New mission leader urges new missions direction

LOUISVILLE -- Hunter Farrell, the new director of World Mission for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), calls this a crossroads time for Presbyterians -- with the health and vitality of the denomination at stake.

"I believe we in the Presbyterian church are at a crossroads, a kairos moment, a time when we're going to have to choose which direction to go," Farrell told more than 600 people who gathered in Louisville Oct. 2-5 for the World Mission '07 "Celebration of Grace" convocation -- an effort by the denomination to jump-start enthusiasm for international mission and to build closer connections between the national staff and Presbyterians involved in world mission at the local level.

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You CAN reach out to college students

When I was a college student in Holland, Mich., there were about 35 congregations affiliated with the Reformed Church but there was only one Presbyterian church and it was so small that it met in a house (it now has more than 500 members.) At that time it was actively interested in students and reached out with energy and concern, offering us Sunday morning rides and inviting us into homes on a regular basis.

How does your church minister to college and university students?

Voices

Wrestling with the death penalty

We are not good enough to kill those who kill. We are too good to kill those who kill.

On November 22, 2006, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that it is not cruel and unusual punishment to execute murderers by lethal injection. "Conflicting medical testimony prevents us from stating categorically that a prisoner feels no pain," the court declared. "But the prohibition is against cruel punishment and does not require a complete absence of pain." On December 15, 2006, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida suspended the death penalty because of the troubled and lengthy execution of Angel Nieves Diaz. Bush appointed a committee to study lethal injections and their constitutionality and inhumanity. Shortly after Bush's decision, a federal judge in California ruled against the lethal injection system as a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. On September 28, 2007, in response to the United States Supreme Court's halting of an execution in Texas, officials in that state declared their intentions to proceed with impending executions. At that time, 25 Texas inmates had been executed in Huntsville in 2007 by lethal injection.

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New stated clerk search started; application deadline December 23

LOUISVILLE -- The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Stated Clerk Nomination Committee (SCNC), elected at the 217th General Assembly in 2006 in Birmingham, Ala., is now accepting applications for the position of General Assembly stated clerk, the top ecclesiastical post in the 2.3-million-member denomination.

Next summer's 218th General Assembly in San Jose, Calif., will elect the successor to Clifton Kirkpatrick, who announced last month that he will not seek a fourth three-year term. Kirkpatrick was first elected stated clerk in 1996 and is only the second General Assembly stated clerk elected since Presbyterian reunion in 1983.

Book Reviews

Mandate to Difference: An Invitation to the Contemporary Church

In a war-whipped, politically polarized, and consumer-confounded world, Walter Brueggemann in his new book shares his conviction that the Church "must recover and re-embrace its own mission" and live in tension with a world that suggests the answers are found in technology, empire politics, militarism, and acquiring more "stuff". He invites the Church to consider that it is listening to a script that is shouting the gospel of fear and anxiety instead of the word of God. There is an alternative script found in God's word, a script that speaks to the discontent and disconnect of those of us who are in the contemporary Church of Jesus Christ.

Brueggemann cites Old Testament prophets who called for restoration and newness, prophets who called for an alternative way of life in covenant with God, and of course, he points to Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life, the One who feeds the hungry, touches lepers, and welcomes children.

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Seminary professor nominated for top U.S. ecumenical post

NEW YORK -- Michael Kinnamon, an educator and seminary professor with long-standing ties to a variety of ecumenical bodies, has been nominated to become the ninth general secretary of the U.S. National Council of Churches.

In making the announcement on Oct. 3 the NCC tapped someone with very different credentials than Bob Edgar, the organization's former general secretary and one-time Pennsylvania congressman who left the council earlier this year and is now head of the Washington-based advocacy organization Common Cause.

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World Communion of Reformed Churches suggested as name for new Reformed group

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) has taken a number of important steps along the road to its merger with the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC).

WARC's Executive Committee agreed earlier this week to the merger at its meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. Friday the group agreed to recommend to REC that the new global entity be called the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

Voices

The paradoxes of liberal education

"The compelling purpose of Presbyterian College, as a church-related college, is to develop within the framework of Christian faith the mental, physical, moral, and spiritual capacities of each student in preparation for a lifetime of personal and vocational fulfillment and responsible contribution to our democratic society and the world community."

In case you're in doubt, this is the mission statement of Presbyterian College. It is the simplest and most authoritative description of our common task as a college of the Presbyterian Church.

Without saying so directly, it places us in the long tradition of liberal education that goes back to fifth-century Athens. While this tradition has changed in many ways, there are still recognizable continuities.

Voices

The Sharing of the Light: A Second Chance at America

It began with a wrong turn in a familiar city, and the daily privilege I have in dropping my children off to school every morning.

The "it" to which I am referring is the progression of my thinking about the role of church-related higher education in America, particularly church-related higher education in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Many may not know the history of our denomination in America; a history that is long and committed to easing the burden of "the least of these" in our country and in our world. We focused on two specific forms of outreach: healthcare and education. With the exception of the many congregation-related community clinics in places like the Eastminster Church in Pittsburgh, Pa., or the weekly foot care clinic for seniors at the Queen Anne Church in Seattle, Wash., much of our church-related healthcare ministry has been subsumed by larger corporate entities. The name may still remain the same as is best exemplified by the plethora of Presbyterian hospitals that exist across the country, but the economics are much more complicated and the mission is understandably different. Quality healthcare is expensive, bureaucratic, requires a great deal of research and investment and, with but a few remarkable exceptions, is now an industry that has outgrown one denomination's ability to provide those services well.

Voices

Rules, responsibility, respect

Editor's Note: This article is based on President William P. Robinson's fall 2007 convocation address at Whitworth University.

I would like to comment on three aspects of community life at Whitworth -- rules, responsibility, and respect. I didn't alliterate these characteristics on purpose, although I can see where you might think that someone coming from a family of Bonnie, Bill, Brenna, Ben, and Bailley is into alliterations. Not true. My motto is Always Avoid Alliterations.

Rules. Rules are necessary and good. We can't live without them. Whether we are talking about the laws of nature or the laws of community, we suffer when we disobey them. However, rules are not as smart as values. For that reason, the most effective organizations and the most satisfying communities are driven by shared values, not by rules. Good judgment and faithfulness to community values will lead ....

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Church leaders fear another war in south of Sudan

Nairobi, 25 October (ENI)--Sudanese church leaders seeking a peaceful settlement of tensions between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army and the country's governing National Congress Party, fear another war could erupt in the south of Africa's biggest country.

'We hope they will find a peaceful solution to the problem. Another war is hard to imagine. The region is tired of war. The people don't want war,' the Rev. Anthony Bagoye, the general secretary of the Sudan Catholic Bishops' Regional Conference told Ecumenical News International in Nairobi on 24 October.

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Lilly awards $1.4 million to PC(USA) Research Services

LOUISVILLE -- The Lilly Endowment of Indianapolis has awarded $1,470,555 to the Research Services office of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s General Assembly Council (GAC) to expand the U.S. Congregational Life Survey.

The original survey conducted in April 2001, was also funded by Lilly, as well as the Louisville Institute and the PC(USA). It's the largest study in history of American congregations and their worshipers.

It generated new information and resources for increasing congregational effectiveness, by compiling responses from more than 300,000 worshipers in 2,234 congregations of all sizes, representing all 50 states and more than 50 denominations and faith groups.

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Presbyterian Center domain name changes: @ctr.pcusa.org is now @pcusa.org

LOUISVILLE -- The domain name for all email addresses of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) national staff members has changed from @ctr.pcusa.org to @pcusa.org.

Also, the individual inbox protocol has been changed from first initial-last name (e.g., jvanmart) to first name.last name (e.g., jerry.vanmarter).

General Assembly Council Executive Director Linda Valentine said, "We want to make it easier for constituents to contact us, so we are moving to a simpler firstname/lastname address, and the simpler pcusa.org format."

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After the fire: Malibu Presbyterian Church living the resurrection

LOS ANGELES -- The Rev. Greg Hughes, pastor of Malibu Presbyterian Church in Pacific Presbytery, which burned to the ground Sunday -- has been in the news, testifying to our faith.

He can be seen and heard in a video interview on the Fox News Web site. In the interview he responds: "Well, you know, we're an Easter Faith people, so you know on Friday, it looked like things were bleak for Jesus, but we saw that Jesus rose again. And our church is a resurrection church. We'll gather again. We're going to regroup again."

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‘Values voters’ are as split over issues as they are on candidates

Picking a candidate has been hard enough, evangelical political activists say. But it's gotten harder because their big unifying issues -- abortion and gay marriage -- are competing with bread-and-butter issues like the economy, education and immigration.

"When evangelicals get up in the morning, they have the same concerns that everybody else has," said Randy Brinson, 50, chairman of Redeem the Vote, an Alabama-based organization that aims to motivate young evangelical voters.

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Growing rich-poor gap is new ‘slavery,’ say Protestant leaders

PORT OF SPAIN -- Leaders of the world's biggest grouping of Reformed churches have compared the effects of economic globalization to the transatlantic slave trade, and said that Christians need to combat this modern form of "enslavement."

"As a matter of the integrity of our faith, we must say 'No' to slavery in all of its forms," said the president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick. He was speaking at an Oct. 18-28 meeting in Trinidad of Reformed leaders from around the world.

"While we acknowledge this year the 200th anniversary of the passing of the transatlantic slave trade act by the British Parliament, we are painfully aware that slavery is still with us," said Kirkpatrick -- who is also General Assembly stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) -- in his Oct. 20 presidential report to WARC's main governing body, its executive committee.

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Religious panel dialogues with Iran’s Ahmadinejad

NEW YORK -- Three Presbyterians were among a delegation of more than 100 religious leaders who met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran Sept. 26 during his visit to the United States.

The two-hour dialogue, held at the Church Center for the United Nations here, was the second in a series of conversations focused on establishing a dialogue between people of faith in the United States and the people and government of Iran.

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Niles-McCrary named PC(USA) associate

Rose Niles-McCrary has been called as the associate for theological education and seminary relations for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly Council (GAC) in the Theology, Worship, and Education program area. She was pastor of First Church of Mount Vernon, New York, and doctor of ministry faculty for New York Theological Seminary of Manhattan, N.Y.

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Kirkpatrick urges PC(USA) to keep ecumenical commitment

LOUISVILLE -- General Assembly Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick told ecumenical leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Sept. 28 that maintaining the church's historic leadership in ecumenism "will require a major reorientation and recommitment" to the world ecumenical movement.

Speaking to the first major consultation on the PC(USA)'s ecumenical stance since its formation in 1983, Kirkpatrick said, "We need to recapture a passionate vision in the PC(USA) for the unity of the church, which now seems to recede into the background."

Voices

A pastor in Utah: Universal lessons from a unique experience

Ask this New Jersey born, east coast educated minister how he feels about life in the predominantly Mormon town of Ogden, Utah, and he'll tell you he is right where he is supposed to be. The Rev. Dr. Richard Paul Minnich is pastor of First Church, a congregation of more than 400 members. The gold brick building of First Church, nestled against the western bench of the Rocky Mountains, has been his home for 15-plus years.

His theological training and earlier pastorates were in the eastern states. After graduating from Princeton Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity, he completed his Doctor of Ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in 1992. His first calling was assistant pastor of youth ministry at Westminster Church in Upper St. Clair, Pa. Five years later he was pastor to the Elizabeth, Pa.'s Round Hill Church.

Voices

A tribute to a friend

I stayed at the home of friends the night before Brent's funeral, in the hills on the north side of Pittsburgh, above the Ohio River. Unable to sleep, I listened to the lonely wail of trains on the tracks down below. Trains heading east slow down in this section, before heading over the trestle and into the city, their cars bumping into one another as the brakes are applied. Trains heading west pick up speed and their engines strain as they cut through the night, whistling at each crossing.

In the middle of the night in a strange bed, I recalled sitting in Brent's living room late one evening. He had invited three of us over for dinner. Afterwards, we sat around the fireplace and talked late into the evening, catching up on each other's lives. Hours later, the conversation paused. Then a train came by, quieter than the others. "That's the Capitol Limited," Brent noted, "Chicago bound. You can tell by the sound, you don't have the clanging of the cars." Every time a train came through that night, I thought of Brent.

Voices

Transformation, not perfection

Among the "tapes" we learn in childhood and need to unlearn as adults is a belief that God expects perfection and that the goal of religious life is to attain perfection.

In teaching the classic spiritual disciplines -- prayer, worship, confession -- we need to convey another message, namely, that God wants transformation of life, not a finished state called perfection. Faith is a journey, not an arrival and then a stopping.

In teaching prayer, for example, we teach people how to talk with God, how to open themselves to the holy, and how to sit in silence before God. The aim of prayer is an awareness of God's presence, not perfect wording, posture, or attitude.

Movie Reviews

December Boys

Anybody who's ever had a 'coming of age' summer will identify with this one. There's an inherent sadness here, though, that assaults the viewer from the very first scene, as the Australian orphan boys are lined up, from oldest to youngest, looking so hopeful, and the prospective adoptive parents proceed slowly down the line, until they arrive at....a cute young one. The rest of the boys, like losers in a beauty contest, are forced to feign gladness for the one who was chosen over the rest of them. He is whisked off to his happily ever after, and they are left...with the nuns in the desolate Outback.

Editorials

Rendition: mere movie or, maybe, more?

Rendition. What have we come to?

Ours is a nation long proud of its freedoms, its democratic values, its rule of law, its human rights. And now, in the post 9-11 era, we are being accused around the world of the very opposite.

Many say we have been imprisoning citizens without trial -- arresting people for conversations they may have had -- exporting such suspects to prisons run by foreign totalitarian regimes for interrogation (hence the euphemism, "rendition") -- of using torture to force confessions -- all being done in ways that diminish our most fundamental values.

Are they crazy? This is America. We would never countenance such actions. Or would we? Might we? Are we?

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Conservatives launch alternative to Episcopal Church

(RNS) As many as six Episcopal bishops and more than 200 Episcopal congregations have taken a first step toward forming a new alternative to the Episcopal Church that will unite conservatives irked by the church's liberal drift.

Meeting in Pittsburgh Sept. 25-28, the Common Cause Council of Bishops brought together nine North American splinter groups to lay the groundwork for a conservative counterpart to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.

The Presbyterian Outlook

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