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17-June-1998 
GA98083 
    COCU Membership to Continue 
    by Nancy Rodman 
 
CHARLOTTE, N.C.--The General Assembly voted Wednesday afternoon to remain a 
member of the Consultation on Church Union.  The Assembly voted 324-147 to 
continue the Special Committee on the Consultation on Church Union, which 
will report to the 211th Assembly next year.  The Special Committee 
represents the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at COCU.  The Assembly 
subsequently voted 325-168 to sustain the recommendation of the Assembly 
Committee on Catholicity and Ecumenical Relations to disapprove an overture 
that would have changed the PCUSA's status from COCU member to observer. 
With the Assembly facing the possibility of taking conflicting actions, 
Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick informed the commissioners that if that 
proved to be the case, the matter would be referred back to the committee 
for an alternative recommendation. 
    The Assembly also took actions related to the continuation of the 
Special Committee.  It reaffirmed the 209th Assembly's "Report of the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to the Eighteenth Plenary Meeting in Response 
to "Churches in Covenant Communion: The Church of Christ Uniting."  The 
stated clerk was authorized to send a statement of appreciation to COCU's 
Executive Committee expressing gratitude for the consultation's attention 
to the concerns of member communions. 
    In his statement to the Assembly setting forth the committee's position 
on the COCU recommendations, committee vice moderator Paul Beran cited 
Margaret Mead's caution that it takes 75 years for a culture to change. 
"With COCU," he said, "we're about halfway there." 
    The Assembly took these other actions on recommendations of the 
Assembly Committee on Catholicity and Ecumenical Relations: 
    Continued the Joint Committee on Presbyterian Cooperation Between the 
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Korean Presbyterian Church in America. 
In the span of its existence, the Joint Committee has made significant 
advances in furthering cooperation between the two churches and is 
currently working in the areas of ministries and education, global mission 
and peace, justice and reunification, and polity and partnership. 
    Elected as delegates to the Caribbean and North American Alliance of 
Churches Colleen Bowers, Minnette Hope, Jin Kim, and Stuart Leyden, all 
Class of 2000, and Clifton Kirkpatrick, David Dickey, Adelia Kelso, and 
Jean Ann Swope, Class of 2001. 
    Approved the list of churches to be invited to send Ecumenical Advisory 
Delegates to the 211th General Assembly in 1999.  Churches to be invited 
from the United States include the Armenian Apostolic Church (Prelacy), 
Korean Presbyterian Church in America (KPCA), African Methodist Episcopal 
Church (AME), Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and Church of 
the Brethren. 
    Overseas churches to be invited to send advisory delegates are the 
Presbyterian Church of East Africa, Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar, 
Evangelical Congregational Church in Angola, Brethren (Lutheran/Reformed), 
The Dominican Evangelical Church (DEC), Pentecostal Mission Church of 
Chile, Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), China Christian Council (CCC), 
The Christian Church of East Timor, The Evangelical Lutheran Church of 
Jordan, the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Evangelical Church of the Czech 
Brethren. 
    Consented to the formation of a union church in Storm Lake, Iowa, 
Presbytery of Prospect Hill, with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 
America and the United Methodist Church.  The new church will be known as 
the Southeast Asia Community Church.  The church, begun as an ethnic 
ministry to Laotians and ecumenically based since its inception, became a 
new church development in 1996 and has grown steadily in membership and 
ministry since then. 
    Approved the development of denominational resources addressing 
pastoral issues of Presbyterians and Roman Catholics in local 
congregations.  The Office on Theology and Worship is prepared to develop 
these resources.  The expected financial implication is $3,000.  The 
resources will address pastoral issues including those arising from 
intermarriage, membership change, and increasing diversity in communities. 

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