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Note #5992 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

GA00046
June 26, 2000

Faiths  linked  by  ecumenical  journey

	by Midge Mack

LONG BEACH, June 26 - What’s it like to travel the path from Quaker clergy
to Presbyterian pastor and presbytery stated clerk?  Ask Rebecca New, from
Southern Kansas who moderates the Assembly Committee on Church Polity.

	Born in King, N.C. and raised as a Southern Baptist, Rebecca quickly forgot
her roots by attending a Quaker high school and going on to the School of
Religion at Earlham College in Richmond, Ind. She went on to receive a 
master of ministry degree at Friends’ University in Wichita  and was
ordained, becoming one of seven on a campus ministry pastoral team.

	Her path blended with Presbyterianism when she contracted with  the
Westwood Presbyterian Church to set up a preschool, and later took on other
educational work there.  Her pastor subtly suggested that more doors might
open for her if she had Presbyterian credentials. The session then sponsored
her through the processes of being an inquirer and a  candidate. Rebecca 
was ordained in the Presbytery of Southern Kansas after accepting a call to
the 70-member Conway Springs Presbyterian Church almost 13 years ago. 
Shortly thereafter she became the presbytery’s stated clerk and handles both
ministries from her home.

	“It was all a gentle, easy, comfortable transition,” she claims. “I didn’t
have to give up any beliefs that I truly cherished. The traditions have much
in common, especially the emphases on social justice and civic
responsibility.”  Along that line Rebecca served on the city council from
‘89 to ‘92. “I learned so much, everything from sewers to health care. Now
I’m on the Health Board and the Hospice Board.

	“I love the rural atmosphere, and it’s a healthy church,” she states. “We
house a Mission Mart, providing food and funds for staples for those in
need, and we sponsor a Fine Arts recital series. Some of these are concerts
on our excellent pipe organ; others feature piano, strings, brass,
vocalists, and in the summer they’re outside in the park. Some of the best
are when we have silent movies with someone accompanying  the melodrama  on
the organ.”

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