wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] WMD chief touts 'ethos of friendship'

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8927 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05508
Sept. 23, 2005

WMD chief touts 'ethos of friendship'

by Alexa Smith

SACRAMENTO, CA - Alluding to tough choices and change ahead, the Rev. Marian
McClure urged the Worldwide Ministries Division Committee (WMDC) on Thursday
to use the ethos of "unlikely, improbable friendship" as a guiding principle
to help steer the way.

	McClure, the WMD director, said the denomination hasn't seen such
sweeping changes since the northern and southern streams of the church
reunited in 1983 to form the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its mission
structures.

	She was referring to committee work under way to revamp the
mission-funding system and realign the work of the General Assembly Council,
as well as impending budget cuts that will likely alter church programming
and staffing.

	McClure credited a mission partner's simple request to "send us
friends," with shaping her thinking.

	"The reason the church exists is forming surprising, improbable
friendships ... (based upon) what God has done for humankind in this
surprising, improbable (friendship) with Jesus," she said. 

	McClure said that the church's role is always to break down barriers
and end divisions, often in unexpected ways that evolve from transformational
friendships.

	She cited:

	the catastrophe of Hurricane Katrina, which made the United States
the recipient of mission;

	churches in South Korea sending food to the people of North Korea,
followed by the government's recent signing of a nuclear non-proliferation
treaty;

	the PC(USA)'s decision to study details of economic investment and
development in Gaza just before the Israeli pullback;

	the dispersal of national grants within presbyteries that says, "Your
needs are the priorities of the whole church" - an often-unremarked
phenomenon in the PC(USA); and,

	WMD's decision to mail the report of the Task Force on the Peace,
Unity and Purity of the Church to the denomination's international partners,
many of whom are baffled by the denomination's continual infighting over the
ordination of homosexuals - and having rich conversations with overseas
church officials in the immediate aftermath.

	"This is going to be stressful year. There is much change in the air
... There are new possibilities and the promise of grief," McClure said.

	Using the Biblical metaphor of a reshaped clay pot, she said some
clay vessels for mission are already lovely, with no need for reworking - but
may become mere shards, despite their beauty.

	If the ethos of "surprising, unlikely, improbable friendships" steers
decision-making, she said, this year may be remembered as a proud one in
which Presbyterians become "the kind of friend we have in Jesus."

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