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Note #7704 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

In the glow of Christs love
GA03011

In the glow of Christs love

Commissioners urged to surmount issues that divide us

by Nancy D. Borst

DENVER, May 23  Commissioners to the 215th General Assembly were challenged
Saturday to move beyond being a church known by our fights.

	During the Assemblys opening plenary session, John Detterick,
executive director of the General Assembly, called on the 548 commissioners
to harken to the churchs highest call  to do their work within the
framework of Christs love.

	All else can be done in the glow of that love, said Detterick, one
of several denomination leaders who spoke during the marathon, 3-1/2-hour
session.

	Detterick shared the vision he set forth during the most recent
meeting of the GAC, citing four challenges he hopes the church will undertake
as it tries to answer the question, Where is God leading us? They are:
church growth, pastoral leadership, spiritual formation, and evangelism
within a framework of pursuit of justice.

	I offer them to you as a framework for showing people we can be
about the love of Jesus Christ and the love of one another, Detterick said.
Were too often known by our fights.

	Detterick mentioned the two-decade-long downward trend in membership
in the Presbyterian Church (USA), a trend confirmed most recently in a report
issued Saturday by the Office of the General Assembly (OGA). Membership in
2002 was a little more than 2.45 million, down by 41,000 from the previous
year.

	Detterick reminded the commissioners that, although there are 11,097
PC(USA) congregations, We are one church, a family of God in ministry
together.

	He said he hopes this years Assembly wont spend all its energy and
abundant resources on issues that divide us.

	The PC(USA) stated clerk, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, reminded the
commissioners that this Assembly marks the 20th anniversary of the reunion of
the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (the northern
church) and the Presbyterian Church in the United States (the southern
church) in Atlanta in 1983. The event was remembered with a brief news
videotape of the newly reunited Presbyterians joyous procession on Atlantas
streets.

	Kirkpatrick said the dream of that Assembly was a reconciling one 
one that he considers still unrealized.

	We as Presbyterian people expend huge emotional energy around every
issue you can think of, he said, urging the commissioners to embrace a
generous orthodoxy and be open to Jesus and to the new things the Holy
Spirit may be doing in our midst.

	We have a long way to go, Kirkpatrick said, but there is no better
place to reclaim that vision than this General Assembly.

	The watchword for the opening session was visual. Nearly every
presentation featured a video segment or projected still images on large
screens at the front of the plenary hall, enabling the commissioners to link
faces with the familiar names of church leaders.

	Presentations celebrated the churchs deep roots in U.S. history,
highlighted the current mission initiative, Joining Hearts and Hands, and
honored presbyteries for mission giving.

	The following presbyteries were recognized as the top five in total
giving for PC(USA) mission: Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburgh, National
Capital and Cascades. The top five in mission giving per member were Atlanta,
Cimarron, Donegal, Los Ranchos and Southeastern Illinois.

	Saturday afternoons session also included the perfunctory work of
officially commencing the 215th Assembly.

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