Category Archives: PC Canada

The Emmaus Project — Transforming, Recharging And Refreshing Presbyteries Within The Presbyterian Church In Canada

After spending two days working on new directions in the Church of Scotland I thought it only appropriate to mention the kick-off of a conference today in the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

The Emmaus Project began their first conference this evening in Alliston, Ontario with 145 individuals from 17 presbyteries. It grew out of the Long Range Planning Committee of Assembly Council identifying five statements as relevant for “strategic planning and developing an overall vision.”

Visibility and relevance that result in change in the world. — How can the PCC make a visible and relevant
contribution to positive change in the world?
Christ-centred living that nurtures and empowers individuals to
embrace God’s world. — How can that kind of
living be nurtured?
Committed leadership that is prepared to take risks. — How can we encourage and develop that kind of
leadership?
Congregational vitality that enables courageous choices. — How can we encourage congregations to move forward
in intentional mission?
Effective structure that supports meaningful ministry and mission. — How do presbyteries and the national church
support this goal? How may our structures become more effective?

The conference looks to address five “qualities” of presbyteries:

Become encouraging and supportive of congregations
Assist and challenge ministers through the struggles and growing
pains of ministry
Become proactive rather than reactive
Be visionary rather than plodding
Help shape new directions in mission

through the exploration of:

What it means to be on the road to Emmaus
How to recognize Jesus’ presence on our journey
How to turn and move to Jerusalem with confidence
The implications of the risen Christ walking with us
How this shapes our mission for the future
Ways for presbyteries to become both prophetic and pastoral

So this conference is underway. While it has a Twitter hashtag (#emproj) it seems that only @PCConnect is posting tweets (and that is reported to be @ccarmichael ). There is also a Facebook page for the Project. And there should be regular updates on the Project Emmaus news blog. I am looking forward to hearing how the conference goes.

A blog entry yesterday gives a brief overview of the conference and an insight into the planning that has gone into it. Some excerpts:

This marks the culmination of a three or four year process emerging
from the Long Range Planning committee as a follow up to the Flames and
Sabbath year initiatives. LRP went through a very long strategic
planning strategy when it was finally decided that the best way to
transform the institution of the PCC was to work through the basic
building blocks which are the presbyteries.

The decision was not to do new programs but rather develop a
strategic plan. Each selected presbytery (we had 27 presbyteries apply
but could only accept no more than 17) sends a critical mass 5-10 reps
depending upon the size of the presbytery, sufficient to effect change
within their own framework.

Please pray for us during these next four days as we seek to not
simply renew, but actually transform the workings of our presbyteries so
that they may become more forward thinking, engaging in appropriate
mission and providing support to congregations for this century.

We understand that the stakes are high, and we need courage to look
at significant change and movement forward. So we do ask that you join
us on our Emmaus journey through your prayers and support during these
next few days.

You might want to look through the other blog entries a bit including one on Presbytery Best Practices and one on 1925 that considers the PCC’s “Presbyterian identity” in light of their resistance to church union in 1925.

So it will be interesting to watch the Twitter feed, blog, and Facebook page as the conference proceeds through the weekend. But maybe more interesting will be watching how each of these presbytery groups returns to their homes after the conference to begin re-visioning their own presbytery. As always, Semper Reformanda, so stay tuned…

Nominee For Moderator Of The 136th General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Canada Announced

Meetings Of A Presbyterian General Assembly — How Often?

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How often should a Presbyterian General Assembly or General Synod meet? For a couple of centuries now the answer has generally been annually, but in recent times that pattern has been up for discussion. It is interesting to note that in the list of Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on Wikipedia in the early years there are multiple Moderators listed in a given year indicating not just multiple meetings, but multiple Assemblies per year.

The importance of the “how often” question is raised again today as the highlights of the meeting of the Assembly Council of the Presbyterian Church in Canada are released. The Assembly action on an overture to the 133rd General Assembly (2007) asked the Council to consider biennial Assemblies and the Assembly created a task group to study the issue and consult with the other governing bodies. The Council considered the report which included the responses to a model for biennial Assemblies that was sent to the church for comment. In general, the church was narrowly in favor of biennial Assemblies with sessions favoring it 54 to 37, presbyteries opposed 11 to 13, and synods and committees were each 2 to 1 in favor. But it is most interesting to see the commentary on this voting:

It was noted, for example, that there appeared to be a regional divide where courts in Quebec and the Maritimes were overwhelmingly opposed while support strengthened to west. It was also noted that those courts supporting the notion tended to not include reasons for their support while those opposed offered lengthy explanations for their decision.

The report recommended moving to biennial Assemblies but a motion to move that direction in principle failed in the Council vote. The report tells us “A new motion recommending that General Assembly ‘affirm the practice of annual assemblies’ was proposed and approved.”

So while the recommendation in response to this overture has been made, as the comment in the Minutes of the 133rd GA (p. 214) tells us, this matter has been before the church “many times in the past.” As would be expected, the overture itself (p. 519-520) appeals to the time, effort and finances expended on annual Assemblies and the best use of those resources.

(A side note on a topic that I will be considering further in the future: It is interesting to see that this matter was sent to the lower governing bodies for an advisory vote. From what I have seen this is a practice that the PCC seems to do on a fairly regular basis but is much rarer in other Presbyterian branches. One other place in the PCC history that this formal advisory vote is seen is in the early 20th century as the Presbyterians were considering their place in the Union movement and the presbyteries and sessions were consulted on multiple occasions about uniting with other Christian bodies. In light of this, I find an overture to this year’s General Assembly of the PC(USA) to require the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy to send proposed statements out to the presbyteries for “study, discussion, and comment” prior to the report to the General Assembly to be in a very similar spirit.)

There is another overture to a General Assembly to consider biennial Assemblies. This one is to the 38th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. Overture 6, from Evangel Presbytery, asks the Assembly “to direct the Administrative Committee to conduct a study for the feasibility of conducting General Assemblies on a bi-annual basis.”

The Whereases do include the usual argument about the amount of time and financial resources it takes to make the Assemblies happen, but that is not the primary argument in this overture. The principle argument is that with modern communications the Assembly no longer serves the purpose of getting reports out to the Assembly commissioners to take back to the lower governing bodies. In that task the Assembly is now irrelevant. But the overture goes on to say that efficient electronic communications has another impact:

Whereas, denominational issues that once were debated on the floor of GA are now resolved and presented in a refined and reasoned manner causing the floor process to lose much energy and interest with commissioners spending considerable time away from the meeting to visit the exhibitions during the presentations of Committees and Agencies; and

Whereas, in addition to declining interest in the conduct of business, travel and lodging expenses have affected GA and attendance during the last five years has declined annually while the ratio of Teaching Elders in attendance has increased and the number of Ruling Elders has declined;

Interesting rational — On the one hand very true but on the other hand this cuts right to the very essence of Presbyterianism.

Functionally, Presbyterian and Reformed polity is distinctive in two regards — joint rule of teaching elders and ruling elders and connectionalism of governing bodies. This overture essentially says that modern electronic communication is at least changing, if not eroding, the way that both of these principles operate. It has moved the governing of the church from face-to-face interaction to virtual interaction, reducing the importance of the meetings for the joint deliberations of elders in decision making and eliminating the need for meetings to facilitate the connectional flow of information.

The overture does request regional meetings in years that the Assembly does not meet that would involve…

…contiguous presbyteries to cooperate on an alternate years to join two or three day meetings that can be conducted in churches and smaller venues where travel and lodging are less expensive. During such regional meetings Committees and Agencies can participate with reports and ministries can present displays if so requested and approved by the Administrative Committee.

It will be interesting to see where this goes and the discussion it begins.

Finally, there are a couple of items related to biennial Assemblies coming to the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The first is the fact that when biennial Assemblies were instituted it was specified that after this year’s Assembly meeting there would be a review of this practice. The Presbytery of Giddings-Lovejoy has sent an overture (Overture 49) that would expand the review of the GA from not just the timing but to include…

…considering the form and function of our General Assembly meetings by expanding the action of the 214th General Assembly (2002)… instructing this study committee to consider the whole of the General Assembly meeting in its form and function.

This review is to include, but is not limited to, matters of financial stewardship, the use of alternative forms of discernment, the number of commissioners and advisory delegates as well as the role of advisory delegates, the schedule for moderatorial elections, the environmental impact of assemblies, the frequency of meetings, and models for governance for future generations.

Got all that? The request is for a complete review, to put anything and everything about how General Assemblies operate on the table.

Another approach is taken by Overture 9 from Presbytery of Foothills. I discussed this in more detail a while back, but this overture essentially states that the way the PC(USA) does business in the GA hinders our connectionalism and to promote our connectional nature the church should hold a General Convocation “for the purposes of worship, mission celebration, and building up relationships within the Body of Christ” for five years. In the sixth year the General Assembly would meet to do business.

And in a final related overture, the Presbytery of San Diego notes that one reason for going to biennial Assemblies was to save money, but in changing the meeting pattern the number of commissioners to the Assembly was roughly doubled, not really saving that much money. They have sent Overture 54 to the 219th General Assembly asking for a change to the Book of Order to restore the number of commissioners to their previous levels.

We are all well aware that in this age of Web 2.0 the technology and pressure is present to make face-to-face meetings unnecessary. As we balance the use of technology and the stewardship of resources with the questions of how often and in what ways to meet, we also need to be mindful of the implications for our understanding of call, connectionalism, and discerning together in the Covenant Community brought together with Jesus Christ as its Head.

Equipping Elders

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A few days ago I was musing on the training and continuing education (or lack thereof) of ruling elders in Presbyterian churches. This has been a continuing reflection of mine to try to figure out how to better equip ruling elders for not just their administrative duties but their polity and spiritual shepherding duties as well. Being a good elder is not easy and takes work.

It is always worthwhile for ruling elders to be reading their branch’s confessional standards on a regular basis, and to be familiar with their polity documents (The Code, Book of Forms, Book of Church Order, Book of Order). But there is a need for resources to fill in between those documents and to help understand their context.

For a broad overview of Presbyterianism for not just ruling elders but members as well, my church, and others I know, have used Donald McKim’s Presbyterian Questions, Presbyterian Answers with good response. For theological background I have enjoyed the “Armchair Theologians” series of books on religious figures like Augustine, Calvin and Barth. These are easy reads that give a good overview of each individual’s life and theological thought (which are usually linked). I could see that academic theologians might have problems with the details, or lack of details in the books. And for some the illustrations might be a problem either because it always represents God as the stereotype man with the flowing beard, or because it portrays God at all in violation of the Second Commandment. And the PC(USA) has a low-cost set of studies at ThePresbyterianLeader.com that are designed for leadership training and discussion of current hot topics. I can not tell you anything further about these because I have not purchased any yet but I have seen good reviews from others in the PC(USA).

But that is a perfect lead-in to a brand new resource that is both comprehensive and free for download…

A big thanks to the Presbyterian Church in Canada for putting together Equipping Elders. (And to Colin Carmichael, the Associate Secretary for Communications, for bringing it to my attention.) This 194 page resource is available as either the free download or for 20$CAN from the PCC Book Room. for a 3-hole punch loose-leaf version to put in a binder. And what surprised me is how “platform independent” this is; it is very much about being a ruling elder and some, but not much, is directly tied to the PCC.

Probably what impressed me the most about this resource was how comprehensive it is – how much useful material is in one place. It addresses important topics that ruling elders need to know to be good shepherds of their flocks: Congregational care and home visitations along with suggested prayers for praying for members’ needs on those visits. Understanding the implications of different sized congregations. Why membership matters. Stewardship. And, relevant to this post, why and how elders need to keep on learning themselves. The book says:

Ordination to ruling eldership in The Presbyterian Church in Canada is a lifelong commitment to a call to ministry in and with the church. Whether serving as term elders, experiencing periods as inactive elders, or attending session meetings monthly for 20 years, all elders are always elders.
This ordination for life means that elders have responsibility for developing their skills, learning more about their ministry and growing in the faith. Elders need to be lifelong learners. Lifelong learning assumes that we all continue to learn new things over the years, whether this is through formal training, reading, discussions with others, experience, or picking up new information and ideas from a variety of sources.

Check it out, and if you know of any similar resource that puts that much practical information for ruling elders in one place, at any price, please let me know.

Moderator Candidates For The 136th General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Canada

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Yesterday was the first of December and as is the procedure of the Presbyterian Church in Canada the Principal Clerk, Stephen Kendall, announced the nominees for Moderator of the next General Assembly. The presbyteries have between now and April 1, 2010, to vote on the following individuals:

The Rev. Dr. Jonathan Dent, minister, St. David’s Presbyterian Church, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador

The Rev. Dr. Patricia Dutcher-Walls, Dean of Students and Professor of Hebrew Bible, Vancouver School of Theology

The Rev. Dr. Herb Gale, Associate Secretary, Planned Giving, The Presbyterian Church in Canada.

Interesting demographics – three pastors/no elders; two men and a woman; evenly divided between parish ministry, academics, and governing body work.

The Moderator will be installed and preside at the 136th General Assembly which will convene on June 6, 2010, in Sydney, Nova Scotia.

CD Review: Some Assembly Required by Angus Sutherland

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I finally got around to ordering the CD “Some Assembly Required” from the Presbyterian Church in Canada. For a G.A. Junkie this CD is a gem.

First, let me dispel any misconceptions. This is not your typical CD of Christian music. You won’t see it on the best seller charts. It won’t be earning any Dove Awards. To my knowledge this CD is one of a kind.

But, if you are a Presbyterian who understands and appreciates the nuances and idiosyncrasies of our Presbyterian system of government, and you don’t mind some humor about it in music, then you will probably get a kick out of this collection of seven songs.

And this album is worth every penny of the $Can 15 that it costs if for no other reason than the proceeds go to the Presbyterian World Service and Development Agency (PWS&D).

The Rev. Angus Sutherland has put together a set of seven novelty songs about Presbyterians in general and our system of government in particular. I bought the album on the strength of the song “The Clerk’s Rant” which is available from the PCC web site. It was a rap-style song with clever rhymes and witty lyrics from a clerk delivering, in a very typical “clerk tone,” guidance on parlimentary procedure for making motions and amendments. Having now heard the rest of the album I can say that there is more clever song writing that I enjoyed. For example, the second verse of the song “Decently and In Order” (sung to the tune Scotland the Brave with a whole bunch of extra syllables in the last line)

The people can be picky.
Ministry can be tricky.
The situation sticky.
What will you do?
When life is going faster,
It’s hard to be a pastor.
So when you face disaster,
What pulls you through?

Refrain
We have the answer here
to help disperse your fear.
When you are lost here is one place you can come for answers.
When they will give no quarter,
Here’s how you meet disorder:
Decently and in Order,
And according to the Book of Forms.

(And as you probably guessed, the Book of Forms is very similar to, but not exactly the same as, the Book of Church Order or Book of Order. The official documents of the PCC are the Acts of Assembly and the Book of Forms is updated regularly, but not annually, to reflect the Acts.)

It is also interesting to consider how universal the “Presbyterian experience” is. The song “Moderator” (words and music by Mr. Sutherland) tells the story of a supposedly straight-forward committee report on the floor of the Assembly and the amendments and motions it is subjected to. Here are the second and third verses, each of which is in a different voice invoking the requests of different GA commissioners:

Moderator, Moderator, Over here at microphone one.
I’m intending to be amending for so much is left undone.
Isn’t it a pity, don’t it make you blue.
Clearly the committee hasn’t thought the whole thing through.
Moderator, Moderator, my amendment’s on the floor.

Moderator, Moderator, I am standing — hear my plea.
The punctuation situation needs correction theologically.
If we place a comma after the word “and”
There will be no trauma and all will understand.
If those moving are approving, I propose this vital change.

Haven’t we all been there at one time or another. And as a bit of an inside joke, the committee that is reporting is the Committee on History for which the Rev. Sutherland is the convener.

The strength of the album in my mind are the five songs more specific to Presbyterian governance. There are two songs more general to the PCC and Presbyterianism: “PWS&D” and “We are called.” While interesting they don’t have the same resonance with me as the Assembly songs do.

So again, this album is not for everyone. But for the rare breed versed in Presbyterian polity, parliamentary procedure, and the ways of General Assembly or other courts of the church this album will surely being a smile to your face. Enjoy.

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.

In The Middle Of General Assembly Season — Hitting Stride

Presbyterians Amid Web 2.0 — The Institution And The Web

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As I put the list of resources together earlier today and then followed the progress of the Church of Scotland GA on the webcast and on twitter (#ga2009) it struck me that different Presbyterian branches seem to follow very different paths in putting together their web presence.

While the Church of Scotland has been delivering the GA materials over the web for a number of years, has had their audio updates available on-line, and was an early adopter of webcasting the assembly, the official presence is still very much web 1.0. There is one web site, and although they have a great extranet area with a lot of publicly available documents, everything is in a fairly typical web format. And while the Moderator’s “blog” is nice, from a technical standpoint it is still one-dimensional being just a web page without RSS feed or comments. Got to give them credit for the new twitter feed this year though, but at last fall’s National Youth Assembly the twitter feed was one of the top trending feeds.

The Presbyterian branch that really thought this through is the Presbyterian Church in Canada. They have “branded” the denomination with PCConnect which contains various blogs, podcast, and PCConnect-TV weekly segment, all with a unified look and feel.

You have to give the PC(USA) credit for trying Web 2.0 out. There are multiple official blogs from various leaders in the denomination, great on-line video segments about important issues, and Facebook pages. But while all of this is great I have trouble finding a unified strategy, message, or feel in it.

Having said that it is only fair to say that the Church of Scotland and the PC(USA) are revising their web sites. It will be interesting to see how much they integrate, unify, or at least brand the content, and introduce new Web 2.0 content.

(I probably should define Web 2.0. There is not a completely agreed upon definition that I am aware of, but it is a web presence that is interactive in the sense that there are RSS feeds, comment sections, and individual publishing like blogs, twitter or Facebook. The traditional static, or at least slowly changing, web pages are thought of as Web 1.0.)

But while following the CofS GA today I was reading an older post by Chris Hoskins on his blog “What is Freedom?” In that post, Church of Scotland and Social Media, he muses about what more the CofS could be doing on-line. There is a nice comment on the post from CofS leader and techie Stewart Cutler who says:

At present the CofS doesn’t allow Councils to have their own sites. No
‘brands’ allowed. NYA isn’t allowed its own site. COSY isn’t allowed
it’s own site. That limits the ways in which people can interact
because the CofS doesn’t understand that people don’t want to interact
with static, out of date websites. They want to discuss, share, link,
download, upload and all that web2.0 stuff.

So how do you solve the tension between central oversight to maintain uniformity in appearance, presentation and message, versus a more independent approach where lots of stuff gets out there and you need to figure out what is official and what is individual. The PC Canada does the former well, the PC(USA) does the latter well. It seems the CofS is trying to figure it out.

New Official Blogging And Blogging Officials

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There have been a couple of notable additions to the world of Presbyterian Blogging in the last month or two that I wanted to pass on to you.

First, it appears that we will have another blogging Moderator: The Rev. Stafford Carson of First Presbyterian Church of Portadown, Northern Ireland, has begun a pastor’s blog. (h/t Sean Michael Lucas) For a G.A. Junkie, this will become more interesting in early June when Rev. Carson will be installed as the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. We will have to see the balance that he strikes between the parish and the denominational work. If nothing else, I am curious if the work of the Moderator of the PC Ireland takes as much time as the Moderator of the GA of the PCUSA who has broken his moderatorial blogging out from his personal and parish blogging.

(And we are still waiting for an RSS feed from the Church of Scotland for their Moderator’s Blog.)

Second, for a while now we have had the entertaining and enlightening blog Being Presbyterian by Colin Carmichael from the main office of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Now, while more of a news feed than a blog, there is PC-Connect Daily to which you can subscribe by either e-mail or RSS. Interesting stuff from a Presbyterian branch that is taking new technology seriously.

Finally, a blog that is not new itself but is new to me… I have been doing some research to try to get myself up to speed on the Presbyterian Church in Australia. I’ll get that packaged up at some point, but in looking through the various sites I have found very little in the way of RSS feeds and e-mail updates available. To some extent this may be due to an interesting de-centralization of that branch to the state level. But one interesting RSS feed I did find was for Presbyterian Youth in Victoria. It is pretty much a news feed with upcoming events but some are interesting, like the Fuelled Training Day and the Short Course on Youth Ministry. My youngest was interested in their summer camp since that is our winter, such as winter is in Southern California anyway.

Speaking of Youth, I see that the announcement for the 2009 National Youth Assembly of the Church of Scotland has been posted. Since this event is Web 2.0 intensive I would expect an official blog for it like the NYA 2008 blog, but I can’t locate it yet. But keep watching because I am sure it will appear soon.

The GA Junkie

The Politics of Presbyterianism