wfn.org | BROWN REFLECTS ON RECONCILIATION TALKS

[PCUSA_NEWS@ecunet.org]

9-Mar-95

              BROWN REFLECTS ON RECONCILIATION TALKS 
               WITH COGA, GAC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEES 
 
                          by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Progress toward reconciliation was made during 
four meetings of a special committee comprised of representatives 
from the Presbyterian Lay Committee and appointees of General 
Assembly moderator the Rev. Robert W. Bohl, according to the Rev. 
James D. Brown, executive director. 
 
     Brown spoke during a joint meeting of the executive committees 
of the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) and 
the General Assembly Council (GAC), March 8. 
 
     The reconciliation committee's report to the Assembly, he 
said, is now being drafted and recommends that annual 
reconciliation talks be held for the next three years and that Bohl 
continue to chair the process. 
 
     "This has been a humbling experience, I think, for every one," 
said Brown, who described the talks as a "painful, refreshing 
process."  The first meeting was held in early November; the most 
recent March 1-2. 
 
     Brown cited two concrete outcomes as evidence of progress: 
 
     * a commitment by the Lay Committee to join the Evangelical 
Press Association and to abide by its standards for advocacy 
journalism (reporting in its tabloid, "The Presbyterian Layman," 
was one source of contention in the talks); and 
 
     * forwarding an unendorsed Lay Committee position paper, 
"Honoring the Boundaries of Reformed Faith and Practice," to 
appropriate COGA and GAC committees -- the paper recommends changes 
in church and personnel processes, including signed faith 
statements by national staff members. 
 
     "We're a long way from being reconciled, but we've made a step 
forward," the Rev. Cliff Kirkpatrick said at the conclusion of 
Brown's remarks, adding that "many issues still divide" the Lay 
Commitee and church leaders. 
 
      Kirkpatrick has also been part of reconciliation dialogue.   
 
 

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