GA supports NNPCW Requires theological oversight of materials By John H. Adams The Layman Online Tuesday, June 22, 1999 FORT WORTH – The National Network of Presbyterian College Women won a General Assembly committee's endorsement for another lease on life, despite findings that the organization's printed materials and resources violated policies and the theology of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Committee members voiced little complaint about the Network's past. Rather, they seemed convinced by a task force report that the Network would be retuned to conform to the theology and policies of the PCUSA. If that happens according to the task force plan, the Network will abandon its ties with the ReImagining God movement, its statements that speak approvingly of homosexual and adulterous relationships and its alliance with the More Light Churches movement that defies the PCUSA "chastity/fidelity" ordination standard. Task force report affirmed In a series of votes, the Mission Coordination Committee affirmed the report by the task force appointed by the 1998 General Assembly to review the network and its resources. Those votes ranged from margins of 3-to-1 to nearly 10-to-1 in favor of the task force report. The committee's action now requests that the General Assembly continue sponsorship of the Network and double its funding to $96,500 a year. That action also requires theological oversight of any new materials produced by the Network and a prohibition against further use of Young Women Speak, a controversial publication that commended aberrant theologies (ReImagining God, etc.) and failed to mention Jesus Christ in its foundational statements on mission and values. The 1998 General Assembly rejected continued sponsorship and funding for the Network, but reversed its decision after 1998-99 Assembly Moderator Douglas W. Oldenburg allowed the young women to conduct a tearful demonstration on the eve of adjournment. The Assembly's 2-to-1 vote against the Network was rescinded the next morning. Overture is spurned In affirming the task force report, the Mission Coordination Committee spurned an overture from the Beaver-Butler Presbytery that would have disassociated the Network from the PCUSA. The overture cited several examples of statements published in Young Women Speak that violated PCUSA theology and policy.
Oldenburg and task force member Jeff Bridgeman were the principals in presenting the case favoring continuing the Network. They repeatedly reassured the committee that the old had passed away and that the Network was ready to reflect biblical and theological principles in its program and material. Not surprised by vote Leslie Day Ebert of Santa Ana, Calif., one of more than 20 people who spoke against the task force report, said she was not surprised by the committee vote. "I have learned since coming here that Presbyterians want a reason to vote for something, not against." During the 1998 General Assembly, Ebert also opposed continuing the Network – and her view prevailed in committee and initial Assembly votes. However, she noted that in 1998, there was no task force report promising that the Network would be retuned. Even though the Mission Coordination Committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of the task force report, there remains the possibility that some of the committee members may file a minority report with the stated clerk. |
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