Some evangelicals are willing to 'engage' their opponents By John H. Adams The Layman Online Tuesday, November 9, 2004 (Corrections have been made to this story.) CHICAGO – There was a smattering of evangelicals at the meeting of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians who disagreed with the network's seven-year itch to undo the constitutional prohibition against the ordination of practicing homosexuals. They included Jin Kim, the immediate-past president of Presbyterians For Renewal; Jim Berkley, issues director for PFR; and Alan Wisdom, moderator of the Presbyterian Renewal Network. Kim was at the Covenant Network meeting as an observer, while Berkley and Wisdom were in Chicago mainly for a meeting of the renewal group but dropped in for some of the network's presentations. It was the second time that Kim attended one of the network's annual conferences. While emphasizing that he disagrees with the Covenant Network's political agenda, Kim said he was impressed by how well the conference was run and, especially, by the network's effort to frame its case for ordaining homosexuals in a theological context. Next month in Chicago, Kim and four others from the renewal wing of the church will gather in a private meeting with five Presbyterians allied with the Covenant Network and other groups opposing the ordination standard. It will be the second such meeting, a "dialogue" initiated by Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick and John Detterick, the executive director of the General Assembly Council. Kirkpatrick and Detterick have declared the meeting off limits for Presbyterian media. In an interview with The Layman Online, Kim said he didn't believe there would be much to report anyway. He said he is not worried about Presbyterian renewalists yielding to the pressure of the pro-gay lobby or reaching any compromise. He said his sole purpose for attending the Covenant Network meeting and agreeing to meet with the Kirkpatrick-Detterick group in December is to fulfill his and PFR's commitment to civil dialogue on a thorny issue that has sharply divided the Presbyterian Church (USA) and likely has been a factor in its dramatic membership decline. The first meeting of the Kirkpatrick-Detterick group last year was "really quite innocuous. Our purpose was to determine how do we argue with each other as Christians" – not trying to come to agreement over the ordination standard. "None of us are representing our organizations," Kim said. "We're asking, 'Can we understand one another? Can we be civil?'" Kim says the meeting last year did help gay activists and their allies understand that they don't have the corner on feeling "pain" over the ban on ordaining homosexuals. He said he and others from the renewal wing emphasized that there are many Presbyterians who have been pained by three decades of discussions and fighting over the ordination requirement – a contest initiated and continued by those favoring the ordination of homosexuals. "I'm trying to be more involved," Kim said, adding that PFR has taken the same approach. "I will engage with anyone and everyone without limits," he said. Noting that PFR had been criticized in the past by some evangelicals because of that approach, Kim added, "We're Christians. We're Presbyterians. We don't see any harm." As evidence of that willingness to engage others, Kim said PFR had resumed its involvement with the Presbyterian Renewal Network, which includes the staff leaders or representatives of a number of renewal organizations. Joe Rightmyer, who resigned in June as PFR's executive, had pulled back from his previous involvement with the renewal group, which, Kim suggested, was one of many reasons PFR and Rightmyer parted ways. In some ways, Berkley has been the most high-profile representative of PFR. He wrote articles and a "blog" column about issues in the denomination that were posted on the PFR Web page. Recently, PFR ceased running his "blogs" on its Web site and they are now posted separately. Kim said PFR expects to soon hire a new executive director who will be deeply involved in working with others. In the meantime, he said he believes there has been some impact on Covenant Network and its allies. "They want to move more theologically and Biblically," he said. "In the past, they were talking about pain, sociology and trends, areas in which they had the advantage. Now they're taking theology more seriously, and that's to our advantage."

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