wfn.org | Assembly planners welcome Presbyterians to Long Beach

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Note #5948 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

24-June-2000
GA00004

	Assembly planners welcome Presbyterians to Long Beach

	Meeting culminates 18 months of work

	by Sue Boardman

LONG BEACH, June 23 -- “General Assembly is the best possible way for the
church to discern the mind of God,” claimed the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick,
who serves as General Assembly stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.). The Assembly is also quite a logistical challenge as elected
elders and ministers gather, along with a host of support staff, observers
and advisory delegates.

	Bill Saul, co-chair of the Committee on Local Arrangements (COLA), says
work began a year and a half ago to accommodate the 212th Assembly in Long
Beach. The numbers are astounding. Some 2800 volunteers will work 4000
shifts to insure the care and enjoyment of  3500 Assembly participants.
	
	COLA members are especially excited about this year’s mission tours.
Combining an emphasis on local culture and mission work, the tours were 90
per cent filled in advance of the Assembly.  “Our focus, however, has been
on worship,” said Saul. Twelve thousand people are expected to gather for
the opening service on Sunday morning, which will require more than 600
people to usher and serve communion. Evening worship services are planned
during the week so that local church members and leaders will have the
opportunity to participate.

	 “We really want to embody the Assembly theme, ‘For all are one in
Christ,’” Saul said. The theme, which is taken from the book of Galatians,
points to a difference in Assembly planning, Kirkpatrick said. When
commissioners to the 211th Assembly in Fort Worth responded overwhelmingly
to the powerful worship experiences they shared, Assembly planners decided
to select biblical themes for future gatherings.

	“We want our work to be grounded in Scripture, worship, and prayer,” said
Kirkpatrick. “We’re trying not to have a political contest, but rather to
focus on elected elders and ministers discerning the mind of Christ.”

	There will, of course, be politics as well. Asked about important issues
before the Assembly, Kirkpatrick highlighted tensions around human sexuality
and ordination, the question of “irreconcilable differences” in the
denomination, consideration of strengthening the role of Christian educators
and a variety of social policy issues including police accountability.
					
	“Our differences,” Kirkpatrick claimed, “are real and serious, but I do not
think they are irreconcilable.” His greatest hope for this 212th General
Assembly, he said, is that “somehow God will provide surprises and we’ll
find new ways to set ourselves on fire to be a missionary people in the
world.”

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