wfn.org | Former moderator defines characteristics of "family"

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Note #6620 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

11-June-2001
GA01062

Former moderator defines characteristics of "family"

by Nancy D. Borst

LOUISVILLE, June 11 - Defining "family" was the difficult task undertaken by
a former Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) moderator who spoke to an audience of
65 at the annual Presbyterian Mariners' General Assembly luncheon Monday at
Louisville's Hyatt Regency Hotel.

Freda Gardner, moderator of the 211th General Assembly (1999), acknowledged
there are a plethora of definitions for this basic concept, including
something as simple as "a place where you go and they have to take you in."
Mariners supplied a receptive audience, as a family ministry of the PC(USA)
whose mission is to provide an extended community of care and spiritual
nurture in support of families and those engaged in family ministry.

At one point, Gardner invited participants to take a moment around their
tables and try to come up with their own characteristics necessary to
comprise "family." She then set forth what she sees as some of the basic
requirements.
Gardner, a single adult, said she has a family but does not consider herself
a family. Family is plural, she said, and though a blood relationship used
to be a prerequisite, a family in today's society could be a group of people
who share a commitment or come together out of economic necessity.

Families must change but they need a vision to shape those changes, she
said. Important characteristics for healthy families include hospitality,
compassion, justice and reconciliation.

"There is no common starting place with ministry to families," she said. "No
one formula will serve all families. We can be effective, faithful and good
in different ways. God is not looking for perfect families. God is looking
for faithful families."

Presbyterian Mariners was founded nearly 75 years ago in California. It is a
congregation-based ministry for married couples, families and single adults.
Mariners is a covenant partner with the Congregational Ministries Division
of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

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