40 years ago — July 8, 1974
The Presbyterian Outlook reported both General Assembly meetings that were being held in Louisville, Kentucky, that year — the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (the southern branch of our church family) and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (the northern branch of our church family). The cover summarizes the PCUS Assembly with the election of the first black moderator, Lawrence W. Bottoms, that was seen as a hopeful sign towards reunion. Also mentioned is a vast communion service observed by the two churches that had been separated for 113 years. Mentioned, too, on the cover was the approval of a two-year study of Presbyterian reunion between the PCUS and the UPUSA that could also include the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. A one-year study was also approved for a new confessional statement and a proposed Book of Confessions. Another hopeful sign towards reunion was in the election of the new UPCUSA moderator, Robert C. Lamar, pastor of First church. Albany, New York. Lamar was co-chairman of the joint committee on reunion.
40 years ago….
