wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Moderator says PC(USA) must cast wide net to score big

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8695 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05175
April 1, 2005

Go fish

Moderator says PC(USA) must cast wide net to score big catch

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE - In a post-Easter address to fishers of men and women, Elder Rick
Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly, said the Presbyterian
Church (USA) must cast its net wide in building a "renewed" church.

	Addressing the General Assembly Council (GAC) during a regular
meeting here on Wednesday, Ufford-Chase said the denomination needs to find
new ways of establishing partnerships, shaping young leaders and tapping the
talents of the denomination in order to energize the church like never
before.

	Ufford-Chase read a passage from the Gospel of John in which Jesus
tells his disciples, after a long day of trying unsuccessfully to catch fish,
to cast their nets from the right side of the boat.

	"He's standing right there," Ufford-Chase said of Christ. "He's on
the beach and he's saying, 'Cast out the net.' I guarantee if you cast them
out and you really believe, we'll fill them up. And that's what I think being
church is all about. Especially in this moment immediately after
resurrection."

	Ufford-Chase cited three examples from his travels across the
denomination as "steps in the right direction" for the PC(USA).  

	"As I've traveled, there seems to me to be signs that in fact Jesus
is identifiably in our midst, and that there's great reason to cast the net
over and over and over again," said Ufford-Chase, who attends Southside
Presbyterian Church in Tucson, AZ.

	The first example he cited was a new PC(USA)-sponsored accompaniment
program in partnership with the Presbyterian Church of Columbia (PCC). The
effort is an attempt to curb harassment, threats and intimidation against
church workers in Columbia.

	The moderator commended the council for its unanimous approval last
September of action that sent U.S. Christians to Colombia to work with the
PCC.

	"The more we can let go and find ways to partner across the
denomination with folks in presbyteries and in our churches across the
denomination and follow the energy and Holy Spirit that they're discovering
in their own places, the more exciting this denomination will become,"
Ufford-Chase said. "I think our Columbia partnership is a great example of
that."

	The accompaniment program is being jointly administered by the
PC(USA)'s Worldwide Ministries Division (WMD) and the Presbyterian
Peacemaking Program of the Congregational Ministries Division. A growing
number of partners are becoming involved in various aspects of the
initiative.

     The theory behind accompaniment is simple: The presence of
internationals often reduces violence and harassment because abuses will be
reported through the church's worldwide networks and major human rights
organizations.

	"The response from the church there has been overwhelmingly
positive," said Ufford-Chase, who visited Columbia last year. "There's been
great enthusiasm for what that partnership has meant."

	He called the accompaniment program a "model" that he's been trying
to lift up across the PC(USA) as part of a "new kind of church" or "renewed
kind of church that I believe we need to be practicing all over the place." 

	The second sign of Christ at work in the denomination, Ufford-Chase
said, is greater involvement of young people in the leadership of the
PC(USA). He said the denomination should encourage enthusiastic students at
Presbyterian-related colleges to become church leaders - now.

	That idea came to Ufford-Chase after recent visits to 21
Presbyterian-related colleges over 10 weeks.

	"Here's the second place where I've watched casting the net kind of
beginning to fill up with fish," he said.

	The moderator said he believes students are "weary" of constantly
hearing that they are the future of the church. He said they want to know who
is providing leadership now.

	This has the moderator searching for new ways of encouraging church
officials to talk to students to emphasize that "we want your leadership, and
we want it right here and now."

	Ufford-Chase said he has told students not to wait for an invitation
from the denomination but to begin immediately to begin providing leadership
to the church "around whatever you discover your spiritual gifts on this
campus to be."

	The third case Ufford-Chase cited was the success of the Taco Bell
boycott, which the 214th General Assembly of the PC(USA) voted to endorse in
June 2002.

	The national consumer boycott was organized to protest below-poverty
wages and harsh working conditions of farmworkers who pick the tomatoes used
in Taco Bell products.

	The nearly four-year long boycott successfully ended earlier this
month with the approval of a historic agreement between the Coalition of
Immokalee Workers (CIW), Taco Bell, and Yum! Brands, Inc., the Mexican-style
fast-food chain's parent company.

	The Louisville-based worldwide corporation announced on March 8 that
it will pay 1 cent more for each pound of tomatoes it buys for use in its
6,500 Taco Bell restaurants, and will buy only from growers who agree to pass
the penny surcharge to the workers.

	The PC(USA) helped arrange meetings between Yum! executives and
members of the CIW, a Florida-based group of farmworkers who sponsored the
national consumer boycott and negotiated with leaders of the
mega-corporation, which also owns Long John Silvers, Kentucky Fried Chicken,
Pizza Hut and A&W Root Beer restaurants.

	"I believe that Presbyterians showed great courage in standing with
those workers," Ufford-Chase said. "Pastors and lay people across the country
especially helped run the leadership of this movement."

	Ufford-Chase will travel to Immokalee on April 10 to visit with the
farmworkers and lead a daylong mission program for youth and young adults
examining the living and working conditions of farmworkers and the history
and success of the Taco Bell boycott. (See related story, "Moderator plans
'day of mission' in Immokalee".)

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