wfn.org | Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy Prepares Resolutions

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30-January-1997 
97045 
 
           Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy  
      Prepares Resolutions For 209th General Assembly (1997) 
 
                         by Julian Shipp 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) is 
sending eight resolutions -- but no major policy statements -- to the 209th 
General Assembly (1997). 
 
     The committee drafted and revised the resolutions during its Jan. 
23-26 meeting here.  They include 
 
     *    "Resolution on Children," which calls on the church to protect 
          children in a world marked by violence, disease and poverty. The 
          resolution is also designed to augment and strengthen  existing 
          social witness policy regarding children in several areas, 
          including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, child labor, 
          children and welfare reform, and child abuse. 
     *    "Resolution on Poverty and Welfare," which proclaims ministry 
          with persons in need as an essential element of  the witness of 
          Christian congregations. It also calls upon the church at the 
          local, regional and national levels to be an effective advocate 
          for persons in need and for the government at all levels to 
          provide essential services and increased employment opportunities 
          to all. 
     *    "Resolution on the Middle East," which, among other things, 
          commends the United States government on its role in implementing 
          a  negotiated agreement in Hebron and urges it to continue moving 
          the peace process forward. It also calls on all Middle East 
          parties to work together to prevent violence and to seek 
          nonviolent resolutions to conflict. 
     *    "Resolution on Cuba," which, among other things, calls on the 
          U.S. government to end the economic sanctions that it has imposed 
          on Cuba and to respect the opinion of the world community in this 
          matter. It also encourages presbyteries and Presbyterians to 
          seek to be peacemakers by building relations with Cuba through 
          visits, church-to-church exchanges, provision of humanitarian 
          needs, study and advocacy of the positions recommended by the 
          General Assembly. 
 
     The remaining ACSWP-approved reports are "Resolution on Managed Care," 
"Resolution on Disarmament Developments and Challenges,"  "Human Rights 
Update 1997-98,"  "Responses on General Assembly Commissioners' Resolution 
96-17,  On Forming Social Policy,' and General Assembly Overture 96-101, 
Distribution of Material at the General Assembly.'" 
 
                   Committee faces budget cuts 
 
     Clifford Grum  of Diboll, Texas, ASCWP Budget and Personnel Committee 
chair, said ACSWP should be able to hold its own financially this year 
provided the General Assembly does not authorize any unfunded mandates for 
ACSWP to carry out. 
 
      Grum said ACSWP has $411,000 in its 1997 budget, of which $356,000 is 
in unified or unrestricted funds. However, Grum recommended that ACSWP 
prepare for the possibility of "crisis management," since the General 
Assembly Council (GAC) directed ACSWP to cut 14 percent, or $50,000, from 
its 1998 unified funding. Moreover, the GAC could alter ACSWP's budget 
further during its Feb. 4-9 meeting in Louisville. 
 
     Addressing the committee, the Rev. Frank Diaz, GAC interim director, 
pledged to work with the Rev. Peter A. Sulyok, ACSWP coordinator, to 
explore ways to help ACSWP recover some of its funding. 
 
     Also in the works, Diaz said, is a  recommendation to put a team 
together to develop a process for how the church will prioritize its budget 
for the year 2000, which he said will be zero-based. Issues to be examined 
by the team include "what kind of ministry the church wants to conduct, and 
which direction the church desires to go in the future." 
 
     "It's obvious to everyone that we cannot continue to do surgical 
procedures on the budget year after year," Diaz told the committee. "There 
has to be a time when we come together and say this is not working. We need 
to determine what it is that this denomination wants to do and where it 
wants to go in the future," Diaz said.  
 
                       Other ACSWP Business 
 
     The new year has brought new faces to ACSWP's national staff. 
Patricia L. Chapman began serving as an administrative assistant in 
mid-December. Chapman is assuming adminstrative assistant Amy Nein's duties 
while she is away on family leave. Most recently, Chapman served as 
executive assistant at the Presbyterian Community Center in Louisville, Ky.  
 
     Effective Jan. 6, Belinda M. Curry joined the ACSWP staff as associate 
for policy development and interpretation. Curry is a graduate of Columbia 
Theological Seminary, Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala.,  and the 
University of  Mississippi. 

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