 Clippings Council considers weighty questions and past events By John H. Adams The Layman Online Wednesday, June 6, 2001 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In a what-are-we-doing-here session, members of the General Assembly Council sat in groups around tables June 6 to weigh two mysteries.
The Bible drew a mention. So did multiculturalism, with an admonition from former General Assembly Moderator Douglas Oldenburg: The Presbyterian Church (USA) isn't multicultural enough. There aren't enough seminarians being trained to fill the pulpits in the denomination, a group at one table reported. "There is diversity and that is good," declared another. Here's a summary of answers to both questions, roughly in the order that the groups reported:
"We are in many ways in a unique world that we never dreamed about," Kirkpatrick said. "We're commissioned to take the gospel to all the world. All the world is here." He was referring to the growth of ethnic populations in the United States. "I've found the things you shared with us to be rich and deep," Detterick said. He asked the council members: "Is this a good way to spend your time?" "Excellent," one said. ON SECOND THOUGHT – Lynn Shirley, moderator of the council's Congregational Ministries Division, added a gulp to his routine report to the committee. Shirley said the council has had its successes in the past year – "We have seen the lion and the lamb lay down together" – but referred to an unpeaceful 12 months because of the reaction to the 2000 Peacemaking Conference last June. That denomination-sponsored conference generated a huge controversy because of the comments of the Rev. Dirk Ficca, a Presbyterian minister who works with an inter-faith organization in Chicago. Ficca, a keynote speaker, told the conference that there are many valid paths to God and asked, "What's the big deal about Jesus?" The council later received more than 1,500 complaints from Presbyterians who urged the council to ensure that the denomination's conference speakers, curriculum and programs would reflect the historic Presbyterian belief that Jesus alone is Lord and Savior. The council did not comply with that request and currently faces an ecclesiastical challenge before the General Assembly's Permanent Judicial Commission, the highest court in the denomination. "The peacemaking area has been a rather unpeaceful time during the last 12 months," Shirley said. "As one of the blurbs that came across the e-mail said, 'The Peacemaking Conference has been canceled due to conflict.'" Shirley was joking. It was not canceled. DON'T GET NEGATIVE – Don Campbell, director of the Congregational Ministries Division of the Presbyterian Church (USA), took a swipe at the Confessing Church Movement during his comments to the Congregational Ministries Division Committee. Campbell quoted from an opinion piece written by Princeton theologian William Stacy Johnson and published in The Presbyterian Outlook. Johnson, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Confessing Church Movement, said that "the task of confessing theologians is to put forward a positive witness and not to prosecute a negative one." "If I had my yellow highlighter, I would highlight 'to put forward a positive witness,'" Campbell said. "Your CMD staff has in fact put forth an exciting and positive witness." The Confessing Church Movement has two positive affirmations – the exclusive Lordship of Jesus Christ and Scripture as the infallible authority for life and faith. It also has one negative under the affirmation that God's holiness standards do not change: Most confessing congregations include a statement that they will not hire ministers who are self-affirming, practicing homosexuals. |
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