wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Mission is the glue, moderator says

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Note #8119 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Mission is the glue, moderator says
04079
February 13, 2004

Mission is the glue, moderator says

Andrews says Presbyterians worldwide are doing God's work

by Jerry L. Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - Although it was entertaining enough as a travelogue, the message
behind Moderator Susan Andrews' report to the General Assembly Council (GAC)
here Thursday was profound:

"Mission is what holds us together, and mission is what will keep us
together."

Recounting her travels around the Presbyterian Church (USA) and to mission
fields in Africa and Latin America, Andrews praised the denomination's
mission enterprise in more than 80 countries as "an incredible vision of how
we're called to be evangelists and prophets ... living out the Biblical
mandate that 'justice roll like a mighty river and righteousness like an
ever-flowing stream.'"

Vice-moderator Charles Easley echoed Andrews, saying that he has learned
during his trips around the church and to Africa that "Presbyterians
everywhere love this church."

Andrews didn't duck the disputes that threaten to divide the PC(USA). She
said she has "fielded tough questions from our more conservative brothers and
sisters, and heard anger, sorrow and frustration of gays and lesbians as they
continue to feel excluded from our church."

But she said Presbyterians are also trying to "build partnerships across
theological divides around mission." She cited two divergent congregations in
Cincinnati Presbytery that have embarked on "a year of exchange" involving
worship, mission and fellowship.

Presbyterians in the United States and abroad are "hopeful and joyful because
of the Good News of Jesus Christ they've received," Andrews said. Even in
desperately troubled Colombia, she said, she marveled at the joy she felt
when she attended a party with Presbyterians there and was told, "We refuse
death to have the last word in our church and country - we are a resurrection
people!"

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