wfn.org | The ACSWP Prepares Recommendations

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17-June-1997 
GA97048 
 
          The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy 
                     Prepares Recommendations 
 
                          by Nancy Rodman 
 
 
SYRACUSE--The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy on Monday 
approved recommendations for the General Assembly on domestic violence, 
children, welfare and poverty, disarmament, and human rights. 
 
    The committee will recommend that  the Assembly approve a 
recommendation encouraging all bodies of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 
to incorporate into their programmatic structures opportunities for 
education about domestic violence, including theological reflection on such 
violence as it is experienced by both churched and unchurched people.  The 
recommendation further asks that the Assembly affirm the work of the 
Societal Violence and Initiative Team which has issued a resource packet, 
"Confronting Violence Against Women: The Church's Calling", and that the 
resource packet be used by congregations and other bodies as they seek to 
prevent and eliminate domestic violence. 
 
    If the Assembly approves the recommendation, committees on ministry and 
committees on preparation for ministry would be asked to explore ministers' 
and candidates' preparedness to deal with the problems of domestic violence 
they will inevitably encounter in the various ministries of the church. 
Finally, the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy would be directed 
to develop a policy on domestic violence for presentation to the 211th 
General Assembly in 1999. 
 
    The committee approved a comprehensive resolution on children after 
defeating an amendment to delete references to the United Nations' 
Convention on the Rights of the Child.  The resolution that will be 
recommended to the Assembly calls upon Presbyterians to learn more about 
the issues related to the survival, care, and development of children 
nationally and globally.  These issues include children's rights, 
exploitative child labor, child pornography, and child prostitution, child 
abuse and the church's role in protecting children, and the effects of 
recent welfare changes on children. 
 
    Presbyterians will be asked to engage in abuse education, training of 
staff and volunteers so they can better recognize the symptoms of abuse, 
report it to the proper authorities, and review and develop church policies 
to protect children in church settings, and to screen employees and 
volunteers.  Congregations will be urged to use the study guide, "We Won't 
Let It Happen Here!  Preventing Child Sexual Abuse in the Church," 
available from the Presbyterian Child Advocacy Network, to monitor the use 
of block grants within their states and to advocate for welfare programs 
that provide for the needs of all poor children, and to urge congregations, 
presbyteries, and synods to assist those who are most vulnerable to the 
cuts in welfare benefits.   Other provisions of the resolution on children 
include calling upon church and United Nations agencies to strengthen their 
work related to children, calling upon the Advisory Committee on Social 
Witness Policy to examine the issue of changing families and changing 
social structures that support families, directing the stated clerk to 
write to the president and members of Congress requesting on behalf of the 
General Assembly immediate review of welfare legislation, implementation of 
the Plan of Action approved by the World Congress Against the Commercial 
Sexual Exploitation of Children, and support for and involvement in efforts 
to end exploitative child labor. 
 
    The resolution, if passed by the Assembly, would also direct the stated 
clerk to communicate with the United Nations Secretary General and the 
director of UNICEF commending those agencies for their efforts on behalf of 
the world's children. 
 
    A resolution on welfare and poverty, including a statement of 
principles guiding both the ministry and witness of the church in this area 
and the church's advocacy relating to government, and calling for advocacy 
by synods, presbyteries, congregations, and individuals of policies that 
would protect the interests of the most vulnerable members of society was 
recommended for passage.  The principles call the church to be an effective 
advocate for persons in need and underscore the government's responsibility 
to develop policies that strengthen family life and protect the needs of 
the most vulnerable members of society. 
 
    The committee unanimously approved for the Assembly's action a 
resolution on disarmament that commends and celebrates those in 
governments, business, and society who have taken steps toward the 
destruction of weapons and the conversion of weapons to peacetime work. 
The resolution calls for further steps toward disarmament, continued 
monitoring of disarmament issues and communication of the Assembly's action 
on disarmament to the president, members of the cabinet and Congress, and 
United Nations officials.   It calls on individual Presbyterians to make 
personal commitments to world peace, including taking the Citizens Pledge 
on Nuclear Weapons Abolition. 
 
    In a final action on Monday, the committee approved a resolution to 
bring to the attention of the church the significant developments that 
occurred in 1996 in human rights by directing the stated clerk to publish 
the "Human Rights Update 1996-97" with a study/action guide and distribute 
it to the middle governing bodies and sessions.  The resolution also calls 
for prayer for all victims of human rights abuse and for their persecutors. 

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