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So how do we relate to sister churches
around the world?
by Doug King
1-25-01
Your WebWeaver offers a few more thoughts about
the relevance of overseas churches to our own debates
As one who spent some ten years in our Presbyterian
world-wide mission, specifically in Indonesia, I have been struck by the
concerns
raised by The Layman, and by Gene
TeSelle's thoughtful response.
I just want to add three points:
 | Those of us who seek a more open and affirming (and
just!) church do so not as some kind of compromise with moral evil.
We do this rather in response to what we understand to be the
imperatives of scripture and the Gospel: to proclaim and to embody
the inclusive, gracious love of God for all people.
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| We also act in faithfulness to our Reformed
tradition, which teaches us to respect and learn from human wisdom
and science. Over the past few decades we have learned much from
psychology and biology and the social sciences, that leads us to
understand sexuality and same-sex relationships in new ways. To
learn is not a matter of compromise, but of growth.
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| Parker Williamson is right: We should listen with
respect and attention to what we hear from sister churches around
the world. But Gene TeSelle is quite right in pointing to the
"selective listening" represented in Williamson's article. |
We need to listen also to the experience of many
churches, especially in Africa, that have dealt with questions of
marriage and sexuality with sensitivity to their own cultures. After
early European missionaries imposed Western standards of monogamy on
many African communities, church leaders saw the destructive impact
this was having on traditionally polygamous families. Women were
suddenly made single, with no way to survive outside the marriages in
which they had been living. Children were suddenly removed from the
families which had nurtured them.
Thus many churches came to accept polygamous
marriages as the most responsible way to affirm committed family
relations in their situation.
I'm not aware of any African churches urging us to
follow their way, but they have asked us to respect it, as they followed
Christ and the scriptures in their own circumstances.
It is appropriate for us to do the same thing. We
don't need to hold ourselves up as an example for the rest of the world.
(Though it may be hard for us to break that habit.) But we may quite
properly claim the right and the responsibility to follow the calling of
our God, and the teachings of scripture as we interpret them, in our own
setting.
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Visit
our lively
new website! |
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GA actions
ratified (or not) by the presbyteries
A number of the most important actions of the 219th
General Assembly have now been acted upon by the presbyteries,
confirming most of them as amendments to the PC(USA) Book of Order.
We provided resources to help inform the
reflection and debate, along with updates on the voting.
Our three areas of primary interest have been:
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Amendment 10-A,
which removes the current ban on
lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender persons being considered as
possible candidates for ordination as elder or ministers.
Approved! |
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Amendment 10-2,
which would add the Belhar Confession to our Book of
Confessions. Disapproved, because as an amendment
to the Book of Confessions it needed a 2/3 vote, and did not
receive that. |
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Amendment
10-1, which adopts the new Form of Government
that was approved by the Assembly. Approved. |
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Some blogs worth visiting |
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PVJ's
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
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John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
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John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
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Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
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