wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Reunion moderator James Costen dies at 71

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Reunion moderator James Costen dies at 71
03190

Reunion moderator James Costen dies at 71

Atlanta pastor and noted educator had 'a deep love for Africa'

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - The Rev. James H. Costen, a prominent Presbyterian educator and
church leader, died on April 11 in an Atlanta, GA, hospital. He was 71.

He died after contracting pneumonia while recovering from surgery.

A post-Easter memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. on April 22 at First
Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

Costen was the moderator of the 194th General Assembly of the United
Presbyterian Church in the USA (UPCUSA), the northern church, in 1982, when
it merged with the southern branch, the Presbyterian Church in the United
States (PCUS) to form the Presbyterian Church (USA).

He was president emeritus of Atlanta's Interdenominational Theological Center
(ITC), a five-seminary ecumenical consortium founded in the late 1950s. He
was a global churchman whose world travels included visits to Liberia,
Cameroon, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Russia and Egypt.

After his retirement from ITC, Costen served as a volunteer development
officer for a school operated by the Presbyterian Church of East Africa
(PCEA) near Nairobi, Kenya.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years and partner in ministry, Melva Costen,
and their three children, James Jr., Craig and Cheryl.

"Part of why I'm grateful to God for Jim Costen is that he represents the
very best of what it means to be a Presbyterian," the Rev. Clifton
Kirkpatrick, the PC(USA)'s stated clerk, said upon hearing of Costen's death.
"He was pivotal in our church's reunion. He had a passion for equipping
pastors in our church, and he had the same passion for doing that same work
in Kenya and throughout East Africa.

"He was a wonderfully warm human being who exuded the gospel and the very
best of the vision of the Presbyterian Church."

Characteristically, Costen died with his suitcase packed. He was scheduled to
leave for East Africa the day before he was admitted to the hospital. He
planned to attend the dedication of a PCEA faculty-staff housing complex at a
Presbyterian college and pastoral institute on the outskirts of Nairobi. The
complex is named for Costen and his wife.

Costen, who worked as a fund-raiser for the institution while serving as a
PC(USA) mission volunteer, had raised $750,000 to build the housing complex
and a library in Kikuyu.

"He had a deep love for Africa, particularly Kenya and the PCEA," said Jon
Chapman, the PC(USA)'s coordinator for Southern and Eastern Africa. "In his
role as president of ITC in Atlanta, he helped train more than 40 PCEA
pastors."

Costen was born in Omaha, NE, on Oct. 5, 1931. He was a graduate of Johnson
C. Smith University in Charlotte, NC, where he was awarded his bachelor's and
divinity degrees. He earned a Masters in Theology in religious education at
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC.

After serving pastorates in Rocky Mount, NC, and Atlanta, GA, Costen stepped
to the forefront of a national movement to prevent the closure of Johnson C.
Smith when it was threatened with closure because of declining enrollment and
financial problems. The seminary survived, but was moved to Atlanta and made
part of ITC. Costen then served as its dean. In 1983, he was elected
president of ITC, a position he held until his retirement in 1998.

Under his leadership, ITC's enrollment grew from 175 students to about 400,
and its annual budget shot up from about $1.7 million to almost $6 million.
The school has benefited in recent years from a series of capital
improvements, including an endowed education center.

Since the late 1980s, Costen's wife, Melva, has taught music and worship at
ITC. She chaired the PC(USA) committee that developed the reunited
denomination's first hymnal.
	
The Costens met as students at Johnson C. Smith. In a 1983 interview with the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Costen spoke of his first impression of his
wife: "She was so smart, so smart. I was so impressed with how well and how
simply she did so many things. None of that has changed."

Costen was a member of the National Conference of Black Churchmen; the
Consulting Committee on Ethnic Minority Ministries of the United Presbyterian
Vocation Agency; the Task Force on Reunion with the Presbyterian Church in
the United States; and the Joint UPCUSA/PCUS Task Force on a More Effective
Placement System.

He served as chairman of the board and chairman of the Development Committee
of the Boggs Academy in Keysville, GA; was a founder and chairman of the
board of the Harbison Development Corporation, a planned HUD Title VII town
near Columbia, SC; and was a member of Leadership Atlanta.

	

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