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Ten years ago, leaders in the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) began denouncing the fringe beliefs of their founder and transforming their church into an evangelical denomination. This revolutionary theological shift caused congregations and families to splinter. It also sparked a financial Armageddon in the highly visible movement of 150,000 people.

Now church leaders propose a physical shift that they say will determine the church's future. They want to turn their valuable 55-acre Ambassador College campus in upscale Pasadena into about 1,500 residential units. Church officials say selling the headquarters will secure the church's financial foundation, provide pensions for its pastors, and create much-needed housing for city residents.

"As we go to sell it, we are concerned about the next 50 years," said Bernard Schnippert, the church's director of finance and development. "When we leave Pasadena, we want to be proud of our legacy."

But local residents are not ready to let the group leave on those terms.

The campus, with its Italian gardens, stately mansions, and world-renowned Ambassador Auditorium, has been the church's home since 1956. At its peak, it housed up to 1,200 students and 1,000 church employees. It was the icon of founder Herbert W. Armstrong's church. Kingdom of the Cults, by the late Walter Martin, devoted 34 pages to the group.

The church preached what has been dubbed "Armstrongism" or British Israelism through its The World Tomorrow radio and television programs and The Plain Truth magazine. Basic beliefs included adherence to Old Testament dietary laws and festivals, a Saturday sabbath, and a mandatory 20 to 30 percent tithe.

Armstrong died in 1986, the college closed in 1990, and church leaders began looking at the teachings of their late leader in light of the Bible. Eventually most of the leaders converted to orthodox Christianity (CT, July 15, 1996, p. 26).

Joseph Tkach Jr., is the church's current pastor general and son of Joseph Tkach Sr., the man who led the movement to orthodoxy.

"I didn't have any complete grasp of how the changes would rock my world," the younger Tkach told Christianity Today.

Schism begat schism, as many pastors and members left the church, forming dozens of spin-off groups. Tkach's own sister and brother in-law belong to one of the groups.

"It's something I never get any closure on," Tkach said. "Some people I went to high school and college with think I'm possessed by no less than the devil."

The declining membership, currently 67,000, combined with the denouncing of Armstrong's mandatory tithe, caused annual revenue to plunge from $170 million to $25 million.

Today the campus is an immaculately manicured ghost town. With its rolling lawns and manmade streams trickling into ponds swimming with koi, maintenance alone costs about $2 million annually.

Church leaders won't comment on the estimated value of the land. They plan to sell the land to individual developers, who would then construct and sell the homes. The retail value of those homes to the developers could be high as $750 million. The church will only benefit from the value of the land, which would be significantly less than that amount.

The church submitted a final proposal to the city council in the spring. One version—which calls for additional private or city funding—retains the near acoustically perfect 1,100-seat auditorium. The other does not. Both plans would preserve many of the campus's historic mansions, gardens, and much of its open space. Council members are seeking an environmental impact report.

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July 2003, Vol. 47, No. 7