wfn.org | WMD committee lends ear to overseas partners

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Note #7040 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

01-February-2002
02051

WMD committee lends ear to overseas partners

Group backs $40 million campaign to help fund missionaries

by John Filiatreau

LOUISVILLE - The Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD) committee of the General Assembly Council (GAC) carved out time during its meeting this week for a "listening exercise" on Dynamics in the World and the Global Church. 

A panel of WMD's area coordinators gave committee members a nearly day-long briefing on challenges facing the church in a rapidly changing world, largely voicing the opinions and concerns of PC(USA) partner churches overseas. Moderator Will Browne, WMD's associate director for ecumenical partnership, said the participants' message was a "synthesis of a thousand voices" and was not intended as an expression of "the PC(USA)'s view" of the world and the body of Christ. 

The event and the research that preceded it were one element of WMD's continuing exercise in exploring the full meaning of "partnership in mission."

Browne said the panel members, whom he described as "antennae that listen to the world for us," are "not just staff, but are also mission personnel." 
They included Victor Makari, coordinator for the Middle East, Doug Welch, coordinator for Central and West Africa, Duncan Hanson, coordinator for Europe, Julia Ann Moffett, coordinator for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean, Insik Kim, coordinator for East Asia and the Pacific, Les Sauer, coordinator for South and Southeast Asia, and Maria Arroyo, coordinator for South America.

The challenges they spoke about included the negative effects of globalization, including massive third-world debt, a worldwide exodus of unemployed people from rural areas to cities, and the virtual elimination of subsistence farming as a viable way of life; the emergence of the United States as the world's only superpower (and the fact that the PC(USA) is widely identified with the U.S. government and U.S. culture); a "dangerous disregard" for the environment; the effects of AIDS and the other diseases of poverty; ever-worsening interfaith tensions; and the global spread of religious extremism.

In official business on Feb. 1, the GAC at the behest of its WMD committee:

* Expressed "gratitude" for a document on Christian-Jewish relations, Dabru Emet, published recently by Jewish scholars associated with the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore. The WMD committee observed that the paper will be "easily understandable" to Presbyterians familiar with the 1987 PC(USA) paper, A Theological Understanding of the Relationship Between the Christians and Jews. It commended both documents to Presbyterians involved in dialogue with Jews, commenting that the rights of Palestinians must be among the issues discussed in Christian-Jewish conversations.

* Approved a "pilot project" in Interfaith Listening, to be co-sponsored with the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program in the Congregational Ministries Division. This program will arrange meetings of PC(USA) congregations and middle governing bodies with teams composed of representatives of WMD's overseas partners and Muslims with whom those partners are in dialogue. The visits are to be supported with prayer and study resources touching upon the terrorist attacks of last Sept. 11, and by a new Extra Commitment Opportunity (ECO) fund.

* Urged the 2002 General Assembly (GA) to adopt 16 "Guiding Principles for Decisions Concerning Religious Freedom Around the World." WMD would be charged with promulgating the document, mainly by posting it on the PC(USA) Web site.

* Similarly, recommended that the Assembly commend a World Council of Churches (WCC) document issued in 2000, Striving Together in Dialogue: A Muslim-Christian Call for Reflection and Action to the church. The recommendation urges all Presbyterian entities be encouraged to engage Muslims in their home communities in dialogue, "building bridges of understanding and trust." The recommendation also urges "solidarity with people of all ethnic and religious traditions who face discrimination in response to world events and the perceived interests of the U.S."

* Concurred with joint WMD/Mission Support Services  recommendation to make organizational changes to clear the way for the return of more than 50 PC(USA)-owned properties in Pakistan that were nationalized by the government in 1972. One of the PC(USA) properties to be returned is Forman Christian College in Lahore, the alma mater of Pakistani President Pervez Musharaf and his top aide, Tariq Aziz. WMD contractors are studying the institution's physical plant, the expense of keeping the college open, various management options, and fund-raising possibilities in Pakistan and elsewhere. The transfer may come as soon as April 1.

In other matters, the WMD committee:

* Approved a pilot program, to be co-sponsored with a group called International Ministry Exchange, that will arrange five short-term international clergy/congregation exchanges in 2002, including one involving a PC(USA) minister and congregation.

* Elected Winifred Drape as the committee's next chair, and Ray Anglin as vice-chair. They will take office after this year's GA.

The WMD committee was pleased and relieved to hear from GAC Executive Director John Detterick that the council's leadership team has concluded that "the time is right" to approve and implement the Mission Initiative (MI), a campaign to raise $40 million by 2007 to support international missions and church growth, especially racial-ethnic growth. The GAC will include $1 million for the effort in its tight-as-a-drum 2003 budget.

Detterick said his own attitude about the proposed campaign has evolved over the past several months "from lukewarm to warm to ice-cold to fiery hot," his current state of mind regarding the MI. 

He pointed out that a consulting firm hired to advise GAC on the initiative said it could be a success under certain conditions, including: adequate staffing and budget; the identification of 1,000 "major gift prospects" (those who might contribute $100,000 or more), and a five-year commitment of "significant" time and energy from key leaders of the GAC - including an investment of as much as 30 percent of his own time. He said the added responsibility will require "changing some habits that I'm reluctant to change," as an alternative to increasing his workload to 130 percent. 

Detterick said the MI will require the same kind of commitment from two other already very busy people: the Rev. Marian McClure, director of WMD, and the Rev. Curtis Kearns, McClure's counterpart in the Congregational Ministries Division (CMD). 

He said the church cannot afford to just "passively sit back and see how much money comes in," because "much of what we're doing now isn't going to be funded fully in the future unless we find (additional) funds." He added, "I have got some energy for this process." 

Committee member Marj Carpenter, of Big Spring, TX, always a strong advocate of the church's missions, agreed with Detterick that the campaign is essential. "If we lose taking the gospel to all of the world, we almost lose the church," she said.

Detterick speculated that the campaign may well improve morale in the church by encouraging members and leaders to "rise above the fights we're having" and join together in a common purpose. He said the effort could help Presbyterians to "build and rebuild our sense of community."

Cliff Sherrod, a committee member from Midland, TX, said he was put off by "the telethon aspect" of the campaign and had doubts about its timing - although he was reassured to learn that the feasibility study was conducted after the events of Sept. 11. "I've still got a road to travel on this. ... My gut feeling is one of caution," he told Detterick.

"We have to do this," responded committee member Cynthia Walton, of upstate New York, "so let's get on with it. We can't retreat from this challenge ... so let's try to be enthusiastic about it."
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