Sheldon Sorge new associate director of Louisville Institute
The Rev. Dr. Sheldon W. Sorge has been named associate director of the Louisville Institute, effective January 1, 2007.
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The changing face of Presbyterian camp and conference ministries
There are more than 140 camps and conference centers across the denomination. In its own way, each is seeking to serve the changing population found in the congregations of their judicatory. Whether the site serves a single congregation, a presbytery, a synod, or the entire denomination, many people consider these special locations "holy ground." While these places may have changed over the years, today's Presbyterian camps and conference centers are still a place where ministry is alive and well.
Camps and congregations — partners in ministry
This summer Camp Hanover, a ministry of the Presbytery of the James (Virginia), will celebrate an important milestone. For fifty years the camp has been providing a summer residential camp experience for children and youth, and hosting a variety of church group retreats during the other seasons of the year.
Like many other denominational camps, Hanover was organized in the heyday of church camp startups in the 1950s and 60s. At that time congregations were flourishing and full of young families. Churches instinctively built vital, cooperative partnerships with the camps. Camp and church leaders frequently noted that a week at camp was worth a whole year of Sunday School.
A partnership for our future: Presbyterian Conservation Corps
If you are anything like me, you are reading this article while sitting indoors. I can remember a day when the majority of my days were spent outdoors. When I was a child I would dig in my backyard in New Jersey, wander the tide pools on vacations in Florida, and celebrate the cold beauty of winter skiing in Pennsylvania. No matter where you grew up, I am sure you can remember being "kicked" out of the house to play with friends, which led to hours of imaginative play. The wonder of those experiences and the intimate contact with creation has a lasting impact on our psyche.
Church in Pennsylvania is missions “laboratory”
The challenge was offered to our 230-member congregation on the Third Sunday of Advent. The goal was a special offering of $500 to give to the pastors of our mission partnership in Manipur, India. Since October, they have not accepted pay, instead focusing those funds on the mission outreach. Elder Kevin, chair of our Mission Committee, said that we could cut his ponytail if we achieved the goal. In the coffee hour following worship, the excitement grew as bidding took place. Kevin's hair was cut and sent to Locks of Love, and $900 was raised that day.
How camps have shaped Presbyterian leaders
Though I had grown up in the church and was very close to it, I met the Lord in a personal way at a Montreat Youth Conference in the summer of 1972. A faith that had been borrowed suddenly became owned. A Christ that I knew about suddenly became known. My encounter was less about what was said up front, but was caught from the contagious witness of other youth in the small group in which I was placed. Right in the back of Anderson Auditorium I prayed a prayer with members of that group that has changed my life.
-- Jim Singleton, pastor, First Church, Colorado Springs
My very first camp experience focused around producing "conversion experiences" on schedule by the Thursday evening worship service. That meant all of us needed to be manipulated--by a lot of fear about the devil, demons, and hell--into answering the altar call. Needless to say, this was not a camp sponsored by the Presbyterian Church! More positive were the years in which I attended Camp Manitoqua--a camp of the Reformed Church in America. I have happy memories of serious discussions about faith and the Christian life that I had with fellow campers and with many wonderful counselors, who showed me that you could be a "cool" person and still be very serious about living a life of piety. I learned that there was nothing in life--including sports, silly games, eating and drinking, annoying bugs, crushes on boys, the works!--that could not be combined with an awareness of oneself as living before God. That lesson has served me well long after my camping days were over.
-- Dawn DeVries, John Newton Thomas Professor of Systematic Theology, Union Theological Seminary-PSCE, Richmond, Va.
GAC provides $720,000 to cover MIJHH operating expense
LOUISVILLE -- To stay in business, the major fundraising drive of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) needs to find money soon for operating expenses.
So the General Assembly Council's Executive Committee has decided to provide $720,000 to cover those administrative costs. That means the Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands campaign should be able to keep working until the General Assembly meets in 2008, trying to raise the last $14.5 million of its five-year $40 million goal.
That $720,000 will be "essentially a loan" that would be repaid, said David York, Joining Hearts & Hands' new executive director. The money to do that would come from a 5 percent administrative fee that would be taken out of restricted gifts made to the campaign -- in other words, money that congregations, presbyteries or individual donors provide while specifying that it will be used for particular projects.
Happy (somewhat) New Year
Happy New Year. Happy new magazine. Somewhat.
Actually the new year isn't all that new. The school year began a few months ago. Rosh Hashana landed a few weeks later. We don't generally maneuver life's biggest turning points on the January firsts of our years. We cross those intersections on wedding days, on birthing days, on graduation days--and when the children head off to college.
Then again, our pattern of making new year resolutions does hold forth the possibility that we can make some things new. We at The Outlook have resolved to do a few things in a new way. We are implementing a re-design in this new issue. A full size picture will now grace the cover. A more explanatory table of contents will join the masthead on page 3, followed by the editorial, and then the news and features. Practical information to enhance and empower effective ministry in your local church will appear regularly.
New year question: Are regional governing bodies viable, stable?
In this financially-stressed denomination, what is the future of presbyteries and synods?
With some regional governing bodies already being pricked by fiscal pain, that is a question being asked with some fervor and urgency in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) these days.
Last September, the Synod of the Southwest and the presbyteries of Santa Fe and Sierra Blanca sent letters asking the General Assembly Council to "convene a consultation at an early opportunity in order to address the viability and stability of the synods and presbyteries of this denomination."
The council has created a Task Force on the Viability of Presbyteries and Synods.
And each of the 173 presbyteries and 16 synods is being asked to send a representative to a meeting Feb. 14-16 in Albuquerque to discuss the issue.
"It is no secret in the church that many of our presbyteries and synods are experiencing a 'crunch' that seems to becoming more critical each year," states a letter announcing the consultation. Life is becoming more complex for middle governing bodies, and "the resources to do mission and ministry are becoming more and more scarce," the letter states.
The Forgotten Faithful
Though not an overachiever like the seminary classmates who memorized the death dates of every important figure for the church history final, I did manage to commit the most important events to memory. And, as every student of church history knows, some of those events were the church councils--
325: Council of Nicea, Arian controversy.
381: Council of Constantinople, doctrine of the Trinity.
431: Council of Ephesus, Theotokos.
451: Council of Chalcedon, Monophysite controversy otherwise known as two natures, one person
553: Council of Constantinople, more Monophysite controversy
Though they seemed definitive, these councils were not the end of the story for everyone.
I was shocked to find out, as an attendee at a conference, "The Forgotten Faithful: A Window to the Life and Witness of Christians in the Holy Land," that many of the indigenous Christians in the Holy Land refer to themselves as non-Chalcedonian. The conference, held in Jerusalem Nov. 2-9, was sponsored by Sabeel, an ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among Palestinian Christians headquartered in Jerusalem.
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Hoping into a New Year
Since being elected moderator, I have experienced much grace as I have gone about the church. Presbyterians are gracious people. I have been on the receiving end of more graciousness and hospitality than I can shake a stick at. God also has been very gracious to give me the spiritual, mental, and physical gifts I have needed to enter into this work and be faithful. I have been delivered many times from anxiety, exhaustion, and frustration and given gifts of love, wisdom, and perseverance that I know did not come from me, but rather through me from Jesus, the Lord and head of the church. I believe that this provision for the task is a result of the prayers many have prayed and are praying for me as we go forward. Thank you from the depths of my heart!
Analysis of proposed Constitutional Amendments
Only eight proposed amendments to the Constitution have been sent to the presbyteries for ratification, but one of them, called Amendments A, is a revision of the entire Chapter XIV of the Book of Order. The amendments booklet has been mailed to presbyteries and is available online at www.pcusa.org/generalassembly/amend.htm
Chapter XIV has been rearranged, reworded and shortened for the proposed new version. The purpose is to simplify the language and provide presbyteries more flexibility in calling pastors, according to the rationale. Three separate handbooks for Committees on Ministry, Committees on Preparation for Ministry, and for certification processes for Certified Christian Educators already exist and presumably will be updated if these amendments pass.
Presbyterian mission in a flat world, part 3
Editor's Note: This is the final article in a three-part series presented at the New Wilmington Missionary Conference in July 2006.
In the first segment, we started to look at how The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman might have implications for our new patterns of missional involvement. The second part described some key events that have "flattened" our world and, in the process, should change our missiology.
I will conclude by giving three types of gentle pointers for future discussions and decisions. First, I suggest some "needs" we have. Then I will illustrate what some other mainline churches have done. Finally, I will suggest some questions that need to be answered.
Priorities for missional discussion: What does the missional endeavor need?
Need for innovation in vision and structures. Harold Kurtz, founding director of the Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship is right in that there must be specific sodalities (mission organizations) working with the umbrella modality (church) for mission to flourish. Kurtz quotes another great Presbyterian pioneer, Ralph Winter.
Woodrow Wilson, U.S. president, world statesman (1856-1924)
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born just a hundred and fifty years ago in Staunton, Va., on Dec, 28, 1856. The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library in Staunton is celebrating the occasion this year. Historians rank Wilson as among the first of American Presidents as well as an international figure.
Wilson was named Thomas Woodrow, one of the offspring of Joseph Ruggles Wilson. The senior Wilson, a Presbyterian minister with Scots-Irish and Ohio roots, and mother Janet, or Janey, was of English descent and the daughter of another Presbyterian minister. They brought Janet with them from the Old World to the New before she was a teen.
Congress passes law allowing bankrupt to tithe
(RNS) WASHINGTON -- Congress approved a bill Dec. 6 that allows people who have filed for bankruptcy to continue to tithe and to make charitable contributions.
Bethlehem 2006: Would Jesus approve?
"And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel." (Matthew 2:6).
Nestled on a hillside in the Judean mountain range, Bethlehem looks like many other Middle-Eastern towns -- the business district fairly cramped, with windy poorly tarred roads, the outlying areas a mix of farmhouses and villas built into steep, craggy hillsides.
But of course, Bethlehem is different from all the others.
While there is no longer a stable, or any ancient hint that this was Jesus' birthplace, it is to this small town that thousands make their way every year, especially in December. Most Christians drive into the town in buses, with their tour guides pointing out the key locations before making their pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity, which tradition holds was constructed on the spot where Mary gave birth.
The real Bethlehem
Recently I visited New Orleans for the first time. I had traveled to Gulfport, Mississippi for a church mission trip to help the Presbytery of Mississippi in Katrina rebuilding.
I arrived a day ahead of the team and decided to take the opportunity to visit the Big Easy. Not knowing where to go, I looked for familiar street names. I found my way to Canal Street, and then onto Bourbon Street, and into the French Quarter. As I drove through the French Quarter, looking at the homes and the architecture, I had the distinct feeling that I had been there before. Something about the place just seemed very familiar. I couldn't quite place what it was.
Mission in transition
LOUISVILLE -- Will Browne described these days as being "a weird twilight zone" for those involved in the mission work of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The denomination is reorganizing -- basically reconfiguring the house top-to-bottom. Some top staff members have left, some new leaders are coming aboard.
Groups outside the denomination's structure are jumping in to international mission in fresh and energetic ways -- for example, by using the Internet to link evangelistic partners around the world. A newly-created alliance between Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship and the Outreach Foundation intends to start sending its own missionaries by the summer of 2007. The Presbyterian Global Fellowship will hold its second national gathering Aug. 16-18 in Houston.
And Browne said the denomination's staff has "probably been guilty of defining mission in too small a circle" -- in trying to control too much, and not understanding clearly enough how significantly the grassroots church is involved in international mission work.
A sailor’s Retrospective
What an exciting, uplifting, heartbreaking, feisty year it has been! Is it appropriate to diagnose the PC(USA)-in-2006 as the year of denominational-manic-depressive disorder? I can certainly assess it to have been--for this editor--the year of unsmooth sailing.
Just one year ago, this pastor stepped outside the pulpit to enter the world of writing and editing. He felt overwhelmed by the trust placed in him by the board of directors that knew that their Presbyterian Outlook had long provided the denomination a ballast for stability, a rudder for setting direction, and a set of sails to promote forward movement. He also felt terribly perplexed--and admitted so--that his writer-editor duties were overlapping his tenure as member of a controversial task force.
Presbyterian mission in a flat world, part 2
Editor's Note: This is the second article in a three-part series presented at the New Wilmington Missionary Conference in July 2006.
Last issue we started to look at how Thomas Friendman's "flat world" might have implications for our new patterns of missional involvement. Let me describe four of the ten "flatteners" that have changed our world and should change our missiology.
1. 11/9/89: "The New Age of Creativity: When the walls came down and the windows went up." The Berlin wall fell on 11/9. Friedman says, "I realized that the ordinary men and women of East Germany peacefully and persistently had taken matters into their own hands. This was 'their revolution'" (p. 51). "It tipped the balance of power across the world toward those advocating democratic, consensual, free-market-oriented governance, and away from those advocating authoritarian rule with centrally planned economies." This meant greater freedom, more contact across borders, and it paved the way for common standards. It must be repeated because as Americans we seldom appreciate the transformation that 11/9 began. Openness, freedom and more democratic possibilities were created first in eastern Europe and then in all of the former Soviet countries, then in China and now in Vietnam, Laos and other countries.
Some things to throw away!
Ephesians 4:22, 23- Throw away your former way of living ... and put on the new person.
I read that in a certain Italian village on New Year's Eve that they don't dress up or go to festive parties. Rather as midnight nears, the street traffic disappears, the pedestrians go home, and the police take cover because they know what is about to happen. At the stroke of midnight, the windows of every village house open and with reckless abandon the citizens begin throwing away worn-out furniture, chipped glasses, cracked dishes, old clothes, old pots and pans, old shoes, and pictures of old boyfriends and girlfriends. All of those things that the people do not want to haul with them into the New Year go thrown out their windows onto the street below. There are times in our lives when we need to throw away some things. As New Year's Day approaches, I plan to throw away two things in hopes of a 'God-blessed year.'
Theologizing on planting trees in Afghanistan
And out of the ground Yahweh God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9.)
As in all lands of the world, God made every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food to grow in Afghanistan. Among these trees God also planted the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Many streams of religious spirituality have flowed into this land, yet the fruit of the tree of life has generally been denied to its people. The policies and actions of its kings, warlords, and tribal chieftains who manipulated the power of the knowledge of good and evil for their own advantage reduced the quality and quantity of the life of the people they governed.
Joseph and three shocks in the Christmas story
Looking at the birth stories in Matthew and Luke, Ken Bailey finds three startling revelations in the brief accounts of Joseph.
The manger and the inn: A Middle Eastern view of the birth story of Jesus
Ken Bailey shares how the original, intended audience of Jesus' birth story would have interpreted the text. This reading changes the traditional, Western nativity story.
What exit polls say about faith and the November elections
In the recent mid-term elections, moral issues such as the war in Iraq and concern over poverty and torture played a significant role -- more so than "wedge" issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage, according to a new exit poll released Nov. 15.
The exit poll was commissioned by Faith in Public Life https://www.faithinpubliclife.org/ and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, https://thecatholicalliance.org/new/ both groups working to mobilize voters concerned about religious issues.
"Americans voted their values in this election," said Katie Barge, communications director for Faith in Public Life.
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