wfn.org | Presbyterian Churches Called to Be "Mission Outposts"

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19-February-1999 
99068 
 
    Presbyterian Churches Called to Be "Mission Outposts" 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The General Assembly Council has approved and forwarded 
to the upcoming General Assembly a Church Growth Strategy Team (CGST) 
report that is long on exhortation but short on specific strategies for 
reversing the membership decline in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 
 
    In a three-page report, the seven-member team conceded that "no single 
formula [for growth] will work for all congregations and all settings," and 
challenged congregations and church leaders to adapt their ministry and 
mission to a rapidly changing world. 
 
    In presenting the CGST report to the GAC during its Feb. 9-13 meeting 
here, chair Jinny Miller of Mishawaka, Ind., said: "It's a changing world, 
and the strategy team has been witnessing much of it! New ministries are 
appearing every day before our very eyes." 
 
    The team, which has traveled around the country for about 18 months 
gathering data on successful outreach programs, asked that a successor team 
be created to monitor implementation of its recommendations. 
 
    Among the recommendations: to "declare the U.S.A. to be a mission field 
and the congregations as the basis for local mission"; to urge 
congregations to review plans for community outreach; to challenge each 
session to do "two new things" in response to change in its community; and 
to have sessions make increasing worship attendance and strengthening 
Christian education programs their "statistical priorities." 
 
    Every Presbyterian congregation, the report says, "is called to be a 
mission outpost; to carry out the Great Commission to make disciples within 
its neighborhood ... and to prayerfully design a mission plan to be in 
ministry with those who are hurting, in need, and without Christ." 
 
    Strategy team member Diane Wheeler said the denomination can't tell any 
church how to respond. "What we're asking our congregations to do," she 
said, "is to move away from `We've always done it this way' to creative new 
responses to community needs." 
 
    Presbyteries also have a key role, the report stated: "While the 
primary building block of mission . . . is the local congregation, the 
presbytery is the key link in providing congregations with the support, 
resources, networking and training necessary to accomplish their vision." 
 
    Although it recognized that reversing the decades-long membership 
decline in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will not be easy, the CGST 
sounded an optimistic note. "We join God's call to do a new thing in our 
denomination and its congregations. We especially rejoice in the 
opportunity for multi-ethnic and multi-cultural growth," it stated. 
"Therefore, we are more excited than fearful about the future of our 
beloved Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)." 
 
    Reinforcing its belief that renewal and growth will happen primarily in 
congregations, the CGST recommended against a national special offering for 
church growth; a new division on evangelism and church development at the 
General Assembly level; and a declaration of a "Decade of Evangelism" in 
the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 

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