It can’t be 25 years since we voted in reunion of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) after being split for 122 years. But it is. And in remembering the year we voted and the year we reunited, there are a lot of laughs and tears.
In Columbus, Ga., the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church U.S. was getting ready for the call to vote on reunion. The result of the vote would go to the presbyteries, where at least 3/4 of them had to approve reunion. The United Presbyterian Church U.S.A. had already approved.
A pastor from South Carolina and a presbyter from Georgia had made a lot of noise about being against it. Those, of course, were the ones the television reporters wanted to talk to. The late Dorothy Barnard, who was PCUS moderator, received some bad advice and banned the TV reporters from covering the discussions of the assembly while allowing print media reporters to attend. As news director for the PCUS, I strongly objected, saying it was discriminatory; no one paid attention to me. However, when one of the national networks called from New York City and threatened to sue, a compromise was reached. TV reporters could come in and take notes, but no photos. I objected again to no avail.
They came in and noted which individuals objected. They followed them out of the hall where they were interviewed, photographed, and broadcast on national television. I personally thought that was hilarious!
The two new moderators of the two denominations, the late James Costen (UPCUSA) and John Anderson (PCUS), began their trek around the country advocating reunion.
That year in Chicago was the first time the two national staffs met together. Bill Thompson. stated clerk of the UPCUSA, made an eloquent plea for reuniting, saying it was his top priority. As he concluded and sat back down, an irritated southerner jumped up and asked, “When we defeat this measure. What will then be your top priority?”
Thompson stood up, walked slowly to the microphone and said one word only, “Reunion.” The hall rocked with laughter.
At one point, the PCUS was within two presbytery votes of calling for reunion. Whichever presbytery voted last could be the deciding vote. One of those votes was to be in Charlotte, N.C., and one in Milledgeville, Ga. I decided to go to Milledgeville because I thought they would argue longest. It also had the best potential news story because the church had split at a presbytery meeting in Milledgeville at the beginning of the Civil War.
Well, Randy Taylor, pastor in Charlotte who was planning to run for moderator of the reunited church if it passed, wanted the final vote taken in Charlotte. In Milledgeville, a 90-year-old elder said, “I have been to a lot of funerals to prepare for this vote and I suggest we wait and vote last.”
Both presbyteries decided to sit and wait for two hours. As suppertime arrived, they gave up in Charlotte. Milledgeville was going to go hungry to be the deciding vote. And they were. Television ran the story on the evening news — the Presbyterian Church U.S. had a deciding vote calling for reunion in the same town in which the PCUS broke away, Milledgeville.
That assembly was a high moment for the denomination. Flynn Long and Otto Finkle plotted a big parade as the two denominations came out of their last separate assemblies and joined in the street for a march to city hall — a crowd estimated at 15,000 people. Bagpipers played “Amazing Grace” and a band from Stillman College played, “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
As the mass of people plowed down the street, a lady in an upstairs window hollered out, “Who is it?” Somebody yelled back, “Presbyterians.” She yelled back, “There ain’t that many!”
With the end of the celebrations came the difficulties of the merger. The first General Assembly Council elected Sara B. Moseley as its first moderator. Ken Hall ran second and was elected the next year.
At the second PC(USA) General Assembly in Phoenix (1984), there were tears for Bill Thompson when he lost his bid for re-election as clerk. It was a particularly painful election that also left tears for Patricia McClurg and Flynn Long, and Bob Lamar, also losers, while James Andrews, who had been the clerk for the PCUS, pulled off an upset.
One 90-year-old commissioner from South Carolina went home and reported, “Both denominations were mad at their clerk. The North had more votes than us so they got rid of theirs and we didn’t.”
Randy Taylor, at his first council meeting as moderator, was distressed at some of the proposals made that would not sit well with the southern stream. He made a statement that cause quite an uproar: “If you think you are going to swallow up all the leadership of the PCUS like you tried on the United Presbyterian Church of North America, you are going to have a very bad stomach ache.”
Following this, the tedious putting together of the national staffs with some winners and some losers caused massive tension, some celebrations, and some heartache.
Selecting the city for the newly-merged national church center proved equally tense. A committee headed by Judy Fletcher studied all applications for a year and nominated Kansas City. Louisville refused to be taken off the list and its partisans took their plea to the Assembly in Biloxi, Miss., presided over by the late Isabel Rogers. Louisville won out, and a fistfight broke out in the newsroom between a newspaper reporter from Kansas City and a television reporter from Louisville.
Early days after reunion of working with the general council and establishing a mission design were fraught with problems. The executive director, Dave Stoner, was helpful in easing tense situations.
Unquestionably, the women’s unit was the most difficult to put together. But the women cared enough about mission that they quit arguing and went to bat for more important causes.
In the years since — the North/ South element has dwindled. The arguments now are more liberal/conservative, or “We’re for this and you’re for that.”
We’ve had bright moments and celebrations: Ben Weir came home — South African apartheid ended — seminary presidents took textbooks into a reunited Europe when the Berlin wall fell, and many others. We’ve seen a renewed interest in mission.
We’ve had our share of battles: Jim Brown’s second term as director — John Detterick’s difficult job of PC(USA) downsizing — arguments over hymns in, or not in, the hymnbook.
I’m still the optimist. I believe the church will stand and continue to take the Gospel to all nations — including this one. We celebrate our 25th year together as a strong Reformed family of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Marj Carpenter of Big Spring, Texas, has served as Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) moderator of the 207th General Assembly, and elder. She has traveled extensively and written many articles about mission work at home and abroad. Her columns, “Presbyterians in Action” and “In This Corner” appear regularly in The Presbyterian Outlook.
