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Editorials

Rold of ‘The Outlook’ Editor

have been a member of the Outlook Foundation Board of Directors almost longer than I can remember. It came with the territory; it came very soon after I moved to Richmond in 1982 to become pastor of Second church. I think it was assumed that I would serve on the board because of The Outlook’s long history with this congregation. One of our predecessor journals was brought to Richmond in 1856 by the first pastor of this church, Moses Drury Hoge, and most of the ministers of Second church since 1938 had served on the board as well.

Voices

Lent and Limits

In some parts of the country we have endured a long, cold winter and the blizzards are still coming (after several weeks of sub-zero weather). Many people are sick of it and feel like they are caught in a frozen trap.

Some of this normal depression will pass, of course, when spring comes; when we get rid of the ice, the heavy coats and gloves, the constant aggravation of getting into a freezing car. Then we will feel better again.

Book Reviews

An Examined Faith: The Grace of Self Doubt

By James M. Gustafson
Augsburg Fortress. 2004. 128 pp. $15.

— Review by Ralph D. Bucy, Harrisonburg, Va.

From the cowardice that dares not face new truth
From the laziness that is contented with half-truth
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth
Good Lord, deliver us. (p. vii)

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Former ‘Outlook’ publisher James S. Brown Sr. dies

James S. Brown Sr., 91, former publisher of The Outlook and general manager of the Outlook Book Service, died Wednesday, March 10, in Richmond, Va. A memorial service was held Saturday, March 13, at Tuckahoe Presbyterian Church in Richmond.

A Texas native, Brown came to The Outlook in 1947 to assist his brother, the late Outlook editor Aubrey Brown, by managing the business side of the operation. Prior to that, James Brown had been working with a Texas City oil refinery and narrowly escaped death in the disastrous explosion of 1947.

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Alpha doesn’t fit ‘Presbyterian ethos’ but there’s no ‘major’ conflict says report

This is the magic of the Alpha evangelization program: a guy like John Goodwin, a management consultant from Vancouver, Canada, says, "I came to the Lord through Alpha, and had no intention of doing such a thing." Goodwin, a 65-year-old management consultant, had not gone to church for 35 years when, in 1998, he decided to give an Alpha course a try — in large part because a woman he was dating (and who is now his wife) was involved in the church and asked him to go.

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A cure the ‘evangelism allergy’?

John Zimmerman, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) pastor from Washington state, saw firsthand how Alpha can transform a congregation when he served as an interim pastor about two years ago of a historic downtown church in Vancouver, B.C. That church, a Baptist congregation, had a long-term pastor who retired, and attendance dropped off by about 180 within a few months after he left. But then the Alpha programs the church had been offering took off — and Zimmerman was amazed at what happened next.

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A ‘beta’ version of Alpha

Marcia Mount Shoop, an associate pastor at a big church in the Chicago suburbs, likes the idea of having an evangelistic outreach for people who are seeking to know more about God and Christianity. But when she went to an Alpha conference, "I had some theological problems with some of the curriculum — some of the content I felt was not appropriate for the Reformed tradition, it doesn’t reflect what we believe," Mount Shoop said.

Editorials

Moving Forward

I am both humbled and daunted by the confidence the search committee and board of the Presbyterian Outlook Foundation has shown by naming me editor. Standing on the shoulders of Aubrey Brown (1943-1978) George Hunt (1978-1988) and Robert Bullock (1988–2003) reminds me of the awesome responsibility that attaches to this position. The PC(USA), the denominations that birthed and nourished us into existence, the Reformed and Presbyterian family of churches in the United States, and even the holy universal church owe these past three editors an immense debt of gratitude, as do our readers.

Voices

A New Strategy

In response to declining membership, a strategy report of a major presbytery several years ago emphasized new church development. Although anticipated, it was still rather disconcerting. How many commercial enterprises would respond to falling sales by opening new franchises? Instead, if they hoped to survive, they would concentrate on product improvement.

Voices

Second Thoughts on ‘The Passion’

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
— Exodus 20:4–6 (ESV)

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Task force begins discussion of ordination, starting with biblical, historical background

DALLAS – Yes, they finally started talking about ordination.

No, they didn’t answer the big essay question: should the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) ordain gays and lesbians (although there are no shortage of folks willing to volunteer the answer on that one.) That kind of discussion – what the PC(USA) should do about its disagreements over theology and ordination – is expected to be on the table when the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the PC(USA) meets again in August. And, after more than two years of work, some of them seem eager to get to it.

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Who Can Lead?

DALLAS – What are the qualifications for being a church leader?

The third and fifth chapters of 1 Timothy provide what New Testament scholar Frances Taylor Gench described as "a catalog of virtues" expected of such people – written with the recognition that the world is watching, that for some, how church leaders behave is one of the standards they use to judge whether the faith is real.

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Sparks named ‘Outlook’ editor

Meeting in Richmond on Feb. 10-11, the board of directors of the Presbyterian Outlook Foundation elected O. Benjamin Sparks its interim editor effective Feb. 20.

Sparks will serve in a part-time, limited capacity and without compensation while he remains pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Richmond, Va. During his tenure as editor he will give overall direction to The Outlook in theological, editorial and ecclesiastical matters, setting the tone and direction of the paper.

Voices

The Line in the Sand?

Does your board have a line in the sand when it comes to personal, professional, ethical or administrative behavior of church members and officers? How long will you permit unruly or fractious actions by one or two individuals to disrupt the important work of the congregation? What do you do if one of the church's officers clearly violates his or her ordination vows?

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Administrative fee proposal returns

LOUISVILLE — People yipped so loudly when the idea was presented last September that it was pulled from consideration. The response was clear: some people thought it was a terrible idea, unwise and unfair, for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to impose an administrative fee of up to 5 percent on restricted gifts to the denomination — money that individuals and congregations give with strings attached, requiring that the money be spent to fund specific things.

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Third round of budget, job cuts looms as council considers plan

LOUISVILLE – Here’s the game plan: put together a new, two-year budget for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that’s built on a big vision and big hopes for a new way of doing things.

Whether the will exists to say that some of what the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) traditionally has done won’t be done anymore, in order to make way for more important and even new things, still has not been determined.

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216th GA to receive per capita option

LOUISVILLE – What per capita rate will the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) set for 2005 and 2006? Well, that all depends.

The proposal on the table is to offer the General Assembly two options for a per capita rate, and to let the Assembly decide.

The first option would set a rate of $5.46 per active member for 2005 – five cents less than the rate for this year – then to raise it to $5.56, a boost of 10 cents per member from the current rate, for 2006.

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Budget cuts remain in background as GAC starts winter session

LOUISVLLE — The big tiger, another round of budget cuts for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), stayed mostly out of sight as the General Assembly Council opened its winter meeting here Tuesday, Feb. 10. The cat hasn’t disappeared, but the denomination’s leadership is hoping to talk later this week more about the big picture — a "mission work plan" that lays out the vision for what kind of things should get money and what should not — and less about the hard dollars involved.

Voices

The Grand Old Pledge

On the Supreme Court's docket for the current session is a review of the Ninth Circuit Court's judgment of the phrase "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. If that phrase is removed, it would return to the version I memorized in public school. During World War II no one complained about a deficiency in the 29 words we voluntarily repeated during our daily flag raisings. Our generation swelled with patriotic pride and could hardly wait to enlist in our armed services to help topple those totalitarian regimes intent on conquering other European or Asian nations.

Editorials

Responsible Connectionalism: Following the Money

Please don't call me contentious. Don't call me disloyal. I'm just confused over the conviction deeply held by some of my dearest friends about their right to withhold or redirect funds that normally would go to the denomination. What I hear them saying is that the church courts have affirmed our legal right — which is accorded us by our polity ...which is based upon our theology — which issues from our God-endowed freedom — to determine where our money goes. Where all of our money goes.

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