wfn.org | 113 Presbytery executives call for a way out of sexuality debates

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Note #6319 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

21-December-2000
00464

113 Presbytery executives call for a way out of sexuality debates that is
not legislative or judicial

One hundred and thirteen presbytery executives and other officers have put
together a statement calling for the denomination to find a "third way" out
of the sexuality debates that have dominated the church's agenda for the
past decade.  The statement was composed during last month's meeting of the
Association of Presbytery Executives last month in San Antonio, but is not
representative of the organization. It was released by Wayne Yost, the
association's secretary/treasurer and executive of the Kiskiminetas
Presbytery.

December 6, 2000

A Call to the Church,

As ministers and elders with particular middle governing body
responsibilities, we come from the full spectrum of the church. With one
voice, we affirm the efforts begun by leaders of the Presbyterian Coalition,
the Covenant Network, and the More Light Presbyterians. They have covenanted
to study Scripture together at one table and to seek the mind of Christ
Jesus for our life in the PC(USA). We believe the Church we love has a
future, but it will not be by determining winners and losers. It will be
determined by seeking a third way. We envision a third way which can come
only from an openness to the Spirit. We will rely on God's grace and refuse
to leave the table until a way is discovered. We believe seeking a third way
is critical and is already present among us.

	Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am
about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
	Isaiah 43:18-19 (NRSV)

	Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they
not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something
and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot
attain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.
	James 4:1-2a (NRSV)

	If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love,
any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy
complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord
and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in
humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not
to your own interests, but to the interest of others. Let the same mind be
in you that was in Christ Jesus . . . .
		Philippians 2:1-5 (NRSV) 

We urge all leaders and members to continue what has begun and to help us
find a third way. That way cannot be dictated by deadlines. The direction we
seek will not come by judicial or legislative actions. It will come only by
seeking the mind of Christ in prayer and discussion together. Such efforts
will help us prepare for the General Assembly meeting in Louisville and take
us far beyond.

We, ourselves, covenant to look for a third way. In each of our presbyteries
and with each other, we will gather at a common table to pray and talk
together We promise not to leave the table before a direction emerges. We
believe that the peace, unity and purity of the church becomes a reality as
we all gather around God's Table in communion as sisters and brothers in
Christ Jesus.

[Signed by]

William H. Jordan, Virstan Choy, James DiEgidio, Barbara Renton, Dian G.
McCall, William A. Hawley, Paul K. Hooker, Jon Shannon Webster, Edward D.
Gehres Jr., Phil Leftwich, James W. Strang, Mary Elva Deloteus Smith, George
G. Wilkes, Richard E. Melin, W. Wilson Bradburn, Tom M. Castlen, Philip J.
Sorensen, W. W. Branch Jr., Betty Meadows, Lee J. Sankey, Lynn Longfield,
Judith P. Kolwicz, Roger P. Richardson, Jack D. Hodges, John A. McLaney,
Robert C. Reynolds, Jane L. Searjeant Watt, Robert Houser, Cheryl Ann
Elfond, Brian A. Tippen, Peter B. Funch, R. Richard Baldwin, Gay D.
Mothershed, Boyd Stockdale, James H. Monroe, Philip W. Barrett, Edie Gause,
Tom Phillips, Cass L. Shaw, M. Anderson Sale, Lorna Kuyk, Richard D.
Brownlee, Kenyon G. Meeks Jr., G. David Lambertson, Sally J. Hinchman, Carl
L. Schlich III, James M. Collie, Ed Albright, Neil W. Brown, Clinton A.
McCoy Jr., Robert J. Rea Jr., Paul T. Reiter, Margaret K. Haney, Samuel M.
Cooper IV, James A. Mays, David W. McKee, Douglas A. Kelly, Philip C. Brown,
Kenneth A. Moe, David E. Meerse, David Carlson, Wayne A. Yost, David H.
Johnson, Wayne Purintun, H. Alan Elmore, H. Carson Rhyne Jr., James R.
Marlett, Bruce Wilson Berry, Richard H. Craft, Don A. Petterson, Hugh B.
Berry, Gregory J. Coulter Jr., Stephen V. Doughty, Samuel L. Edwards,
Richard A. Cooper, Harry D. Olthoff, John R. Goodman, Harold H. Shin, Terry
S. Nelson, William P. Saum, Dana Knapp, John D. Sharick, Richard A. Schempp,
Teri Thomas, Dennis L. Maher, Lucille Rupe Watt, Timothy F. Jones, Barbara
D. Worthington, Arabella Meadows-Rogers, John E. Strausz Clement, John
Rickard, Harold A. Rainey, William R. McSwegin, Marvin L. Groote, W. Harvey
Jenkins Jr., Aaron A. Carland, Gary R. Weaver, Paul J. Masquelier Jr., James
Vande Berg, David Van Dam, James F. Sanders, Samuel E. Roberson, Carolyn B.
Stephens, Sharon J. Johnson, Liza Hendricks, James Foster Reese, Bart L.
Brenner, S. David Stoner, Ralph H. Booth, Barbara Campbell-Davis, James
Choomack Jr., Jill Hudson and Sylvia Washer.

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