wfn.org | Freda Gardner Is Endorsed as Candidate for Moderator

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10-December-1998 
98413 
 
    Freda Gardner Is Endorsed as Candidate for Moderator 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A retired Princeton Theological Seminary professor of 
Christian education is now the first woman in a field of three men to stand 
for election as moderator of the 211th General Assembly next June in Fort 
Worth, Texas. 
 
    Elder Freda A. Gardner was overwhelmingly endorsed as a candidate for 
moderator by the Presbytery of New Brunswick Dec. 8. 
 
    "Freda has a long history in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and is 
widely recognized for her service as an elder [not a clergyperson] on the 
Christian education faculty at Princeton Seminary," said the Rev. Vernon B. 
Van Bruggen, the executive presbyter in New Brunswick Presbytery said after 
the vote, which set aside the previous month's election of another 
elder-commissioner to the Texas Assembly.  "And she is making herself 
available to the larger church for service if that is the will of the 
church." 
 
    Gardner recently completed two terms as a member of the General 
Assembly Council and is ending more than a decade of service as a  member 
of the Board of Trustees of Union Theological Seminary and the Presbyterian 
School of Christian Education.  She is affiliated with the Religious 
Education Association, the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators, 
the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the 
National Organization for Women.  She is currently the clerk of session  of 
the Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, N.J., and co-chair of the 
church's Adult Education Committee. 
 
    She is the Thomas W. Synnott Professor of Christian Education, Emerita, 
and Director of the School of Christian Education, Emerita. 
 
    "We're at a crossroads," Gardner told the Presbyterian News Service, 
describing life within the denomination.  "But it is a time of hope and 
promise.  And I think I have - all the way through my life in the church 
and in my professional life - dealt with people of diverse opinions and 
positions.  I think the only way forward for us as a church is to keep 
learning and keep growing. 
 
    "I think that," she said, "is what God expects of us." 
 
    Gardner said others asked her to consider seeking the office.  "It came 
to me as a call should ... to at least stand for election," she said.  "I 
respect the three men running, but I feel we're different in terms of 
experience, background and life in the church ... enough different to make 
me an alternative candidate. 
 
    "And I approach that with excitement and a little trepidation." 

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