BIRMINGHAM - After hours of listening, discussing, praying and parsing individual words, the Peacemaking and International Issues Committee affirmed Sunday night their recommendation to the 217th General Assembly to replace the wording to the 216th General Assembly related to a phased process that might lead to divesting from certain corporations doing business in Israel.
After discussing the 41 overtures the committee received on this topic and ideas of merging parts of overtures together, the committee appointed an 11-person subcommittee to draft its own statement, which is being forwarded to the General Assembly.
For years now, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has debated the question of whether Christian educators should be ordained -- with some contending that the work of teaching is significant enough in the church and important enough in cultivating disciples that it should be considered as an ordained office.
But the assembly has repeatedly declined to do so, and this year is no exception.
On June 19, the assembly referred two overtures on ordaining educators to the PC(USA)'s Office for Theology and Worship for more study -- one that would have created an office of "educating elder" and a second to establish a "minister of Christian education."
Those will now be considered as part of an ongoing study on the relationship between baptism and the ministry of all church members, whether they are ordained or not.
BIRMINGHAM -- Study vs. action -- that was the question.
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) struggled on June 19 with the question of how fiercely to speak up against oppression in Colombia -- and how strongly to advocate for particular changes in U.S. policies in the region.
The shadow of the divestment debate -- in which the assembly in 2004 took a controversial position in favor of phased, selective investment in some companies doing business in Israel -- hung a little over this discussion, although not spoken of explicitly.
(PNS) Issues surrounding abortion have been on the agenda of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly almost every year since 1983, when that year's Assembly established the church's first basic policy on abortion. That policy supported a woman's right to choose with virtually no reservations.
Over the years, pro-life Presbyterians have persuaded Assemblies to modify the church's policy on several occasions, most substantially in 1992.
How well do you know and understand the documents in the Book of Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)?
Although all officers make ordination promises to receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions and vow to be guided continually by them, most elders and deacons only have a limited concept of what the ten historic statements of faith really say.
The questions below are designed to help any church board, committee, or presbytery begin a review of the purpose and content of the Book of Confessions to remind our members what the significance of our vows is. Perhaps they can be used after a general introduction so that everyone starts on the same page.
(PNS) Issues surrounding abortion have been on the agenda of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly almost every year since 1983, when that year's Assembly established the church's first basic policy on abortion. That policy supported a woman's right to choose with virtually no reservations.
Over the years, pro-life Presbyterians have persuaded Assemblies to modify the church's policy on several occasions, most substantially in 1992.
BIRMINGHAM -- When the Rev. Milton Mejia accepted one of the two 2006 Peaceseeker Awards granted by Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) at its annual breakfast here yesterday, he said it represented a covenant between two churches.
BIRMINGHAM -- Setri Nyomi repeated several themes in his remarks to the Assembly's Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations Committee during its deliberations here.
Economic justice. Engagement with the world. Spiritual renewal.
Nyomi, the general secretary of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), was drawing from a list of concerns raised by that body during its 24th conference two years ago in Accra, Ghana, where delegates from its 218-member churches committed to challenge the economic order that is further dividing the world's rich and poor and squelches "fullness of life" as proclaimed in the gospels.
BIRMINGHAM -- The 217th General Assembly Health Committee on June 17 voted to recommend to the General Assembly disapproval of Overture 10-02 from the Presbytery of Beaver-Butler. The proposal asked that no funds of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) be used to support any advocacy either for or against abortion.
The overture had the concurrence of Shenango presbytery.
Jim Powers, elder of the Beaver-Butler Presbytery and overture advocate, called their proposal an even-handed, balanced approach to making sure no PC(USA) monies were used for pro-or anti-abortion support such as information materials. Presbyterians who think their contributions are going to fund a position antithetical to their own cease giving to the denomination, according to Powers. Adoption of their overture would likely result in some donors reestablishing their giving to the PC(USA), he indicated.
BIRMINGHAM -- The 217th General Assembly Health Committee on June 17 voted to recommend to the General Assembly disapproval of Overture 10-02 from the Presbytery of Beaver-Butler. The proposal asked that no funds of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) be used to support any advocacy either for or against abortion.
The overture had the concurrence of Shenango presbytery.
Jim Powers, elder of the Beaver-Butler Presbytery and overture advocate, called their proposal an even-handed, balanced approach to making sure no PC(USA) monies were used for pro-or anti-abortion support such as information materials. Presbyterians who think their contributions are going to fund a position antithetical to their own cease giving to the denomination, according to Powers. Adoption of their overture would likely result in some donors reestablishing their giving to the PC(USA), he indicated.
BIRMINGHAM -- The 217th General Assembly Health Committee on June 17 voted to recommend to the General Assembly disapproval of Overture 10-02 from the Presbytery of Beaver-Butler. The proposal asked that no funds of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) be used to support any advocacy either for or against abortion.
The overture had the concurrence of Shenango presbytery.
Jim Powers, elder of the Beaver-Butler Presbytery and overture advocate, called their proposal an even-handed, balanced approach to making sure no PC(USA) monies were used for pro-or anti-abortion support such as information materials. Presbyterians who think their contributions are going to fund a position antithetical to their own cease giving to the denomination, according to Powers. Adoption of their overture would likely result in some donors reestablishing their giving to the PC(USA), he indicated.
BIRMINGHAM -- Here's a question the General Assembly will very likely be asked to consider: Should the presbyteries be given more time -- basically a "season of discernment" -- to consider the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the PC(USA)? Should the vote be put off for two years, until the next assembly meets in 2008?
Or should this General Assembly vote June 20 on the task force report -- deciding now whether the task force has recommended a better way for a divided PC(USA) to handle its disagreements?
BIRMINGHAM -- The 217th General Assembly Health Committee on June 17 voted to recommend to the General Assembly disapproval of Overture 10-02 from the Presbytery of Beaver-Butler. The proposal asked that no funds of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) be used to support any advocacy either for or against abortion.
The overture had the concurrence of Shenango presbytery.
Jim Powers, elder of the Beaver-Butler Presbytery and overture advocate, called their proposal an even-handed, balanced approach to making sure no PC(USA) monies were used for pro-or anti-abortion support such as information materials. Presbyterians who think their contributions are going to fund a position antithetical to their own cease giving to the denomination, according to Powers. Adoption of their overture would likely result in some donors reestablishing their giving to the PC(USA), he indicated.
BIRMINGHAM -- The Committee on Church Polity on Saturday disapproved four overtures stemming from what several speakers and committee members described as an untenable number of frivolous accusations against leaders in the church.
But it requested that the Office of the General Assembly study the inappropriate use of the judicial process and report back to the 218Th General Assembly in 2008, and it urged individuals and governing bodies to pursue actions against church members filing such accusations falsely or in bad faith.
The Committee on Church Polity recommended Saturday that the Assembly approve a streamlined, more flexible version of the Book of Order's Chapter 14 -- the provisions about Ordination, Certification and Commissioning -- and begin work toward a far more sweeping revision of Presbyterian government.
The Chapter 14 changes would give presbyteries the authority to fill local clergy positions more quickly and remove some barriers about who can do which jobs. The larger revisions, to be developed over the next several years by a task force the Assembly would approve, likely would vastly simplify the Book of Order and give even more flexibility to presbyteries.
The Committee on Social Justice on Saturday approved an overture urging the Presbyterian Church to oppose proposed federal legislation that would make felons of undocumented immigrants and those -- including clergy -- who assist them.
The Committee on Church Polity voted on Saturday to disapprove an overture (05-08) that would have allowed churches that leave the denomination to take their property with them.
Committee members voted 35 to 5 against the overture, with four abstaining, and added a comment that affirms the current policy, that churches' property is considered to be held in trust for the use and benefit of the PC(USA):
Greg Wiest presents his case
A proposal to allow churches to choose their presbyteries, and presbyteries their synods, was resoundingly rejected by the Committee on Church Polity Saturday.
BIRMINGHAM -- At an early morning breakfast here, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF) announced that it is launching a $2 million endowment campaign to fund peace activism and that the denomination's former moderator, Elder Rick Ufford-Chase, will serve as its first executive director.
"We can't predict what the future holds," the Rev. Jim Atwood of Washington, D.C. and the head of the endowment campaign, told a packed ballroom audience. "But we can be confident that PPF members will be there -- after all of us here are dead and gone -- to witness to the power of non-violence, as seen in the life of Jesus.
BIRMINGHAM -- Two highly visible study documents -- one on the nature of the Trinity and the other on sacramental practices -- will go to the floor of the General Assembly after prolonged debate in the Assembly Committee on Theological Issues and Institutions
The report on the nature of the Trinity -- called "The Trinity: God's Love Overflowing" -- was approved by a huge margin (42-16-3) after a strong Christological statement was inserted into a much-debated section of the document that offers a plenitude of images of the Trinity.
BIRMINGHAM -- Although the committee still needs to take a few parliamentary twirls, the General Assembly's Ecclesiology Committee seems on the cusp of recommending that the General Assembly approve the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The committee ran out of time June 17 -- the assembly's shuttle buses taking commissioners back to their hotels were about to stop running.
But earlier, the task force's controversial Recommendation 5 survived an attempt to delete it from the report -- by a vote of 40-22. A series of other proposed amendments to the report failed by similar margins.
BIRMINGHAM -- What the General Assembly does with the controversial report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be a witness to the world of whether Presbyterians can find unity in Jesus Christ.
That was an argument that task force members made June 16 when they formally presented their report to the assembly's Ecclesiology Committee -- which will be deciding soon whether to recommend approval of the report or to propose changes.
Former moderator, Marj Carpenter, appeals
to Ecclesiology Committee on behalf of TTF report
BIRMINGHAM -- They lined up 60 strong to have two minutes apiece to speak their minds.
And my, what they think about the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
It's a miracle, an act of grace, a polarizing force. It's a fresh breeze, a mirage, a "five pound rock going through the windshield of this church."
The task force members are saints. The task force members are flat wrong.
"God love you. Aren't you lucky the computer picked you to be on this committee?" former General Assembly Moderator Marj Carpenter asked the members of the assembly's Ecclesiology Committee, who will be voting on the task force report.
For more than two hours June 16, the committee listened -- hitting the mother lode of passion the report has aroused among some folks in the PC(USA).
BIRMINGHAM -- College-bound Presbyterians and those serving in the military often fall through the cracks, never finding a church home, because no one lets university ministers and military chaplains know they are coming, according to speakers to the Committee on Church Polity Friday.
It should happen -- but it doesn't often, said several campus and military pastors.
BIRMINGHAM -- A Denver businessman has announced a $150 million gift to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) -- saying he is tired of watching the continuing decline of the denomination he loves and challenging Presbyterians "to reverse all negative trends. We can grow."
The money from the new Loaves and Fishes Church Growth Fund will be used for grants to presbyteries -- from $250,000 to $1 million apiece. Presbyteries will have to apply for the funds and will have to match part of it. The money will be used for church growth, mission work and theological education.
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