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Bringing the multicultural church to life

LOUISVILLE -- It wasn't your typical snapshot of a gathering of Presbyterians, or Lutherans or members of the Reformed Church in America, for that matter.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and the Reformed Church in America (RCA) joined together to sponsor and plan "A Racial Ethnic Multicultural Event" in Los Angeles, July 12-14.

The gathering of more than 600 people included a multitude of cultures, races, languages, traditions, and ages. With the theme "Spirit of Wholeness in Christ" as their backdrop, participants worshiped, danced, sang, studied and discussed what it means to be a multicultural church -- not only on paper but also in reality.

Delivering first-night sermons were the Rev. Bruce Menning, the RCA's director of global mission; Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the ELCA; and the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA).

Alluding to the Pentecost event in Acts 2, Hanson expressed hoped that the gathering would be a "three-day binge, not on the fruit of the vine, but on the Holy Spirit." Kirkpatrick added that the church today "desperately needs your particular gifts" if the church is to be "passionately on fire for the gospel."

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Johnson — Vermeer ask for prayer after Pakistan crises

The people of Pakistan have faced a series of crises in recent weeks and face daunting continuing circumstances, according to a report this week from Robert Johnson and Marianne Vermeer, mission co-workers in that country with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

The siege at Islamabad's Red Mosque has ended, but tensions are high and some expect northern and western parts of the country, where the Taliban movement is strong, to experience further violence, according to Johnson and Vermeer. "This is a real fear, and this country needs your prayers for peace to reign," they write.

In addition to this crisis, several natural disasters also have occurred.

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Synod overturns Sacramento Presbytery post-PUP policies

SACRAMENTO -- The Synod of the Pacific handed down a ruling June 20 that overturns all four policies adopted by the Sacramento Presbytery as it sought to respond to actions of the 2006 General Assembly. 

At stake were four resolutions approved at the SP's called meeting last Sept. 9.  The presbytery voted 1) to require all candidates for ordination, installation, and or membership in the Presbytery to comply with all standards in the Constitution, i.e., allowing no "scruples;" 2) to not receive into membership, nor recognize as a member, any minister who had been ordained elsewhere, "under a scruple that is taking exception to any of the ordination standards;" 3) to allow churches to withhold per capita support of upper governing bodies and not to make up the difference for doing so; and 4) to allow congregations wishing to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to go with their property,

All four resolutions were overturned by the synod's permanent judicial commission. 

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Horizons Bible study author elected vice-president of RCA synod

CarolBechtel.JPGCarol Bechtel has been elected vice-president of the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America. The election was held June 11 at the General Synod meeting on the campus of Central College in Pella, Iowa.

She will serve a one-year term for the denomination's top governing body along with president, John Ornee. He is pastor of Peace Church in Zeeland, Mich.

Bechtel is professor of Old Testament at Western Theological Seminary and attends Hope Church in Holland, Mich. She also is author of Above and Beyond: Hearing God's Call in Jonah and Ruth, the 2007-08 Horizons Bible study published by Presbyterian Women.               

 

Voices

Focusing on young adults

If they are to have a vibrant future, many congregations need to focus special energy on young adults (ages 22-30).

Here's why:

·         A balanced age mix is critical to the future stability of a congregation. The rising average age of mainline congregations -- currently estimated at 62 years old -- simply isn't a sustainable trend.

·         A lively presence of young adults will keep the congregation current with the needs and trends that will shape future ministry.

·         Through targeting young adults, congregations will embrace key principles like responsiveness to a changing market, seeing needs through others' eyes, need for broad diversity of offerings and nimbleness in changing design. This will keep the congregation open to new ideas. Or, said another way, it will prevent the congregation from simply growing older (rising average age) and losing touch with emerging constituencies.

·         Young adults are difficult to reach through normal avenues.

Editorials

Wee kirk heroes

Advance apologies to the tall steeple ministers of Word and Sacrament. You're not my vocational heroes. You're not my role models. Many of you preach with a prophet's passion and a poet's touch. Many of you exercise your office with the highest professional deportment and with amazing programmatic innovation. Many of you are generating world outreach mission efforts, are feeding the hungry, and are winning unbelievers to the faith. But you're not my heroes.

My heroes and role models are the pastors and, even more, the commissioned lay pastors (CLPs) serving small churches, a/k/a "wee kirks." 

In fact, though I have spoken at numerous conferences and attended many more, my favorites have been the Wee Kirk conferences. I especially enjoy meal times when my toss of a good leading question will give me time to munch on my food while a pastor or CLP tells me her story.  Invariably, I come away from such conferences humbled to the point of tears. 

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Pat Gresham celebrating 40th anniversary at Outlook

pgresham.jpg

 

Patricia Gresham was finishing high school in Richmond, Va., in June 1967 when she came to work for The Presbyterian Outlook Foundation -- then a magazine and book service operation. Pat, now business manager, and the Outlook are celebrating her 40th anniversary.

James S. Brown, longtime Outlook business manager, hired Pat. He recalled in 1998: "I immediately recognized Pat as an excellent person." He cited her work as crucial to the Outlook's survival during times of struggle.

She continues to be a pivotal part of the Outlook's efforts.           

Voices

Small congregations

When the two words small congregation are used, what picture comes into your mind? The answers to that question will be as varied as the people who answer it. For me it is a little church in the countryside that shared a pastor with an even smaller congregation. It was heated by coal and I, in my early rebellious years, put the stoker into the hot coal furnace and heated it red hot, then proceeded to burn my initials into the wooden boards of the coal bin.  When the building was torn down I managed to find that board and I still have it.

Others will answer the question by identifying a certain pastor who connected with them in the midst of a boring VBS experience. One might point to a Sunday school teacher who really had bad theology but had a genuine love that hooked them on a vibrant faith. Someone else will describe a building with a steeple and bell or a cemetery surrounding the church building while others may say it was right across the street from a busy gas station.

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Lausanne Comm. for World Evangelization hosts church leaders to plan 2010 meeting

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY -- More than 360 Christian leaders from 60+ countries participated in the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization (LCWE) Bi-Annual International Leadership Meeting, a week-long planning session that ended here June 22. The meeting was an opportunity for leaders to pray, plan, and work together toward Lausanne III: Cape Town 2010, the Third International Congress on World Evangelization to be held October 16-25, 2010.

The Budapest meeting of global Lausanne leadership discussed the potential barriers and opportunities of global evangelization, and how the Church can share the hope of the Gospel with every nation on earth. The Rev. S. Douglas (Doug) Birdsall, LCWE Executive Chair, urged the leaders to work together for the cause of Christ "because there is so much at stake. The task is bigger and the urgency more obvious."

 

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Evangelical Presbyterian Church GA approves New Wineskins proposal

Commissioners to the 27th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church approved June 22 a proposal to ease the transfer of churches into the EPC from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The proposal, developed and approved by delegates to the New Wineskins Convocation this past February in Orlando, calls for the formation of a transitional, non-geographic presbytery. It will provide a "haven" for up to five years for PC(USA)-departing churches to explore whether the EPC is where they wish to join permanently.

Voices

CLPs serve churches in transition; opportunities in new, old places

Kiskiminetas Presbytery, situated in a rural slice of western Pennsylvania, has 88 churches. Probably only 40 percent of them are served by a full-time minister.

Some are searching for a pastor "and are likely to look for years to find somebody, or they're permanently vacant," said Erin Cox-Holmes, the associate general presbyter. "We're representative of declining, small rural churches that are never going to have a pastor again."

Not, that is, if they have to attract a seminary-trained minister and find a way to pay that person a living wage. But many small Presbyterian churches are finding new life by utilizing commissioned lay pastors -- often people who already live in the area, have other means of support, and who feel called by God to preach and serve a church.

Voices

A former nurse and CLP finds a new way to help heal

She grew up in southern California and became a nurse in Anchorage, where she met the man she'd later marry. She stayed in Alaska, raised three sons and welcomed seven grandchildren. After 37 years in nursing she "felt the call to drop that and go into ministry."

Now Heather Smith is the commissioned lay pastor at Kuukpik Church in the village of Nuiqsut. "We are about as far north as you can go in Alaska," she says, "and then you turn right."

Smith serves a congregation of 42 in a town of about 550. She started as a commissioned lay pastor doing pastoral care in her home congregation, Trinity Church in Anchorage. Then her husband grew ill and died, and she told David Dobler, who then led the Presbytery of the Yukon, that she felt called to work with native people.

Voices

Called again

Smaller churches can offer a pastor great opportunities for service/fulfillment, but lack the budget to pay well. Retired military men and women often take on second careers with a secure income from their retirement.

Does anyone see a potential for a mutual, God-given calling? My response is yes!

As I was finishing my Air Force career in Montgomery, Ala., I saw quaint towns where small churches scramble for ministers and pulpits stand vacant. Presbyterian churches had no full-time pastor due to their small sizes and budgets, and the financial expectations on these churches by the denomination.

Upon retirement in 2005, I returned to my home state, California, with the desire to attend San Francisco Theological Seminary near that city. As I explored northern California, I discovered a similar situation -- dozens of towns with unfilled Presbyterian pulpits in what is called the Northern parish of the Presbytery of the Redwoods.

Voices

20 minutes with Harry Hassall

 

Editor's Note: Harry Hassall, retired pastor and resident of Franklin, Tenn., has spearheaded the development of the Wee Kirk Conference ministry program that has been operating for nearly 30 years. Outlook editor Jack Haberer recently sat down with Mr. Hassall to talk about the support of wee kirks.

 

JH: When I met you about 20 years ago, you were serving as associate pastor in one of the largest churches in the PC(USA). Yet you have a heart for wee kirks. Tell us about that. 

HH: Before going to Dallas, I had served 16 small churches, beginning with [the third week of] my first year at Centre College in Kentucky. ... That particular month I started working in McDonald Center in what was called the Knobs -- a patch of bad land in the beautiful blue grass area of central Kentucky. The people who lived there were poverty-stricken, ... doing subsistence farming, and suddenly this city boy  -- I did grow up in Nashville, in a middle-size church of 500 or 600 ... found myself in a group of 20 people out in the country, hardly able to scratch a living. Through that experience I became a Knobby, that is, I began to see life from the perspective of a person who did not have adequate sources of income and living nor of church life.

From that point on I served other churches wherever I was. Even at Highland Park, I served two small churches utilizing two interns and my own self to minister and care for the people there. It's just been a part of me.

Voices

Commissioned Lay Pastors and the Book of Order

It is high time that the Book of Order has a unified, single chapter on the Commissioned Lay Pastor.

I say this because there is presently no such unified chapter and issues may arise that require constitutional guidance.  Some say that the Book of Order is already too big, and it may be. That being said, since the use by the denomination of lay pastors seems to be on the increase, we could well have a better sense of direction about several matters.

At present, in the Book of Order, there is one brief section about these important church employees, (G-14.08000 and following.) The section on the minister of Word and Sacrament is familiar and extensive. It deals with the whole process of preparation from inquiry to ordination (G-6.0100 and G-14.0300 and following.) Educational requirements for the minister of Word and Sacrament are well laid out. Presbyteries have a Committee on Preparation for Ministry which, if well led and staffed, can guide the potential minister through the hoops, sometimes blazing, which lead to the final destination of readiness for a call.

From that point on, the Committee on Ministry takes over.

Movie Reviews

Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix

There are two sets of folks who will be seeing this film:  the huge fans, who have read all the books and seen all the previous movies, and the casual acquaintances, who perhaps are being introduced to this series for the first time.  Either group will enjoy the experience, but in different ways.

Those who are very familiar with the scriptures will always approach a bible movie with mixed feelings:  the film, no matter how likeable, is never going to be completely faithful to scripture, without risking a literal woodenness, but if it takes liberties with the story, it risks the ire of those who would have preferred more authenticity.  So it is with the avid Harry Potter devotees:  the movie is good as far as it goes, but leaves out a significant amount of material (how could it not?), and takes a few (minor) liberties with the story. 

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Woodland legacy

LILLEY CORNETT WOODS -- Clifford Cornett has been gone for a long time, but his heart still knows every step of these woods.

His grandfather, Lilley Cornett, once owned this land in Letcher County in eastern Kentucky -- and as he walks the flatland, Clifford points out where the barn used to stand, where the iron clanged in blacksmith's shop, where the mill ground grain into flour and cornmeal. His grandfather once tried to dig out a lake in a swampy bottom, Clifford grins in remembrance. He just managed to sink a tractor instead.

The family grew or harvested everything they needed on this land -- traveling to town just twice a year to buy big sacks of sugar and staples.

His family moved away in 1966 so his father could work in the coal mines in Illinois, as did others from the region -- Clifford calls them "migrating coal miners."

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A community says farewell to a beloved neighbor, friend

MONTREAT -- How can a tiny alpine village of Switzerland or Austria transform itself into a host city for the winter Olympics?  Only the local residents know for sure.

But the locals in Montreat, N.C., have an idea. Their tiny town -- 697 counted citizens in 2005 -- is hosting the funeral of Ruth Bell Graham today. Their preparations have taken on Olympic proportions.

When Mrs. Graham's health turned more precarious six months ago, the needed preliminary decision-making began. Through these months, Montreat leaders met repeatedly with leaders from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, based in Charlotte; with staff from the Billy Graham Training Center, i.e., "The Cove", based in nearby Asheville; with state and local law enforcement agencies, and with representatives of the U.S. Secret Service. 

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Last respects paid June 16 to Ruth Bell Graham

MONTREAT -- They affirmed the resurrection, proclaimed the gospel. The familiar, deep voice of George Beverly Shea was lifted in song once again. The crowd sang hymns and nodded in agreement to the preaching. Funny stories abounded -- the kind that sisters love to tell on one another, and that children love to tell on their famous parents. Put it together, and the funeral service for Ruth Bell Graham painted all the right colors and touched all the gathered hearts.

Ruth Bell Graham, one of the most famous Presbyterians of our day, was honored and her faith proclaimed in the Anderson Auditorium at Montreat Conference Center June 16. 

Movie Reviews

Evan Almighty

Morgan Freeman as God?  Well, why not?  He has the advancing age and regal bearing and sonorous voice to be considered dignified, and possess sufficient gravitas, but he also has a sense of humor, laughs easily, and can even dance, on occasion.

Steve Carrell as Noah?  Well, why not?  As recently-elected Congressman Evan Baxter, he has the name recognition, organizational skills, and the personal charisma.  He's lacking somewhat in the faith category, but that can be developed, because he's the kind of man who works hard, loves his family, tells the truth, can invest himself in the grandiose, and does not give up easily.

Editorials

For the defense

What's the difference between Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton? Policy positions aside, two things come to my mind. Only Clinton finished his second term as president. And only Clinton had James Carville serving as a political consultant.

When then-president Richard Nixon was accused of participating in unethical and illegal activities and a cover-up, he took cover under a cone of silence. He would not dignify his critics with an answer. 

When Bill Clinton was accused of unethical and illegal activities and a cover-up, he unleashed the voice of his chief political consultant. Carville, the "Ragin' Cajun," believed that unanswered accusations will lead a skeptical populace to interpret that silence as an admission of guilt. Not only did he respond. He did so with force, often with counter-attacks, and almost always before the next news cycle.

The rest is history.

Voices

The law enforcement-friendly congregation

Law enforcement officers and their families make great church members. Police officers are passionate volunteers, generous with their time and money when they see a need, and genuinely care about people with problems. And, what church wouldn't want a law enforcement officer on their property committee to advise the church about security issues? Police officers have many gifts to offer local churches.

The problem is too many congregations don't understand the law enforcement culture enough to be welcoming of this special segment of society. Officers often report they don't feel welcome in many congregations. Small insensitivity issues are enough to keep officers away. One officer was asked to leave his gun at home, so he quit attending. Another couldn't face the glares of a church member he had arrested for domestic violence months before. Pastors who bash the government from the pulpit drive officers away.

Sessions cannot tailor the church to fit each member, but for prospective law enforcement officer/members, sensitivity issues can be overcome with a little education and willingness for the congregation to learn about the law enforcement culture.

Book Reviews

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

I have been a huge fan of Jimmy Carter for a long time and believe that he has set the gold standard for being a former president. Who else in recent generations can match his stewardship of the prestige that accompanies that position? Rather than retiring into a private world where he could lick the wounds he collected during his administration or going on the lucrative speaking circuit, Carter immediately threw himself into building homes for the poor and serving as an international ambassador for causes of peace and justice. He is widely respected for the moral authority he has earned over the last twenty-five years since leaving office. Like others, I just adore this man.

Over the last fifteen years, I have accompanied numerous church groups on pilgrimages to Palestine to visit the "living stones" of the church who are struggling for their very existence. We have helped to build homes, church facilities, ministries, and most of all, hope. Along the way, the Palestinian Christians found a very tender and abiding place in my heart.

Voices

Test & Measure

I use the term "metrics" to describe the seventh key factor of Church Wellness.

I could as easily use words like "measurements" or "statistics" or "numbers." The point isn't the label, but the "test & measure" principles behind it:

"¢        we need to try out reasonably promising ideas 

"¢        we need to measure the outcomes of what we do

"¢        we need to be guided by those outcomes, making our next decisions on the basis of what worked or didn't work.

 

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Christian Reformed Church to study kids and Communion

(RNS) "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them," Jesus told his disciples. But should that include taking Communion?

A lot of people in the Christian Reformed Church think so, but a lot don't. So now a committee will help the church decide. The Faith Formation Committee has five years to come up with a statement on when youths should take Communion. At issue: whether children first must make a profession of faith, as now required, or whether being baptized is sufficient.

"This is an issue that gets to people deeper than who can serve in office, because it gets to the heart of the sacraments," said the Rev. Tyler Wagenmaker, of Hudsonville, Mich.

In a survey of CRC pastors, 25 percent said their churches' children take Communion before a public profession of faith. Children begin taking it anywhere from ages 5 to 18, said John Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.

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