LOUISVILLE – The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) continues to feel the international rumblings from its controversial decision earlier this year to allow the ordination of sexually-active gays and lesbians.
The Presbytery of San Francisco did not commit any doctrinal errors when it voted to allow the ordination of Lisa Larges, and it does not need to conduct another examination of her, the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Pacific has ruled.
LOUISVILLE – A special committee is poised to recommend restructuring General Assembly meetings in ways intended to allow the assembly to blend worship more fully into its work and to focus more energy on fewer items of business.
The organizers of the NEXT Church group – Presbyterians who are involved in conversations about the future of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – have written an open letter to the church, in the wake of the Fellowship of Presbyterians recent gathering in Minneapolis on Aug. 25-26.
John Stott, an English evangelical who helped introduce the world to the global scope of the Christian movement and is considered one of the most influential evangelicals of his generation, died July 27 in Lingfield, Surrey, England.
Many small Presbyterian congregations struggle to afford trained pastoral leadership. And many gifted students graduate from seminary, excited to be serving in ministry — and are frustrated by the difficulty of finding a first call to serve a congregation.
A church in Africa may have become be the second Presbyterian denomination outside the United States to end its partnership with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in response to the U.S. church’s decision to allow the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Office of the General Assembly) Cynthia Bolbach, moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010), Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, and Linda Valentine, Executive Director of the General Assembly Mission Council, have released a call to prayer for all those impacted by Hurricane Irene:
LOUISVILLE, Ky (PNS) Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons has condemned the Aug. 26 terrorist attack on the United Nations compound in Abuja, Nigeria, that killed or injured a number of people.
On Aug. 25-26, about 1,900 people came to Minneapolis to learn more about what the Fellowship of Presbyterians is proposing, and to help sort through their own decisions about whether to stay in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) or to leave.
Those attending included pastors and elders, as well as some presbytery and synod executives and national leaders of the denomination. While no details were released on demographic factors such as age, race, and gender, the crowd included people from all 50 states and 3 countries beyond the U.S., and appeared to be predominantly white and male. The list of speakers was somewhat more diverse.
This was a meeting primarily for discussion of ideas – not for voting on a particular course of action. Here are some of the highlights:
MINNEAPOLIS – Hearty applause greeted biblical scholar Ken Bailey when he was introduced at morning worship at the Fellowship of Presbyterians meeting Aug. 26. 
Bailey recently completed decades of study by publishing his new book, “Paul Through Mediterranean Eyes: Cultural Studies in I Corinthians."
His teaching, writing and biblical interpretation have nurtured many Presbyterians. And his message to participants at this gathering – some of whom are angry with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – dealt with reprocessing anger into grace.
Bailey pulled together lessons from a number of scriptural passages – stories of fathers and those in power turning aside from an angry response, and instead showing grace. He said he has tried for years to come up with a theological formula – one as significant as Einstein’s E = mc2 has been for scientists. The closest he has come has been to see the grace of God in Christ as a costly demonstration of God’s love.
Many Americans are angry these days, Bailey said – angry at job losses and a sluggish economy, at political gridlock, at a decade of war and its fallout. Presbyterians, he said, are angry at a “diminished sense of belonging in our own spiritual home.”
MINNEAPOLIS – When Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, was asked to speak at the Fellowship of Presbyterians’ big gathering in Minneapolis, organizers asked him not to say what he personally thinks Presbyterians ought to do in response to the latest crisis.
Mouw is well aware that many congregations and individuals are considering leaving the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), part of the fallout from the denomination’s recent decision to lift the categorical prohibition against the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians.
So Mouw spoke instead during evening worship Aug. 25 about what Presbyterians should hold in their hearts and minds as they consider their options – and in doing so, he issued a call to theological orthodoxy, expanded ecumenism, a renewed commitment to the ordination of women and increased efforts to care for the world. He challenged evangelicals now in the PC(USA) to learn from those both more conservative and more liberal than themselves.
And he exhorted them to stand firm in their conviction regarding the unique, atoning work of Jesus Christ as the only Savior. “If you dilute lost,” Mouw said, “you will inevitably dilute saved.”
MINNEAPOLIS – Leaders of the Fellowship of Presbyterians began to add details to their proposal for creating a new Reformed body – which they describe as more a movement than a denomination, saying it would be built around a common theological core.
LOUISVILLE (PNS) Responding to the decision by the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico's (INPM) to sever ties with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the PC(USA)’s World Mission ministry area has released the following statement:
The National Presbyterian Church of Mexico (known as INPM) has voted to end its 139-year partnership in mission with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), in response to the PC(USA)’s decision earlier this year to allow the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians.
BAJA CALIFORNIA, Mexico (Special to PNS) Twenty years ago, the ideal candidate for a church-planting pastor in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was a 34-year-old married male with two or more kids, a dog and a mortgage. He was a charismatic leader who could draw people to himself, according to research done at the time.
Written by Jack Haberer, Outlook editor
Friday, 12 August 2011 14:55
The Minneapolis gathering of nearly 2,000 Presbyterians on August 25 and 26 looks to be a potentially historic event, perhaps the beginning of yet another denominational division to rock the Presbyterian world. Yet leaders of what formerly called itself “Fellowship PC(USA)” and now is using the name the “Fellowship of Presbyterians” are acknowledging that unity among its own supporters will be tested, given that the participants come to Minneapolis with a diverse set of expectations of what they hope will result.
They are coming to Minneapolis like stars flooding the night sky.
Landon Whitsitt, vice-moderator of the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and a pastor from Missouri, has been elected as the new executive and stated clerk of the Synod of Mid-America.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. Charlotte’s Presbyterian seminary has broken ground on a campus in the heart of the SouthPark area — a $6.5 million development that will give the school its first permanent home.
C. Benton Kline, Jr., a former president of Columbia Theological Seminary, died June 20 following a brief illness.
STORM LAKE, Iowa (Special to PNS) When Rick MacArthur turned 8
years old, he asked his family to throw a birthday party not for him, but for
his hero, rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Buddy Holly.
LOUISVILLE – The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission has dismissed a challenge to the ordination of Scott Anderson, which means that Anderson – a gay man who set aside his ordination in 1990 after congregants publicly revealed his sexual orientation – may once again be ordained by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
STORM LAKE, Iowa (Special to Presbyterian News Service) Anna Carter Florence, who teaches preaching at Columbia Theological Seminary, says she’s very interested in how the people of God talk about God.
LOUISVILLE – The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission won’t release rulings until perhaps Aug. 2 in two cases involving whether particular lesbian and gay candidates – Lisa Larges and Scott Anderson – can be ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
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