Thursday, June 18

CHARLOTTE, NC — The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA ended its sponsorship and financial support for the controversial National Network of Presbyterian College Women.

In a 306-217 vote Thursday night, the commissioners endorsed the action of its Health and Education Committee, where testimony questioned whether NNPCW was in fact a Christian ministry. The testimony raised concerns about NNCPW’s literature and its links to Voices of Sophia, which is part of the ReImagining God movement.

On the floor of the General Assembly, Marcia Casaias of Newton Presbytery, a member of the Health and Education Committee, made a plea on behalf of NNPCW. "In college, I wish I had had the benefit of NPCW." She said that young college women face far greater challenges than her generation and "we can’t insulated them from these challenges.’’

Doug Mitchell, a Boston minister who also served on the Health Education Committee, defended the literature and activities of NNPCW and noted, "We are church not based on policy or words … if we are to survive, we have to be a church based on relationships."

But Leslie Day Ebert told commissioners that NNPCW is a special-interest group that should not be funded as part of the PCUSA’s mission. For example, she said, "their publication, Young Women Speak, counsels young women how to cope by using rape rituals. No where in that literature is Jesus Christ and his healing power."

Katie Moffett of the Presbytery of the James also opposed sponsoring the organization and an overture to increase NNPCW funding by $273,000 over the next three years. Moffett, who serves on her presbytery’s committee overseeing campus ministry and whose daughter is a campus minister, said NNPCW’s materials do not lead students to Christ. "Our funds should go to our Presbyterian campus ministries that are leading students to the lord Jesus Christ," she said.

During a hearing and debates at the meeting of the Committee on Health and Education, advocates of the campus organization were on the defensive as critics used NNPCW’s literature and activities to discredit the network.

One example was the publication, Young Women Speak: Issues for Study by College Women, which recommends that women be in league with Presbyterians for Gay and Lesbian Concerns and teaches that sex before and outside of marriage is morally equivalent to sex within marriage.

The committee’s vote against the network came despite an impassioned plea on behalf of NNPCW by Isabel Rogers, a former moderator of the PCUSA. She defended the network and its publication.

Holding high and waving a copy of Young Women Speak: Issues for Study by College Women, Rogers said, "I’ve been in education for 50 years. This is Christ-centered education…. I think this is a tremendously helpful document."

But Commissioner Walter Hackney of Louisiana seemed to express the sentiment of the majority of the members of the Health and Education Committee when he said bluntly that the authors of Young Women Speak were in error in preparing the material and that they owed the church an apology.

As moderator in 1987, Rogers appointed members of the denomination’s Human Sexuality Committee. That committee’s report, which was overwhelmingly rejected by the General Assembly, expressed moral approbation for the practices of adultery and homosexual behavior.

The case for supporting NNPCW consisted principally of personal accounts of women who said they felt disenfranchised from the local church and were not comfortable with traditional campus ministry, including Presbyterian. They said NNPCW offered a supportive climate for discussing a variety of subjects, including homosexuality.

Emily Marlow, who described herself as bulimic, seemed representative of the advocates. At college, she said she left the church and did not find supportive campus groups until she became involved in NNPCW. The network "supported all my gifts, and now I am going to seminary," she told the committee.

Julia Jones said NNPCW provided support not found in other organizations. "You’re not judged; you’re not put down, and, truly, all opinions are respected."

Another supporter, Carol Morrison of the National Capital Presbytery, used a numbers of terms common to liberation theology to describe the benefits of the NNPCW. She said the organization provides an "awareness of women’s struggles," "empowers women," and provides them with the opportunity to be "in solidarity."

But Melissa Sumner, a college student and youth advisory delegate on the health and education committee, said, "From what I have studied, I thought we believed in Reformed theology."

And Sylvia Dooling, who supported the overture to end PCUSA funding for the network, said NNPCW was presenting an alternative to the Gospel. "Its message is victimization, not freedom in Christ," she said, criticizing NNPCW for elevating experience over theology.

Allen Brimmer, a supporter of the network, contended that NNPCW meets a need for college women that is not being provided by other campus groups or the church. "It is a space that provides dialogue and support," he said.

"I find it [NNPCW] very lacking in truth with a capital ‘T,’" said Kathryn Churchill, an elder from Colorado.

"I am not against Presbyterian college women," said Judy Theriault. "But I am against this," she declared, holding up a network resource packet that included material by Voices of Sophia. "It’s very dangerous. Jesus is the one who improves women."

Laura Holland said much of the material in the packet was contrary to biblical teaching. "There is a deliberate omission of God talk," she said. "Some of the sections evoke rage rather than love."

Other criticism of the network focused on its rituals, including a rite for victims of rape.

Committee member Carter Shelley, a clergy commissioner from the Salem Presbytery, said the rituals may seem strange to traditionalists. But the very discussion of rape is strange in the church, she added. "One in four women is raped," Shelley said. "One in three college women is raped on our campuses. Yet I have never heard [in the church] a litany of hope for rape victims. I have never heard a sermon on rape."

The overture to support NNPCW called for an infusion of $273,000 in new money from 1998-2000. Barbara Dua, associate director for Women’s Ministries, said the new money would have paid for salaries of an associate, an intern, administrative costs, coordinating committees and a leadership conference.

That led to some pointed questions about the scope of NNPCW. Dua said the network had some role on 85 campuses, involving about 250 women (average about three per campus). Seventeen women attended NNPCW’s national leadership conference last year. The theme of the leadership conference was politics.

Dua and other supporters of NNPCW said limited funding and staff were the reasons the network did not reach more women on campuses and that its national leadership event attracted so few participants. About 30 participants are expected this year.

Critics of the program said the small participation, in addition to the theological concerns, did not justify continuing PCUSA funding or new appropriations. They said the organization has the right to continue with independent funding, as do other groups that describe themselves as Presbyterian.

Three presbytery overtures, two of which would have recast the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (PJC) into a "Supreme Court of the Presbyterian Church" failed to gain committee approval. All were rejected in a single motion made before the General Assembly..

Among those who testified against the proposals was Rev. Charles Hammond, Executive Presbyter of the Presbytery of Philadelphia and a former General Assembly moderator. Hammond reminded the commissioners that the PJC is not a governing body, but a judicial commission of the General Assembly. David Snellgrove, Executive Presbyter of the St. Andrew Presbytery, said that the Presbyterian process is based on the fundamental principle of larger governing bodies overseeing the work of smaller governing bodies (cf. G-1.0400). Changing the PJC’s power would place excessive in the hands of sixteen persons rather than the General Assembly in legislative session.

A representative from National Capital Presbytery spoke in favor of the presbytery’s overture (98-35), which would have curtailed the General Assembly’s power to make binding interpretations of the Constitution, shifting that power to the PJC. That testimony brought a response by Rev. Douglas Pratt, a commissioner from Pittsburgh Presbytery. Prior to the 1997 Syracuse General Assembly that tilted the PJC’s membership solidly into the liberal camp, National Capital dispatched overtures calling on the General Assembly to issue authoritative interpretations of the Constitution. But now that the PJC’s balance has shifted, National Capital’s overtures have reversed their direction. "Last year," said Pratt, "you affirmed the General Assembly’s power to make authoritative interpretations. This year you are sending an overture to take it away ... Why these inconsistencies?"

In Pratt’s testimony before the committee he argued, "these overtures are part of a jockeying for position by extremes in our church …The best thing we can do is stay the course." Following Pratt’s comments, the committee voted down all three overtures by a wide margin, and the General Assembly later confirmed the committee’s action.

NCC General Secretary Speaks

Joan Brown Campbell, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches, was the speaker at the General Assembly’s Ecumenical Service of Worship: Celebrating the Ecumenical Decade of the Churches in Solidarity with Women, 1988-98.

Campbell was introduced by Clifton Kirkpatrick, who praised her as a leading figure in the church’s prophetic public witness. He also noted that his longtime friend had helped conceive the Ecumenical Decade in Solidarity with Women. (Among the projects of the Ecumenical Decade was the 1993 ReImagining conference.)

Campbell began by thanking those assembled for the ecumenical efforts of the PCUSA. "You are our most faithful partner of all the member churches. But as my father used to say to me, unto whom much is given much is required." She added, "It is no accident that it was the ecumenical movement that has given life and energy to women’s search for dignity and equality. … In the ecumenical understanding of life, racism and sexism are not sociological issues. They are theological issues with sociological manifestations."

Most of Campbell’s talk focused on Mary. Speaking of the Magnificat she asked, "Is it possible that Mary was the first woman preacher, and an ecumenist at that?"

Campbell then observed, "As a mother and grandmother I always find it interesting that God chose to give Jesus to the world through the travail of the human birth process. The other thing I've always wondered, but I've never heard male theologians even explore, is why Jesus had to be born as a baby. If it was going to be a miracle, then why not have Jesus born at age 5, a more reasonable age, past toilet training? It would have been much easier for Mary. But for reasons I would like the theologians to explore, Jesus was to be raised from a baby, in a family. And one must wonder, what was the purpose of this." She left her speculation unanswered.

Campbell went on to say that perhaps the most important thing Mary did was to be at the foot of the cross. Everyone "who ever stood and watched a child in pain, every mother who watched a child shoulder a cross … knows not only Mary’s love but the love of Jesus, that at least in that shining moment is love of cosmic proportions. Let us remember that human beings are capable of enduring enormous love. Mary’s sacrifice taught us that."

"There is no question in my mind but that Jesus felt Mary’s presence and drew strength from her faith and her love. This is what human love is for," Campbell proclaimed, "to be there for others, to share our strength, and in the sharing to be reborn and renewed."

CHARLOT TE, NC — By a single vote, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has decided not to provide a caveat to or retune adult guides that accompany new children’s curriculum on sexuality.

The curriculum for three- and four-year-olds, titled In God’s Image, prompted no serious challenge. But some members of the Committee on Christian Education and Curriculum Publishing submitted a minority report sharply critical of the curriculum’s guides for parents and congregations.

The minority report criticized the guides for failing to conform to scripture, confessions and the denomination’s policies. The sticking points were statements on pre-marital sex, sexual relationships outside of marriage and scriptural authority.

The General Assembly voted 265 to 264, with two abstentions, against the minority report. The report would have required that the current guides include an insert that restates scriptural, confessional and denominational standards and that the guides be edited to conform to those standards in subsequent printings.

In God’s Image and the adult guide are currently being sold to congregations.

After voting against the minority report, commissioners approved the committee’s main report — to receive the children’s curriculum and adult guides with "affirmation and appreciation."

The minority report cited several passages in the adult guides and contrasted those statements with scripture, confessions and General Assembly positions.

For example:

• Page 33 of the Parents’ Guide: "What is premarital sex? Premarital sex means different things to different people." I Cor. 6.18: "Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself."
• Page 18 of the Parents’ Guide: "… Most of us desire that our children grow up viewing sexual relationships as belonging in marriage or within a loving, committed relationship between adults." From the Larger Catechism, 7.071: "The Seventh [Commandment] requireth the preservation of our own and our neighbor’s chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior."
• From the Guide to Congregations: "Abortion may be considered … when the resources are not adequate to care for a child appropriately." From Problem Pregnancies and Abortion, General Assembly, 1992: "We affirm that abortion should not be used as a method of birth control."

Nelle McCorkle of the Savannah Presbytery, one of 15 committee members who signed the minority report, said she and others were "honestly seeking to raise children with distinctively Christian direction." The guides, however, "mirror the moral ambiguity of our culture." McCorkle praised the In God’s Image curriculum, but said the guides "hold to things that seem not agreement with our confessions, scripture or policies… We need to have some adjustments."

Ed Hurley of the Presbytery of Western Kentucky complained that committee members "were not afforded an opportunity to review the materials" until late into their sessions. "I approve of much of it," he said. "But there are inconsistencies in messages … verbiage is an ambiguous doublespeak. … It reminds of a refrain from the Beatles, ‘Here, there and everywhere.’’’

But Commissioner Carter Shelley, a minister, welcomed the guides for congregations and adults. "We Presbyterians welcome all the help we can get from God and the Presbyterian Publishing House."

The Rev. Jefferson Hatch of the Newton Presbytery spoke in opposition to the minority report. "You have heard the documents contain moral ambiguity and doublespeak,’’ he said. He then read from a section that affirmed marriage as "an unconditional covenant to be faithful to each other" and another that strongly opposed premarital sex.

He called the curriculum for three- and four-year-olds the "final piece of the puzzle" in response to the General Assembly’s mandate to provide material on sexuality for all age groups.

At a General Assembly breakfast sponsored by Presbyterian’s For Renewal, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary professor Andrew Purves called for the church to recover sound doctrine. "Doctrine is the church’s talk about God," said Purves, "what God does, and what God requires of us. Mess around with that stuff, and the Gospel unravels. Mess around with that stuff, and we soon discover that we don’t know what we are doing. That is why doctrine is so important."

How is the church seeking to recover doctrine? Purves said he sees signs of hope in a work commissioned by the Presbyterian Coalition. "Those who think that last year’s Gathering [a September 1997 meeting of the Coalition that attracted more than 1,000 Presbyterians] was just a blip on the screen are very wrong…the sense that something significant happened there was everywhere felt among evangelicals."

One outcome of the Coalition’s Gathering was the formation of a "Visioning Team" that was commissioned to write a declaration of faith and a comprehensive set of strategies for the transformation of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Purves played a major role in that group.

"Many of us feel a shift in the doctrinal wind," said Purves. "For a number of years we have sensed that the old uneasy but largely workable alliance between theological liberals, institutional traditionalists, and orthodox confessionalists was breaking down…Doctrine has become the issue." Purves illustrated the deepening divide by pointing to Building Community Among Strangers, a study paper produced by the General Assembly Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy. "Whatever its final form and status, [this document] already more than suggests that there is vast doctrinal diversity on the understanding of the uniqueness of Jesus Christ for salvation."

Purves called attention the fact that Christian doctrine has a strong historical element that can never be separated from Scripture: "While we are a church reformed and always reforming, we must remember the last clause of that phrase. We are ‘reformed and always reforming, according to the Word of God.’

Purves stressed that the church must keep within the bounds of our biblical reformed tradition. He said, "The apprehension of truth in a Christian context is not static, it is open to reformation. But neither is it fluid. We are grounded in a great tradition that guards and guides us in our worship of God and witness to Jesus Christ today."

What happens when the church compromises her tradition? Purves shared with the group an old friend’s advice, "A philosophy professor once taught me that the truly open mind is a truly empty mind. I might recast that a bit and say that with regard to core doctrine, the truly open-minded church becomes the truly empty church, a church with nothing to preach and no gospel to serve."

Purves pointed to hopeful signs for the future. He noted that the recent ordination debates that have torn the church asunder have actually forced the church to recognize its need to study theology. He said, "Over the last year or so, we have been successful in putting the doctrine of Jesus Christ – Christology – at the center of our conversations once again."

Purves stated that this renewed interest in doctrine is a watershed event. He quoted passages from the Visioning Team’s report to demonstrate its doctrinal depth and soundness. "Jesus alone is the way to the Father," he said, "and in the words of the Declaration of Faith, ‘His Lordship casts down every idolatrous claim to authority. His appearing judges every other path to God.’ The particularity of the christological claim will always be the issue on which there is no room for equivocation."

The initial draft of the Declaration and Vision Statement was approved in substance at a Coalition meeting in May. The final draft will be presented at "Gathering III" in Dallas, October 8-10.

Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and representatives of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Korean Presbyterian Church in America, and the Reformed Church in America were guests of honor at the Genevans annual GA luncheon.

Jerry Andrews, president of the Genevans and pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Glen Ellyn, Ill., introduced Kirkpatrick, who said that 1998 had been "a year of ecumenical breakthroughs. One breakthrough Kirkpatrick noted was a joint committee with the PCUSA and the Korean Presbyterian Church in America exploring union presbyteries and inclusion in the Presbyterian pension plan. Another was the possibility of having concurrent general assemblies with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America.

Kirkpatrick then introduced Daniel Metier of the Reformed Church in America, a pastor from Hoboken, N.J., and a part of the Lutheran/Reformed dialogue group; John Wu, stated clerk and general secretary of the Korean Presbyterian Church in America; and Ed Davis, stated clerk of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

Davis, stated clerk of the EPC for 18 years, said that denomination has 60,000 members in 190 congregations. He told those gathered "We need to rediscover the ability to trust each other, something that has been lost, if for no other reason than the tremendous opportunities and responsibilities that are before us in the postmodern world. We can have cooperation without compromise. … I would encourage organizations committed to the renewal of the church to take some initiative toward us and give us the opportunity to build some bridges."

Wu said the KPCA, which was founded in 1976 with 14 churches in 3 presbyteries, now has 316 churches in 11 presbyteries. He said that in 1884 Presbyterian missionary came to Korea. Now that Korean Presbyterians have sent 4,000 missionaries all over the world, "We feel we are repaying materially the Presbyterians." He continued, "Numerically we are small compared to PCUSA. But we are proud of being strong spiritually, and we are trying our best to be a friend of Christians in the world."

Metier, who has served on the Lutheran/Reformed dialogue team for several years, called the relationship between the RCA and PCUSA "the oldest and least cultivated ecumenical relationship." He said that "in 1754 we were asked to merge with Presbyterians. We said no," adding "Calvinist churches are never in full communion with anyone."

CHARLOTTE, NC — The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), meeting in a state in which tobacco is a mainstay of the economy, voted more than three to one Thursday to ask Congress to enact high taxes on tobacco products and to impose further restrictions on tobacco advertising.

The anti-smoking overture prompted a lively debate and media attention. While strongly condemning tobacco products and advertising, especially when targeting young people, the overture did have measure of "compassion and concern" for people addicted to tobacco and for people who make their income off tobacco. It called on churches and government to support financially people whose incomes fall because of new tobacco legislation.

One commissioner, Lynn Smitt, brought a timely and poignant message to the General Assembly. "My father also passed away four years ago from lung disease," she said. "My mother died yesterday from smoking."

"The condolences of the GA are with you," replied Moderator Douglas Oldenberg.

But there were contrary views about how far the General Assembly should go.

"I do not smoke, never used tobacco, and have great sympathy for the intent of the overture," said Commissioner Richard Hornek. "I believe the assembly should move very carefully in areas where they are asking the federal government to do our work for us. I would like to see those sections removed, and the church will free then to do as it sees fit, without the federal government to do their work for them."

Erin Payne, a youth advisory delegate, opposed the overture, saying, "Smoking is punishment enough."

An amendment was proposed to refrain from calling for higher taxes on tobacco, but it was defeated.

On the broad issue of restricting smoking, Commissioner Natalie Peeler said, "I have health problems. I am a heart patient. My father died of lung cancer. A smoke-free environment is a blessing to me and to all offices in this county. We have to put a stop to smoking."

The overture calls for a $1.10 per pack increase in the federal tax on cigarettes. That figure spawned some questions, including one by Commissioner Paul Latten: "Where did the figure of $1.10 come from and if that is a deterrent why not $5?"

Another Commissioner objected to the tax: "I don’t smoke, and wish people didn’t, but how would we like Congress to legislate that we each give $1,000 a month to the church?"

CHARLOTTE, NC — Some quick calculations and a $64-million challenge punctuated the General Assembly’s celebration Thursday of the 50^th anniversary of "One Great Hour of Sharing," an ecumenical relief program for refugees and people in distressed countries.

Syngman Rhee, who said he had experienced the impact of the ministry as a refugee and as a leader in the Worldwide Ministries Division of the Presbyterian Church (USA), introduced the celebration to the General Assembly.

In 1950, Rhee was a 19-year-old refugee from North Korea. He is the retired associate director of the Worldwide Ministries Division. In 1972, Rhee became the first Asian to serve in the national office of the denomination. He has become distinguished professor of world Christianity at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va.

After Rhee introduced a video describing the worldwide ministry of "One Great Hour of Sharing," and said the once-a-year offering is expected to raise $8.4 million from Presbyterians in 1990, one commissioner took the microphone to encourage Presbyterians to do more.

The $8.4 million is less than eight-tenths of a cent a day per Presbyterian, the commissioner said. He added: "If that were jacked up to 50 cents week, that’d be $64 million."

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