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14-August-1996 
 
 
 
96290   Rebuild Trust, Says New General Assembly Moderator 
 
                         by John Sniffen 
       Director of Communication, Synod of the Mid-Atlantic 
 
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Rebuilding trust should be a top priority of the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Rev. John Buchanan, moderator of the 
208th General Assembly (1996), told commissioners to the Synod of the 
Mid-Atlantic's 210th meeting.  
 
     Noting the ongoing squabbles within the PC(USA), Buchanan said, "We 
must be about the rebuilding of trust. ... It is our most vulnerable point; 
it is our first and most critical priority.  
 
     "How in the world do you rebuild trust in an institution that seems to 
have forgotten how? Well, why don't we just do it? Why don't we just try to 
trust?  Why don't we try to see one another differently -- not as 
ideological opponents, but as fellow Christians who are trying as best we 
know how to follow Jesus Christ faithfully?" he said. 
 
     "How about we call a cease-fire ...?" said Buchanan. "How about we 
declare a general amnesty ... turn down the volume a little bit and stop 
maligning individuals, stop calling [their] faith and integrity into 
question?" 
 
     "Wouldn't it be something if we could ... show the world the 
transforming power of a gospel that turns ideological opponents into 
brothers and sisters who love one another, who can't stop enjoying ... 
praying ... caring for ...  protecting and standing up for one another? If 
we did that, the world might even find us interesting again. ... It might 
demand to know the secret of this amazing transforming power." 
 
     Early in his talk on Friday, July 26, he said his emphasis for the 
coming year will be "the church matters." 
 
     "I am proposing that the church matters. And that it is the time in 
our history to say that and to love this church of ours and to strengthen 
it and to attend to it," said Buchanan, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian 
Church in Chicago. 
 
     Following his report on the actions of the 208th General Assembly, he 
noted that he "came home hopeful because of reminders that this is a 
resilient and faithful church and it belongs not to us ultimately, but to 
Jesus Christ, who is its Lord, and we need to always remember that." 
 
     Buchanan listed several "hopes" he has for the Presbyterian Church in 
the coming year and the future. 
 
     "My hope for the church is based on the notion that we are a church 
that values and appreciates and celebrates its tradition and knows that its 
tradition is the Reformed tradition. That reformation and creative 
engagement with the world is what being a Presbyterian is all about. 
 
     "I hope we will acknowledge and celebrate the fact that reformation is 
continuing to happen in our midst as energy ... shifts from national 
structures to synods and presbyteries and congregations. ... 
 
     "I hope we will come up with the energy and imagination and 
intelligence and love to be bold enough to reinvent the church in urban and 
rural areas where we are declining most disastrously. We have an old model 
of church that doesn't work in about 75 percent of the places. ... 
 
     "Ever since I was ordained in 1963," he said, "we've been wringing our 
hands about the loss of members. ...  We've lost 25 to 30 percent in that 
time, [and the] most creative thing we could do was to find somebody to 
blame." Buchanan said the causes were, in fact, easy to pinpoint: a low 
birthrate among Presbyterians and too few new church developments. Noting 
that it costs about $1 million to start a new church today in the 
traditional manner, he said the denomination needs to find innovative ways 
to start new churches. 
 
     The moderator also said the Presbyterian Church needs to learn how to 
communicate.  Specifically, he said, there is a need for a 
denomination-wide publication. "We have to figure a way to get into every 
Presbyterian home with a well-crafted, creative and readable publication." 
 
     Higher education is another of the moderator's priorities. In fact, he 
will be hosting a forum on the subject next spring. He said it is time for 
Presbyterians to get more involved in campus ministries and to "reestablish 
meaningful and creative dialogues with the campuses." 
 
     Noting the vastly changed political alignments of the world, Buchanan 
said the church should be more active in global ecumenical relations. 
"Wouldn't it be something ... to be in dialogue and in meaningful mission, 
evangelistic and educational mission, with the Russian Orthodox Church?" 
 
     Having just completed a visit to several of the burned churches in the 
South, Buchanan touched on the need for better relations in this country as 
well. "I want us to reclaim our commitment to be a racially inclusive 
church in a racially inclusive culture," he said. "Someone said church 
burnings are a wake-up call, a reminder that the work of racial healing is 
not over but [has] barely begun." 
 
     The tour of burned church sites, which Buchanan called "a moving and 
wonderful experience," included Matthews-Murkland Church in Charlotte, N.C. 
Quoting Matthews-Murkland pastor Larry Hill (a commissioner to the synod 
meeting), Buchanan said, "God didn't provoke these fires, but God will use 
them, and we intend to turn this into a glorious victory for Jesus Christ." 
 
     "Wouldn't it be something," said the moderator, "if out of this crisis 
we could refocus the energy and resources -- financial and personnel -- to 
say a good word about justice and healing and hope in a racially inclusive 
country." 

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