Joseph W. Tkach (/təˈkɒtʃ/; March 16, 1927 – September 23, 1995) was the appointed successor of Herbert W. Armstrong, founder of the Worldwide Church of God.

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.

[1] 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.

Within the mainstream, Protestant community, some hailed Tkach's reforms, which brought a church from the extreme fringes to modern orthodoxy, as unprecedented.

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.

[6] On March 31, 1951, Tkach married Alice Elaine Apostolos; they had three children: Joseph Jr., Tanya, and Jennifer.

It was a church characterized by the strong influence of its founder and his unique doctrines based on his own interpretation of the Bible.

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.

[11] 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.

The church magazine, The Plain Truth, continued to serialize the final and most controversial book by Armstrong, Mystery of the Ages.

[3] 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.

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.

[17] 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).

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;[18] the removal of the prohibition of interracial marriage;[19] the allowance of work on the Sabbath;[20] the acceptance of the trinitarian doctrine;[21] and the acceptance of the validity of other Christian denominations,[22] among many other changes.

[26] The church's traditions of following the Sabbath, the Old Testament holy days, and tithing were initially retained.

They included Tkach's one-time mentor, Roderick C. Meredith, who formed the Global Church of God in 1992.

The doctrinal changes in the church occurred gradually, but by 1994, most of the concepts of Armstrongism had been largely modified or discontinued.

The World Tomorrow, which had seen record numbers of viewers in the early years of the Tkach administration, was stopped.

A new branch, the United Church of God, was created in 1995 by a conference of departing ministers and named Tkach's one-time associate and former The World Tomorrow presenter, David Hulme, as president.

They believe that the changes he brought were a turn against God and say his rejection of Armstrong's unique doctrines were, at best, without biblical foundation.

The WCG describes Tkach's tenure as "A Decade of Painful Change" and that the end result of his work was the reconciliation of the church with mainstream Christianity.

[2]Vern Bullough, a secular humanist and senior editor of Free Inquiry, commented on the significance of the changes noting: The shedding of almost every doctrine the Worldwide Church of God once clung to is a story almost without parallel in American religious history.

[41] As evidence that Tkach's work was instrumental in the move toward mainstream Christianity, the WCG was accepted into the membership of the National Association of Evangelicals within two years of his death.