GAC encourages compassionate ministry to military members and their families By Paula R. Kincaid The Layman Online Tuesday, September 28, 2004 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The General Assembly Council has adopted a proposal to support military personnel and their families. The proposal includes: Petitioning the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and/or the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) for a quick response in developing a pastoral letter on how the church can care for veterans. Referring to the Presbyterian Council on Chaplains and Military Personnel (PCCMP) the responsibility to come up with appropriate suggestions on how to care for returning veterans and their families. Gathering best practices from presbyteries to be shared with the church. Encouraging compassionate ministry by churches to military personnel and their families. "While we as a committee recognize the different points of view on the current military engagements," said Allison Seed, chair of the National Ministries Division Committee that brought the recommendation before the GAC, she said the committee did want to honor the men and women who served and their families. GAC member Ken Newbold of Rose Hill, N.C., said the motivation behind the recommendation was that after "World War II, veterans came home to open arms, as did the Korean War veterans. But veterans of Vietnam did not receive the same open arms. We are trying to be pro-active." The proposal included the following resolution: Whereas U.S. Military members, both Active Duty and Reserve components, are now serving from every state and U.S. territory, and Whereas their families are in our towns and churches, and Whereas Christ has called us to love our neighbors and to be reconcilers, Resolve … that the General Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church (USA), encourage compassionate ministry by our churches to military personnel and their families as they endure long family separations and the risk of injury or death in war, and Further resolve … with determination to embrace in ministry those who answer our nation's call to military service. The NMDC also recommended, and the GAC approved, conducting a worship service at the March GAC meeting to recognize new military and Department of Veteran Affairs chaplains. During the NMD committee meeting, a motion was made, then defeated, for new military chaplains to be recognized at the 2005 commissioning service for missionaries, which will take place at the 100th New Wilmington Missionary Conference on July 23-30. New missionaries usually are commissioned at the General Assembly, but alternative plans have been made since there will be no assembly in 2005 due to the biennial meeting schedule. But according to committee members, Worldwide Ministries Division personnel would not go along with the plan, saying "there is no way this is going to happen." WMD's rationale was that having an event that included both commissioning missionaries and recognizing military chaplains, if reported by international press and blended together, could endanger the missionaries. Edward T. Brogan, director of the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel, told NMD members that he was "delighted" when Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick recognized military chaplains at the 216th General Assembly commissioning service. He said he was "hoping the year would come when [military chaplains] would be fully included in the commissioning service."

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