GAC committees focus on separate areas
Worldwide Ministries hears from Gloria and
Ross Kinsler, seeks ways to deal with globalization and growing
rich-poor gap
[2-23-01]
This is Evan Silverstein of the Presbyterian News Service with news from
the General Assembly Council meeting in Louisville for Thursday,
February 22.
Today the Council met in its three division committees
- Congregational Ministries, National Ministries and Worldwide
Ministries - and in its Mission Support Services Committee. The GAC
meets in plenary session Friday and Saturday.
Two upcoming leadership development events for youth
and young adults were highlighted today in the Congregational
Ministries Division Committee. "You are Witnesses," a
youth and young adult leadership conference for racial ethnic young
people, will be held July 5-8 on the campus of Chapman University near
Los Angeles. And between July 24-29, more than 7,000 Presbyterian young
people are expected to descend on the campus of Purdue University in
Indiana for the 2001 Presbyterian Youth Triennium. The theme of this
year's massive gathering is "Even the Stones will Shout!" from
Luke 19:29-40. For more information about these events, call PresbyTel
at 800-872-3283.
The National Ministries Division Committee
on Thursday heard a message of thanks from the Rev. David Dobler,
executive of Yukon Presbytery and chairman of the board of financially
troubled Sheldon Jackson College in Sitka, Alaska, who said the historic
Presbyterian-related college is now "in the midst of a
transformation" that would not have been possible without bail-out
money approved by the GAC. Dobler said he was on hand to "say thank
you to the PC(USA)," and to let committee members know that
"the good will for Sheldon Jackson around the church has been
wonderful." He said the college, whose survival was in question two
years ago, since then has received more than $11 million in federal
funds to upgrade its campus and facilities, enrollment applications for
this next fall are the highest in six years, and a new ethic of
responsible stewardship now prevails at Sheldon Jackson, named after a
pioneering Presbyterian mission worker.
Also during the meeting, committee members approved a
recommendation denying the Barber-Scotia College board of trustees'
request for the GAC to assume full responsibility for paying off a $1.8
million loan made by a Louisville bank in 1997. The GAC assisted the
Presbyterian-related school in Concord, NC, in obtaining the loan to
help them through difficult financial times. The $300,000 the college
receives from the PC(USA)'s Christmas Joy Offering was to be used if
Barber-Scotia was unable to meet the loan's payment schedule. Committee
members said the GAC, given its limited financial resources, would find
it difficult to assume responsibility for the loan. Also on Thursday,
committee members re-elected Emily Wigger of Alton, IL, as its chair,
and elected Thomas Hood of St. Louis, MO as vice chair.
The Worldwide
Ministries Division Committee spent four hours Thursday
examining the problem of the growing gap between rich and poor amid the
globalization of the world's economy. The effort is part of a two-year
process of visioning and planning the direction for world missions in
the 21st century.
Ross and Gloria Kinsler, missionaries
for 37 years primarily in Central America, reviewed the content of the
book, The Struggle for Jubilee, written by them. Ross Kinsler described
the issue as "one of the most difficult we have to deal with in the
21st century." He said "hopefully" we will not deal with
it "in a polemical way." Individuals with first-hand
experience with the poor in several areas of the globe shared their
insights. Ross Kinsler described the situation as a race to the
bottom," where companies, "in order to win, race to the
cheapest labor, where there are the least human rights protections and
ecological protections." He said, if "we go to the store to
buy (the) best product for least money. We are part of that
[economy]."
The Division explored the biblical basis for action,
where it sees itself in this effort, what initiatives it might take, and
what learnings it should undergird. The two-year development process is
in a very preliminary stage and should be completed in December, 2003.
During its Thursday afternoon meeting, the Mission
Support Services (MSS) committee approved a measure that would
allow Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program (PILP) to spin off a
corporation, the Presbyterian Mortgage Corporation, to generate
additional funds for lending to Presbyterian Church (USA) congregations
and governing bodies. The new corporation would raise funds by
"selling" future interest revenue from PILP loans to secular
financial institutions, in exchange for cash equal to the loan
principal. A PILP representative called the proposal a
"gimmick" that would enable PILP to legally and responsibly
circumvent capital-reserve regulations that otherwise limit the volume
of loans it could make available to PC(USA)borrowers. Grant said market
research indicates that loan demand in the PC(USA) exceeds $330 million.
PILP, now in its fourth year, has outstanding loans approaching $40
million. Grant said the new corporation probably won't begin operations
before January 2003.
