wfn.org | Committee Says No to Evangelism Ministry Division

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

18-June-1997 
GA97054 
 
         Committee Says No to Evangelism Ministry Division 
 
                            by Dee Wade 
 
SYRACUSE--In action on Tuesday morning, the Assembly Committee on Mission 
Program and Coordination failed to pass a motion which would have 
recommended to the General Assembly approval of Overture 97-56. 
Originating from the Presbytery of Western Colorado, the overture seeks to 
establish an Evangelism and Church Development Ministry Division equal to 
the denomination's other three ministry divisions. 
 
    For its discussion of the overture, the committee was joined by the 
membership of the Assembly Committee on Evangelism.  The Rev. Elizabeth 
Lunz, evangelism moderator, expressed her committee's "passion for 
evangelism" but its inability to respond to this particular overture, since 
the power to recommend change to the General Assembly's structure is lodged 
within the Committee on Mission Program and Coordination.  Lunz said that 
the Evangelism Committee had not expressed its opinion of the overture, one 
way or another. 
 
    The debate centered around the need for additional structure to respond 
to the church's obvious need for growth in membership.  Overture advocates 
John Bruington and Kenneth Working both spoke of structure reflecting 
priority for evangelism, particular in the area of new church development. 
Some committee members agreed with this assessment.  Other committee 
members after hearing testimony from  National Ministries Division Director 
Curtis Kearns, felt that current structures within the system, particularly 
the Evangelism and Church Development Work Area,  were adequate, making the 
extra expenditures for creating a new division unnecessary. 
 
    After the motion to recommend approval failed, the committee passed a 
second motion which recommends that the overture be "referred to the 
General Assembly Council and assigned to its task force on Church Growth 
Mission Strategy for consideration in its work."  

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