Monthly Archives: June 2009

EPC General Assembly, PC(USA) Membership Statistics, Ecumenical Relations — Yes, There Is A Thread There

It may sound like the set-up line for one of Johnny Carson’s Karmac the Great routines, but with the interesting timing of the release of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) membership numbers the week before the Evangelical Presbyterian Church’s 29th General Assembly some may see it as a Divine Comedy. (And I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out all the possible meanings of that.)

I will do a more focused run-down of the EPC GA in a later post, especially the interesting document that they adopted providing their formal definition and direction regarding what it means to be a missional church.  That, in my opinion, is the most exciting thing to come out of the Assembly.

But here I want to close the loop on all the EPC/PC(USA) issues that are on the table.  Even after this GA the issues are still on the table and this will not be any sort of final word.  In fact, they will probably keep going for a while yet…

For the EPC side with reports from the General Assembly I will go to my regular reads — Michael McCarty at Around the Scuttlebutt and David Fischler at The Reformed Pastor.  For the topics in this post it is mainly the Rev. Fischler.  (Thanks for all the detail.)

Actions at the EPC General Assembly
One of the topics that I discussed in my pre-Assembly summary was the polity dance that the EPC is working through to be able to accommodate both egalitarian and complimentarian churches in their structure.  Mid-America Presbytery brought an overture proposing a dual “affinity presbytery” structure but ahead of the meeting the PJC ruled the overture was out of order because structural changes like those proposed would require new language in the Book of Order.  The Presbytery said they would not contest the PJC ruling and the Assembly upheld it.  (For more details check out David’s Day 2 Report.)  What came out of this particular debate was a proposal for an interim committee to “to explore ways to provide a pathway to unity while protecting freedom of conscience.”  The committee was approved by the Assembly the next day.  The committee will include two elders from each presbytery including the New Wineskins Transitional Presbytery and will report back at next year’s Assembly. (Day 3 Part 2 Report)

On the last day of the Assembly the Fraternal Relations Committee brought a recommendation, and it appears the Assembly concurred, “to continue to communicate with the PC(USA) according to biblical principles and to encourage ‘face-to-face’ talks.”  (Day 4 Report)

More on that in a minute, but first the PC(USA) item…

PC(USA) Membership Numbers — The Response
For anyone just joining the conversation this may seem like a strange jump, but while the churches realigning from the PC(USA) to the EPC are not the largest group leaving the denomination, it is the largest single “identifiable” destination.  That is in contrast to those who “drift off” and are removed from the rolls or individually transfer to a variety of other churches.  And as Scott comments on my discussion of the membership statistics, the departures to the EPC are just one component of the departures from the PC(USA) for people who are unhappy with the negative climate they see in the church.

The membership statistics elicited responses from the wide community of PC(USA) and other Reformed bloggers.  Among these:

  • The Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, Moderator of the General Assembly, comments that the denomination operates with an out-dated world view.
  • Jody Harrington at Quotidian Grace points out that this decline is bigger than just this one denomination.
  • On The Heidelblog R. Scott Clark discusses what the statistics mean about active members of the PC(USA) if you were to clear the roles and also the implications for the EPC.
  • Rev Kim at Called to be: The Pastor’s Wife and the Pastor reflects on what the decline looks like as a pastor serving a congregation.
  • And John Shuck of Shuck and Jive, in a post titled “Presbyterian Pruning” wonders whether this decline is actually a good thing for the denomination.  He has a number of interesting thoughts including “Maybe it is good news that the denomination is losing members. Perhaps it is a sign that people are growing up, thinking for themselves, and have no need of evangelists who want to save them from the pits of hell.” And “So I will expect more and more huge losses for the PCUSA until progressives and traditionalists part ways. I don’t think this will happen by design, but by attrition.”  (And if you did not catch it the reference to “no need of evangelists” is a direct response Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons’ call for us to be evangelists.)

As you can see, many of those watching the PC(USA) do not see the membership decline as isolated from other branches, although individual perspectives vary.

EPC and PC(USA) Ecumenical Relations
As you can see from the EPC response above, and my previous comments about the PC(USA) Investigating Committee, this is a sensitive topic right at the moment. 

To recap, the last PC(USA) General Assembly set up the investigating committee to check out charges that the EPC was actively recruiting churches away from the PC(USA).  Again, Viola Larson has some comments about this and the possibility that the meeting in her presbytery was not well publicized.

Now, Michael McCarty has some details of one encounter between the investigating committee and a church.  He relates the follow
ing:

But at the [EPC] GA, I met several folks whose congregations went directlyfrom the PC(USA) to a geographic EPC presbytery. Their congregationsdid meet with representatives of the “investigating” committee,although the committee members were surprised that ruling elders andmembers attended. (They had “invited” only the pastors.)

Theirexperience was telling. After the pastors, elders and members relatedhow their congregations initiated the move, and initiated the contactwith the EPC, the committee representatives interjected withdeclarative “questions” such as “Well, you knew that what you weredoing was wrong, correct?” or “You never proved that the PC(USA) wasapostate, so leaving was a violation of ordination vows, right?”

Whenthe EPC members asked their inquisitors “Wait, we thought you wanted toknow that we were not recruited. It sounds as if you have already madeup your mind that we were recruited, although we were not, and are justlooking for sound bites to support your position. Is that correct?”

Stunningly, the PC(USA)’s response was “That is correct.”

One polity point – I will accept the account here that only the pastor was invited to the meeting, but in our polity I don’t view that as appropriate.  While I could accept excluding at-large members, the meeting should be held with the Session since that is the governing body of the congregation.  After all, when the presbytery meets with the church every three years under G-11.0502c it meets with the full session.

Now, I must admit that I viewed this account with a certain degree of caution, this being the account from one side of a meeting.  Until yesterday…

At church yesterday, out of the blue and without prompting, I had a member of my congregation come up and describe to me a similar meeting that a family member of theirs was at.  Since it was in a different synod I did not know the details, but as described it seemed like one of these meetings.  To me one of the most fascinating aspects was that the church was a PC(USA) congregation that, while having sympathies for the New Wineskins churches, had chosen not to realign with the EPC but stay with the PC(USA).  Never the less, the description of how the presbytery/investigating committee came into the meeting was described as “adversarial.”  After hearing their description and how upset my friend was at what happened at their relative’s church I now have a lot more respect for Mr. McCarty’s account.

But I want to close with a sign of hope.  While some may debate if this news account can be looked at as a positive outcome from all aspects, at least if you want to look at the total number of people in the pews this is a win-win situation.  (And yes, I realize that there is a lot of painful history leading up to this point.) (Update: Michael McCarty has posted a discussion of this painful history at Londonderry and some info with slightly different numbers for membership and worshipers.)

The Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, Mass., has a story titled “Divided Congregation Flourishes as Two New Groups.”  It is about the Londonderry Presbyterian Church which divided in 2007.  The article relates that at that time there were 375 members of the congregation.  A large group left the church and founded the Orchard Christian Fellowship in the EPC.  In the nearly two years since the split the continuing PC(USA) congregation has grown from 39 to 224 members.  The EPC congregation has also flourished and now numbers 450 members.  Doing the math, what was a congregation of 375 is now two respectable churches with a combined membership of about 675, a number approaching double the original size. (1.82 times larger to be precise.)

Is there a lesson in here about finding ways to get past our controversies quickly for the sake of the Gospel?  I do realize some may only see the true Gospel or True Church in one or the other of these churches.  But maybe both sides can see the outcome as beneficial for them if they realize that getting the division done quickly, while it may not be the best display of Christian unity, at least sends a better message than long, drawn out court battles.  And maybe both sides would view it as “pruning,” but this particular example seems to suggest that getting the division out of the way lets a congregation get on with their life and better focus on the mission of the church.

Just some thoughts, but I was intrigued by the Londonderry example.  And yes, I realize that it is not so easy to just say “you go your way and I’ll go mine” because there is the children property to think of.  But it does provide something to think about.

And speaking of mission, I’ll return later with a look at the newly adopted EPC view of a missional church.

Seeing Double — Recent Developments in the U.S. Anglican/Episcopal Church

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Yes, this is still a Presbyterian blog and I don’t plan on regularly covering the Anglican and U.S. Episcopal church.  But I do drift off in that direction on occasion, like now, when the developments either (1) intersect with Presbyterian politics, or (2) are interesting to a polity wonk or GA Junkie.  Both cases are true at the moment.

The major news with significant implications for hierarchical churches in the United States, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is that the St. James Church case from California has now been officially appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.  This has been reported by Anglican Mainstream, Stand Firm, and VirtueOnline.  But as usual, if you want a detailed analysis you look to the Anglican Curmudgeon.  He has started a series of posts on the Constitutional arguments why the Court should over turn the California Supreme Court Decision on First Amendment Establishment Clause issues.  From the petition to the Court for review he quotes one of the arguments:

I. The California Supreme Court Has, By “Legislative Fiat,” Empowered Self-Proclaimed Hierarchical Churches to Unilaterally Create Trust Interests For Themselves in the Property of Affiliated Local Church Corporations, Impermissibly Preferring Hierarchical Religion and Infringing on the Free Exercise Rights of Local Congregations.

Now I need to think this through a bit more myself, and the root of this case is a specific section in the California Corporate Code that applies only to hierarchical churches, based on the 1979 Supreme Court decision setting forth “neutral principles.”  I do wonder if there is a logical conclusion if generalized further — If under the establishment clause the state can not make or enforce laws that relate to the hierarchical church being able to govern a congregation without that congregation’s explicit consent, then does it effectively reduce all congregations to being able to opt-out effectively reducing the denomination to a congregationalist government.  Again, I will say that I am thinking generally about something that, if accepted by the court, will be tried on very specific merits and that has gotten me in trouble before.

(In an interesting related case there is a brand new state appeals court decision that affirms that the Assemblies of God church is a hierarchical denomination.)

A second news item related to the PC(USA) is that the Episcopal Church will vote at its General Convention in two weeks on an agreement for full communion with the Moravian Church. A similar agreement with the Moravian Church was agreed to by the last PC(USA) General Assembly and affirmed by the vote of the presbyteries.  In reading Mark Harris’s endorsement of the Episcopal-Moravian agreement I also learned that the Episcopal Church has a full communion agreement with the ELCA, again like the PC(USA).

(Another aside – while the PCA may have had their General Assembly at the second “Happiest Place on Earth®,” Orlando, Florida, the Episcopal Church will have their Convention at the first “Happiest Place on Earth®,” Anaheim, California.  (And yes, the phrase is a registered trademark of the Mouse House.))

Now, in case you missed it, the big news coming from the Anglican/Episcopal branches in North America is the establishment this week of the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).  This church is intended to be a parallel church to the Episcopal Church in the U.S. and the Anglican Church of Canada but with a conservative stance.  The inaugural assembly in Bedford, Texas, had all the attendant pomp and ceremony including the installation of an archbishop for this new province of the Worldwide Anglican Communion.  The problem is of course that while it has been recognized by several other Provinces, mostly in the southern hemisphere, it has not been recognized yet by the whole communion and certainly not by the currently existing provinces on these shores.  But, in one ecumenical relationship the ACNA was recognized by the leader of the Orthodox Church in America.  Another endorsement of the new province came from the Rev. Rick Warren who addressed the Assembly last Tuesday Morning.  To say “This could get interesting” would be an understatement.

And finally, the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin in California gives us our polity question of the week — If the vote of a diocesan convention is necessary to elect a bishop but that convention does not have a quorum what do you do?  Specifically, on March 29, 2008, 21 clergy were present at the meeting and 61 were absent.  Under the church canons a quorum for such a meeting is one-third plus one or 28.  The bishop’s answer was to go ahead and have the convention elect him, then depose the 61 who did not show up, sort of giving a retroactive quorum.  I have simplified this a great deal, but the situation is very real and plays into the California trial court case concerning the situation of property when not just a congregation but a significant portion of the diocese chooses to leave a denomination together.  As always, check out the Anglican Curmudgeon for the details and keep watching the news to see what the civil courts do with this.

The 29th General Assembly Of The Evangelical Presbyterian Church — Upcoming Next Week

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The 29th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (in the U.S.A.) will convene in Brighton, Michigan this Wednesday June 24 and run through Saturday June 27.  For those following the GA these resources might be useful:

TE Nate Atwood (bio as Word doc) will be installed as the Moderator of the General Assembly when the meeting convenes and RE Rob Liddon (bio as Word doc) will be installed as the Moderator-elect at the conclusion of the Assembly, presuming neither committee nominee is successfully challenged..

Some of the important reports to watch for include a recommended definition of a “missional church” and a proposed Preliminary Position Paper on the Doctrine of Scripture in the Permanent Theology Committee report.  In addition, a referred overture from the last GA concerning creating the position of Co-pastors is being returned with a recommendation to approve from the Theology Committee but the recommendation to not approve from Ministerial Vocation Committee.  The Theology Committee gives no rational for approval but in their recommendation against the Ministerial Vocation Committee gives five arguments against which includes “The need for clearly identified leadership.”  For some of the other business and activities you can check out the GA Preview.

I have not seen anyone mention official Twitter messages or a hashtag.  Following this year’s trend a hashtag would be something like #epcga or #epcga09.  I will update here if either of these happen.
UPDATE:  In checking Twitter it appears that the hashtag people are using is #pcaga29.  Just when you think you have it figured out…

Overtures
There are four overtures for the Assembly to consider:

Overture 09-A from the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic requests that the EPC develop a position paper “setting forth the denomination’s beliefs and position regarding stem cells, the human embryo, and related questions of bioethics and human life.”  This was prompted by the recent Presidential Executive Order changing federal policy on funding stem cell research.

Overture 09-B also from the Presbytery of the Mid-Atlantic cites five examples from the Book of Order where they believe that the document is not clear and asks “the Moderator to appoint a committee to review the Book of Order with the input of the Stated Clerks of all presbyteries for the purpose of identifying terms, sentences, paragraphs, and/or sections which are not clear and/or may cause confusion when applied.”  It also asks that the review committee recommend appropriate revisions.

Overture 09-C from the Presbytery of the Midwest requests a change to the Book of Discipline which strikes me as possibly resulting from a recent experience.  Briefly, it would change the rules in a disciplinary case so that if the officer renounces jurisdiction before judgment is rendered the court would no longer need the individual’s permission to conclude the case and render judgment if “it is necessary for the purity of the church or the benefit of the offender.”  The condition of the offender’s approval was previously added in response to a state court decision in a case in another denomination and they point out that each governing body should determine the appropriate course of action based on their own state laws.

Overture 09-D from the Presbytery of Mid-America requests that it be allowed to form two affinity presbyteries, one permitting the ordination of women as teaching elders and the other not.  However, the Permanent Judicial Commission has ruled that this is not a request that the General Assembly can act upon but their interpretation of the Book of Order is that it would require amending the Book of Order.  Polity wonks would enjoy reading the basis for this ruling in the PJC Report.  Their first point about a presbytery having jurisdiction in a geographic area and whether two affinity presbyteries represent 1) Two presbyteries, 2) One presbytery with split jurisdiction or 3) Three presbyteries – the two affinity presbyteries plus the “mother” presbytery – is a well presented polity dilemma.

The Assembly will first have an opportunity to uphold this decision and if it wishes to not concur it may then move on to the overture as presented.  My read of the PJC decision is that they are on firm polity ground and the EPC will need to reason through how the diversity of opinions on the ordination of women as teaching elders should be handled.

This is a great segue to my next topic…

The EPC and the PC(USA)
When I discussed the PC(USA) 2008 membership numbers a couple of days ago I noted that for the PC(USA) the loss of ten churches and about 8000 members to the EPC in 2008 was a minor fraction of the total net loss of 69 churches and a bit more than 69.000 members.  The losses alone, not net, from the PC(USA) not counting deaths were close to 139,000 members.  The PC(USA) has other larger avenues of loss than churches realigning with the EPC.

But the EPC Statistical Report is fascinating reading and the same is not true for the EPC.  The EPC grew from 207 to 247 churches between 2007 and 2008, an increase of 19% and it grew from 77,482 to 92,864 members, an increase of  20%.  Most of this growth was in the transitional presbyteries, including the New Wineskins Transitional Presbytery.  The total churches in transitional presbyteries grew from 17 to 36 and membership from 8014 to 19,178.  In all, the 36 churches in the New Wines
kins Presbytery represent 15% of all the EPC churches.  And looking through the list several churches were accepted directly into other geographic presbyteries.  Clearly the substantial growth in the EPC can be tied to churches realigning from the PC(USA).

Now, in case you are asking – if the PC(USA) only had 10 churches realign in 2008 according to the Layman’s list what about the other 30?  Two reasons:  The first is that the Layman’s list is not always clear when the church gets dismissed or unilaterally departs.  So there is some uncertainty in the numbers regarding which year to count.  But the explanation in many cases is the fact that 27 churches with about 16,000 members departed the PU(USA) for the EPC in 2007 but many were received by the EPC in 2008.  At some point I’ll find time to reconcile the two lists but a summary comparison makes clear that those listed on the departing list eventually appear on the EPC list.

Anyway, the bottom line is that while the departure of churches for the EPC is a disturbing but small part of the membership drop for the PC(USA), it is a major issue for the EPC.  Like it or not, the EPC is being PC(USA)-ized.  The clear implication for the EPC is the influx of churches with ordained women.  (Although, as I looked at it several months ago I found that very few of the churches had women as teaching elders so it is not as pressing for the denomination as it may at first seem.) I’ll take up the question of other transfers of PC(USA) culture another time.

From the PC(USA) side there has been extensive discussion, administrative commissions, civil law suits over the property, and judicial commission reviews of what has been happening.  I won’t cover that ground again here, but I do want to mention one other issue and that is the charge that the EPC is actively recruiting PC(USA) churches.

It needs to be pointed out that the EPC has on the front page of their web site a link to information for churches thinking of joining the EPC.  That combined with a perception in some presbyteries that the EPC was making inappropriate contact with churches thinking of leaving the PC(USA) led Peace River Presbytery to send an overture to the last General Assembly.  The overture asked for an investigation and action regarding the EPC actions by the Executive Office of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.  Instead, the GA committee recommended and the General Assembly approved a referral to the PC(USA) Committee on Ecumenical Relations.  Their investigation is in progress now but not without controversy.  Viola Larson talks about missing a meeting with the representatives of the investigating team because the meeting was not widely announced and posted on the presbytery’s web calendar with very short notice (and if you read the comments to her post others checked cached copies of the calender that suggest it was actually posted after the meeting).  On the PC(USA) end we will have to see how this investigation develops.

On the EPC end the influx of PC(USA) churches puts stress on geographic presbyteries that do not ordain women.  The EPC does not consider whether or not to ordination of women as an essential of the Reformed faith so it is left up to the appropriate governing body.  (For more on that check out their position paper.)  To accommodate ordained women is one of the reasons for the transitional presbyteries.  But the transitional presbyteries are intended to be transitional and disappear in a few years and then have the churches move into the geographic presbyteries.  What then?

As mentioned above, Overture 09-D is one approach that the Presbytery of Mid-America would like to try.  The EPC will be struggling with that at this meeting.  And remember that back in February the Presbytery of the East approved new guidelines for the ordination of women.  The EPC is showing a movement in that direction.  We will have to see what else the former-PC(USA) churches bring into this branch of American Presbyterianism.

I will update as I find more sources of information on the EPC GA.

Honor To Whom Honor Is Due

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As my readers probably know I occasionally drift into the realm of civil politics when something happens that really hits my Reformed theology button, usually when it has to do with Total Depravity.  Well as you are probably aware U.S. Senator John Ensign admitted this week to an inappropriate sexual relationship.  On the one hand it is easy to attach the label of hypocrite to him after he has previously condemned the inappropriate sexual activities of President Clinton and the alleged sexual improprieties of U.S. Senator Larry Craig.  This label is further boosted by his activities with the Promise Keepers para-church organization.

I have not followed this particular story very closely, I have had better things to do with my time this week.  I mostly know what I found in the headlines as I really don’t care who he was fooling around with when.  It is generally enough to know that once again a politician has confirmed the Reformed doctrine of Total Depravity.  That is old news.  But after reading the piece on GetReligion I thought I would riff on a couple of their points.

First, one of the major criticisms of the Promise Keepers movement from the Reformed angle is that their theological approach does not take into account the doctrine of Total Depravity.  Some see their teaching as “repent and now be good by keeping these seven promises.”  That may be a major simplification of their message but as the GetReligion piece points out and I have seen myself there is an emphasis on confession and repentance in Promise Keepers.  Concern comes when men have trouble keeping the promises and fell like they have failed.  While the doctrine of Total Depravity does not excuse this it does account for it.  However, Promise Keepers and the Reformed approach to discipline are both based on repentance and restoration.  The news to me in the GetReligion piece was that Sen. Ensign appears to have publicly confessed under the weight of his conscience not under the threat of exposure.  Sure, you can attach political motives to it if you like, but it appears he attached the political consequences himself by resigning his Senate leadership position.

I will leave it at that but the GetReligion piece brings out a lot of good, subtle and positive details to the story and Sen. Ensign’s accountability from the religion perspective that not every news source would include.

On to one of his Senate colleagues and “status.”

In preface it is probably useful for me to point out that one of the reasons this really grated on me is because I am not one to stand on formality.  Yes, I could attach some letters to the end of my name or titles at the beginning but almost never do.  I am grateful when in an appropriate situation someone acknowledges me as “Mr. Moderator” or another title suitable to the setting, which sometimes is “Coach Steve” or “Hey Ref.”  But I have numerous stories about comments people have made when they have discovered my academic credentials and reacted with surprise.  One of my favorite that has happened multiple times is “You have a degree from that school?  You are the most normal person I have met from there.”  I like the cliché “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”  The bottom line is that the title is a means not an end.  (Addendum:  I’m not perfect at this.  Right after posting this whole reflection I went and non-verbally “asserted” my numerical position in an airline boarding queue.)

With that background I turn to the junior U.S. Senator from my state, the Honorable Barbara Boxer.  You may have caught this exchange preserved for us on YouTube.  In this clip from a Senate hearing she is questioning Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh.  Gen. Walsh is responding in a very courteous, professional and military tone and addressing her as “ma’am.”  It is not technically correct, and Senator Boxer lets him know by asking him to address her as Senator.  OK, I guess that is her right, that is the title of the office she holds, and that by itself does not really bother me.  What really got me was the Senator’s next sentence: “I worked so hard to get that title.”  She has now moved from the office to the person possessing the office.  (The really funny part is that the General responds with “Yes ma’am.” and then catches himself and starts addressing her as “Senator” the next time around.)

One take is that we have here the “self-made woman,” someone displaying the Protestant work ethic.  Look where I got myself!  It kind of ignores the thousands of people who have worked on campaigns for her.

But on another level we have the religious dimension.  Numerous comments could be made.  As my post title implies there is the “honor to whom honor is due.”  But there is also the it is legal but is it beneficial angle.  The last shall be first and the first shall be last.  They who are least in the Kingdom shall be the greatest.  Glory is not something to be grasp.  But since Senator Boxer self-identifies as being Jewish I will leave you with a passage from the Torah, Deut. 8:12-14:

When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your G_d, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,

PC(USA) Releases 2008 Membership Statistics

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Today the Office of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) released the general membership statistics for 2008.  There  is the full table of membership numbers and financial information, a table that breaks out the financial information, and a table of miscellaneous information, like the largest presbyteries and racial ethnic breakdown.

In addition there is a statement from the Stated Clerk, Gradye Parsons, another from the Director of Racial Ethnic and Women’s Ministries Rhashell Hunter, and one from the Director of Evangelism and Church Growth Eric Hoey.

I expect that we will have to wait a bit longer for the presbytery breakdowns on the Comparative Statistics site.

First the numbers:
Membership declined from 2,209,546 at the end of 2007 to 2,140,165 at the end of 2008.  That is a net decline of 69,381 members or 3.1%.  This is slightly higher than the 2.5% loss in 2007.

Gains by profession or reaffirmation of faith were 64,701.  Gains by certificate transfers were 28,691. And gains by other means were 10,136.  All of those categories showed a decrease from their 2007 numbers.

The church transferred 34,101 members from the Church Militant to the Church Triumphant (i.e. deaths), and transfered 34,340 members to other denominations that we are in communication with by certificated transfer.  An additional 104,428 were simply removed from the rolls.  And every one of these values was higher than in 2007.

The denomination had a net loss of 69 churches, or 0.64%, decreasing from 10,820 to 10,751.  And the denomination had a net loss of ministers of 82, or 0.38%, from 21,368 to 21,286.  The number of ministers per church stayed about even at 1.97 in 2007 and 1.98 in 2008.  The average number of members per church declined from 204.2 in 2007 to 199.1 in 2008.

In the financial numbers the contributions declined slightly from $2.162 billion to $2.137 billion, a decrease of $24 million or 1.1%.  However, on a per-member basis the giving rose from $978.54 to $998.94.  A ray of hope in though economic times.

The other significant improvement is highlighted by the Rev. Rhashell Hunter where she points out that racial ethnic membership has risen from 4.7% in 1998 to 7.5% in 2008.  Not the hoped for 10% but still a significant improvement.

Now, the reality check:  For those that are looking for an easy answer to the decline by saying that churches are moving to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church take a close look at the numbers.  From the Layman’s chart I count at most 10 churches and about 8,000 members that have left the PC(USA) in 2008 to find a better theological fit.  Interestingly the just-released 2008 statistics show 25 churches transferred in 2008 and 65 dissolved.  That leaves 59 churches and 130,768 members who left under other circumstances.  While theological differences may be one cause for membership decline the numbers don’t show a mass exodus to a sister denomination.  In fact in his piece Gradye Parsons correctly points out that people tend to drift away from the church.  That is where the PC(USA) must concentrate to stop the membership loss.

Now, down off soap box and on to other things.

The 37th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church In America — Moving From Committee To Plenary

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The 37th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America began yesterday with their committee work and will continue with seminars and committee meetings most of today with the opening plenary session this evening.  They will be meeting all this week (June 15-19) in Orlando, Florida.

If you are following the GA you probably already know about these resources, but I will list them just in case:

Unfortunately there is no webcasting this year but there is a very active community on Twitter using the hashtag #pcaga. (Editorial note – I like the use of a hashtag that is not specific to a particular year so it can be continuing and reusable.  This does presume that Twitter will still be useful a year from now.)

Leading up to the Assembly there have been some good blog posts.  In particular I would point out Kevin Carroll’s post on “A Newbie’s Survival Guide To General Assembly” on Reformed and Loving It.  There is also an interesting “preview” article by Ed Eubanks, Jr., on General Assembly 2009 — Hopes and Expectations.

Overtures
The Overtures Page shows that there are now 22 overtures to the Assembly.  In my last post reviewing the overtures I left off at No. 15.  Of the remaining seven, six deal with new presbyteries or revising presbytery boundaries; and several of those are concurring with overtures already discussed.  The one additional overture, Overture 18, is titled “A Declaration Concerning Homosexuals In The Military.”  (byFaith news article) In this overture Eastern Pennsylvania Presbytery asks to have the Declaration endorsed and delivered to the President by the Moderator.  The Declaration lays out the Biblical prohibitions on homosexual behavior and asks that the Government observe scriptural morality and not normalize homosexual behavior in the military.

For many of the overtures the Assembly will be considering I would commend two blogs to you.  In each case these writers have taken the individual overtures and discussed them in greater detail than I have had the opportunity to do.  The first is Jordan Mark Siverd who writes necdum videmus.  He has written on Overtures 3, 6, and 7.  And Kevin Carroll also did a great job discussing most of the overtures with articles about Overtures 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21, and 22. (I hope I caught them all.  Apologies if I missed any.)

From the PCAbyFaith Twitter feed, and one news article, we do have information from yesterday’s meeting of the Bills and Overtures Committee about the committee’s recommended action on some of these overtures:

  • Overture 1 on Removal of Censure to answer in the affirmative as amended
  • Overture 2 on RAO debate of minority reports to answer in the affirmative
  • Overture 3 on Assumption of Original Jurisdiction to answer in the negative
  • Overture 4 on Adding “Interim Pastor” to answer in the negative
  • Overture 5 on Study Committee on the Role of Women to answer by Overture 10
  • Overture 6 on Marriage to answer in the negative
  • Overture 8 on Examination of Men from other Denominations be answered in the negative (reported vote 37-33 with 3 abstain)
  • Overture 9 on Judged differences from Confessional Standards for Men From other Denomination answer in the affirmative
  • Overture 10 (and 5) on Role of Women answer in the negative.  News Story.  May be minority report
  • Overture 13 on Adopt Danvers Statement answer in the negative
  • Overture 14 on Giving Notice on Intention to Withdraw answer in the negative
  • Overture 15 on Directing Philadelphia Presbyter to Adopt Specified Policy on Role of Women ruled out of order by Clerk and Overtures Committee
  • Overture 18 on Declaration on Homosexuals in the Milty answer in the negative.

And now we see what is the will of the full Assembly.

So I will be following by Twitter, blogs and news as best as I can.  I don’t anticipate any regular updates since I have some ecclesiastical functions that will be keeping me highly occupied the next few days.  But I will comment briefly if news warrants.

135th General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Canada — Summary And Comments

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How can a GA Junkie not love a General Assembly with its own soundtrack…

For the 135th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada held this past week in Hamilton, Ontario, they introduced the CD Some Assembly Required – Songs about General Assembly by the Rev. Angus Sutherland.  They have been kind enough to post two tracks on-line.  The first, “The Clerk’s Rant” will bring a smile to any GA Junkie’s face as the singer raps on parliamentary procedure in a very appropriate tone, and the back-up singers provide a chorus with the delicious double entendre “wrap/rap it up Mr. Clerk, wrap/rap it up.”  The second is an Elvis-ish number titled “First Time Commissioner at the General Assembly Blues.”  I suspect that the name is self-explanatory.  For more info check out the Presbyterian Record page, and it is listed as available through the denomination’s book store, The Book Room.  (I don’t see a listing yet.)  Cost is CA$15 and proceeds go to Presbyterian World Service and Development.

On the General Assembly page you can find a nice photo gallery of the Assembly, and at the bottom of the page the GA 2009 News articles including the Daily Digest.  Minutes of each sederunt as well as the reports are available on the Documents Page.  There was a nice set of official Twitter messages (around 175 total), mostly posted by Matt Donnelly and some others chimed in on the hashtag #pccga09.  The Communications Office also had the Twitter messages with #pccga09 fed to a webpage using an application from Cover It Live.  The live feed was useful, especially for us who would just keep it in the corner of our screen and not want to keep reloading it.  While the coverage did not include webcasting audio or video the Twitter conversation went a long way in helping us feel like we knew what was going on.

There were 129 clergy commissioners and 121 elder commissioners at the Assembly, a number that was comfortably seated around round tables in the Assembly hall.  However, the opening worship and business were held at near-by Regent University College.  Following worship the Rev. A. Harvey Self, pastor of Tweedsmuir Memorial Presbyterian Church in Orangeville, Ontario, the selection committee’s nominee, was elected Moderator of the Assembly.  In his comments the Rev. Self described his upbringing as the son of a military chaplain and his intent to highlight the work of the chaplains in his moderatorial year.

The first full day of the Assembly was a Briefing Day where the commissioners have the opportunity to hear information about the reports they would be discussing later in the week.  That evening there was the traditional banquet that provided a time of fellowship and socializing before the full business sessions started.

Tuesday’s business sessions had a heavy emphasis on military chaplains with the presentation by the Rev. Dr. Brig. Gen. David Kettle who talked about chaplains as “agents of grace, offering a human face in inhuman situations.”  There was also a presentation on the Emmaus Project: Open Eyes, Burning Hearts that is planning an event for presbyteries next spring to help “refresh, renew and transform” presbyteries.  At the luncheon the E. H. Johnson Award was presented to His Excellency Archbishop Elias Chacour.  He spoke on the plight of Palestinians in the Middle East.  From the Twitter messages about his 30 minute speech I recognized several of the lines from the sermon he preached at the last PC(USA) GA.

Thursday marked the first anniversary of the Government of Canada’s Apology to
Aboriginal people for residential school legacy as well as the fifteenth
anniversary of the PCC’s Confession to residential school survivors. The day included a
“special program of reflection” to commemorate these anniversaries and continue the healing and reconciliation necessary.

In terms of polity business it is interesting to compare the personal reflection of a Young Adult Representative via the Presbyterian Record and a brief post from a church about the meeting.  Both highlight the discussion over Lay Missionaries and whether they should be authorized to celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  As Allyssa de Bruijn, the YAR, describes it the session had a spirited debate with motions, counter motions, and amendments with the result being that motion was referred back to committee for further study.  (For the record, this sounds like the PC(USA) Commissioned Lay Pastor position who may celebrate the Lord’s Supper if they are already an elder, trained to do so, and authorized by the presbytery.)

The other issue mentioned by Central Presbyterian Church, Vancouver, was the salary/stipend structure for National Employees on which a compromised was reached.

I found it interesting looking through the minutes and seeing the dispositions of the various overtures from presbyteries.  They are broken into two groups, overtures 1-9 which are referred immediately and overtures 10-18 which where sent to the full assembly and then most of them were referred.  While there are many interesting issues raised in the overtures I will highlight just two.  The first is overture 12 from the Presbytery of Prince Edward Island which asked to have the days of assembly changed to include a weekend to make it easier for elders to attend.  I personally am always interested in how we structure our business to best encourage elders to be a part of the process, especially younger elders who already have many demands on their time.  The Assembly adopted the recommendation of the Bills and Overtures Committee to refer it to the Assembly Council in consultation with the Clerks of Assembly.

As far as I can tell from the minutes the one overture to be directly decided by the Assembly was overture 16 concerning the definition of marriage.  It is also the only piece of business I saw with the possibility of being sent to the presbyteries for concurrence.  Specifically, the Session of St. Andrew’s, Ottawa, overtured the General Assembly:

[The Session] humbly overtures the Venerable, the 135th General Assembly, praying that the General Assembly make and ordain the following Declaratory Act, after remitting the same to the presbyteries:

1. Our understanding of the rite of marriage is the solemnization before Almighty God of the vows of commitment and loyalty of two persons, the one for the other, for the duration of their lives and to the exclusion of all others;
2. The subordinate standards of this church are to be interpreted in the light of this principle;
3. Ministers of Word and Sacrament may for reasons of religious understanding decline to solemnize a marriage;

And that on the website of The Presbyterian Church in Canada, those passages of the Westminster Confession and Living Faith that are contrary to the wording herein, in particular Chapter 24, Parts I and III of the Westminster Confession, each contain a footnote referring to the adoption of this Act, or to do otherwise as the General Assembly, in its wisdom, may deem best.

The overture was transmitted by the Presbytery of Ottawa without comment.  The Committee on Bills and Overtures recommended referral to the Committee on Church Doctrine in consultation with the Clerks of Assembly.  There was an amendment from the floor to also refer to Justice Ministries which was defeated.  The recommendation was amended from the floor to not receive the overture.  The Twitter posting is brief and I have found no other source about this action, but the Assembly agreed and the overture was not received.  There was clearly some strong feelings on this overture since 39 commissioners asked to have their dissents recorded in the minutes, including that by M.W. Gedcke who asked that his dissent be recorded with the following reason given:

Overture No. 16 raises important issues in regards to marriage that our church needs to discuss and seek God’s guidance in our discernment and decision making.

While similar issues have been discussed at other Presbyterian GA’s what I found interesting about this overture is the added wording to footnote the subordinate standards regarding this decision.  I am not aware of other branches considering the annotation of their confessional standards in accord with such a change in polity.

Finally, the Assembly considered switching to biennial meetings.  At the present time the Assembly Council has been undertaking a study and has produced several  benefits and recommendations if biennial meetings are adopted.   It appears that with the adoption of the Assembly Council report the issue will be sent out to the presbyteries for discussion.

Finally, a comment on following an Assembly as a GA Junkie.  This GA had no webcast but daily updates and a nice Twitter feed.  In addition there were a few more tweets from people both present at the GA and following at a distance, who commented using the hashtag.  What I have decided is that the webcast gives you the details, the twitter feed give you the play-by-play and maybe some colour commentary, but being present for the GA gives you the nuance and the “flavor” of the event.  The contrast in the Twitter feeds has been interesting this year for the three GA’s with a major twitter presence.  Now on the #pcaga starting to ramp up today.

About One In Ten Thousand Presbyterians A Presbyterian Blogger

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OK, I had a long commute home yesterday — an L.A. “get away Friday” and all that.  And as I was thinking about my quest for sources for perspectives on the General Assemblies or Synods of some of the smaller Presbyterian branches I began to wonder how many I should be looking for.  I did a quick back of the envelope calculation and my conclusion is:

Roughly one in every 10,000 Presbyterians blogs on Presbyterian matters.

Beyond this it also appears that there are about the same number of institutional blogs from churches, governing bodies, or affiliated organizations.

Now this is a rough estimate and not very scientific.  If you want evidence of that I rushed to Wikipedia for the membership numbers.

And if you want to do this scientifically you would have to decide matters such as:  Does BRC get counted one, two, or three times?  Does a church or organization blog get counted as institutional if it is predominantly written by one individual?  Does an institutional blog count if it is mostly just news and not reflection?

So here is my initial back-of-the-envelope calculation.  The PC(USA) lists 2.2 million members.  Presbyterian Bloggers lists 144 “Members of our Community.”  Beyond that I have about 42 more blogs on my feed reader not in their list.  That brings the total to 186.  Knowing that there are several more blogs that I don’t follow it strikes me that a number in the 225 to 250 range is probably about right.  Hey, I said this was back of the envelope.  It’s got to be close to an order of magnitude.  So 220 blogs for 2.2 million members is one for every 10,000.

How does this hold up in other branches?  A quick check of the OPC gives a membership of about 29.000 and I can identify three individual and three church blogs.  I’m probably missing a couple individuals so it is a bit better than the 1:10,000, but still order of magnitude close.  How about the PCA?  Membership – 346,000.  I can identify 41 blogs by individuals and I’m probably missing a few, but it still appears closer to 1:10,000 than 2:10,000.  The ARP?  It looks like 30,000 members and three individuals blogging as well as three churches.  For the EPC they are listed as having 85,000 members and I read the blogs of four individuals.  A search only turned up a couple more so this appears to be a case where the estimate is ballpark but over estimates.  Or I need to look harder.

Moving outside the US the numbers, or my ability to find the blogs, drop off.  For instance, for the Presbyterian Church in Canada I can only find a couple of blogs by individuals for a church of 120,000 members.  Again, for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland I can again only find a couple of blogs for a church of 300,000.  I don’t think I am missing the other 28 if the ratio holds.  For the Church of Scotland I follow 18 and there are probably a few more, but still for a church of 500,000 it still seems short of the 50 expected blogs.

So does this serve a purpose?  For me as a researcher it does.  Coming from the field of seismology we have several empirical mathematical relationships that tell us how many earthquakes to expect in particular situations.  We use them for calculating earthquake hazard and seeing if we are “short” of earthquakes and so should expect the earth to catch up.  In this case I now have an empirical relationship that tells me about how many bloggers to expect in a denomination.  If I’m short, as in the EPC, maybe I should be checking around for a few more that I am missing.  If I’m on the number, like the ARP, I’ll keep my eyes open for more, but won’t put excessive effort into “finding the one lost blogger.”  And for social scientists and “new media” people out there maybe this tells you something.  And hey, if I messed something up here I’m sure you’ll let me know.

Thoughts from the mind of a research scientist.  Your mileage may vary.

General Synod of the Reformed Church In America Adopts The Belhar Confession

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Earlier this week the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America, by a vote of 166-65, adopted the Belhar Confession for inclusion as a confessional standard along side the historic Belgic Confession, Heidelberg Catechism and Canons of Dort and the historic Nicene, Apostles, and Athanasian Creeds.  It will now require the concurrence of two-thirds of their local bodies, the classes.

The PC(USA), which is currently studying the adoption of the Belhar Confession, is a “collector” of confessions and writer of new ones so their acceptance of the Belhar would not be as unusual.  For the RCA, if the classes concur, this would be the first new document in their standards in almost 400 years since the 1619 Canons of Dort.

The RCA has an official story on the Synod action and the blog Embarking has a great two-part rundown on the points made in the Synod debate (Part 1, Part 2). There is a good story about the debate and the Synod action from mlive.com.  I did puzzle at one paragraph where they say

One of the Belhar’s authors last year claimed in a report on
homosexuality to the Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa that
the confession supports gays in church. Though the South African church
dispelled that idea, the concern remains.

What I found interesting was the vague reference to “One of the Belhar’s authors…”  I am still trying to figure out why the author did not just name the Rev. Allan Boesak as the author.  Was the story written too quickly and it could not be researched?  Did they not think the information relevant?  Was it not essential to the story?  I don’t know, but for more on Allan Boesak, his roll in the Belhar Confession, and where his thinking is now you can check out a post by Dr. Richard Mouw on his blog.

So we will see whether the classes agree and the Belhar is adopted by the RCA.  And it will be interesting if their debate and process will be a factor in any way in the PC(USA) process.

General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland 2009 — Summary and Comments

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The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland concluded last Wednesday evening.  I was disappointed that the webcasting was discontinued before the concluding worship service because I found the opening worship moving and inspirational.  (Deepest thanks to Alan at Alan in Belfast for alerting me to the BBC Ulster broadcast of the opening worship.)

At the opening worship the outgoing Moderator, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Donald Patton, preached on Philippians 2:1-11 and talked about his time as Moderator and the theme of “Journeying” — how Jesus journeyed by “emptying himself,” being “born in human likeness,” and being “obedient to death – even death on a cross” as the scripture passage talks about.  In his sermon he identified some renewed sectarian violence in Northern Ireland as a threat the church must address and not let get out of hand.  He also commented on the implications of the Presbyterian Mutual Society situation for members of the church that have money now “locked up” in the Society.  And in the sermon, and throughout the Assembly, blame for the run on the Society was placed with the British Government when they increased the guarantee on banks and other financial institutions but not on the Mutual Society leading people to move money to safer locations.

One of the joys of having the audio or video webcast of GA worship is the opportunity to hear hymns not usually used in my regular circles.  For the opening worship the singing was full, the music and musicians inspiring, the musical arrangement and orchestration uplifting, and the selection complimented the worship very well.  In particular, I found the singing of “There is a Higher Throne” by Keith and Kristyn Getty as a response to the time remembering the 12 ministers that have gone on to their heavenly reward in the past year a very moving moment.  (I was also interested to hear from the radio host that Keith Getty has served as the musical director for Assembly worship in the past.  And you have to love the radio host saying that “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” is one of his favorite hymns but he desisted from singing along.)

Following worship the new Moderator, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Stafford Carson was formally appointed by the Assembly, introduced and installed.  The PCI Twitter messages said that during the opening worship Rev.
Carson was outside talking to those protesting the Mutual Society
situation and lack of church response.  For his installation he was escorted into the Assembly hall by all the former moderators in attendance.

Acknowledging the controversy of this Assembly, Mr. Carson in his opening comments referred to the situation with the Presbyterian Mutual Society and how it relates to his theme for the Assembly and the coming year: “Passion for Christ; Compassion for People.”  He noted how the crisis had touched people in every congregation.  How their cry for help had been heard.  How it called for a uniquely Christian response.  He talked about the threat to the unity of the church:

It is this awful situation that the Presbyterian Mutual Society unfolds some of us are fearful that as a church our unity is under serious threat.  That what Satan has failed to achieve through arguments about theology or about ecclesiology he now seeks to achieve through this financial crisis.  He wants to divide us.  He wants to neutralize our effectiveness as a witness to Christ in this community.  And that is why we need to resolve that however this situation develops we will support and love and care for each other.  Make no mistake about it, we are all in this together. (applause)

The references to the work of Satan, while scriptural, strike me as a bit strong for a Presbyterian preacher and probably in some part reflect Mr. Carson’s pentecostal upbringing.  William Crawley at Will and Testament talks a bit about this statement and some of the theological implications, such as whether the protesters are “unwitting pawns in the Devil’s plan to disturb the unity of the Presbyterian Church?”  

William Crawley also notes that there was a second much smaller protest outside addressing the new Moderator’s expressed opinion against the ordination of women as clergy.

Throughout the Assembly it was hard to miss the implications of the Mutual Society collapse.  During the Mission In Ireland report it was noted how the Mutual Society collapse hastened the decline and demise of the Sankill Road Mission.  The United Appeal Board noted how giving to local churches for the United Appeal had been placed in the Society until forwarded on to the Board and were now lost or tied up.  (They also noted that this practice of placing it in an investment account while a common practice was against the policy for the handling of the United Appeal funds.)  And throughout the Assembly there were other stories of what “could have been” if funds invested with the Society were available.

Tuesday afternoon’s debate on the Presbyterian Mutual Society was orderly if passionate.  Many of the leaders of the church shared that they and their churches were also heavily invested in the Society and had their money tied up.  The debate was opened by reminding the commissioners that the debate was not legally privileged and that statements made in the discussion could be used in future litigation so be careful what anyone says.  While there were lots of reports of the many individuals and churches that have been affected by the crisis easy answers were not forthcoming.  The PCI and the Society, while affiliated are legally separate entities.  But there were still protests that the church had promoted investing in the Society for the good of the church and that the investments were presented as lower risk than they actually were.  In the end the Assembly expressed concern for all those impacted by the situation and agreed to continue their aggressive efforts to have the British Government guarantee the Society as they have done for almost every other financial institution.  In addition, a committee will look into the theological and moral implications of the situation.  William Crawley has his report on the Society debate as well.

[There have been some developments in the last few days in this situation including a preliminary mild admission of regulatory problems in this situation.  And there is discussion if this is a matter for the British or Northern Ireland government.  But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s comments about his “Presbyterian conscience” at the time of the Assembly, in regards to an unrelated issue of MP expense reimbursements, has not generally gone over well in this situation.]

There was a much more encouraging theme running through the Assembly as well and that was SPUD.  SPUD is the name of a program that began with a youth conference earlier this year to which two youth members of every congregation were invited.  That conference included the discussion, debate, and forwarding of business to the Assembly.  But the 14 items of business were not presented during a unified report on Spud, but during each of the board reports there would be a section where youth representatives would present their business that fell under the area for that board.  It was a great way to handle this business, not just from the point of view of grouping the business, but from the aspect of having youth delegates before the Assembly on a regular basis throughout the meeting.

Among the presented items were

  • That the General
    Assembly encourage Congregations in the process of formulating Mission
    Plans, to ensure young people are involved in a meaningful way in the
    development of each local plan.
  • That the General
    Assembly encourage the appointment of youth representatives in
    Congregations and Presbyteries to promote engagement and participation
    of local congregations in global mission.
  • That the General
    Assembly encourage Congregations and Presbyteries to reassess buildings
    and resources by June 2010 to see how they can most effectively be
    utilized in and by our communities.
  • That the General
    Assembly encourage Congregations to ensure the empowerment of young
    people in meaningful and appropriate participation in every aspect of
    Congregational life and witness.

In addition, there was a report with a video presentation on SPUD and the Youth Assembly.  The term SPUD was used as an acronym for “Speaking Participating Understanding Deciding.”  In particular, the SPUD delegates also voiced their concern for the elimination of two peacemaking posts in the church.  The Assembly agreed with them and left the posts for another year.

In the Peacemaking report there was a story I found particularly powerful of a church that got a call from the local guard post asking when their Holiday Bible Club would be held.  After some discussion the pastor learned that the guard post could let some of their officers take vacation during the time the Club met because past experience had shown it was a time of reduced crime.

In other business the Assembly:  Agreed to study the admission of children to the Lord’s Supper.  Discussed the training of different forms of ministry including Recognized Preachers and Evangelists.  Heard reports on Peacemaking, especially in the wake of the recent sectarian killings.  Received a property report where the tweet says “Adrian McClernon
likens property performance over past 2 years to the alleged
performance of the Irish swimming team ‘Nobody drowned’.”  Associated with this was passed a proposal to renovate the headquarters building Church House.  And there was ample discussion of general financial conditions and implications for pastors’ salaries and pensions and keeping individual churches open.

The Moderator has now posted two articles to his blog about the Assembly.  The first is a general summary and includes the observation that the Assembly showed a great sense of unity as demonstrated by the fact that no standing vote card vote was taken in this assembly.  The second article is about the Wednesday night rally/worship where the Revival of 1859 was remembered and celebrated.  At the rally Mr. Carson’s friend, the Rev. Phil Ryken, pastor of Tenth Presbyterian in Philadelphia, preached.  In addition, the official Twitter messages were plentiful providing a detailed narrative of what was happening at the Assembly, in all totaling 486 messages.

It is interesting to follow this Assembly because unlike North American Presbyterian branches this church, while suffering some effects of secularization, is still woven into the fabric of the society.  One evening there was a very interesting panel discussion about health care and the ministries of the church and the respect those ministries are shown by the political leaders on the panel was a cause for celebration.  While the Assembly was marked by the Mutual Society crisis, which is unique to this church, the general global financial downturn and the decreasing importance of the church can be seen here as they are in many Presbyterian branches throughout the world.  But the enthusiasm and commitment shown by the youth representing SPUD was another point of celebration.  At one point a commissioner asked a youth delegate if they wanted to be more specific about how to incorporate youth into the life of the church.  The youth answered that “the resolution was intentionally vague.  Dream Big!”

I encourage you to dream big for all of us.