If space is found, what should be the nature of that witness?
These are the questions to be taken up by three committees when the 219th General Assembly convenes in Minneapolis, Minn., July 3-10. These committees will be dealing with issues of social witness policy in times of war, and economic crisis in a world that has shifted in such a way that the church’s voice is no longer given a position of centrality and privilege in the public sphere.
Some may question whether denominational bodies, in such an environment, have a right or an obligation to make pronouncements. If they are no longer considered central, who will listen? If the church has been marginalized from the public square, what impact will its pronouncements have upon a culture less and less concerned with what the church has to say?
The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy’s coordinator, Chris Iosso suggests that it is in just such an environment that these studies and statements are needed. There is a need, he asserts, for “doing the stuff in the church that can’t be done anywhere else” and for “pulling together study teams that are from the grassroots” yet are able to take advantage of the expertise within the church on such issues of justice.
Committee 10: Social Justice Issues A: The Promotion of Social Righteousness
Concerns of church in national affairs; national military matters; matters relating to righteousness and justice of persons/organizations.
Of the ten resolutions being brought before Committee 10, Social Justice Issues relates to the promotion of social righteousness; one of the potentially most controversial is overture 10-10 — Neither Poverty Nor Riches: Compensation, Equity, and the Unity of the Church.
This recommendation, brought to the assembly by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, seeks to “establish the goal of achieving, in a reasonable period of time, a 5:1 ratio between highest-paid and lowest-paid church employees beginning with new General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC) positions, understanding this to be a partial return to earlier policy and a practical embodiment of missional solidarity.”
Iosso explains: “ACSWP clearly believes that the ministry in the church should be motivated by a genuine desire to serve. … “It is a theology of compensation,” Iosso continues. “We believe the church should be in the market but not of the market.”
Committee 11: Social Justice Issues B: The Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World
Consider matters related to: Concerns of church in national affairs; national military matters; matters relating to righteousness and justice of persons/organizations.
The seven overtures being brought before Committee 11 on Social Justice Issues span gun violence, human rights, saving coastal wetlands, public education and restoring creation.
Overture 11-04 is perhaps the most sweeping item being brought before Committee 11. Brought to the committee by ACSWP, it “recommends that the 219th General Assembly (2010) bring to the attention of the church significant trends and developments in human rights, particularly in the areas of trafficking, detention of immigrants, and the continuing problem of torture.”
Co-written by Noelle Damico of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Campaign for Fair Food, Julia Thorne from the PC(USA)’s Office of Immigration Issues and George Hunsinger, a Princeton Theological Seminary professor. At close to 20 pages, this primarily educational report addresses the nature and scope of human trafficking, the alarming increase of detention centers used to house immigrants, and the ongoing need for truth in issues of torture. It also acknowledges a shortcoming — the failure to address issues within the criminal justice system of the U.S. as a whole.
Committee 13: Peacemaking and International Issues
Consider matters related to: Peacemaking, international military affairs, and the arms race except
matters touched upon by the Middle East Special Committee.
Of the nine overtures being brought before Committee 13 on Peacemaking and International Issues (excluding issues related to Israel/Palestine and Iraq, which will be dealt with by committee 14 on Middle East Peacemaking Issues), are four overtures regarding the war in Afghanistan, a statement on partnering for peace in Sudan, an overture on protecting Christians in the Muslim world, as well as more broad statements on peacemaking and non-violence in times of war.
“Part of what needs to be addressed is the way we as a country do the end of empire and nation building, which we said we were not going to do, and which we are finding is financially unsustainable,” said ACSWP’s Iosso in responding to the issues being brought before Committee 13.
What does Iosso hope will come from the work of these committees at this year’s assembly? “If the church comes out of this assembly with a serious study of economics as it relates to the inequality of the culture as a whole, and some form of a review of our peace witness — that would be appropriate,” he said. “We have been thinking about this stuff systematically for years, and have many people in our churches and seminaries who are doing this stuff today,” Iosso added.
