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Church growth: nine myths, no magic bullets

LOUISVILLE -- Here's the bad news. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has lost about 24 percent of its membership in the last 20 years.

Here's some news that's a little better. Some Presbyterian congregations are growing, are taking risks, are taking evangelism seriously. And there's research available on what growing congregations are doing -- research which often shows a gap between what many Presbyterians expect will make a church grow, and what really does.

The General Assembly Council, meeting this week in Louisville, has been talking about how to implement its Mission Work Plan for 2005-2006, and spent part of that time thinking about what the PC(USA) does well, and not so well, in evangelism. Deborah Bruce, of the denomination's Office of Research Services, shared some of the findings that she and colleague Cynthia Woolever have mined from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey -- a study of more than 300,000 people in the U.S. who attended worship one weekend in April 2001, involving more than 2,200 congregations from more than 50 faith groups.

Responses to divestiture decision discussed at GAC

LOUISVILLE -- Not wanting to say too much, but maybe not comfortable with keeping silent either, members of the General Assembly Council are struggling with what to do about the most incendiary issue the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) faces: the intensely controversial vote of the General Assembly a few months ago to begin a process of selective, phased divestment in some companies doing business in Israel.

Church officials now say that no divestiture can take place before 2006, when the next General Assembly meets. There have been questions raised about whether the Presbyterian Foundation or the Board of Pensions are willing to consider divestiture or will feel compelled to act to protect the financial interests of those whose money is invested in their portfolios.

Trying to calm the waters, key PC(USA) leaders have scheduled two meetings with top-level Jewish leaders, one in New York on Sept. 28 and one in October.

But the council, meeting this week in Louisville, is trying to determine whether to have denominational leaders issue some kind of "clarifying statement" about the divestiture action, perhaps one that would be sent to all Presbyterian congregations, acknowledging the anger this action has provoked among many Jews, aware that e-mails and letters and phone calls have been pouring in by the hundreds, and that some Presbyterian congregations are feeling the heat close to home.

Interfaith teams at GAC worship

Over and over, Rick Ufford-Chase talks about the value of international connections, about things the church in the United States can learn from the church around the world.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is just starting its second round of the Interfaith Listening Project, in which teams from 10 countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia -- usually made up of one Christian and one Muslim who already know and work with each other at home -- have come to the United States to visit churches and communities, to have conversations with people at the grassroots.

Ufford-Chase, who's moderator of the church's 216th General Assembly, said that in the three months since he was elected he's had the chance to meet with international representatives at the Youth Triennium in Indiana, at the Peacemaking Conference in Seattle, and now at the General Assembly Council meeting this week in Louisville, where the interfaith listening teams made a presentation and participated in opening worship. Ufford-Chase said he's come away from each of these encounters more convinced about the "opportunity they offer our church for transformation."

PC(USA) controller discharged

LOUISVILLE - Nagy Tawfik, the long-time corporate controller for the Presbyterian Church (USA) was fired September 2 for "errors in judgment" surrounding the open bidding process for the external auditing of the church's financial books."

There is no evidence that PC(USA) funds have been misused," said General Assembly Council executive director John Detterick September 2 in announcing Tawfik's termination

Kirkpatrick Supports WARC Economic Injustice Stance

The World Alliance of Reformed Churches has issued a potent denunciation of economic disparities in the world and the capitalist systems that foster them – saying in a confession on economic injustice that “we reject the current world economic order of global neo-liberal capitalism” and that “global economic justice is essential to the integrity of our faith in God and our discipleship as Christians.”

Skelton named associate editor

Martha Skelton, a veteran church journalist, has been named associate editor
of THE OUTLOOK effective Aug. 2.

A freelance journalist with extensive experience in religious publishing,
she has spent most of the last 20 years employed by the Southern Baptist
Church, and was director of the European Baptist Press Service for four
years.

Kirkpatrick Elected WARC President

American Clifton Kirkpatrick admits there is "more than irony" in his election as president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) August 9 at their meeting in Accra, Ghana. He will serve the next seven years.

Kirkpatrick, the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church USA, was elected president in a unanimous vote Monday to spontaneous applause from 400 delegates from around the world. "I had real questions about this (coming from the US)," he said following the election.

Task Force Closes August Meetings: “No Magic Pill”

DALLAS – Well, it was 97 degrees in Dallas, but the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) didn’t bare much skin.

For those who had hoped the task force would unbutton its defenses and begin to discuss publicly what the PC(USA) should do about ordaining gays and lesbians, that didn’t happen. The task force did talk about homosexuality – that was front-and-center on its agenda during the Aug. 3-6 meeting – but the most substantive parts of that conversation came during two long, closed-door sessions in which task force members cleared the room of all observers and spoke from their hearts, explaining their own views and sharing stories from their lives that have shaped those views, in an exchange that task force member Joan Kelley Merritt described during a worship service as powerful and courageous.

Members React to Views of Homosexuality Found in the PC(USA)

DALLAS – Think of this like an episode of your favorite TV show. You’re going to have to tune in later to find out what happens.

The Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) did talk about homosexuality during its Aug. 3-6 meeting, although nearly all behind closed doors, in more than seven hours of private discussions.

Six views on homosexuality fram taskforce deliberation

DALLAS – Where do homosexuals fit in the Christian church?

In what ways are gays and lesbians part of the great narrative of the gospel drama?

What does it mean for a gay or lesbian who’s in a committed, monogamous relationship to be created in the image of God, like everyone else; to be in need of reconciliation, like everyone else; and to be redeemed in Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit?

Task Force votes to close sessions regarding homosexuality and ordination

DALLAS — About to start discussing one of its most difficult topics, the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has voted to go into closed session.

The task force voted 16-1, with two abstentions, to close a portion of its meeting regarding homosexuality and ordination — a session described on the agenda as “Exploring God’s presence in our encounters with homosexuality.”

Commitment to supporting the church comes from some unexpected places

Some might consider Donegal Presbytery in Pennsylvania to be exactly the sort of place where financial revolt could be launched. It’s in the heart of conservative Presbyterianism, where a lot of folks think the denomination has gone way off track and where the last thing they want is to give more money to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to spend on whatever the national church chooses.

But the numbers show something different.

Review of stated clerk’s election will cover a process without many rules

The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly will conduct an investigation involving concerns that the process used in the stated clerk’s election on July 2 might not have been fair.

And that investigation is likely to lead to a bigger conversation in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) about whether more specific rules should be adopted for electing a stated clerk — now there basically are no rules governing campaigning for that office — and about whether the behind-the-scenes efforts to influence commissioners at General Assembly are acceptable or sometimes go too far.

The 216th Assembly keeps the peace, while the church’s deep divisions persist

RICHMOND, Va. — For people with profound disagreements, they were mighty polite.

Next year, for the first time in forever, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will not meet. It’ll be a year off, and it’ll be a year following an Assembly that didn’t do anything wild and crazy, did not threaten schism, intentionally didn’t rock the boat.

Assembly passes mission, per capita budgets

RICHMOND, Va. — The 216th General Assembly "did the math" Saturday morning and approved mission and per capita budgets for the coming two years based on the actions of the Assembly during the week concluded.

The Assembly approved a 2005 mission budget with revenues of $114,891,603 and expenditures of $114,387,431. The mission budget for 2006 was set at $115,048,841.

Assembly tackles world issues

RICHMOND, Va. — A weary General Assembly took on issues of the world during its last morning of work — tired, but still concerned about how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) relates to people around the globe.

TAIWAN: The PC(USA) expressed solidarity with the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan and with the Taiwanese people, and the assembly asked for continued monitoring of the relationship of Taiwan with mainline China, describing that as "an emerging issue fraught with danger."

Assembly approves changes in response to investigation of sexual abuse by missionary in Africa

RICHMOND, Va. — Responding to an investigation of sexual abuse in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is recommending a series of changes in the church’s Constitution that would govern sexual abuse in other cases as well.

While many of the victims in the Congo were children at a boarding school for the children of missionaries, several speakers referred to other examples of sexual abuse they indicated were not uncommon in Presbyterian churches — for example, a pastor becoming sexually involved with an adult in the congregation or with someone the pastor was counseling.

Assembly narrowly upholds existing odination standards

RICHMOND, Va. — It was close — agonizingly close for all concerned.

By four votes Friday the 216th General Assembly declined to supersede authoritative statements that have been used since the late 1970s to help prohibit sexually active homosexuals from being ordained as church officers.