wfn.org | Committee on church growth discusses role of union churches, increasing diversity

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Committee on church growth discusses role of union churches, increasing 
diversity

> July 5, 2010

> GA219 Communication Center

> by Meg Flannagan

> MINNEAPOLIS

"Lucy in the sky with diamonds" echoed down the hall from Committee 15 early Monday morning at the 219th General Assembly (2010). Presbyterians passing by peaked into the room and a few said, 
?I wish I was in that group!? The 55 members gathered in the room to consider overtures and reports regarding church growth, Christian education and the Presbyterian Investment & Loan Program, Inc.

From their initial meeting, they committed to

?traveling light.? The committee?s vice moderator, the Rev. Tom Letts, said 
their subject matter and brief agenda allowed them to base their meetings on 
spirituality and relationships, letting business be the fruit of the former.

Philip Lotspeich, coordinator of Church Growth Ministries for the General 
Assembly Mission Council (GAMC), said, ?Sessions aren?t necessarily fulfilling 
the fullness of their call. The session is a body of elders whose primary job 
is discernment. We must ask the question, ?God, what are you up to in this 
community, and how can we serve with you there???

The committee considered business items about union churches ? the benefits of 
a union church as opposed to a strictly Presbyterian congregation, how members 
are counted and how the sacraments are celebrated. James Cory, executive 
presbyter at Western Colorado Presbytery, and Lynn Smit, stated clerk of the 
Presbytery of Plains and Peaks, agreed that forming a union is a good option 
for churches in rural areas and for congregations losing members to neighboring 
churches. Smit said, ?It is a [financial] necessity for many smaller churches 
to survive and have a pastoral presence in the community.?

The committee also looked at three additional items on the involvement of 
racial ethnic members in congregations, leadership roles and denominational 
staff. Continuing to wonder where God is at work, committee members voiced 
concern over the failure to meet a goal achieving 20 percent racial ethnic 
diversity among PC(USA) membership, set by the 212th General Assembly
(1996) and 213th General Assembly (1998).

The Rev. Rhashell Hunter, director of Racial Ethnic and Women?s 
Ministries/Presbyterian Women for the GAMC, said it wasn?t the job of a 
committee to diversify the church, but ?it is the job of members and 
commissioners.?