Liberal seminars prominent at PCUSA youth 'epiphany' By Jim Miller The Presbyterian Layman Volume 32, Number 5 Posted November 11, 1999 The Presbyterian Church (USA) is offering a special event for youth, college students and young adults. “The Dawn … an Epiphany” will be a New Year’s celebration this December in Indiana. It promises hundreds of seminars kicked off by two hugely popular, evangelical bands: Jars of Clay and Kirk Franklin. On the surface, this appears to be a tremendous event. However, a closer look at the seminars being offered shows another agenda, including homosexual advocacy, justice issues and diversity awareness, some of the key ideological topics of liberal churches. Take, for instance, one seminar, “I’m Absolutely Sure I’m Not Absolutely Sure!” The description reads, “We live in a world of religious absolutes. This workshop will focus on scriptural basis for talking about relativism in our world. Hopefully, we will lose some certainty and gain some faith!” The leader of this seminar, Rev. Louis Andrews, describes himself as “theologically and politically very much to the left.” He is also flouting classic Presbyterian and Biblical doctrines that assert that there is an objective reality to the revelation of God in Scripture. Room for sexual preference? A seminar titled “Is There Room for Me at the Table?” asserts, “God has created amazing diversity in people in terms of race, gender, sexual preference, and spiritual life [emphasis added]. Is there room for all of us? Come and find out how to be welcoming and welcomed to the table of God.” Rev. Michelle Thomas-Bush says this will be an “unbiased” workshop. If a youth were to ask her about the debate over homosexuality, she says her plan is “not to say what’s right or wrong.” The goal is to “figure out how to relate without voicing whether we condone or condemn it.” Still another titled, “I Want to be Different!” will address “Belonging and Role Confusion.” Evangelism downplayed There are 19 workshops offered under the heading of “Peacemaking” and 19 under the heading “Relationships and Evangelism.” However, of the workshops in the latter category, only one actually mentions evangelism. In fact, under the “evangelism” subheading is a seminar titled, “I’m in Search of Myself,” which will explore “Wholeness and Self-Love,” a seminar on “Peacemaking Skills for Youth,” a seminar on eating disorders and the aforementioned seminar, “Is There Room for Me at the Table?” While a few seminars will be led by professed evangelicals, evangelism seems to be a peripheral topic of the conference. A presenter from Berkeley, Calif., will offer a seminar called, “Staging our Liberation from Violence.” One seminar on different religions promises that we can “Learn new ways to be in interfaith dialogue in our diverse world.” Cathy Chisholm, former chair of the General Assembly Council, will offer one called, “Seeing With New Eyes,” which will teach “spiritual imaging.” Another seminar will teach “three basic knots to hemp jewelry.” Lynn Peck, director of Christian education at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, Calif., will lead a workshop that will discuss some of the “benefits” of a shift to a postmodern world view. St. Mark announces on its web page that some of its members are More Light Presbyterians who favor the ordination of practicing homosexuals. Peck says that she does not at this point plan to discuss homosexuality, but that it may come up in discussion. There will be adults leading Bible studies in the morning and worship services in the evening. On the other hand, the two bands are dynamic, evangelical voices in the youth culture. Jars of Clay has opened at Billy Graham Crusades. Kirk Franklin announces openly on his “NuNation Project” CD that he is trying to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world by bringing secular music and Christian messages together. This should be hailed as a great move for the denomination’s youth ministry. So why would a conference rife with liberal ideology hire evangelical Christian bands? Could it be that the big-name bands will attract many evangelical youth and youth pastors who are unaware of the more subtle message to be shared in the workshops? Could it be that if the conference openly advertised its perspectives it would not draw the attention of an increasingly conservative, Christian youth culture? Or maybe it’s just hard to find a liberal praise band with a following. . Jim Miller, associate pastor at St. Peter’s by the Sea in Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif., is webmaster of PresbyWorld, www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/6091

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