wfn.org | 209th General Assembly Will Search for Unity

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

6-May-1997 
97190 
 
           209th General Assembly Will Search for Unity 
 
                      by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--After years of tension and conflict around issues of human 
sexuality and the ordination of gay and lesbian Presbyterians to church 
office, the 209th General Assembly (1997) will turn at least some of its 
attention to measures that focus on what unites rather than what divides 
the 2.7-million-member Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  The Assembly will be 
held at the OnCenter in Syracuse, N.Y., June 14-21. 
 
     Passage of the commonly called "fidelity and chastity" amendment -- 
requiring church officers to live in "fidelity within the covenant of 
marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness" -- is certain 
to provoke much discussion, if not concrete action, at the Assembly, though 
few proposals are currently on the agenda.  One, an overture (resolution) 
from Kiskiminetas Presbytery, calls for removal of a portion of the 
amendment requiring church officers to repent of "any self-acknowledged 
practice which the confessions call sin." 
 
     The 568 commissioners -- an equal number of ministers and elders -- 
will decide whether to call the denomination to a six-year period of study 
and reflection on "The Great Ends of the Church," six theological 
principles that have historically guided the church's life.  Church leaders 
have pressed the "Great Ends" emphasis as a way to rediscover Presbyterian 
"common ground" in the wake of sexuality debates that have frayed nerves 
and strained relationships. 
 
     A one-day conference on June 13 -- the day before the Assembly 
convenes -- will begin the conversations about "common ground."  Hosted by 
outgoing General Assembly moderator the Rev. John M. Buchanan of Chicago, 
the pre-Assembly conference will feature addresses by Marian Wright 
Edelman, founder of the Children's Defense Fund, and renowned Old Testament 
scholar Walter Brueggemann. It will conclude with a concert by the Paul 
Winter Consort. 
 
     The Assembly will also pursue unity of another sort -- with the 
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  Up for approval is a 
"Formula of Agreement" between the PC(USA), the ELCA, the United Church of 
Christ and the Reformed Church in America.  The agreement, which calls for 
"full communion" through mutual recognition of each other's churches, 
members and ministries, grew out of Lutheran-Reformed dialogues that began 
in 1962.   
  
     With the failure by presbyteries to approve constitutional amendments 
that would have implemented Presbyterian participation in the "covenanting" 
provisions of the Consultation on Church Union (COCU), Assembly watchers 
will be eyeing the vote on the Lutheran-Reformed proposals closely to see 
whether the COCU vote signaled a retreat from the Presbyterians' 
longstanding commitment to ecumenical unity.  The Presbytery of Plains and 
Peaks has submitted an overture calling for outright withdrawal from COCU, 
and the Presbytery of Cherokee has submitted an overture calling for closer 
relations with the breakaway Presbyterian Church in America and Evangelical 
Presbyterian Church. 
 
     Commissioners will also address several measures that seek to improve 
internal relations within the church by modifying some procedures and 
structures.  A new "call system" that has been in development since 1988 
will be up for approval.  The new system seeks to streamline the process by 
which churches call pastors and other church employers hire professional 
staff.  The new system promises to require less time and paperwork to fill 
staff vacancies and emphasizes leadership skills and ongoing professional 
development of church professionals.  Critics charge that the new system 
minimizes the "spiritual gifts" required for ministry. 
 
     Also being proposed is a new system for allocating tens of millions of 
dollars in restricted endowments that are held by the Presbyterian Church 
(U.S.A.) Foundation.  Currently such funds are available only to the 
General Assembly for spending by the General Assembly Council through the 
church's general mission budget.  The radically decentralizing proposal 
would make such funds available to any Presbyterian Church entity, 
including local congregations, provided their proposed use of the funds met 
the donor's criteria. 
 
     A report by an outside consultant -- Arthur Andersen LLP --  mandated 
by last year's General Assembly will recommend a sweeping reorganization of 
the national offices of the Presbyterian Church in Louisville.  Concluding 
that the denomination lacks a unified vision for the ministry of the whole 
church, the Andersen report calls for development of a "vision statement," 
followed by a restructuring of the General Assembly enterprise to meet that 
vision.  
 
     With the PC(USA) continuing to lose members at the rate of about 
35,000 annually, church growth efforts will also command significant 
attention.  Initial plans will be presented to meet a goal set by last 
year's Assembly to increase the racial-ethnic membership of the 
Presbyterian Church to 10 percent by the year 2005 and to 20 percent by the 
year 2010 (it is currently 3 percent). The Presbytery of Yukon has 
submitted an overture calling on the church to declare evangelism a 
denominational priority and "setting a goal for the Presbyterian Church 
(U.S.A.) to be a growing church by 2005."  A new mass media advertising 
campaign, "Stop In and Find Out," commissioned by the 1995 General 
Assembly, will be unveiled as well. 

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