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Ecclesiology Committee considers recommendation to approve PUP report

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.

Task Force report presented to GA Committee; unity the key

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.

Widely different views in TF Report heard by committee

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).

Connecting churches with collegians

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.

$150 million gift announced for the PC(USA)

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.

Candidates reveal their visions for the PC(USA)

Editor's note: The four candidates running in the election for moderator of the 217th General Assembly have responded to several questions from the Outlook.

•  In your opinion, what is the most significant matter to come before this General Assembly and how do you propose that the Assembly respond to it?
• What are your goals for your moderatorial years and what strengths do you bring to the task?
• In your opinion, what is the most urgent need in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) over the next five years?

PC(USA) life and ministry after downsizing

So where does the church go from here?

The recent $9.1 million downsizing of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)'s national staff and the reorganization of what's left leaves people asking questions.

Among them: In a shrinking denomination with fewer members and less money, but with significant enthusiasm for mission work at the grassroots, what's the role of the national church structure?

And specifically, where do Presbyterians want to focus their energies in evangelism and international mission work?

Valentine officially nominated; GA to vote in Birmingham

CHICAGO -- The General Assembly Council has nominated as its new executive director Linda Bryant Valentine, a lawyer who says she likes to bring "clarity to complexity" and who thinks the Presbyterian church has "fresh and exciting stories to tell."

At a May 23 meeting in Chicago, the council voted 41-13 to nominate Valentine, following more than a year of work by a search committee. If the General Assembly agrees and elects Valentine when it meets in Birmingham in June, she would begin work July 1.

Valentine will succeed John Detterick, who is retiring this summer after serving as executive director for eight years. She would be paid $160,000 a year.

Many of the questions council members asked Valentine before they voted concerned her vision for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which has just endured a $9.1 million downsizing, and the differences between working for large corporations, which she mostly has done, versus an organization built around religious faith.

Mission Presbytery says “no” to atheist; “not yet” to itself

After a heated two-hour debate, the Mission Presbytery voted June 9 to direct the St. Andrews Church in Austin, Tex., to remove self-professed atheist Robert Jensen from its active member rolls and to move him to their baptized member rolls. In a surprise move, near the end of the two-day meeting, the presbytery also voted to issue a 45-day stay of implementation.

To be moved to the rolls of baptized members would make Mr. Jensen, who is a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, equivalent to a child who has been baptized but has not made a profession of faith.

Two Presbyterian groups announce missionary-sending plans

In the wake of budget cuts at the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), two Presbyterian groups have announced they will be sending their own missionaries overseas, probably starting this year.

Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship www.pff.net/ and The Outreach Foundation www.theoutreachfoundation.org/ issued a joint statement June 12 saying that "the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) faces a missionary sending crisis. The number of PC(USA) missionaries continues to shrink at a time when global partners are telling us that more are needed."

Linda Valentine nominated for GAC executive director position

Linda Bryant Valentine, a businesswoman and Presbyterian elder from Illinois, is being nominated to replace John Detterick as executive director of the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Presbyterian Coalition, TTF discuss report ramifications

CHICAGO -- Folks were civil and respectful -- no one screamed and no one threw dishes. But a blunt exchange on May 10 between board members of the Presbyterian Coalition and five members of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) revealed some enduring differences of opinion about what the task force is trying to accomplish -- and about what it will mean for the church if the General Assembly approves the task force report in June.

Coalition leaders have been energetically critical of the task force report, as have others from the evangelical wing of the church.

The Covenant Network of Presbyterians, which wants the PC(USA) to ordain gays and lesbians, has been more positive. And on May 9 its board of directors released a statement https://www.covenantnetwork.org/news/time4hope.htm saying it won't offer advice to General Assembly commissioners on how to vote on the task force report, saying "we trust that the voice of the Holy Spirit may be heard more clearly if the voices of partisan advocacy are still."  

At this day-long gathering at a hotel in Chicago, a quarter of the 20 task force members took shots at answering a volley of questions from the Coalition -- about why they met so much in closed session, about whether the presbyteries should get to vote on what the task force is proposing, about whether they're in essence trying to "trump" the denomination's constitutional standards regarding the ordination of gays and lesbians.

Presbyterian Global Fellowship organized; mission focus

Saying that Presbyterians should turn their attention away from denominational struggles and back out towards the world, a group of more than a dozen congregations are announcing the creation of the Presbyterian Global Fellowship (https://www.presbyterianglobalfellowship.org).

While the exact shape of the endeavor is still being formulated, the new fellowship is intended to connect Presbyterian congregations in pursuing mission work and to encourage them to support the work they consider vital through designated, targeted giving.

Its organizers -- who have been praying and talking about this for the last several months -- include Michael Walker, executive director of Presbyterians for Renewal; D. Scott Weimer, senior pastor of North Avenue Presbyterian church in Atlanta; and Vic Pentz, senior pastor of Peachtree Presbyterian church, also in Atlanta.

Russell Nichols to retire as Hanover president

Hanover College President Russell Nichols will retire June 30, 2007, following his 20th year as president of Indiana's oldest four-year college, according to an announcement May 13.

Service honoring Bill Thompson held May 13; Sermon by Kirkpatrick

A memorial service for William Phelps "Bill" Thompson, former stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), was held May 13 in First Church, La Grange, Ill.

Current PC(USA) Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick paid tribute to his predecessor in a sermon "A Life Worthy of its Calling" based on the Bible passage Ephesians 4:1-7, 15-16.