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PC(USA) leaders disavow comments made in Lebanon

LOUISVILLE - Three top officials of the Presbyterian Church (USA) have issued a statement disavowing comments made by members of a Presbyterian delegation during an Oct. 17 visit to a former Israeli prison that is now a Hezbollah-run museum and memorial in southern Lebanon.

News that the delegation - comprised mostly of members of the denomination's Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) - had met with a group on the U.S. government's watch list of terrorist organizations has further eroded relations between Jewish groups and the PC(USA).

One ACSWP delegation member - Ronald Stone, a recently retired professor at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary - was quoted as saying: 'As an elder of our church, I'd like to say that according to my recent experience, relations and conversations with Islamic leaders are a lot easier than dealings and dialogue with Jewish leaders.'

Synod Judicial Comm. announces Williamson decision

The Presbytery of Western North Carolina made mistakes in its handling of a case involving the ministry of Parker T. Williamson, chief executive officer of The Lay Committee and editor of The Layman, and failed to provide "adequate due process and fundamental fairness," a church court has ruled.

The Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic ruled Sept. 29 that the presbytery had made procedural errors significant enough that its controversial decision last January to make Williamson a "member-at-large" of the presbytery, rather than to validate his call for his work with the Layman, should be set aside.

The judicial commission also ordered Western North Carolina presbytery not to take any action involving the validation of Williamson's ministry for a year from the date of the ruling, and ordered the presbytery and Williamson -- who has been a member of the presbytery for 32 years -- "to jointly formulate a presbytery-wide process of reconciliation concerning this issue."

Disagreeing to agree: PC(USA) divestiture vote leads to anti-semitic charges

It is unlikely that the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) had any idea, when it voted this summer to start the process of considering divestiture in some companies doing business in Israel, that it would set off a fireworks of protest and provoke international denunciations of Presbyterians as anti-Semitic.

But that's exactly what has happened. In recent weeks, stories or opinion pieces about the Presbyterian action have been written in prominent publications from Time magazine and the Wall Street Journal to the Israeli Insider (that article was headlined, "With Friends Like These . . . ").

Relations between Presbyterians and Jews, already battered by a controversy some months ago over the denomination's funding of a Messianic congregation in Philadelphia, are much worse now -- a situation made more painful by the recognition that, until now, the Presbyterian church was considered by many Jews to be among the most understanding and reasoned of the Christian denominations.

International issues at GAC

LOUISVILLE -- It wasn't a big-fireworks meeting -- but the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), meeting in Kentucky Sept. 22-25, kept the concerns of the world close at hand.

It approved a resolution calling for support of members of the U.S. military.

It learned that Forman Christian College in Pakistan has received a major $5 million grant from U.S. AID. "We cannot tell you what a big deal this is," said Will Browne of the Worldwide Ministries Division.

And it is trying to find ways for Presbyterians from the U.S. to help protect the life and the human-rights work of Presbyterians in Colombia, who have watched their colleagues in human rights work being assassinated and imprisoned one-by-one.

PC(USA) divestment plan: dealing with “ripples of reaction”

LOUISVILLE -- It wasn't a big-fireworks meeting -- but the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), meeting in Kentucky Sept. 22-25, kept the concerns of the world close at hand.

LOUISVILLE -- The first wave has hit hard -- intense criticism of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for considering selective divestment in some companies doing business in Israel, as a way to protest Israel's treatment of the Palestinian people.

But now the PC(USA) is trying to figure out where to go from here, deciding not just when and whether to divest, but also searching for ways to deal with the ripples of reaction.

Church leaders are trying first to explain what the assembly has done so that people really understand -- there has been a boatload of misunderstanding ("So many people are operating on the basis of what they think we did, not what we did," said Manley Olson, a General Assembly Council member from Minnesota.)

But they also want to cultivate support from the ecumenical community in the divestment effort -- there are signs that may be starting to happen -- and to renew discussions with Jewish leaders in a way that acknowledges the deep pain and sense of betrayal the divestment issue has caused the Jewish community, but which also doesn't dilute the Presbyterian commitment to justice for the Palestinians or duck the hard issues embedded in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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.