wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Assembly votes to sustain PC(USA) support of WCC

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Note #7773 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Assembly votes to sustain PC(USA) support of WCC
GA03084

Assembly votes to sustain PC(USA) support of WCC

by Alexa Smith

DENVER, May 28 - Commissioners to the 215th General Assembly voted Wednesday
to continue PC(USA) support of the World Council of Churches (WCC) at
approximately the current levels.

 That was the course the Assembly Committee on Catholicity and Ecumenical
Relations (CCER) had recommended after receiving the report of a review of
the WCC conducted by the denomination's permanent Committee on Ecumenical
Relations (CER).

The General Assembly Council ordered reviews of the major ecumenical
organizations supported financially by the PC(USA) in response to the widely
publicized financial problems of the National Council of Churches of Christ
in the United States of America (NCC) in recent years.

The CER reviewed the work of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC)
last year, examined the WCC this year, and will report on the NCC to next
year's General Assembly in Charlotte.

	The measure approved by the Assembly says the PC(USA) "shall seek to
sustain the level of its support, both financial and in human resources, to
the work of the WCC," and to urge partner churches to step up their support.
The measure also urges PC(USA) officials and others involved in the WCC to
"exercise fiduciary responsibility" and "insist on "work plans and budgeting
that keep expenditures and revenues balanced."

	It instructs the PC(USA) to continue to advocate for "greater
participation of women, youth and indigenous people in the life of the
council," and to document progress made in that regard. It also poses
questions about perceptions that the WCC is overly Euro-centric  and about
the factors that cause some churches to choose not to be part of the WCC. 

	The WCC measure was approved in a plenary session with little
discussion.

	"There was a fair amount of liveliness on the committee itself," said
the Rev. John Bartholomew, who chaired the review committee.

	He said concern arose over two issues: the cost of supporting the WCC
when the PC(USA) is itself in difficult financial straits; and the minimal
participation of indigenous churches in the WCC.

	Bartholomew said that, while the PC(USA) is the largest North
American contributor to the WCC, its giving is small compared to that of some
European churches.  Bartholomew told the commissioners that the WCC is "a
provisional and incomplete institution," but is the "best resource available"
to show the world a collective Christian witness.

	As the report puts its: "If the WCC were to not exist, something very
like it would need to be invented."

	Bartholomew told the General Assembly News that the WCC is working to
bring evangelical and Pentecostal communions into the communion, and is
reaching out to more indigenous and non-Western churches. He said the Council
is also exploring the possibility of a greater role for the Roman Catholic
church.

	In other business, the Assembly authorized PC(USA) participation in
the seventh round of a Reform/Catholic dialogue, which will resume in the
fall. The dialogue is to focus on the meaning and practice of Baptism, the
relationship of Baptism to the Eucharist, and the roles of both sacraments in
shaping churches and drawing them toward fuller communion.

	The Rev. Martha Moore-Keish, of Yale Divinity School, and Richard
Mouw, the president of Fuller Theological Seminary, will be the PC(USA)'s
representatives.

	Finally, the Assembly rejected Overture 03-03, from the Presbytery of
Mississippi, which asked that additional Presbyterian and Reformed bodies be
invited to observe and advise a PC(USA) task force addressing divisions and
theological controversies within the church.

	Krista Kiger, of Milwaukee Presbytery, vice moderator of the CCER,
said it would cost the PC(USA) $76,800 to add the advisers or observers.

	During open committee hearings, a commissioner objected to the
proposed inclusion of representatives of at least one denomination - the
Presbyterian Church in America -because it refuses to ordain women. She said
the task force was appointed with a "carefully-crafted balance," and
disturbing that balance would be a mistake.

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