Moderator's finale: a positive look at a declining church By John H. Adams The Layman Online Saturday, May 24, 2003 215th General Assembly Denver, Colo. May 24-31, 2003 DENVER – Using anecdotes that he has repeated often during his year as moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA), Moderator Fahed Abu-Akel made his final report to the General Assembly Saturday afternoon, a few hours before he yielded the gavel to the new moderator of the 215th General Assembly. Abu-Akel was elected moderator of the 214th General Assembly last June after an upbeat campaign for the office – and he concluded with another upbeat message and a call to mission. Several times, he used the word that he used again and again during the 2002 General Assembly – again describing commissioners as "holy" and the assembly itself as "holy." "During my year as moderator, I discovered the strength of the PCUSA in ministry … indeed a people of the book, the Bible, a people of the constitution," he said. "May God help us to continue to be a people of prayer; a people who seek unity in the midst of diversity; a people who can revive our Reformed theology in our local congregations; a people who can humble ourselves as North American Christians and learn from our sisters and brothers throughout the world." Abu-Akel did not mention the denomination's continued membership losses – 41,000 in 2002 – or his own problems. He was reprimanded by the highest court in the denomination because of his efforts to torpedo a constitutional effort to call a special meeting of the General Assembly to deal with a growing constitutional crisis. Neither did he give any assessment of one of his challenges to the denomination – that every Presbyterian recruit one person to become a member of a local congregation – a plan that would have, if it had worked, doubled Presbyterian membership to 5 million. Instead, membership fell below 2.5 million. The denomination's membership has tumbled by more than 40 percent since 1965 and more than 20 percent since 1983, when the two largest Presbyterian denominations in the nation reunited. But Abu-Akel says he still hangs on to his positive vision of the PCUSA: "First, I continue to challenge the church on spiritual renewal, asking each elder deacon minister to pray for spiritual renewal … that we might be faithful witnesses to the power of Jesus' love and the power of his resurrection. "Second, I ask all of us to focus on our unity in the midst of our diversity. … I discover that the issue that is dividing us is not the key issue in more than 95 percent of our congregations. "Third, I challenge each local congregation to adopt one local and one mission project. As our people experience mission, they will not remain the same. "Fourth, I challenge each Presbyterian to exercise the gift of hospitality – to invite one person to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and invite that person to a local Presbyterian church." Abu-Akel spoke admirably of a number of local congregations, presbyteries and synods that have become involved in mission, which he described as "God's love and incarnation to the whole world." "May God give us the character of Micah the prophet to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly before our Lord," he said. "And may God give us the love of Jesus, to feed the hungry and welcome the stranger in our midst." Abu-Akel, a native of the Palestinian region in the Middle East, focused much of his work as moderator on Israel and Palestine. He has called on the denomination to support efforts to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian regions and to support statehood for the Palestinians."

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