First moderatorial candidate hails from Colorado By Alexa Smith Presbyterian News Service Wednesday, November 1, 2000 INDIANAPOLIS – An elder who directs outreach for a 5,000-member congregation in Colorado Springs, Col., has been endorsed by Pueblo Presbytery as a candidate for moderator of the 113th General Assembly. Nancy Maffett of First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs and a former president of Presbyterians for Renewal was endorsed by Pueblo Presbytery earlier this month – after being nominated to stand for moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA) by her session. Maffett is the first moderatorial candidate to be endorsed this year. "I didn't seek this," she told the Presbyterian News Service. "I'm as surprised as can be. I'm terribly honored. And I think if God calls you, God will walk with you." The PCUSA's moderator does just that, moderate the General Assembly, the annual gathering of ministers and elders to set denominational policy and allot funds for national and international ministries and programs. This year's General Assembly, however, promises to be more controversial than most, because a backlog of legislation pertaining to the role of gays and lesbians in the church is due to come to the floor. The denomination took a two-year break from debating the issue; that sabbatical ends when the Assembly convenes June 9 in Louisville, Ky. What's more, the vote on another constitutional amendment – forbidding PCUSA ministers to participate in same-sex blessings – will be over by June, upping the political ante and all the emotion that goes with it. Such tension doesn't deter Maffett, who was the moderator of Pueblo Presbytery in 1997 when the denomination was bitterly debating a change to the church's constitution that forbids the ordination of practicing gays and lesbians. "When you find yourself in that kind of setting that is very issue-driven, you have to be committed to an absolutely fair process," she said. "I must go beyond my personal beliefs to be the moderator of the whole church." For the last 13 years as director of outreach at First Presbyterian, Maffett has been integrating new members into the life of the congregation, teaching classes that vary in age from teenager-s to the elderly and training congregants for ministry. From that vantage point, Maffett believes she brings a deepened understanding of the spiritual hunger in the culture – and the opportunity that presents the church – to the office of moderator. "I've been exposed to a broad spectrum of people ... hearing what God is doing, getting a sense of what they're hungry for and what they're responding to. We need to be very creative in how we respond and very personal," she said, noting that only the church can provide the kind of love that transcends what the world calls love, the "'giving' love empowered by the Sprit of love." With a master's degree in European history under her belt, Maffett says she has perspective on how the culture and the church have been in tension for centuries, and, more importantly, how God resurrects the church again and again – from the corruption of the Middle Ages to the confusions of the modern day. "I've studied enough history to know that the culture has always been the greatest challenge to the church; it's all through the Old Testament. But God hasn't given up on the church and is doing powerful, life-changing things," she said. "But we keep raising up Christ. Keep the focus on Him." "Get on past some of this stuff." Raised in Second Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Ky., Maffett has been a member of First Presbyterian since 1974. She obtained her master's degree in European history from the University of Colorado and did her undergraduate work in history at the College of William and Mary. She has taught both high school and college-level history. She is a former moderator of her presbytery and formerly served as president of Presbyterians for Renewal, a "renewal" group within the PCUSA that was formed in 1989 by the merger of renewal organizations in the predecessor denominations prior to reunion in 1983. She has two grown children, Susan Stevens of Colorado Springs; and Stephen Maffett of Seattle, Wash. Maffett was introduced as a candidate at the annual gathering of the Presbyterian Coalition, an advocacy network of evangelical and conservative Presbyterians which has campaigned against the ordination of gays and lesbians and has six ongoing task forces working to revitalize specific areas of church life, including mission, theological education, worship and discipline. The Coalition is meeting here now.

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