A $1.5 million endowment to establish a faculty chair in Bible will be named in honor of Thomas W. Currie III, dean of Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education at Charlotte, and the four generations of his family who have served as ministers of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church, it was announced recently.
Jack Barden joined Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary on September 1 as director of admissions. Barden previously served as pastor of First Church of Fulton, Mo.
Barden received a BA in religion from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn.; an M.div. from Austin Seminary; and a D.min. in preaching from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago.
By a vote of 145 for, 75 against, and 4 abstentions, the Presbytery of New Covenant (Houston, Texas) approved the following policy at its August 22, 2006 stated meeting:
"The Presbytery of New Covenant in its discernment of the essentials of reformed polity and for the sake of preserving the peace, unity and purity of the church does adopt the principle that compliance with the standards for ordination adopted and held authoritative in the Book of Order shall remain essentials of reformed polity and any departure from said standards for ordination set forth in the Book of Order will disqualify a candidate for ordination or installation by the Presbytery of New Covenant. Those provisions of the Book of Order deemed to be standards and therefore essentials of polity include those statements using "shall," "is/are to be," "required," "requirement," or equivalent expressions.
This discernment of the essentials of reformed polity shall remain in effect until removed by a majority vote of the Presbytery of New Covenant."
ATLANTA -- Every day, 25,000 children die of malnutrition.
A billion people have no access to health care.
Millions of children, with no one to care for them, live on the streets.
Women and girls are routinely sold for sex.
Across the globe 27 million people are being held as slaves -- the greatest number in history, a trafficking in human life and dignity that enriches the perpetrators by $13.6 billion a year.
Those are just a few painful statistics -- there are more, according to Sharon Cohn, vice-president of interventions for International Justice Mission, https://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=178&srcid=-2 a human rights agency that tries to rescue victims of slavery, violence and exploitation.
ATLANTA -- It's become a staple for many congregations: the one or two-week mission trip, from which many Presbyterians return saying the experience has opened their eyes and changed their lives.
But Roberta Hestenes, an evangelical who has worked with World Vision International and traveled the globe on behalf of outreach to the poor, tempers enthusiasm for such mission work with practical wisdom.
She recognizes the value of sharing one's faith -- of connecting with Christians from other places and backgrounds.
But the balance between Presbyterians' sending long-term missionaries and congregations supporting short-term mission trips "has reached the tipping point," Hestenes told the Presbyterian Global Fellowship https://69.15.106.21/ August 18.
Thousands of congregations are sending people on mission trips, "or their own people are already going whether or not they have permission from any official anybody to be going," she said.
ATLANTA -- They're good-hearted Presbyterians -- serious about their faith, people who want to show God's love to a suffering world. But it's not as easy as just getting on a plane with a suitcase and a pocket stuffed with dollars.
In a religiously diverse world, in which Americans often enjoy prosperity and peace which others do not share, working in partnership with others can be a complicated thing. And those at the Presbyterian Global Fellowship https://www.presbyterianglobalfellowship.org meeting August 17-19 -- a mostly white, evangelical crowd -- were challenged to temper their energy for mission with some hard thinking about realities that are not always comfortable to face.
Lucas de Paiva Pina, a Brazilian who is working with immigrant fellowships in Georgia, looked out across the room and said: "We need to put more color here -- yellow, black, red, all of them."
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has pledged to become 20 percent people of color by 2010, but still is more than 92 percent white.
ATLANTA -- Think of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as a lemon-colored rotary phone in a cell-phone world.
Useful in its time. Not right for now.
That was the image that Vic Pentz, senior pastor of Peachtree Church in Atlanta, used to kick off the first-ever gathering of the Presbyterian Global Fellowship (https://www.presbyterianglobalfellowship.org) -- an entity that he acknowledged is brand-new, is still taking shape, that no one is exactly sure how to describe.
But more than 800 people from 42 states have come to this meeting at Peachtree -- ready for something different, wanting to "move beyond the old model of mission, which is simply sending great gobs of money from the West to the rest," Pentz told the opening night gathering on August 17.
So he thunked the yellow rotary phone down on the pulpit -- and there it stayed, a visual clue as to what some say is not working with the PC(USA).
ATLANTA -- Even in the Bible Belt, fewer than half the people go to church. In Seattle, it's less than 10 percent.
And "what do the unchurched people think of us?" asked Scott Dudley, senior pastor of First Church in Bellevue, a Seattle suburb. "They don't. They don't think of us at all."
Dudley said research has shown 7 of 10 Americans think of church as irrelevant. "And some of them go to church."
Dudley spoke August 18 to the Presbyterian Global Fellowship about what Christians can do to evangelize in their own communities -- basically, how to reach the unchurched. A while back, he said, a college student doing research on "unusual professions" came to spend some time following him around -- to her, being a pastor seemed to qualify as a truly odd job.
August 16, 2006
Media Inquiries: contact Mary Pace
GAC Office of Communication
(502) 569-5490
Mark Tammen
Constitutional Services
Office of the General Assembly
(502) 569-5433
George S. Burns
Legal Counsel for Presbytery of Hanmi, Synod
of Southern California & Hawaii, and
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
(949) 263-6777
California courts uphold PC(USA) Constitution on church property issues
Three cases tried or settled, fourth expected soon
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, has recently issued a series of decisions that consistently hold that the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) prevents factions of local congregations from seizing church assets and harassing the faction of the congregation which remains loyal to PC(USA).
Recently, the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii, Hanmi Presbytery and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have been named as parties to lawsuits in the Los Angeles Superior Court involving particular churches that were in schism. Another was filed against the Presbytery of the Pacific, also within the synod. Those lawsuits involved Korean Hope Christian Church, Serone Church, Torrance First Presbyterian Church and Bethany United Presbyterian Church.
In each of those cases, congregations split into factions over selection and other issues concerning their pastor. After one side appealed to the presbytery or synod, the other faction unilaterally declared that the particular church had quit the denomination, and asserted control and ownership of all church property and funds, to the exclusion of both the other faction and the presbytery.
In all these cases, the courts have ruled that the dissident faction must follow the directions of the presbytery as to control or ownership of the church property.
"The courts applied the rules from our Book of Order which is part of the PC(USA) Constitution. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has clear processes based on its theology, said Mark Tammen, director of Constitutional Services, Office of the General Assembly, PC(USA).
"As such, the Constitution entrusts presbyteries with determining their 'strategy for mission' in their bounds. This is the 'yardstick' for making such decisions. Obviously secular judges would have difficulty in making such a theologically based determination, and in fact, are prohibited from doing so by well established U.S. Supreme Court precedent," Tammen added.
Whatever the verdict on Israel's second invasion of Lebanon, it should be clear to most Americans that our relationship to the Arab and Muslim worlds is being defined in Tel Aviv as much as Washington, DC. Seymour Hersh, in The New Yorker's August 21 issue, maintains that our Administration not only knew of Israel's plans well in advance, but wanted Israel to test our "bunker-blasters" and other munitions so we could better decide whether to use them on the bigger target: Iran's nuclear complexes.
This would be to argue that the current Israeli and US Administrations are joined not only in the philosophy of unilateral militarism, but in specific war strategies. Certainly the prompt US re-supply of Israel with high-tech munitions and our blocking a cease-fire until Israel was ready to accept one would further indicate our supportive role--and a far more overt one than that of Iran and Syria to Hezbollah. What will it mean for US Christians to be linked to a power that no longer pretends to be "an honest broker" for peace? How will we continue relationships with the Christian remnant communities that will face increased pressure from both Muslims and Jews in a region where extremism is likely to intensify?
TULSA -- Some say that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has historically permitted freedom of conscience within certain bounds.
But the presbyteries never intended the denomination's ordination standards regarding sexual behavior to be anything but required and compulsory, contends Robert Gagnon, a New Testament professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
Those standards -- which limit ordination to those who practice fidelity if they're married or chastity if they are single -- should mean the PC(USA) won't ordain sexually active gays and lesbians, and will not countenance what Gagnon calls "serial unrepentant sexual immorality."
Robert Gagnon
edited by Patricia Lloyd-Sidle. Louisville: Geneva Press, 2006. ISBN 0-664-50287-3. Pb., 165 pp. $19.95.
Celebrating Our Call: Ordination Stories of Presbyterian Women should be required reading for all Presbyterians. Fourteen of our denomination's most visible and successful women in ministry share their highly personal and deeply felt experiences of God's call to serve the church. Gifted, passionate, and articulate--these women speak with joy about their various callings to parish ministry, to mission, and to academia. They are the voices of pastors and seminary presidents, denominational leaders and theologians, educators and ecumenists who speak from their perspectives as Caucasian, Korean, African-American, and Hispanic women.
c. 2006 Religion News Service
As Mideast violence spiraled and power grabs dominated American politics, I told 100 teenage leaders of National Episcopal Happening they would need a "tough faith for a tough world."
By "tough faith," I didn't mean bullying religiosity or moral perfectionism. I meant a durable faith, with enough depth to handle a complex and challenging world, without turning mean, nostalgic or escapist.
Everything is changing. Economic competition is global. Capital and jobs flow easily across borders. U.S. teenagers will compete directly with Asians and Europeans. They won't be able to coast or to assume any continuities of privilege. The race will go to those who are prepared, not to those skilled mainly in television, video games and soccer.
We all agree on two things: we did have the 217th General Assembly, and the Report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church was adopted as amended.
Having been a member of the Task Force, I'm not surprised by the wide range of reactions to the Report and its Recommendations, since some version of most concerns was and is held by one or another of us on the Task Force. Of deepest concern to me are the doomsday prophecies that some have advanced in contesting the adoption of the authoritative interpretation of G-6.0108. Such prophecies can become self-fulfilling.
As always, participants in or witnesses to the same event have widely different perceptions of its meaning, ranging from negative to positive, based mostly upon the fears or hopes of what might happen in the future.
The ancient metaphor is operative: is the glass half-full or half-empty?
Churches often have names that link them to their past, their founders, their history. Some of those names may mean little to the casual viewer of sign boards hung on the side of buildings. Signs bear such names as Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal or perhaps more modestly, Disciples.
Here, I am speaking of religious denominations that may have arisen out of an experience no longer our own. Some arose out of the conversion of one person, such as John Wesley, who had a life-changing experience and made the world "his parish." My own Presbyterian communion has a form of government that empowers lay people and has no bishops. A church I regularly attend has bishops, but also empowers laity. And so it goes.
Was it inevitable?
Media attention to the General Assembly's action on "The Trinity: God's Love Overflowing" focused almost exclusively on the paper's discussion of language used to speak of the Triune God. This tight focus was further restricted to one or two examples extracted from a selection of biblical and traditional images for God.
An editorial cartoon suggested that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) was replacing "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit" with language as silly as "rock, paper, scissors."
A nationally syndicated columnist seemed to think "Larry, Curly, and Moe" was a cute way to characterize her claim that the church considered "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" to be "patriarchal leftovers."
International mission by our denomination is ever renewing. Our national offices have encouraged creative new ways to connect people, congregations, and presbyteries more directly in responding to Christ's call to mission. I am encouraged that congregations show a growing interest in being involved.
Creativity comes from various sources and dynamics.
Working with synods, presbyteries, and congregations has been fruitful, although most of these have been preoccupied with a spectrum of concerns. They typically are not primarily focused on international mission. The creative ferment has also come from interacting with organizations and networks in the denomination dedicated to specific types of mission. Some of these organizations have been more vocal and concerned about the decline in the denomination's mission workforce and funding for international mission than have the governing bodies. Now, with the GAC shifting to devote more of its time and attention to meeting the needs of congregations and middle governing bodies, there are concerns that there might be a void into which others need to step to help the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) maintain a large and vital role in Christ's mission around the world. A number organizations and networks have announced initiatives this summer that appear to relate to that perceived need, even while the new GAC leadership and structure are busy working on how to rise to the same occasion.
Editor's Note: This is the first of a three-part series. An enlarged version of this and the two articles to follow may be found in the booklet, Bearing the Marks of the Church, published by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Theology and Worship. Also available online at the Re-forming Ministry website: https://www.pcusa.org/re-formingministry/papers/nicene_marks.pdf
The issue that is either openly addressed or subtly at work in all our discussions about a denomination like the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is the fact that Christendom is over. "Christendom" is the partnership of church, state, and society initiated in the fourth century under the Emperor Constantine. Wherever one is located on the theological or ecclesial spectrum, the end of Christendom is the common ground that links us together.
How will we, within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), work with this contextual change in which we find ourselves today? Can we understand that the end of Christendom is a way for us to begin to reassess the western theological tradition from the liberating perspective of the actual and unquestioned end of Christendom?
Welcome to the season of experimentation. Like medical researchers desperately searching for a cure, some Presbyterians are kicking around innovative ideas, sending up trial balloons, and contemplating taking strides ranging from baby steps to giant leaps. They are proposing new kinds of connectionalism.
The backlash to actions of the recent General Assembly continues unabated. The initial outcry against the GA's responses to the reports of two theological task forces--one proposing steps for peace, unity, and purity of the church, and the other using some unfamiliar terms to lift up Trinitarian theology--has led to discussions and proposals for everything from redirecting funds, to operating as a shadow denomination, even to dividing the PC(USA) house.
How shall this faith community organize itself at such a time as this?
(PNS/ENS) -- Church relief agencies were pleading July 25 for an urgent cease-fire so emergency assistance can be provided to hundreds of thousands of civilians uprooted and threatened by Israeli bombarding of Lebanon and Hezbollah attacks on Israel.
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission workers and ecumenical partners in the Middle East have not suffered physical harm from the violence that is gripping Lebanon and Israel.
"All our mission workers, partners and other colleagues are reported safe," said Victor Makari, the PC(USA)'s area coordinator for the Middle East, on July 18. "This includes pastors in southern Lebanon very close to the border with Israel. All our colleagues (in Lebanon) are stuck in their homes, some sleeping in hallways away from windows and outside walls."
The violence between Israel and Hezbollah, which began July 12, has claimed the lives of 210 Lebanese and 24 Israelis as of July 18, according to media reports.
Nuhad Tomeh, a PC(USA) mission worker in Lebanon, was in the United States when the fighting broke out and was scheduled to remain through the end of July. Tomeh serves with the Middle East Council of Churches and is the PC(USA)'s regional liaison for Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and the Gulf region.
Presbyterian work in Lebanon dates back to the 19th century and the PC(USA) continues close ties to its partner church in the nation, National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon. The denomination also maintains partnerships in Lebanon with the Lebanese American University of Beirut (which it founded) and the Near East School of Theology (NEST). The PC(USA), along with the Reformed Church in America and the Evangelical Lutheran Church, supports the mission service of Jon Hoover, a professor who teaches at NEST. He serves in Lebanon with his wife, Jacqueline.
The PC(USA)'s Jinishian Memorial Program, an endowed relief and development program that serves Armenian communities in several countries overseas, works in the Armenian Quarter of Beirut. Its entire staff is safe, Makari said.
Makari reported that conditions are calm in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, where four PC(USA) mission workers and others related to the PC(USA) serve. The denomination's seven mission personnel assigned to Egypt are also safe, he said.
In response to the latest wave of violence in the Middle East, The National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus issued a statement calling for 'all illegal and terroristic activities on all sides come to an abrupt and final end ... an end to Israel's occupation as the first real step toward a genuine peace in the region ... [and] to base US foreign policy on the legal and moral values that our nation and constitution are founded on.'
The complete text follows.
(PNS) With health care costs continuing to rise annually by nearly 10 percent, the Board of Pensions (BOP) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted to raise its Medical Plan dues by one-half percent, to 19.5 percent of "effective salary."
The increase, which brings total dues for medical plus pension benefits to 31.5 percent, is effective Jan. 1, 2007. The board approved the increase at its July 13-15, along with subscription increases in related health care programs, such as the Affiliated Benefits Plan (an 8.8 percent increase) and medical coverage for seminary students (an increase commensurate with the Medical Plan dues increase).
(RNS) As Middle East hostilities entered its second week, mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic leaders around the world continued to press the combatants --and the Bush administration -- for an immediate cease-fire.
On July 24, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches called for "an immediate cessation of violent acts by all parties," and said the first step "is for all acts of violence to end immediately." In a July 21 letter to Bush, signed by more than a dozen Roman Catholic and Protestant groups including the National Council of Churches, Churches for Middle East Peace told the president his leadership "and the full weight of the Untied States, acting in concert with the international community, must be applied now to achieve an immediate cease-fire and to launch an intensive diplomatic initiative for the cessation of hostilities.
"This is a necessary first step toward the diplomatic resolution of this crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the way toward a comprehensive Middle East peace," the letter to Bush said.
W. Andrew Adair, who has been working as a mission co-worker for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in Asia, has been named associate director for mission sending of the Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship and The Outreach Foundation. He will lead their new effort to fund and send their own missionaries.
Since 1997, Adair and his wife, Teri, have worked in Asia, where he has helped direct a partnership involving workers from close to a dozen countries and a variety of agencies. Before that, he worked as mission pastor for Highland Church in Dallas.
Adair, a former investment banker, earned a master's in divinity from Fuller Theological Seminary. He will be based in Houston.
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