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Torrance honored in Lebanon, Scotland ceremonies

Iain R. Torrance, president of Princeton Theological Seminary, was the honored speaker at the Baccalaureate Service marking the 50th anniversary of Haigazian University in Beirut, Lebanon June 26. Both the University of Aberdeen and St. Andrews University in Scotland also awarded him the honorary Doctor of Divinity degree at their summer graduation ceremonies.

Torrance preached at Haigazian's Baccalaureate Service, held in the First Armenian Church in Beirut, for the university's class of 2005. In his sermon, titled "Hope in the New World," he called Haigazian, an Armenian institution, "a beacon for hope and reconstruction in Lebanon as it stands at the threshold of a new stage in its history." The university was founded as a creative response to the genocide of Armenians in Turkey by those who had escaped, "carrying their vision and faith with them," Torrance said.

MRTI designates five companies for dialogue, possible divestment

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has named five companies in which it's considering divesting because of those firms' involvements in Israel -- involvement that a church committee contends contributes to the "ongoing violence that plagues Israel and Palestine."

During its meeting in Seattle on Aug. 5, the PC(USA)'s Mission Responsibility Through Investment committee (MRTI) named five companies -- Caterpillar, Motorola, ITT Industries, United Technologies and Citigroup -- it alleges have direct links to the violence, after considering a range of companies in which the church has investments and looking in detail at the business practices of each involving the Middle East.

Presbyterian mission work: What does the future hold?

The question of how American Presbyterians do mission work in an era of globalization -- and what those in declining mainline denominations in the U.S. can learn from the faithful in the rest of the world -- is very much on the minds of some in the church these days.

Among the questions being asked:

• What changes should American churches be making in the way they approach international mission?

• What lessons can be learned from the tremendous growth of the Christian church in parts of the southern hemisphere, and from the mission efforts initiated by churches from other countries?

• What are the implications of the trend for congregations and individual Presbyterians to be involved directly in mission work?

• What do young adults bring to the mix -- what excites them and what aren't they willing to tolerate?

Presbyterians are likely to be deep in conversation about this throughout the fall, in part through two upcoming conferences focused on global mission challenges.

Knoxville College president fired in trustee action August 8

The trustees of Presbyterian-related Knoxville College in Tennessee have fired President Barbara R. Hatton, alleging that she has managed the school "by creating fear and intimidation." The decision, effective immediately, was reached on August 8, during a special board meeting in Knoxville.

"It was a very sad day for Knoxville College and a very sad day for Dr. Hatton," said Beneva Bibbs, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s associate for racial-ethnic schools and colleges.

Hatton's firing didn't please everyone. Four trustees, none of whom attended the meeting, resigned. They had informed the other trustees by fax that they planned to quit if Hatton was fired.

Profile: World Christians,world churches

As pastor of Black Mountain (N.C.) Church, John McCall loved his ministry. Thirty retired missionaries heard his sermons on Sundays. He saw theirs. "(They) were the first to volunteer, always willing to cross cultural boundaries; they had servant hearts," he observed.

"They were part of the way God turned my attention towards missions." After years at Black Mountain, he was a commissioner to the GA in Cincinnati when his life changed. As new mission co-workers were commissioned, he watched from "the nosebleed section." But shouldn't I be down there? he thought. He began working with the Worldwide Ministries Division office to fulfill that conviction.

He and retired mission co-workers Don and Jessie McCall (no relation) had been praying for more than a year about Taiwan. For his own assignment, he was leaning towards Latin America. But praying about Taiwan for so long kept those needs before him. He accepted an assignment to serve in Taiwan, beginning in 1996

Profile: Helping new life

It would be easy to mythologize Sue Makin. She works in an exotic place-- Africa--in a rural hospital, with a life-affirming task--trying to save the lives of mothers and newborn babies.

But she is a very articulate, practical, no-nonsense person without pretense.

Sue grew up in Florida without a clear life direction. After college and vocational school, she settled into work as a hospital lab technician. Her work in the hospital challenged her to go to medical school. While studying, she began to pray about the possibility of mission service. While still a lab tech, she volunteered in a health clinic where she saw the toll on young women from drug use, STDs and other complications. Her interest grew in the OBGYN specialty, where doctors address the problems she saw. It has been a satisfying choice. "A birth is a happy event, I sometimes get to do a little surgery and internal medicine. There are elements of the beginning and end of things," she says.

Presbyterian missions: Knowing heritage, serving as global partners

Missions as an integral part of Presbyterian church life and biblical mandate is both Tom Hastings' practical work and his urgent interest. The church devalues its past and waters down its present and future missions mandate at its peril, he says.

Appointed a PC(USA) mission worker in 1988, Hastings teaches practical theology and Christian education at Tokyo Union Theological Seminary. He also lectures and preaches, and works in a prison chaplaincy ministry.

As with many who live and serve in two countries and contexts, Hastings' appreciation and concern for both his American home church and Christian work in Japan are evident.

The years Presbyterians have worked with local believers in Japan span years of change, turmoil and reconfiguration in missions efforts by American churches, he says. Presbyterians came to Japan and often did excellent work in education, health, and church work. By the 1970s, Christians in America were backing away from the stereotypes of bad mission work, but lost touch also with what was important, he says.

While American Presbyterians are indifferent or ignorant of their history, Japanese Presbyterians take it very seriously, he says. "The Presbyterian legacy in Japan is taken very seriously in Japan," he says. Over the past century, hundreds of American Presbyterians have served in Japan. "Who will be the stewards of this history?" he asks.

Task Force Recommendations release August 25th

CHICAGO -- Tweak here, clarify there, make the sentences crisp and clear.

On Aug. 25, the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will announce its long-awaited recommendations. But today -- the day before the big day -- the task force spent about an hour editing and improving draft sections of the report it had made public in July. The task force went back into closed session after that for more private discussions.

That leaves about a three-hour block of time scheduled for Aug. 25 to make the recommendations, discuss them and vote on the final report.

Many of the editing changes suggested were minor, meant to sharpen a point or clear up cluttered language -- there were certainly no roaring discussions. The task force members have seen these drafts before; any major differences of views, if they existed, apparently have been worked out in private.

So they concentrated today on the fine points.

Hanover Presbytery (1755): Samuel Davies and Patrick Henry

The organization of the Hanover Presbytery, now Presbytery of the James in Virginia, is a fascinating tale of pious migrants settling the Mid-Atlantic region, of emerging church leaders challenging them to grow and cooperatively come together during the turbulent years before the American Revolution broke out.

Francis Makemie, the father of American Presbyterianism, wrote A Plain and Persuasive to the Inhabitants of Virginia and Maryland (1750). He advised migrants to the New World to move south into Virginia and to build houses, churches, and school, to grow tobacco. Makemie then moved north, won a right to preach and build churches in New York and vicinity. He helped form America's first Presbytery. The body grew, disagreed over matters such as the First Great Awakening, split into Old Side -- New Side, but carried on. Pious people, but without clergy, streamed into Virginia. Some began to form "reading houses," as they were called, because Williamsburg's Anglican establishment would not allow other Protestants to build "churches." A William Morris, for example, joined with his neighbors to meet and study books they had, including Luther's Galatians commentary, John Knox's Scot's Confession, the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, and George Whitefield's sermons. The movement spread. When asked by authorities to which denomination they belonged, they identified themselves as Presbyterians, aided by New Side clergyman from New Castle, William Robinson.

Task Force Considers what Church of 21st Century will be

DALLAS – What will the world be like in the 21st century – and what will the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) need to be like in order to reach that world?

In other words, what will the future church be like?

One year later, divestment exposes sharp divide between Jews, Protestants

They marched together for civil rights in the 1960s, sang the 1980s hit “We Are the World” for famine relief in Africa and held interfaith discussions following the release of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.”

Carl named fifth president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary

The Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Board of Directors on July 21 named the Rev. Dr. William J. Carl III as its next president. Carl currently serves as pastor of the 1,700-member First Church in Dallas, Texas, a position he has held since 1983.