wfn.org | Task Force on "Building Community"

[George Conklin <gconklin@wfn.org>]

11-May-1998 
98163 
    Task Force on "Building Community" 
    Completes Major Policy Statement 
    by Julian Shipp 
CHICAGO-Pleased that the majority of study document feedback from 
Presbyterians across the country has been positive, the Task Force on 
"Building Community Among Strangers" of the Advisory Committee on Social 
Witness Policy (ACSWP) capped nearly three years' labor by essentially 
completing its major policy statement here May 1-3. 
    After ACSWP receives the policy statement in July, it will be reviewed 
for comment during a synod consultation. Then (following approval by ACSWP) 
it will be submitted to the 211th General Assembly (1999) for action. 
    The 14-member task force focused on efforts in six major metropolises - 
Cleveland, Atlanta, San Antonio, Newark/New York, San Francisco/Oakland and 
Seattle/Tacoma - to "build human community in the midst of the growing 
diversity of American society." The policy statement also details what the 
denomination can do to address the effects of urban pluralism on the 
nation's communities. 
    Responding to an initial salvo of criticism of the "Building Community" 
study document released last May, ACSWP took steps to ensure that it 
produced a policy statement "faithful to the Christian faith and consistent 
with the Reformed tradition." Last October, ACSWP approved a statement 
acknowledging the "serious criticisms that have been made of some of the 
Biblical/theological images used in the study paper." 
    Critics of "Building Community Among Strangers" charged that the paper 
"sounds universalist," denies the "unique Lordship of Jesus Christ" and "is 
directly opposed to `The Book of Confessions.'" 
    Additionally, noted the Rev. William Lytle of San Antonio, moderator of 
the task force's feedback committee, concern over the "banquet" imagery in 
the document resulted from a misreading and subsequent misunderstanding of 
the text. Lytle said the banquet described in the study document  was meant 
to be interpreted as a community thanksgiving feast lifting up the global 
society of which Presbyterians are a part, not the Eucharist, as some 
respondents mistakenly assumed. 
    "I'd say the majority of [study document] responses were positive," 
Lytle said. "There was a group of approximately 27 [negative] responses. 
And even those that were negative had some good, positive criticisms to 
offer. What was most interesting to us was that most of the folks who 
apparently studied the document in a group form over [five or more weeks] 
were more positive about what they had learned than those who apparently 
were individuals and just took a quick look at it." 
    The Rev. Peter Sulyok, ACSWP coordinator, said the majority of readers 
praised the paper for challenging them "to tolerate and accept strangers' 
traditions" and to "love each other more as equals." 
    "The vast majority of respondents agreed that it is very important to 
work whenever possible in cooperation with ecumenical, interfaith and 
secular partners with whom we share common goals in our efforts to promote 

justice, peace and reconciliation in our nation's cities," he said. 
     ACSWP and its Task Force on "Building Community Among Strangers" 
adhered to 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. 
    Lytle said that more than 300 people from 15 to 20 groups responded by 
the May meeting. These groups included Sunday school classes, sessions, two 
clusters of seminarians and a presbytery committee. He said about 63 
individuals responded, including pastors, elders and laypersons. More 
responses are still being received, and the study document is available for 
study and discussion until Dec. 31, 1998. 
    During its January meeting, ACSWP appointed a subgroup to monitor 
development of the principals and policy recommendations of "Building 
Community Among Strangers." The subgroup included two elected ACSWP 
members, the Rev. Nancy D. Becker of Ogden Dunes, Ind., and Ruy Costa of 
Billerica, Mass., associate director of the Massachusetts Council of 
Churches. 
                   The process of the task force 
    The task force worked May 1-2 editing and revising the policy 
statement, influenced by responses to the study document.  Task force 
members reflected on the feedback report, then divided into three small 
groups to work on the policy statement. 
    While in their subgroups, task force members pursued several aims: 
    * lengthening and deepening the biblical background section of the 
      paper 
    * reorganizing the "analyses," "encouraging stories," "signs of 
      estrangement" and "signs of the Spirit" components of the document to 
      bring consistency to the paper and to use more community-building 
      illustrations 
    * enlarging the number of issues addressed in the paper to include 
      racism, class divisions, issues of sexuality, religious intolerance 
      and conflict, and cultural sensitivity. 
    Task force members also chose not to include references to the "civic 
banquet table," which was the focus of much of the negative response to the 
study document. 
    To ensure that future ACSWP task forces "submit a paper true to our 
convictions and our experiences," task force member the Rev. Donald W. 
Shriver of New York recommended that ACSWP appoint task force members 
rather than consultants to compose its study documents. 
    While well written, Shriver said, the "Building Community Among 
Strangers" study document was edited by a consultant to the task force. As 
a result, he said, it could be argued that the document did not adequately 
reflect what task force members desired it to. 
    Nonetheless, Shriver said, he was glad the study document generated 
reaction and reminded task force members that not all of the document was 
viewed as flawed. He added that "criticism and differences of opinion" are 
inevitable whenever theological and ideological concepts are expressed. 

    "We have to be patient and not thrown off balance in the midst of these 
controversies," Shriver said. 

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