wfn.org | Report from February 18 General Assembly Council Meeting

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

18-February-2000 
00079 
 
    Report from February 18 General Assembly Council Meeting 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In a General Assembly Council (GAC) report including a 
series of upcoming meetings intended to bolster ties between the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and Presbyterian partners in Congo and Sudan, 
as well as, the China Christian Council, the Worldwide Ministries Division 
lifted out the churches and people of Indonesia as in need of solidarity 
and prayer now. 
 
    "Partnership means standing with people wherever they are ... [and that 
includes] the crisis in Indonesia," said Peter Pizor, outgoing chair of WMD 
as he delivered the division's report to the full General Assembly Council 
(GAC). 
 
    In the early weeks of this year, according to the statement developed 
by the division, communal violence between Christians and Muslims has been 
increasing, nearly destroying the port city of Ambon and devastating the 
Molucca Islands: where shops, home and churches have been burned and 
hundreds of civilians, Christian and Muslim, have been killed.  The 
violence, the report says, only confirms the fears of Christians that 
Muslims intend to drive them out of the Moluccas. 
 
    The Molucca Islands - among the 2,000 islands that comprise Indonesia - 
were once known as the Spice Islands. 
 
    The report came to the council as an emergency statement. 
 
    In the midst of Pizor's remarks, the Rev. Cliff Kirkpatrick, the 
denomination's stated clerk, took the microphone and told the GAC that 
Kirkpatrick that the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) is marking 
Sunday, Feb. 20, as day of prayer and fasting for the people of Halmehera, 
one of the Molucca Islands where the PCI has longtime mission ties.  The 
Rev. Sam Hutchinson, the PCI's stated clerk, has asked that the PC(USA) 
contemplate similar action. 
 
    "I believe this action is important," said Kirkpatrick, referring to 
the report.  "If the Christians in Indonesia [ever] need[ed] us and the 
world church, it's now." 
 
    Kirkpatrick told the Presbyterian News Service that the World Alliance 
of Reformed Churches (WARC) in Geneva is monitoring the situation as well. 
 
    The report asks for several responses from the PC(USA), including: 
 
    * appeal to the president of the Republic of Indonesia, His Excellency 
Abdurrahman Wahid, and his cabinet use their authority to intervene to 
defuse the tension and restore peace in the Moluccas; 
 
    * urge the Indonesian government - with the help of international aid - 
to launch a program of assistance to resettle and rehabilitate those who 
have been displaced back into their home communities; 
 
    * urge members of the PC(USA) to pray for the people and leaders of 
Indonesia and to commit themselves to help in humanitarian relief; and 
 
    * call upon the president of the United States to communicate the 
concern here to the Indonesian authorities and to offer humanitarian 
assistance. 
 
    In terms of other partnerships, the China Christian Council will meet 
with PC(USA) representatives to update the denomination's China policy and 
program March 19-22 in Louisville. 
 
    Further, the New Sudan Council of Churches will continue its peace 
initiative in southern Sudan next month, supported by PC(USA) mission 
personnel.  The regular five-year consultation between the Presbyterian 
Community of Congo, the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa and the PC(USA) 
will be under way in Louisville, Sept. 10-14. 

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