Category Archives: news

Presbyterian Church of Ghana Moderator encourages new sources of denominational funding

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The Myjoyonline web site is reporting that the Rt. Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong-Manso, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG), has encouraged additional sources of denominational funding.  From the article it appears that he was speaking in a sermon at a worship service to celebrate the “elevation” of the Samreboi sub-district of the PCG to a full district in the Wassa Amenfi District of the Western Region.

Rev. Frimpong-Manso is quoted as saying:

[T]he church could no longer continue to rely solely on assessment payments for the smooth running of the church.

“As a step in this direction”,he stated: “I humbly appeal to you to find ways and means of raising funds from within and outside your congregation for the development of church infrastructure, evangelism and social services”.

and later the article says

The Moderator said the church needed to improve its financial base so as to move away from the ever dependence on the annual assessment, offering and annual harvests, into finding new ways of funding the church, adding: “We need money and this should come out of viable projects and investments”.

From my PC(USA) perspective I would read the “assessment” as something like per-capita and it sounds like the “offering and annual harvests” are like our special offerings.  However, what the moderator seems to be encouraging is not like our additional congregational gifts to higher governing bodies that we call “mission giving” but other sources like revenue from projects and investing in something.

What is clear, from his list of priorities (the development of church infrastructure, evangelism and social services), is that this is for the expansion of the church and its mission, not just the maintenance of the institution.

I also found it interesting the appeal for necessary transportation:

The Resident Pastor appealed to the Head Office of the church to replace the eight-year-old incapacitated Suzuki motorcycle with a strong vehicle, in order to promote evangelism and social services in the hinterland where the road network was in a mess.

American Episcopal Bishops Decline to Participate in the World Anglican Communion’s Proposed Solution

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Back in February the Anglican Primates met and requested that the American Episcopal Church be clear that it intends to affirm the Anglican standards on ordination and marriage.  Last week the Episcopal House of Bishops met and by voice vote approved a “mind of the house” resolution that said they do not like the scheme that the Anglican Primates approved.  To quote the official Episcopal article:

On the second to last day of the meeting, the bishops had approved a “mind of the house” resolution by voice vote. While affirming the desire to remain within the councils of the Anglican Communion, they said a proposed pastoral scheme recommended by the Anglican primates in February would be “injurious” to the church and urged Executive Council to decline to participate in it.

The full text of the three “mind of the house” resolutions can be found in another press release.

In addition, the Bishops have asked for a meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.  As Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was quoted as saying in the article the meeting would be “about concerns around polity issues, how this church is governed, that we do not make decisions lightly or easily, but after lengthy conversation and deliberation through a very reasoned process.”  She is also quoted as saying “I think there is some belief in this House [of Bishops] that other parts of the communion do not understand us very well.”

That Archbishop Williams would attend such a meeting is uncertain since it is also reported that he does not have a place in his schedule for it.

In related news, it is being reported that the it was recommended to the House of Bishops that the Rt. Rev. William J. Cox, retired Bishop Suffragan of Maryland, age 86, be tried in the church court for “illegally performing sacramental acts without the permission of the local Episcopal bishop.”  Specifically, he participated in the ordination of two priests and a deacon at Christ Church in Overland Park, Kansas, under the direction of the Primate of Uganda.  The primary source for the information is an article on The Living Church Foundation web site and it has been picked up by one of my regular reads, the Global South Anglican.  (The comments on Global South Anglican following this article are interesting as well.) This news is reported as coming out of the March 16-21 House of Bishops meeting, but I have found no mention of it on the official news service, Episcopal Life Online.  In a breaking development, The Living Church web site reported on Friday that Bishop Cox has informed the Presiding Bishop that he has left The Episcopal Church and has been received into the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone.  The article quotes Bishop Cox as saying “I don’t want a fight among Christians,” and that he left to avoid financial and public relations problems for the Episcopal Church.

(Brief commentary note:  The Episcopal Life Online web site is a brand new portal that went live last week.  If you are a casual Episcopalian who is looking for info on what is generally going on in the church, it is probably good.  If you are a news junkie who is trying to drill down into important or relevant news stories I found it to be a more clumsy and difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.  In addition, at the present time the search function seems to be having problems.  But that can be fixed I’m sure.)

Baptismal Standards — or — The advantages of celebrity?

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While a bit afield of the usual focus of this blog, this news item caught my attention and does have some relevance to Presbyterian polity and theology:

The Scotsman has a news article on a Stewart family in Leith who asked to have their son baptized at North Leith Parish Church and they were declined since the parents were not married but had been living together for six years.  While it appears that this couple does not regularly attend the church there is a family connection to the parish.  This situation is in contrast to South Leith Parish Church across town where the pastor last summer baptized the son of celebrity musician Rod Stewart who likewise was not married (but engaged) to the child’s mother.  It is not clear that Rod and his family have a connection to South Leith.

The Church of Scotland, according to the article, leaves the question of baptisms up to the pastor.  The pastor at North Leith appropriately spoke generally for the article about baptisms, but would not comment on specific individuals.  The pastor at South Leith could not be reached for comment for the article.  While there is much more behind this that we do not know, on the surface it leaves the impression that celebrity has it’s privileges.

How do we view baptism within our polity?  How seriously do we take this sacrament, the parent’s vows and the congregation’s vows?  Not an idle question at the moment since the theology of baptism is central to the Federal Vision controversy.

If you want an interesting, and very Presbyterian, view of this I would recommend the chapter “Christmas Baptism” in the book The Good News from North Haven by Michael Lindvall.  While holding the importance of the community very high, it exposes the ways that our sessions sometimes work.

Call for PC(USA) Stated Clerk to not run for a fourth term

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The Institute on Region and Democracy (IRD) based in Washington, D.C., has issued a press release calling on Presbyterian Church (USA) Stated Clerk Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick to not seek a fourth term as stated clerk when his present term is finished at the next General Assembly in 2008.  Rev. Kirkpatrick said in a recent interview that he will pray and reflect on his fourth term this summer.  The first paragraph of the IRD statement reads:

WASHINGTON, DC– The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), under Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, has seen a steady decline in membership.  Kirkpatrick, an affable man, has failed to show true leadership that would strengthen, expand, unify, and stabilize the PCUSA. Now, in an interview with the denominational news service, he is hinting at a run for a fourth four-year term. He claims that the PCUSA “is in a potential tipping point of renewed growth and vitality.” The Steering Committee of the IRD’s Presbyterian Action program has asked Kirkpatrick to “decline nomination for a fourth term in 2008, for the good of the denomination.”

I would note that the IRD is a conservative organization not associated with a denomination whose slogan is “Reforming the Church’s Social and Political Witness.” Their Presbyterian Action Director is James D. Berkley who blogs on the IRD site as well as his own “The Berkley Blog.”

Recent passings: Dr. Isabel Rogers and Rev. Marguerite Bowden-Reed

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Earlier this month two individuals who served in leadership in Presbyterian governing bodies joined the church triumphant.

Dr. Isabel Rogers, professor at Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education and moderator of the 199th General Assembly in 1987 died on March 18 of cancer.  Her election that year is still the closest election of a moderator since the reunion that formed the PC(USA) in 1983.  Her life and work is remembered in a PC(USA) news service article.

On March 9 The Rev. Marguerite Bowden-Reed died of a stroke in Tucson, Az.  She is credited with being the first woman called to serve as an executive in the PC(USA) or it’s predecessor churches.  She was elected executive presbyter for the Presbytery de Cristo in 1973 and later served as the executive of the Synod of the Covenant.  Following that she was an associate pastor in Tucson where she was active in the Sanctuary Movement.  She is remembered in a PC(USA) “Notes about people” as well as more extensive articles from the Arizona Daily Star and The Tucson Citizen.

Designated giving: It’s not just for Presbyterians

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A growing trend in the local presbyteries and our synod is for churches to designate their mission giving to specific ministries on the list that the governing body supports leaving some budgets short or having limited unrestricted funds for new opportunities.

From a news story today in the Lompoc Record, this is also the fashion for giving in other organizations.  In this case the United Way of Greater Los Angeles.  The Lompoc Record reports:

According to financial records, about two-thirds of the $47 million that United Way in Los Angeles gave away last fiscal year went to benefactors’ favorite causes, one of the highest ratios in the country.

And in the case of the United Way, it is not just selecting a charity on the list, but the money can be designated for any non-profit that is designated a public charity.  This includes many of the SoCal arts and cultural organizations and Harvard-Westlake School, a college preparatory school with an annual tuition price tag of over $23,000 per year.

The result: “But local United Way officials said donor choices are leaving one of the charity’s fundamental missions – to help meet basic human needs – with a smaller piece of the pie.”

Celtic 0 – Rangers 1

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Well, the Rangers won the football (soccer) match one goal to nil over Celtic.  And the Scottish religious leaders were in attendance with the first minister.  They finally arranged their schedules and security for Church of Scotland Moderator Alan McDonald to attend a Celtic-Rangers football game with Cardinal Keith O’Brien as a show of support for the Scottish initiative to stop sectarian violence.  They were joined by the First Minister and religious leaders from other faiths.  The attendance by the dignitaries is covered by BBC News, but you can get a rundown on the game itself from Soccernet.

In a related development, former Church of Scotland Moderator John Cairns will be one of the protestant participants in an April 17 golf tournament.  The event, featuring both protestant and catholic clergy, is also related to the campaign to eliminate sectarian violence.

More reaction to the New Wineskins Convocation

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Since the New Wineskins Association of Churches Convocation about a month ago now I have commented on the response from other bloggers as well as the articles from the Network of Presbyterian Women in Leadership about the role of women in leadership and the response it drew from the NWAC and the Witherspoon Society.  There have been some other comments, reports and analysis coming out that I’ll point to now.

The first official response was a follow-up letter from NWAC co-moderator Garrit Dawson.  In this letter he sets forth his summary of the convocation, the action taken, and a list of “what’s next.”

There was also official comment from Dr. Jeremiah, the State Clerk of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church who was part of the delegation the EPC sent to the convocation.  In his message Dr. Jeremiah emphasizes the global mission emphasis the two groups share.

There has not been official reaction from the PC(USA) to the NWAC Convocation.  It was covered in two articles from the PCUSA News Service (Feb. 9, Feb. 14) and mentioned in passing in the recently published interview with Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick.  There was also the letter from Rev. Kirkpatrick and General Assembly Council Executive Director Linda Valentine that came out before the Convocation that has the appearance of a preemptive strike.

The most recent comment is a series of articles posted on the Witherspoon Society web site that provide news and analysis of the gathering and the NWAC organization.  (From the frequent references to the Presbyterian Outlook article by Leslie Scanlon it would appear that none of these writers were at the convocation.  But neither was I.)

The first article by Gene TeSelle is a brief summary of the meeting and some brief analysis that includes the following:

When there is talk about withdrawal by anyone – right, left, or center – there will be at least the passing thought that it would be “good riddance.” But this is likely to be followed by the feeling that, no matter how much we disagree, we have grown accustomed to each other and may even like each other. Departure is always interpreted as a sign of failure – somewhere, somehow.

But let’s notice that departure to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church would not be to a group that is alienated from the PC(USA) to the extent of anathematizing it. The EPC is in communion with us. We might think of those who withdraw to it as being in a “holding tank,” an interim situation while they think things over. They might even decide to return to the PC(USA), especially if the EPC gets tangled up in debates over women’s ordination. When you think you’re escaping to a purer and more homogeneous communion, you may find that you are only increasing the number of disputes to be worried about.

The second article, also by Gene TeSelle, looks at the NWAC theological heritage and the church order that they have outlined.

The third article, “New Wineskins or Simply Whining?” is an opinion piece by John E. Harris.  In it he takes the NWAC to task for being a very small but vocal minority that is now concerned with ordination issues for women when they deny the same arguments for sexually-active homosexuals.

Finally, Berry Craig, a history teacher, has a commentary likening the NWAC transitioning to the EPC with the secession of the Confederate States.  He said that just as northerners had varying opinions in the 1860’s, so PC(USA) liberals are similarly split between “good riddance” and “the union must be preserved.”

So far I have seen a response to the Witherspoon articles from one person, Bill Crawford, who was at the NWAC Convocation.  Mr. Crawford’s comments can be found in his blog Bayou Christian in an entry titled “Feel the Love.”

A couple of comments of my own:
   When Mr. Harris talks about how small the NWAC minority is he uses a percentage of congregations in the PC(USA).  While I do not deny that the number is small, I suspect that the number of members is actually higher.  The membership numbers for NWAC are not published (that I know of) but I would suspect that the average NWAC church is larger than the average PC(USA) congregation.  I know it is for this corner of the world (Southern California).
   Second, Mr. Harris talks about the progressive organizations never advocating departure from the PC(USA). That to my knowledge is true, but I do know that high-profile progressive congregations have discussed it.
   Finally, several of these articles in the end seem to reduce this discussion to money.  That is, are the big churches trying to leverage or force governing bodies to do certain things under threat of losing giving, and the churches that are leaving wanting to take their property with them?

We will see what else gets published and posted in the coming weeks.

Witherspoon Society response to NPWL comments on women in leadership in EPC

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A week ago I discussed the Network of Presbyterian Women in Leadership (NPWL) articles that asked important and hard questions about how women in leadership would be accepted by the Evangelical Presbyterian Church with the New Wineskins Association of Churches’ expected transition from the PC(USA) to the EPC.  In that posting I commented on a parallel between some of the language used in that articles about the ordination of women with the language that is used in favor of the ordination of active homosexuals.  Others have also noted that parallelism and the Witherspoon Society has posted an open letter that Karen Ellen Kavey of Chapaqqua, NY, wrote about this to Becce Bettridge, Director of the NPWL and author of one of the articles.  Ms. Kavey writes that she is appreciative of Ms. Bettridge asking these questions but then goes on to write:

An unsettling question haunts me: How can someone, such as yourself, feel and express such genuine, palpable, well-reasoned concern for themselves regarding inequality, especially inequality based on interpretation of Scripture, and not feel this very same concern for others?

If, instead of the word “women”, you had substituted all minorities into your wonderful Questions, it would be a perfect essay… a letter for all God’s people.

The question of ordination standards is not an easy one and, as this exchange points out, is a continuum. Where you draw the line as to who should and who should not be ordained varies widely depending on perspective.

Court supports break-away Presbyterian church in Kenya

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It is being reported by Kenya Times and AllAfrica.com that a judge in Nairobi has put a hold on the cancellation of the certification of the Presbyterian Mission Outreach Church, a group that split from the Presbyterian Church of East Africa last year.  The stories report that the Kenyan Registrar of Societies issued the church their certification last December 29 after a background check to be sure that the organization was not a security threat.  The Assistant Registrar subsequently issued a letter canceling the certification saying that the church was a threat to existing peace.

The judge issued a 90 day stay on the cancellation and will hear additional arguments on March 27.