LOUISVILLE — Saying he wants the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to focus on mission and ministry, Fahed Abu-Akel, moderator of the denomination's 214th General Assembly, announced Monday morning that he will not call the Assembly back into session.
He told a news conference that 13 commissioners who signed a petition asking the Assembly to reconvene — six ministers and seven elders — indicated they wanted their names removed.
Dr. Alex Metherell, the elder from California who believes the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is in a constitutional crisis and who is trying to bring the 214th General Assembly back into session to do something about it, has said that he intends to file a lawsuit in the secular courts if the Assembly is not reconvened.
An Open Letter to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
A recent statement declaring intent to take the Moderator of the General Assembly to civil court for impeding progress toward a called meeting of the commissioners to the 214th (last year's) General Assembly is deplorable. It constitutes not merely a threat but a defamation of character. Fahed Abu-Akel was not only elected by the church but shaped by life history to be a voice of reason, tolerance and forbearance. That any Moderator would be so treated is unthinkable.
Delivered by hand.
The Rev. Dr. Fahed Abu-Akel, Moderator
214th General Assembly
Presbyterian Church (USA)
100 Witherspoon Street, Room 4631
Louisville, KY 40202-1396
Dear Mr. Moderator:
Because I am disheartened at the disappointing responses from you and from the Stated Clerk to my delivery to you in Louisville on January 14th of the written requests of more than the minimum number of commissioners for you to reconvene the 214th General Assembly into special session, I am taking the liberty of writing you one last time to outline my position, and in the hope of avoiding litigation in the secular courts.
Attorney Paul Rolf Jensen -- on behalf of the session of Westminster church, Canton, Ohio -- has filed a remedial case against PC(USA) Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick , 214th General Assembly Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel and the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly before the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission.
LOUISVILLE - Fahed Abu-Akel, moderator of the 214th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which met last summer in Columbus, Ohio, still has not issued a call for that Assembly to come back into session.
Alex Metherell, a physician and elder from California, on Jan. 14 presented Abu-Akel with 57 signatures from commissioners asking that the Assembly reconvene to address issues of defiance of the denomination's constitution, apparently enough signatures under the rules to make that happen.
LOUISVILLE - Concerned that donors might be unhappy and programs could be hurt, the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) postponed action on a recommendation that it begin recovering administrative costs from money that Presbyterians give to the denomination as restricted funds for particular causes.
LOUISVILLE - While the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is faced with a slush pile of internal troubles, concerns about international peace also have permeated the winter meeting of the General Assembly Council here, a reflection of the somber mood of a nation in which the president threatens war and soldiers are being mobilized.
LOUISVILLE — In a letter 214th General Assembly Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel is sending to the 57 commissioners who signed a petition asking that the Assembly be called into special session, the moderator asks that they reconsider their decision.
The five-paragraph letter composed on Jan. 14 ends as follows:
"I implore you in the name of Christ and for the good of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to reconsider your decision."
LOUISVILLE — The first quarter’s lessons of the PC(USA)’s latest curriculum offering, "We Believe," are ready for sale, publisher Sandra Moak Sorem said Wednesday, Jan. 15.
The material, designed for use in fall 2003, was prepared at an estimated cost of $270,000, but it was the quickness in which it was prepared that elicited comments during the Congregational Ministries Publishing Committee meeting at the Presbyterian Center.
LOUISVILLE – When Alex Metherell dropped his paper bombshell on Jan. 14 – presenting the signatures needed to call the 2002 General Assembly back into session – that raised a pile of logistical questions.
When would the Assembly meet? The 2003 General Assembly is scheduled to convene in Denver on May 24. If commissioners from the 2002 Assembly must be given a 120-day advance notice, as the Office of the General Assembly contends, that puts the starting date for their recalled Assembly at mid-to-late May.
LOUISVILLE – The budget numbers rolled through the room, like first rumblings of not-so-distant thunder signaling a deluge on the way.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has a projected deficit of $1.53 million in the 2003 budget – meaning more changes need to be made to balance the budget for this year, despite having already cut 66 jobs from the denomination's national staff last spring. No additional layoffs are anticipated to balance the budget for 2003.
LOUISVILLE – For the first time ever, a General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is being called back into session.
Alex Metherell, a silver-haired elder and physician from Laguna Beach, Calif., who unswervingly led a drive to call the 214th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) back into session to deal with constitutional defiance, now says he has enough signatures to do so, and he formally presented a list of 57 names on Tuesday to Fahed Abu-Akel, the moderator of the 214th Assembly.
For commissioners to the 214th General Assembly, supporting the Mission Initiative, the PC (USA)'s plan to raise $40 million over the next five years for evangelism in other countries and for domestic new church development, was sort of like offering cocoa to children with fingers like icicles on a cold night. They voted 97 percent in favor of it and pulled dollars from their own pockets to jump-start the campaign. In a denomination that badly needs something to cheer for, who could say no?
Robert "Bob" Davis, 39, executive director of the renewal organization Presbyterian Forum, announced Monday, Jan. 5, that he is seeking election as the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at the 216th General Assembly (2004) in Richmond, Va.
Davis said, "It is time for a new direction in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). We need to be intentional about our responsibility as a faithful part of the Church historic in a dynamic world," he said in an e-mailed press release.
LOUISVILLE — It was a fine conjunction of forces: more than a thousand people, standing in a long chilly line under a sweet sliver of a moon, drawn to the parking lot of a conservative church in the Louisville suburbs by the prospect of listening to a rock star — Bono of U2 — who admits that he's not too comfortable in churches and that on this tour "the wheels are falling off my wagon a little bit — having no sleep and I drink too much."
Howard Edington, 60, pastor of 5,500-member First church, Orlando, Fla., for two decades and a prominent figure among evangelical Presbyterians, has told his congregation that he will retire at the end of January 2003.
The retirement announcement by Edington, who saw the size of his downtown congregation more than triple during his 21 years as pastor, took some in the congregation by surprise. And the response has been both widespread praise and appreciation from his supporters for his work, and hints at some unrest within the congregation.
Susan Andrews, pastor of Bradley Hills church, Bethesda, Md., was endorsed Nov. 26 by National Capital Presbytery as a nominee for Moderator of the 215th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
She becomess the second nominee for moderator. Former missionary Harold Kurtz was earlier endorsed by Cascades Presbytery.
Many Americans don't think twice about walking up to the counter in a cozy java joint and ordering a coffee drink for $3 or $4. What they may not know is that coffee farmers in many countries are struggling to sell their coffee for anywhere near a living wage — and that how people in the United States buy their coffee can have a direct impact on the quality of life for farmers in some of the poorest countries in the world.
Baltimore Presbytery met on Thursday, Nov. 21, and, after considerable discussion, did not adopt any of several proposals put before it regarding enforcement of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s Constitution.
Many evangelicals in the church have been watching Baltimore Presbytery closely to see how it would deal with Don Stroud, a gay minister who's declared publicly that he cannot in conscience comply with the part of the Constitution that restricts ordination to those who practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single.
CHICAGO — When Ron Lundeen got a call at his home in Arizona on his 59th birthday, asking him if he knew of someone, anyone, who might be a good match for leading a $40 million fund-raising effort for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Lundeen kept repeating that he couldn't think of a soul. Then he hung up the phone and couldn't think of anything else.
During the last several months, I have received numerous communications asking where I stand in relation to controversial actions being taken by two members of the church I serve. This statement is intended to bring clarification.
I am in an awkward position as the pastor of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach, Calif., and the moderator of its session.
Donald Stroud, the gay Presbyterian minister who's been at the heart of a dispute in Baltimore Presbytery because of his public statements that he cannot in conscience comply with Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) prohibitions against ordaining sexually active gays and lesbians, grew up in the Presbyterian Church and began telling people when he was 9 that he was going to be a minister. Stroud also said he knew early on that there was "something different" about him, compared to other boys.
Paul Rolf Jensen isn't surprised and he isn't happy.
The decision of two designated members of Baltimore Presbytery's Permanent Judicial Commission not to bring charges against Don Stroud, an openly gay minister who has said publicly that he cannot in conscience comply with the provision in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Constitution that limits ordination to those who practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single, means "they have decided to use the Constitution as toilet paper," Jensen said in a written statement.
Two members of Baltimore Presbytery's Permanent Judicial Commission designated to review an investigating committee's report say no disciplinary charges should be filed against Donald E. Stroud, a gay Presbyterian minister who is on the staff of That All May Freely Serve.
The commission members' letter to the presbytery, which will meet on Nov. 21, was made public Thursday by Charles P. Forbes, the presbytery's stated clerk.
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