wfn.org | Church may define partnership to avoid cultural imperialism

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

Note #5989 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

GA00043
June 26, 2000

Church may define partnership to avoid cultural imperialism
by Edmund Doogue
LONG BEACH, June 26–The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is likely to take
action this week to redefine its mission work at home and abroad as a
partnership free of all forms of cultural imperialism.

	Mission is one of the most controversial international issues facing
churches today. In the 20th century mainstream churches threw out the notion
that missionaries from Western countries should set sail for Africa, Asia,
and Latin America to bring Christ and European languages and culture to the
"heathen.”  For a long time the PC (USA) has seen mission as a "partnership"
with churches and agencies abroad,  involving not simply the Christian faith
but a wide range of social, educational and aid programs.

	The Committee on Global Mission and International Issues, meeting on the
3rd day of the church’s 212th General Assembly, approved a one-page
document,  Presbyterians Do Mission in Partnership, which, after two years
of discussion and fine-tuning, will spell out to the church’s 11,400
congregations the principles of partnership at home and abroad.

	Asked by the Assembly news service after the debate why such a document was
necessary, Will Browne, associate director of the Worldwide Ministries
Division, said: "We have congregations functioning in old patterns of
mission, making unilateral decisions and controlling the money.”
 
	 Asked how many congregations were operating in this way, Browne, whose
division has recommended the adoption of an official policy statement on
mission in partnership, said, "It’s more prevalent than we would like."

	Earlier Browne told the committee that "we need a much better definition of
mission." The church’s partners were often, he said, "overwhelmed" by the
"multiplicity of our voices" and by the resources that the church offered.
Changes in travel and technology also meant that presbyteries were more
deeply involved in partnerships than before, and this too was often
overwhelming for the partners.

	"A common basis is needed," Browne told the committee. This would enable
all parties in a partnership to hold each other accountable.

	
	The statement on partnership approved today by the committee will be
considered by the Assembly later this week. If approved, it will then be
discussed with congregations and synods in the U.S. and with partners
abroad, before being brought back to the Assembly in 2002 for final
approval.

	The draft statement stresses that "as Presbyterians we do mission in
partnership.”

	It also states that the goal must be "to answer God’s call in mission, not
serve our own needs by ‘doing good’," and that the basis of partnership is
"mutual respect, not paternalism."

	Another important principle outlined in the draft document is that
partnership does not "exert undue pressure [on partners] to change or
conform."

	"Theologically and biblically, partnership is based upon the fundamental
belief that God’s desire for the world is greater than any one church can
possible comprehend or envision," the draft statement says.

	The committee’s 60 members approved the document unanimously. A proposal by
one Assembly commissioner  to add a line about financial accounting for
partnerships was defeated after another commissioner said this could suggest
imposing American standards on overseas partners, but PC(USA) staff told the
committee that procedures for evaluation and checking were in place.

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