wfn.org | Conference Explores Past, Present, Future of Missions Overseas

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

14-May-1999 
99187 
 
    Conference Explores Past, Present, Future 
    of Presbyterian Missions Overseas - Part Two 
 
    by John Filiatreau, Evan Silverstein and Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
         "An Overview of Mission Policy Since the Reunion of 1983" 
 
    The Rev. Don Black believes the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has found 
new ways of expanding mission to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world 
since the merger that spawned it 16 years ago. 
 
    Black, an author and longtime ecumenical officer, outlined the mission 
work of the combined churches since the 1983 merger that brought the United 
Presbyterian Church in the United States of America together with the 
Presbyterian Church in the United States. 
 
    "The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has clearly been trying to meet a 
changing world," he said, reading from his paper, subtitled "Mission Policy 
Developments, 1983-1999." 
 
    "The policy developments under the guidance of the Worldwide Ministries 
Division (WMD) and its predecessor, the Global Mission Ministry Unit, have 
been alert to new possibilities such as the expansion of geographical 
involvement and congregations in global mission." 
 
    A turning point in the way the denomination reached out to people of 
other faiths, socialist nations and those in need came about when the 
General Assembly in 1993 endorsed a document titled, "Mission in the 1990s 
- A Strategic Direction in Worldwide Ministry for the Presbyterian Church 
(U.S.A.)." 
 
    The document is a summary of the mission policies that have since been 
followed by the church. It posed five crucial challenges for PC(USA) 
mission work, with two points representing new emphases for mission: 
"Supporting the new opportunities for countries in the socialist countries 
and former socialist countries,"and "Engaging in reconciliation and witness 
with people of other faiths." 
 
    Practice of the policy was seen in 1994 when Worldwide Ministries sent 
the General Assembly a comprehensive set of "Principles for Mission and 
Unity in the Nations of the Former Soviet Union," guidelines for 
evangelizing the communist country after the collapse of the former Soviet 
Union. It once again confirmed WMD's commitment to share the Gospel with 
people of other faiths, and even those with no religion, Black said. 
 
    Ultimately, however, it is "God who drives the church's mission, and 
the world that sets its context," he said, adding that some reports 
indicate the Presbyterian Church has been involved with work in more than 
80 countries as Global Mission and Worldwide Ministries "have continued to 
reach into areas where they have perceived a need." 
 
    Sometimes the need is served best through feeding the hungry; sometimes 
through self-development projects, sometimes through evangelistic outreach, 
sometimes through leadership training, he said. 
 
    Black, the author of the book "Merging Mission and Unity," served from 
1954 to 1958 as executive secretary of  the Board of Foreign Missions, 
United Presbyterian Church in North America, and from 1958 to 1972 was 
associate general secretary of the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and 
Relations. 
 
                "The Struggle for Equality: Women in Mission" 
 
    Eunice B. Poethig's paper chronicled women's contributions to the 
mission enterprises of the Presbyterian Church, and their concomitant 
struggle for equality. 
 
    Despite years - decades - of frank sexism, Poethig said, it is not hard 
to find evidence of women who were successful in mission as far back as the 
1800s. 
 
    "(The mission movement) was not only a movement that made it possible 
for American women to use their gifts to the glory of God and the 
betterment of women overseas," Poethig said, reading from her paper, "but 
it strengthened the movement toward the equality of women in the United 
States." 
 
    Among the chief complaints of female missionaries was that men 
"monopolized nearly all the profitable employment," denied women the 
"facilities for obtaining a thorough education," and permitted women to be 
involved in church and state, but always in a "subordinate position." 
 
    Poethig said the 1960s was the low point for women in the PC(USA). In 
1967, only 67 women were ordained as clergy, only half of them in pastoral 
roles, and just 15.7 percent of Presbyterian elders were women. The 
proportion of women appointed to ecumenical bodies had dropped from about 
20 percent to 12 percent. The percentage of elected women members of 
Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR) dropped from 30 
percent to 18 percent. 
 
    The number of women on the COEMAR staff reached an all-time low in 
1967. Out of 74 staff members listed in the Mission Yearbook of Prayer, 
only 12 were women, down from the high point in 1928, when 40 percent of 
the executive and program staff were women. 
 
    Poethig said the issue of equitable compensation and appointments 
exploded in 1968, and since then, while task forces have been appointed on 
several occasions, little real progress was made until after the 1983 
merger of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. 
 
    "Each issue has been resolved through struggle," she said. "Movement 
has not always been forward. In spite of these limitations, the enthusiasm 
with which women have gone into mission is a testimony to their feeling a 
part of God's great design for salvation of the world, and they have been 
filled with gratitude that they could be a part of this grand movement." 
 
    A new task force developed an "Appointment, Assignment and Compensation 
Policy" for 1991 and 1992, she said - a plan still in place today. It made 
the salary of a single person standard for each individual. The living 
allowance varied on the basis of marital status, number of dependent 
children and their number of full- and part-time assignments. 
 
    "The breakthrough was in the switch from having the standard 
salary-base be the salary-base for a married couple to the standard being 
the salary for a single person," Poethig said. 
 
    Church women were pleased as well that salary was separated from the 
living allowance, and that pensions and Social Security were made available 
to everyone. 
 
    In exploring the issue of equality of the sexes in the church and 
society, Poethig focused on three perspectives: women missionaries' efforts 
to raise the status of women worldwide; the varying and often changing 
status of missionary women in the denominations now part of the PC(USA); 
and the impact of women-to-women ministries. 
 
    Poethig is commissioned as a fraternal worker in the Christian 
Education program of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines, where 
she worked as a teacher from 1957 to 1972. She is also a former director of 
the Congregational Ministries Division of the PC(USA). 
 
    As evidence of progress, Poethig noted that the Worldwide Ministries 
Division now has, for the first time, a woman director - the Rev. Marian 
McClure, who was on hand for the conference. 

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