wfn.org | Group Is Busily Laying Groundwork for `Year of the Child'

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

24-August-1999 
99277 
 
    Group Is Busily Laying Groundwork for `Year of the Child' 
 
    Mission Emphasis Begins at Close of 2000 General Assembly 
 
    by John Filiatreau 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The planning committee for the Year of the Child (YOC) 
envisions a year-long, church-wide effort to celebrate the special gifts of 
children and young people and to ameliorate the "horrendous realities" 
affecting many of them in this nation and around the world. 
 
    The 15-member group met here Aug. 19-21 with staff representatives of 
the church's three ministry divisions - Congregational Ministries, National 
Ministries and Worldwide Ministries - to discuss plans for the year, during 
which each entity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will be expected to 
create "one ongoing ministry or program with or on behalf of children." 
 
    The 209th General Assembly passed an overture designating the period 
from the end of the 212th General Assembly, in Long Beach, Calif., on July 
1, 2000, to the start of the 213th GA in Louisville, on June 16, 2001, as a 
time for the PC(USA) to emphasize "the special gifts and needs of children 
and youth, birth to 18, within the church, beyond the church, and 
throughout the world." The GAC and its divisions were directed to work with 
the Presbyterian Child Advocacy Network (PCAN) in organizing YOC events.. 
 
    The event's theme is "Children: God's Gift to the World; Christ's Call 
to the Church." The YOC logo, designed by artist Lynn Miller, incorporates 
images of a star, representing the star of Bethlehem, and of a cavorting 
child supported by the church. 
 
    The committee pointed out some of the horrors facing children here and 
abroad: 
 
      in the United States, one of every four children is born into poverty 
      11 million children and youth lack health insurance 
      an average of 13 children a day are killed by firearms 
      huge numbers of children face neglect, abuse and homelessness. 
 
    Worldwide, 174 million children under the age of five are malnourished, 
2.4 million die every year from vaccine-preventable illnesses, and tens of 
millions are exploited sexually or through child labor. 
 
    In its literature, the committee said it wants the PC(USA) to be 
"united in a mission shaped by the responsibility we take for children in 
the sacrament of Baptism, and the welcome extended through the sacrament of 
the Lord's Supper." The panel's chairman, the Rev. Kirby Lawrence Hill, of 
Lithonia, Ga., said YOC activities will all be "very well grounded in 
sacramental theology." 
 
    The group intends to suggest two models of involvement to Presbyterian 
congregations. In the first, called "Broadening Our Embrace," congregations 
would be encouraged to "find ways to embrace children and youth within our 
congregation, in our communities, in our nation, and in our world." The YOC 
committee will make available to congregations a range of programs, models 
and ideas to help them maintain this "mission focus." 
 
    The second model, "for congregations which are ready for a deeper 
commitment," is called "Sanctuary for Children." A participating 
congregation would declare itself "a safe haven for childhood, in the name 
of the most significant child in history." A sanctuary church would focus 
on the covenantal vows of baptism; assess its life and witness as they 
relate specifically to children; take on roles of ministry and advocacy on 
behalf of children and young people; witness, "through budget and voice," 
for children; and "make strong efforts to become a place where children are 
welcomed and nurtured and their gifts are celebrated." 
 
    The committee is developing resources to guide congregations through 
the process. 
 
    The Rev. Douglas Oldenburg, moderator of the 210th General Assembly, 
made child welfare a major theme of his moderatorial year, and issued a 
personal challenge to "every single congregation to begin one new, ongoing 
initiative on behalf of children and youth in crisis."  Committee members 
say Oldenburg's successor as moderator, the Rev. Freda Gardner, has vowed 
to maintain that focus on the gifts and needs of children. 
 
    The committee, whose mandate came without any budget allocation, 
doesn't intend to create any new entities within the PC(USA). Instead, it 
is seeking the cooperation and involvement of already established 
committees, staff members, publications and governing bodies, and hopes to 
add YOC components to scheduled conferences and other events. 
 
    Hill said the committee's challenge is to motivate Presbyterian leaders 
and members to take on "ownership" of the YOC program. "If we can't sell 
the idea of helping children," he said, "then we're in trouble as a 
denomination." 
 
    "If each congregation changed the life of just one child because of 
YOC, then I think it would be a success," said Sally Baker, a committee 
member from Buckhorn, Ky. 
 
    To support Year of the Child programs, designate contributions to Extra 
Commitment Offering (ECO) account #048104. 

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