wfn.org | Moderators greatest task

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

Note #5967 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

GA00022
June 24, 2000

Moderator says his greatest task is to pursue reconciliation

by Bill Lancaster

LONG BEACH, June 24 -- The greatest challenge the Rev. Syngman Rhee has for
his year as moderator of the 212th General Assembly is to lead the church
toward reconciliation, he told a press conference following his election
Saturday night to the highest elected position in the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.).

	The challenge, he said, is “how to find the common ground coming out of the
different beliefs that we all hold dear.  Our church is a very committed
people.  They are committed to their convictions, their beliefs, and that’s
why we, quote, disagree and even get into conflict.  We have in the Reformed
church this prophetic tradition and this priestly tradition, and I think as
moderator we will be able to lift up both those functions and roles because
we would be better off to hold them together. I think this will be the
utmost attention that I will give.  In other words, reconciliation is a very
important task before us.”

	He began the press conference by stating, “I’m profoundly grateful for this
trust placed on me as moderator of our church.  In our church’s 121-year
history the first Asian-American moderator has come.  In all these years [of
his life], our church has nurtured me and trained me and given me all those
wonderful, abundant gifts, and I hope I will be able to respond with a sense
of gratitude for what God has done for me.”

	In response to a reporter’s question about what the church in the U.S. can
learn from the church in Korea, he said, “There are two or three factors
that made the Korean churches grow.  One is that the Korean church has gone
through untold difficulties and persecutions, and they know what it means to
pay the price to be followers of Jesus Christ.  Out of those difficult
situations, our faith has become stronger.

	“The second is that once you experience that power of God through God’s
grace, you want to share that gift with others.  The missionary zeal has
come for the Korean churches.

	“For the American churches, I believe we have to go back to our first love
and experience God’s grace and the power of the Gospel in a fresh way.”

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