Presbytery endorses Rogers as moderator
candidate
Longtime seminary teacher wants to be an agent of
healing
by Alexa Smith, Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE - January 11, 2001-- San
Gabriel Presbytery in California endorsed the Rev. Jack Rogers Tuesday
as a nominee for moderator of the 213th General Assembly.
Rogers, a longtime member of the faculty at Fuller
Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., and a prolific writer, is now
one of three presbytery-endorsed nominees to moderate an Assembly that
promises to put sexuality issues front-and-center on the Presbyterian
agenda once again.
Nancy Maffett, an elder from Pueblo Presbytery, and
the Rev. Andy Sale, the executive in Peaks Presbytery, also have been
nominated.
"This Assembly will confront very divisive
issues," Rogers said in his statement to San Gabriel Presbytery.
"By God's grace, I have worked and learned from people on many
sides of our present divides while at Fuller and San Francisco
Theological seminaries and on the General Assembly staff. I would hope
to be a reconciling presence in our often tension-filled discussions.
After the Assembly, the moderator will need to minister to people of
many different perspectives, some triumphant and others feeling wounded.
"I am committed to helping us find our common
center in Jesus Christ so that we may go forward healthy in mission and
ministry."
Rogers has attended 28 General Assemblies, serving as
a member of committees in some and attending others as an observer or as
a teacher of seminarians studying Presbyterian polity.
Rogers was ordained in 1959. He has earned a Ph.D. in
theology from the Free University in Amsterdam as well as Th.M. and
M.Div. degrees from Pittsburgh Seminary. He taught for eight years at
Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA, a Presbyterian-related
school. He retired last year from the vice presidency of San Francisco
Theological Seminary's Southern California program.
Rogers served from 1988 to 1990 as associate for
theological studies in the Theology and Worship Ministry Unit of the
General Assembly Council in Louisville.
Rogers is an expert on the Presbyterian confessions. A
number of his 10 books are used as texts in seminaries and colleges and
also as resources for congregations. They include Presbyterian
Creeds: A Guide to the Book of Confessions, Claiming the
Center: Churches and Conflicting Worldviews, and Case Studies
in Christ and Salvation. A book he co-authored with Donald K. McKim,
The Authority and Interpretation of the Bible: An Historical
Approach, was nominated for the American Book Award in Religion in
1980.
Interestingly enough, Rogers' election as
minister-commissioner was a tight one; the vote was 212-210. Minutes
later, the presbytery almost unanimously voted to endorse him as its
nominee for moderator.
In the years of debate on issues of sexuality within
the Presbyterian Church (USA), Rogers, an evangelical, has sought
reconciliation between the divided camps.
In his statement to the presbytery, Rogers said,
"I love Jesus Christ and seek to serve Him as my Lord and Savior.
To my surprise, people in this presbytery and elsewhere have urged me to
stand for moderator of the General Assembly. In each case, their request
was, 'We need you to build bridges, bring people together and bring
healing to our denomination.'
"Only God can bring genuine healing. I am willing
to seek God's guidance and listen to others in order to be open to God's
leading."
