wfn.org | Kirkpatrick Says He Believes Sabbatical

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13-June-1998 
GA98009 
 
 
             Kirkpatrick Says He Believes Sabbatical  
                on Ordination Standards Will Hold 
                       by Jerry Van Marter 
                                  
CHARLOTTE--General Assembly stated clerk the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick 
reiterated his belief that an appeal to commissioners to the 210th General 
Assembly not to send out another amendment on sexual standards for 
ordination this year will be heeded. 
   Speaking at a press conference just prior to the convening of the 
Assembly on June 13, Kirkpatrick said, "The concern [sexuality standards 
for church officers] will not go away, but after two years of discussion 
and debate in the presbyteries, I believe a majority of Presbyterians do 
not want a third year of preoccupation with this issue." 
   Also present for the press conference was Charles Norwood, a retired 
banker from Monroe, N.C., who is chair of the Committee on Local 
Arrangements.  He said that a team of 1,508 volunteers have performed more 
than 2,200 tasks to get ready for this General Assembly.  "A flood of 
Presbyterians have called, wanting to work at the General Assembly." 
   Norwood expressed particular enthusiasm for preparations for the opening 
worship service Sunday morning at the Charlotte Coliseum.  "We're expecting 
20,000, which would make this the largest Presbyterian congregation in 
history in the United States," he said, conceding that "we won't be able to 
match" a Presbyterian gathering of 30,000 in Korea recently.   
 
   Norwood said busloads of Presbyterians coming to the worship service 
will arrive from as far south as Rome, Ga., and as far north as West 
Virginia.  More than 80 buses have been chartered to ferry worship-goers 
from Charlotte hotels to the Coliseum. 
   Kirkpatrick outlined four issues he expects to command the most 
attention from commissioners: 
   * leadership: he said there are "three outstanding candidates" for 
moderator; the Assembly will also be acting on the confirmation of John 
Detterick, whom Kirkpatrick called "a superior candidate." 
   * the new catechisms: he said the approval of the two new catechisms 
"promises a renewal of Christian education in the church...an opportunity 
to restate our historic tenets in contemporary terms, in the language our 
kids speak." 
   * racial ethnic church growth: after the 1996 Assembly adopted goals to 
increase the racial ethnic membership of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 
to 10 percent by 2005 and to 20 percent by 2010, Kirkpatrick said the plans 
coming to this Assembly to achieve those goals "are a great chance to make 
them happen." 
   * full communion: he called the agreement with the Evangelical Lutheran 
Church in America "a major ecumenical breakthrough that closes a 450-year 
gap in the Reformed family of churches." 
   In response to a question about membership decline in the Presbyterian 
Church, Kirkpatrick said the church's desire to evangelize is "not a 
numbers game but a desire for folk to have a living encounter with Jesus 
Christ."  He said he found particular hope in statistics showing that fewer 
Presbyterians "dropped out without going anywhere else" last year than in 
many years. That means, he said, "that our congregations are putting real 
energy into spiritual nurture and are doing a better job of feeding the 
spiritual hunger of folks who come to the Presbyterian Church seeking 
Christian meaning in their lives." 

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