The final exam question for the course was printed in the syllabus handed out the first day of class in the spring semester of 1992. One of the texts was a manuscript edition of The Re-Forming Tradition, published later that year. And the professors? The course was taught by the team of Milton Coalter, John Mulder and Louis Weeks.
Being a student at Louisville as The Presbyterian Presence series was being completed means that I can’t point to a time in my pastorate when I wasn’t aware of the study or influenced by it. Other professors involved in the research and writing made references to specific findings in their classes. Presentations to trustees, prospective students and visitors, as well as informal discussion on campus, included references to the study. Later, as a member of General Assembly Council and GA committees, I encountered the study in discussions and reports.
In my case, to be taught by those who were conducting the study surely has had more of an influence than if I had read the results independently. As historians, Joe, John and Louis emphasized both the pessimism of the past — that humans and their institutions are doomed to idolatry — and the optimism of the future — that we continue to try to reform our ways. I learned to take the long view of denominational history and dynamics, to see the major themes that keep appearing, and to respect the influence of our heritage.
We tend to do well when we build on our strengths and emphasize the importance of education, leadership, mission, community and intentional theological reflection. Being Presbyterian means trusting the Holy Spirit to be at work in committees, congregations, and assemblies — a theological foundation of our polity which we often forget in the midst of passionate arguments. Even when it seems as if we’re headed toward one extreme or another, I have learned to trust the trajectory of our tradition toward healthy moderation.
Every once in a while, I take out that final exam essay and reread my answer. I am reminded that our denomination has a legacy of vitality of which we are the current stewards. I am reminded that we do have strengths on which to build. I am especially reminded that we must continue to study and to learn, to question and to debate, to discern trends and to identify challenges.
In the “summary” volume of the study, Vital Signs published in 1996, the authors make an assertion which could apply now as well as any number of times in our history and denominational life to come: “A central task of the church at this time is to listen and respond to the leading of the Spirit . . . . Those elements that appear to be threats may be God’s call to new and deeper forms of discipleship” (p. 106).
Posted Nov. 18, 2002 
Cathy Cummings Chisholm, pastor of First church, Weyauwega, Wis., and a former chair of the General Assembly Council, received her M.Div. from LPTS in 1993.
Send your comment on this report to The Outlook. Please give your hometown.
