wfn.org | Same difference: Irish clerk says churches on opposite sides of Atlantic are peas in a pod

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

Note #7019 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

17-January-2002
02029

Same difference

Irish clerk says churches on opposite sides of Atlantic are peas in a pod

by John Filiatreau

LOUISVILLE - The newly elected leader of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) said during a recent get-acquainted visit with officials of the Presbyterian Church (USA) that 30 years of political and religious violence in his homeland - what the Irish drolly call "the troubles" - has given his denomination of 300,000 members a distinct identity: 

"We are the church that has stayed together."
It's a distinction to which the PC(USA) fervently aspires.

The Rev. Donald Watts, the incoming stated clerk of the PCI, said he was struck during his whirlwind visit by the similarities between the challenges his church is facing and those with which the much larger PC(USA) has struggled in recent years.

"Virtually all the issues that I would identify as important to our church, I've heard somebody in the last two days mention as important to the PC(USA)," he said, adding: "I think maybe you're five years or so ahead of us on most issues."
Among the common challenges Watts mentioned:

* Getting beyond old, chronic disagreements to focus on deciding "how to be the church in a new and changing society."

"The political context has moved on," Watts said. "The society in which we are ministering has moved on. The season of those difficulties is past. ... So I think we have to look at the new issues rather than get all tied up in the old ones."

* Trying to reverse a long decline in membership.

"In terms of Britain, we probably haven't declined as quickly as some other churches, but we are declining, and that is one of the big issues we have to face," the Irish clerk said. "Particularly we're declining in the 15-to-35-year-old age group, which really is missing in worship. So one of the big challenges we have is how to reclaim that ground."
	
* Finding a balance between contemporary and traditional styles of worship.

"We are trying to figure out how we can introduce more contemporary worship, which has meaning particularly for that (15-to-35) age group and for people who have no church background ... in ways that would not be unhelpful for those who (prefer) a traditional form of worship."

* Finding a balance between traditional evangelism and social witness.

"People (in the PCI) would see themselves as very strongly evangelistic ... in a very traditional way," Watts said. "But there is in more recent times - and I'm very glad to see it - a recognition that evangelism also has to change, just as worship has to change." He said the Irish church has embraced a "much more adventurous style of evangelism" in recent years and has undertaken a study of "how evangelism needs to take place in Ireland."

* Making decisions and moving forward without creating harmful dissension.

Twice in the past 12 years, Watts said, the PCI has convened "special" assemblies to discuss the church's future and its role in society. One of the ways in which these assemblies have been special, he said, is that they have involved no voting, reached no conclusions and made no decisions. Thus they permitted a thoughtful exchange of views on important and potentially divisive issues while avoiding the polarizing effect of win-or-lose votes. 
	
* Learning to do its work in an increasingly diverse society.

"Ireland is a very homogenous society, in the sense that there have not been a lot of ethnic groups - until very recently," Watts said. "Particularly in the South (the Republic of Ireland), the economy has forged ahead very strongly, and in the past five or 10 years a lot of people have come in to work. There have been active recruiting drives to bring them in to work, particularly in certain skills. And there are some, particularly those from Sudan and from parts of Southeast Asia, who have a strong Presbyterian background."

Watts said these immigrant groups have posed new challenges to the PCI, but also "have given new life to some of our congregations that were small and struggling" and have "played a very significant role in rebuilding the life and liveliness of the church."

He observed that most of the problems facing Presbyterians in both countries have to do with "the same underlying question, How can we be diverse and united at the same time?"

* How the church can best relate to Christians of other denominations and people of other faith traditions.
	
"We want to make sure  that we are not an isolated church, but a church that is in the world," Watts said. "We are interested in where our Reformed tradition is going. We've been part of that tradition for a long time. ...

"We are a conservative church, so in interfaith matters we would always have a very clear view of the supremacy of Jesus Christ, and the uniqueness of Jesus Christ. I don't think that would be challenged at all in our church."

In relations with the Roman Catholic Church, Watts said, "the big issue still, what has always been an issue, is to what extent we should worship together - and I suppose the majority in our church would probably say that they are uncomfortable with joint worship - but we certainly would in many cases be prepared to be involved with joint social action."

* Coming together behind a fresh new vision for mission.

"I think it's important that the church get together and say, 'We are a mission church, a mission-minded church, and these are our priorities for doing mission,'" Watts said. "My belief is that when we move forward in mission and are caring for the people in the world, some of the theological distractions ... become less troubling."

He said the church in Ireland "wants to make sure that we establish useful and helpful links, both ways, with churches like the PC(USA) and our other Presbyterian colleagues in North America, and with Reformed churches in Europe," and forge "stronger connections" in areas of the world where it is engaged in mission.

The PCI has historic mission ties to nations in southern Asia (particularly India, a PCI mission field since 1840), Africa (Malawi, Kenya, Zambia) and the New World (Jamaica, Brazil), as well as in Spain and France. 	

Watts said he and other leaders of his church are now "very deliberately wanting to reach out beyond their own denomination to investigate other ways of doing ministry" and opportunities to "work in partnership with other groups" in doing mission. 

Watts, who was accompanied for most of his visit by the Rev. Sam Hutchinson, the man he is succeeding as clerk of the PCI, seemed a bit frazzled after two days on a chock-a-block schedule and two nights amid the Steamboat Gothic decor of the riverfront Galt House. But he seemed quite serene as he discussed the prospects of his church.

"I've never doubted that God would lead us as a community through the troubles to something better than we had before," he told the Presbyterian News Service, "and I think that thing is beginning to take shape. ...

"I suppose you can refer to it as a wilderness experience. And I think as the children of Israel are coming out of that wilderness experience, they have to face some issues as to how they settle down, and what form their society is going to take. I think it'll be a much more inclusive society, a society with much more diversity ... where we can have differences of opinion, but be held together in the love of Christ."

Watts envisioned a special role his church might play: "I think we have something to offer to the world that is unique, the experience of the last 30 years. ... So when there are conflicts in other places, like the Middle East, Indonesia, India-Pakistan ... those who have lived through the Irish experience will have an ability to listen and understand.

"We've learned from our mistakes," he added, "and the greatest lesson we have learned is the lesson of listening: We recognize that we have to listen, and listen, and listen again, before we can begin to understand how people are feeling and where they are coming from."

Asked about a volatile issue that has plagued the PC(USA) for a quarter-century - the level of involvement of gays and lesbians in the life of the church - Watts seemed delighted to report: "We simply haven't dealt with it yet." 
He said his overarching hope for the PCI is that it "will become a church that is open to the spirit leading us in a different direction."
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