 members stopped attending services last year. Virtually all church ministries were eliminated and all members who were led to minister in those programs were dismissed from their role in those programs.(i.e. Sunday School, Youth Group, Theological education) Only a skeletal form of a couple programs have been instituted. Sewell has said on a couple of occasions that members would have input regarding this partnership but that was said only to pacify the membership.

What else is there for Sewell/Kinloch to get from Evangel? What else could they want? The only thing left is money! Elders of the church, you are not overseeing a change in ministry direction. You are being used for the acquisition of assets to get a certain amount of money. So lets be honest and tell the members of Evangel, how much money do they want to walk away from us? The only other factor that could be at play in this matter is “pride”, and I can’t help them with that problem.