wfn.org | Feedback Is Mixed on Churchwide Study Document

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

21-October-1997 
97405 
 
    Feedback Is Mixed on Churchwide 
    Study Document on Building Community 
 
    by Julian Shipp 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.-- Preliminary response to the churchwide study document 
"Building Community Among Strangers," prepared by the Task Force on 
Building Community Among Strangers of the Advisory Committee on Social 
Witness Policy (ACSWP), has been both affirming and critical. 
 
    The task force's purpose is to examine the church's policy base and to 
propose new policy to strengthen its capacity to build human community in 
the midst of the growing diversity of American society, especially in 
metropolitan areas. Since June, 11,000 copies of the 44-page document have 
been distributed throughout the church. The document also can be accessed 
on the Internet via the denomination's Web site at http://www.pcusa.org 
 
    In every American city, collisions of racial, ethnic, social class, 
cultural and religious diversity challenge the church to discover and 
foster a new urban ecumenicity -- that is, a way of sharing, working and 
living together without hostility. The task force is inviting synod and 
presbytery groups, as well as session committees and local church study 
groups, to explore the issues contained in the document and respond as they 
prepare and propose a policy statement to be presented to the 211th General 
Assembly (1999). 
 
    The 14-member task force, chaired by the Rev. Krista Kiger of 
Milwaukee, Wis., is using Ephesians 2:19 as its guiding theme: "So then you 
are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints 
and also members of the household of God."  According to Kiger, the group's 
primary goal is to explore what it means for the church to bear witness to 
this message, particularly within the diverse environment of the modern 
metropolitan context. 
 
    To that end, some churches and presbyteries have already begun to study 
and learn from the document's challenges on community building. For 
example, Robert L. Washington, a task force member and a Presbyterian elder 
in Teaneck, N.J., said New York City Presbytery has been wrestling with the 
issue of community building, both inside and outside the church, for 
decades. 
 
    "I think the [document's] affirmation of wanting to have some policy 
that stands out and really challenges racism, for example, and states that 
`if [racial/ethnic people] are really going to be a part of this church, 
then we want to be a part of it not sitting on the back row, but sitting on 
the front row,' is outstanding," Washington said. "We talk about diversity 
in our presbytery and we are a very diverse group. But I think that's on 
paper most of the time, particularly when it comes down to the cultural and 
power parts of it, because the people who wield the power are the white 
folks. We see this document as playing a large part in changing that 
process." 
 
    The Rev. William L. Lytle, a task force member and former moderator of 
the 113th General Assembly (1978) of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S., 
said Madison Square Presbyterian Church in San Antonio has just finished 
reading the study document and the congregation has found it "thought 
provoking," particularly the section that lists ways congregations can 
reach out to families, individuals and groups to build community. 
 
    "The thing that impresses me is that this document just widens people's 
horizons considerably if they'll look at the material," Lytle told the 
Presbyterian News Service. "The Bible study material is excellent. There's 
ample Bible study material for every one of the five sessions in the study 
guide and they're very helpful. It's helping us get folks to think through 
the new relationships that are possible today, thanks to the multicultural 
situation we're in, and what we as a church can do about it that we're not 
doing now." 
 
    But the study document has also drawn criticism. For example, during 
the General Assembly Council (GAC) meeting in September, members of the 
National Ministries Division (NMD)'s Subcommittee on Evangelism criticized 
the document for its depiction of how Christians should live among people 
of other faith traditions, its lack of Christocentricity and its use of the 
"banquet" metaphor, taken from several biblical passages. Consequently, 
subcommittee members agreed that they could not wholeheartedly endorse the 
document and moved to address their concerns further during a pending 
consultation with ACSWP. 
 
    Similar concerns were also aired in small group conversations during 
the "Gathering of Presbyterians II" Sept. 29-30 in Dallas sponsored by the 
Presbyterian Coalition. However, the document "Building Community Among 
Strangers" was not discussed during the plenary sessions of that meeting, 
which focused on strategies to defeat passage of Amendment A, the commonly 
called "fidelity and integrity" amendment. 
 
    The Rev. David L. Bleivik of Anchorage, Alaska, a member of the GAC's 
Subcommittee on Evangelism, said he is concerned over the process the task 
force utilized as it prepared the document, alleging that the task force 
demonstrated low or no consideration of the Reformed tradition and the 
essence of the Christian faith when drafting it. 
 
    "We don't need things that divide us," Bleivik told the Presbyterian 
News Service. "There are some parts of the document I really like, but 
unfortunately ... there are at least two parts that are so contrary to 
Reformed theology that they accomplish nothing good. [The document] says 
things about my Lord which are troublesome." 
 
    That perception of the document apparently is reality for some in the 
denomination, but ACSWP and its Task Force on Building Community Among 
Strangers are following the social policy development process approved by 
the 205th General Assembly (1993) in the policy statement "Why and How the 
Church Makes a Social Policy Witness."  Grassroots feedback from the church 
is an integral and mandatory part of the information-gathering process 
ACSWP follows in drafting its policy statements. 
 
    Meeting in Seattle Oct. 9-12, the task force responded to preliminary 
study document feedback in a statement drafted and approved by the task 
force. Kiger said the task force intends to look at the manner in which 
people live together in the midst of very real differences. 
 
    The statement reads, "The task force reaffirms the confessional stance 
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that the `risen Christ is the savior 
for all [people]. Those joined by him in faith are set right with God and 
commissioned to serve as his reconciling community.' (Confession of 1967 
9.10). `The same Jesus Christ is the judge of all [people]. His judgment 
discloses the ultimate seriousness of life and gives promise of God's final 
victory over the power of sin and death. ...' C67 9.11)." 
 
    But the Rev. Jeffrey G. Bridgeman of Solvang, Calif., chair of the 
NMD's Subcommittee on Evangelism, said he believes the document also raises 
serious concerns about evangelism, although he "strongly supports" its 
focus on determining how Christians can live in a "multicultural, 
pluralistic, multireligious world. 
 
    "The feeling that I got -- and I think it's supported by particular 
statements that they've made in the document -- is [that] for us to get 
along with and build community with people of other faiths we have to give 
up the essentials of our Christian faith, that Christ is the only means of 
salvation," said Bridgeman. 
 
    "I also found that their use of scripture was poor," he said. "This 
blessing [cited in the document] in the name of Krishna, Buddha and Gaia. 
That's heresy. I believe every race, every tribe, every language will be 
present in heaven. But it's going to be every knee bowed in the name of 
Jesus and not in the name of Gaia. Krishna doesn't move me to heaven. I 
reject that. I feel like it's an uneven document. There's some great pieces 
and we want to come alongside and affirm some of these things, but we have 
serious questions about what this does in our Reformed understanding of the 
gospel." 
 
    Responding to the use of the banquet metaphor, the task force statement 
continues, "The task force has pondered the meaning of Jesus' invitations 
to strangers of his own time to dine with him. It has reflected that the 
great ultimate `supper of the Lamb' (Rev. 19.9) is already anticipated in 
the church's present celebration of the Lord's Supper. It has drawn upon 
those traditions of Reformed theology which propose analogies between a 
democratically organized church and a democratic secular society. It has 
seen the `round table' as one model of a public gathering of estranged 
persons, and it has proposed the metaphor of a `civic banquet table' in 
American society -- made up of persons of many religions, ethnicities and 
races -- to which Christians may contribute together with others. The task 
force views this as one of many possible images of a multi-religious 
American civic society which honors religious liberty and peace among 
people of different faiths." 
 
    Kiger said it is also important to remember that the study document is 
just that -- a document for the church at large to read, study and respond 
to accordingly. It is not to be construed as a social witness policy of the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and nothing in the document can be used to 
direct the mission program of the church. 
 
    "Folks in the church just need to realize this is a study document and 
the purpose of the study document is to circulate around the larger church 
some of the thinking that has surfaced in the work that has gone on in 
developing a policy statement," Kiger said. "We are very interested in 
getting people's feedback on all aspects of the study document." 
 
    Kiger said the study document contains a "Response Form" for individual 
and group evaluation, which will help the task force members shape their 
final policy statement. She said task force members are looking for things 
both affirmative and negative regarding the study document. The task force 
will meet in May 1998 to approve the final draft of the document, which 
will then be given to ACSWP. Once ACSWP approves the document, it will be 
reviewed during a synod consultation, then sent to the 211th General 
Assembly (1999) for action. 
 
    The task force is accepting feedback through Dec. 31, 1998. The study 
document is available from Presbyterian Distribution Service as item 
#68-600-97-001. To order, call 1-800-524-2612. 

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