New Moderator And Clerk Of The National Youth Assembly Of The Church Of Scotland

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The 2018 National Youth Assembly of the Church of Scotland wrapped up a week ago and at that Assembly the new leadership took up their roles. It is a pleasure to congratulate Tamsin and Seonaid as they begin this year.

NYA Moderator Tamsin Dingwall (photo Church of Scotland)

Tamsin Dingwall, the new Moderator, is from Aberfoyle, near Stirling, and a member of Aberfoyle Parish Church. She is a youth worker there as well as at a neighbouring church. In addition, she is a member of the local high school’s chaplaincy team. She has been an active fundraiser for charities, most recently at Sleep in the Park in Edinburgh. She is training for her next challenge, the Loch Ness marathon, in aid of Alzheimer’s Scotland, a goal she set after her father was diagnosed with the condition.

A feature on Andrew O’Brian Photography talks about Tamsin’s work at her family’s post office and how that has added dimensions in a small community. The article says “Being from a small community also means that a lot of her work is community based and not necessarily what a regular Post Office would do, however it is a unique opportunity to build relationships with vulnerable people in the community, which has been incredibly educational and rewarding.”

The Life and Work article quotes her as saying: “I am so honoured and still slightly shocked that I have been chosen to be the Moderator of the National Youth Assembly this year. This will be only my second year at NYA and I am overjoyed that I will have the privilege of leading the discussions on end of life issues, ecumenism and social media. These are such topical issues and I feel some of the discussions may be rather difficult and emotional; I can’t wait to see what people have to say regarding these topics. This is such a big honour and I truly hope that I can continue to take full advantage of all the amazing opportunities that the National Youth Assembly has given me. I would like to help other young people new to faith and NYA see what amazing things they can achieve with such an amazingly supportive Church”

Tamsin has taken over the NYA Moderator Twitter account (@nyamoderator) and has quickly put her mark on it.

NYA Clerk Seonaid Knox (photo Church of Scotland)

Seonaid Knox will serve as the new Clerk of the National Youth Assembly. She is an elder in St John’s Church in Gourock, near Greenock, and additional service to the church has included helping as a youth group leader and being part of the annual summer club leadership. She also helps lead worship as she sings in the praise band. She first attended NYA as a 16-year-old, and has been a small group leader and a youth rep twice. Professionally she works as a researcher for an MSP and in her spare time plays rugby for Greenock Wanderers. She has also written about rugby for the Scottish Rugby Union.

She tells Life and Work: “Over the past 10 years I’ve gone from someone who doubted their faith to someone who is fully committed to the Church and its work. I’ve thrown myself into Church life and am looking forward to the next chapter as Clerk of the National Youth Assembly.

“I’m not afraid of hard work and recognise that it won’t always be plain sailing, but that’s what makes the future exciting. The National Youth Assembly – and Church of Scotland as a whole – are forward-thinking, progressive entities that I’m thrilled to be a part of. NYA might be preparing to undergo future reform but I still hope and believe that, regardless of what form it takes on, it can be a beacon for the Church and act as a platform for young people to grow in their faith.

“As NYA Clerk I seek to balance open-mindedness with conscientious judgement, ensuring that I remain open to new ideas and perspectives but still rooted in my faith to continue the amazing work of those who have held this position before me.”

Congratulations to both of them and prayers and best wishes to them as this begin this exciting and demanding year of representing the NYA.

2018 Church of Scotland National Youth Assembly

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As I write this the 2018 National Youth Assembly of the Church of Scotland is getting under way at Gartmore House in Stirlingshire. This is the annual meeting of youth representatives from the Kirk focused around three carefully chosen issues each year. The topics are discussed, deliberated on and in a discernment process like the General Assembly itself, recommendations are reached. But the process does not stop there. These recommendations are taken seriously by the larger church and form the basis of the NYA report to next year’s General Assembly. The topics for this year are:

  • End of life issues
  • Ecumenism
  • Social Media

The meeting begins this evening and runs through 5 pm local time on Monday 20 August. There is an online guide to the event.

The event has not been live streamed for several years now so following on social media is probably the best way to follow along. The Twitter hashtag is #NYA2018 and there is also Facebook and Instagram.

The Twitter game from the NYA leadership on their feed @cofs_nya has not been very good over the last couple years, but the NYA Moderator feed @nyamoderator has been well maintained. And so, as the new Moderator, Tamsin Dingwall, takes over we can anticipate her putting her own style on the account. And over the past year the previous moderator, Robin Downie, has done a good job of communicating through that account and I hope to continue to see his activity on his personal feed.

I am not seeing very much early tweeting by delegates yet, but there are a number of the feeds on which we can expect to see some updates. First, the Moderator of the General Assembly regularly makes an appearance so watch for the Rt. Rev. Susan Brown’s comments on @churchmoderator. In addition, the main church news feed and Twitter feed @churchscotland as well as the Kirk’s official publication Life and Work will probably have some news @cofslifeandwork. The NYA has also developed a strong partnership with the Church of Scotland Guild so keep an eye on @cofsguild.

In addition, I see some activity from individuals in advisory or resource roles for the Assembly, so keep your eye out for updates from Liz Crumlish (@eacbug) and RevShuna (@shunad). In the realm of church and state, the Scottish Churches Parliamentary Office (@SCPO_) has said they will be participating and keep an eye our for Ross Greer (@ross_greer) as well – he has previosly been an NYA delegate and may be again this year. He is also the youngest member of the Scottish Parliament.

I would also note at this point that the third discussion topic, Social Media, does have some immediate application in the wider church as the Church of Scotland has just launched some resources regarding digital media to equip churches.

So there you have the basic preview of this Assembly. I will update as appropriate and I just might get a profile of the new moderator and clerk posted. Congratulations to Tamsin and Seonaid as they take up these positions. And our prayers are with all the delegates as they begin this weekend.

[Ed. note – Just adding a personal note and apology for a fairly quiet blog. I have a whole lot of information and reflection to post about the General Assembly season in general and the wonderful time I had at the GA’s in Scotland in May. Over the last couple of months I have been navigating a job transition which I hope will provide me more time to write and get caught up.]

223rd General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – A Summary Of Summaries

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With the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) a couple weeks behind us a number of summaries and reflections on the Assembly have been posted online.

Let me begin with my own Brief Summary of the 223rd General Assembly. With the large number of important, complex, and nuanced actions of the GA this year I found it difficult to decide exactly what would get included on that page.

There is also a Highlights of Actions of the 223rd General Assembly from the PC(USA) itself.

While the Presbyterian Outlook has no specific GA 223 summary online (although they produce a subscription downloadable bulletin insert), you can search their GA223 tag for articles about the assembly.

And among the affinity groups, the Fellowship Community has a fairly comprehensive review and commentary on the Assembly. There are articles on the Covenant Network of Presbyterians web site related to specific actions and events.

I have also found a nice summary from the Presbytery of Philadelphia.

That is what I have at the moment. I will update as additional summaries come to my attention.

A Presbyterian Influence On The American Experiment

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On this Fourth of July much of American Presbyterianism recalls the 12 Presbyterians who eventually signed the document remembered on this day, and particularly the Rev. John Witherspoon, the only ordained clergy to sign.

While Witherspoon was ordained in the Church of Scotland, that alone was not his ticket into the Continental Congress. In 1768 he had been induced to leave Scotland and become the President and head professor at a small Presbyterian college, the College of New Jersey. In 1896 it changed its name to Princeton University. Witherspoon did much to raise the status and visibility of the institution to what was expected of an top-tier institution of higher learning. William Bennett wrote in a book chapter:

Princeton built on this foundation with solid bricks. The school’s leaders intended to produce students able to think for themselves, and those leaders had strong ideas about the curriculum best suited to the task. First-year studies… were classical: “reading the Greek and Latin languages, especially Horace, Cicero’s Orations, the Greek Testament, Lucian’s Dialogues, and Xenophon’s Cyropaedia.” Second-year students continued with Greek and Latin, especially Homer and Longinus, and started upon the modern “sciences, geography, rhetoric, logic, and mathematics.” The junior year centered about ethics, metaphysics, and history, as well as mathematics and science. Seniors found themselves “entirely employed in reviews and composition, improving parts of the Latin and Greek classics, parts of the Hebrew Bible, and all the arts and sciences.” This final undergraduate year became its own school of public discussion; students appeared on stage before their peers, giving speeches and participating in debates over the best of past and contemporary thought.

But beyond the book learning there was moral thought. Bennett continues:

Princeton’s curriculum was not unusual; its rigor was the rule rather than the exception for the colleges of colonial America. But the school’s administration understood that education does not end with a student’s reading list. They realized that an institution committed to the importance of ideas cannot long afford to neglect the moral difference between good ideas and bad ones. And since free institutions of learning draw their life’s blood from a distinct and precious set of good ideas-democratic ideas-Princeton’s leaders refused to stand neutral before the principles of liberty and justice at a time when contemporary politics decided the future of those principles as a part of our heritage. The school’s pedagogy was not “value-free.” Princeton did its best to instill in its charges a love for ideas, and in particular a love for the ideas that would soon buttress the modern world’s first republican government.

It was into this environment that James Madison entered in 1769, having advanced to the second year by examination on the first year topics. Madison would fulfill the undergraduate curriculum in three years and stick around as a tutor and graduate student under Witherspoon an additional two years.

As noted above, Witherspoon’s curriculum, and make no mistake about it but he controlled the school’s instruction, not only had the grounding in the classics but was not neutral on moral thought. As James Commiff writes in his paper “The Enlightenment and American Political Thought: A Study of the Origins of Madison’s Federalist Number 10“:

Witherspoon’s central philosophical concern was to reconcile revelation with the knowledge discoverable by human reason. This he accomplished by maintaining that revelation stands above reason but not in contradiction to it; therefore, the central doctrines of Calvinism do not violate reason but rather supplement it. There is, then, nothing in worldly wisdom that constitutes a danger to true belief, and one may study secular topics without fear of being misled into religious error. This blending of faith and reason allowed Witherspoon to both defend religion against its rationalistic and deistic critics and to admit whatever seemed of value in Enlightenment philosophy into the course of study at Princeton.

Much more is written about Witherspoon’s methods, and the citizens those methods produced, but one indication is the makeup of the Constitutional Convention. In his paper “Common sense deliberative practice: John Witherspoon, James Madison, and the U.S. constitution,” Terence S. Morrow writes:

James Madison was not the only Witherspoon-trained participant in the Constitution’s creation. The Constitutional Convention “must have looked like a reunion of Princetonians” from Witherspoon’s classes (Wills 19). Nine Princeton graduates, six of whom studied under Witherspoon, were among the fifty-five delegates. Their training in Scottish Common Sense-Ciceronian humanism is evident. ‘Trained in law and religion, these are some of the men who would identify with and protect the values of society as they saw them, who would take it upon themselves as a right and a duty to adjudicate social and moral issues. They would speak of literature, politics, society, and man with a common-sense clarity derived in large part from the Scots they had studied” (Martin 7). But it is James Madison, whose greatest public accomplishments occurred during the Constitutional formulation and ratification, who takes pride of place among these Witherspoon graduates.

It is helpful to know that Madison was raised in an active Anglican home. The Anglican Church was the established church of Virginia and a young James Madison had experienced the state, with the backing of the church, persecuting and driving out groups of Baptists that gathered in his county. As a youth he was tutored by a Presbyterian minister and many consider this a strong influence on his decision to go to the College of New Jersey.

While my purpose here is not to dissect Madison’s religious beliefs, but to suggest the Presbyterian influence on his body of work as a whole, interesting comments are made by two writers. First, Morrow makes these observations about different viewpoints during the ratification process. [Any analysis about how this played out in American politics is left as an exercise for the reader.]

Whereas John Witherspoon and James Madison promoted a federalist model of representation and deliberation in which delegates exercised prudential rationality independent of their constituents’ control, Patrick Henry argued for the antifederalist vision of a more democratic, local-minded mode of representation. For Henry, as for Madison and the federalists, human nature was innately corrupt. The latter, however, believed that the Constitutional plan’s qualification requirements for office and the electoral process would issue forth sufficient numbers of representatives who would exhibit the hallmarks of Common Sense-Ciceronian deliberation. The antifederalists shared little of this federalist faith. Henry articulated this pessimism during Virginia’s ratification convention in June, 1788 as he argued that the national representatives would be prone to pursue “their personal interests, their ambition and avarice.” Members of Congress would not be “superiour to the frailties of human nature. However cautious you may be in the selection of your Representatives, it will be dangerous to trust them with such unbounded powers.” Henry thus pointedly rejected Madison’s reliance upon the “possible virtue” of the representatives, for prudence, reason, and experience revealed the federalists’ contention to be chimerical.

In essence, Patrick Henry countered Madison’s invocation of rationality born of education and extensive knowledge with a pastoral version of communal sense. According to Henry, for Madison to hope that representatives’ “genius, intelligence, and integrity” would ensure the passage of laws that protect individual rights, states’ interests, and the country’s security, violated the prevailing presumption of man’s proclivity towards vice. Early in Virginia’s ratification convention, Henry chastised Madison and the other federalists for supposing that elected officials would be honest. The Constitution, by transmitting unlimited powers to Congress, exacerbated the dangers attendant upon Madison’s “hope.” Henry continued that it would be “distracted folly in resting our rights upon the contingency of our rulers being good or bad,” for in every instance in which such faith was rested in the representatives, liberty was lost. “Did we not know of the fallibility of human nature, we might rely on the present structure of this Government.—We might depend that the rules of propriety, and the general interest of the Union would be observed. But the depraved nature of man is well known. He has a natural biass (sic) towards his own interest, which will prevail over every consideration, unless it is checked.”

Maybe what is most striking to our modern ear in this extended passage is the comment at the beginning that both sides considered human nature to be “innately corrupt.” The disagreement is over how best to construct a political system that brought out the best in people and allowed for checks and balances to allow for the nation to be best governed under these circumstances.

As a side note, reflections on the Presbyterian form of government can be seen in this debate as well.

Two articles I read take a close look at James Madison’s religious views – Ralph Ketcham’s “James Madison and Religion – A New Hypothesis,” and  Joseph Loconte’s “Faith and the Founding: The Influence of Religion on the Politics of James Madison.” From this we can probably sum everything up succinctly, including this post, with the line from Garry Will’s biography of Madison:

“Madison’s views on religious freedom are the inspiration for all that was best in his later political though.”

38th General Assembly Of The Evangelical Presbyterian Church

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The 38th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church began their business meetings yesterday afternoon at Hope Church, in Memphis. The gathering began Tuesday and continued Wednesday with workshops and classes as part of the Leadership Institute. Business sessions convened yesterday afternoon, Wednesday 20 June, and will continue through Friday afternoon, as needed.

The Assembly meeting is being live streamed.

There is a lot of information online, most linked through the Documents page and the GA 2018 page. Here are some of the links for information about Assembly business and operation:

As for social media, there is a bit of that out there. There is a Facebook page for the EPC that is currently being updated regularly with Leadership Institute and Assembly items. The official EPC Twitter feed is @EPChurch and the active official hashtag (#epc2018ga) has sprung to life. There is also a feed for EPC Student Ministries (@EPCStudentMin), EPC World Outreach (@EPCWO) and the Stated Clerk Jeff Jeremiah (@Jeff_Jeremiah ) -but none has been active for a while. In addition, you can follow the host church at @Hope4Memphis, but again, not a really active account.

I would also mention Ligon Duncan (@LigonDuncan), Chancellor and CEO, Reformed Theological Seminary, who has been hanging around the Assembly and will be the speaker for this evening’s worship. I am looking forward to the live stream of that.

As for individuals, strong live tweeting going from Matthew Everhard (@matt_everhard), Zach Hopkins (@Zhop59), Doug Resler (@dougresler), EPC Presbyter (@epc_presbyter), and David D. Feiser (@therevdocfeis). And if you want a bit more color and correction check out Decent & In Order (@Decent_Orderly).

The theme of the Assembly is Forward! based on Philippians 3:13-14.

It is important to note that the prayer, fasting and efforts to free Pastor Andrew Brunson from imprisonment in the nation of Turkey continue, and are highlighted in the Stated Clerk’s Report under the heading “Praying and Advocating for One of our Own.” He also notes that “An increasing amount of my time has been invested in Andrew’s situation…” and is thankful for his connections in Washington, D.C., with government officials to keep the issue before them and help advocate for his release.

A couple of items of business stand out. One is a recommendation from the Ad Interim Committee on Ministerial Education to substantially modify and expand the section of the Book of Order on the Ruling Elder as Commissioned Pastor (9-11).

In a final report from the preliminary report and proposed draft last year, the Ad Interim Committee on Pastoral Letter is recommending the proposed “Pastoral Letter on Human Sexuality” be adopted by the Assembly. This is an extensive 56 page document that covers many issues within human sexuality and gives Biblical/Theological Foundations, Contemporary Challenges to the Biblical View, Pastoral Guidance, and Recommended Reading for each topic.

With that, I will wish the EPC commissioners well and we will be lifting them up in our prayers as they meet.

Live Blog: 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) – Election Of The Moderator (Saturday evening)

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Good evening – we are up to Saturday night – the election of the Moderator. Thanks for joining in.

First, I will be live blogging this but the live blog plug-in I used at the last GA has gone silent (and with it I probably lost that content). So I am back to the old fashion method. I will keep typing and regularly hit the update button. You will unfortunately need to hit your browser refresh button to see the new content. Sorry, no push technology this year.

The times are CDT

To follow in a bit more real time you can watch on Twitter the GA hashtag #GA223, if you are OK with 280 character updates. It should be good. I will not be tweeting too much during the evening but I know a lot of others will be.

So here we go.

[Ed. Note: Edited for typing errors and clarity on 7/17/2018]

7:00 PM The house band is warming up the crowd.

7:01 PM The co-moderators call the house to order and ecumenical guests from Asia are introduced.

They are from:
Presbyterian Church in Korea
Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea
Christian Council in Hong Kong
Presbyterian Church of Myanmar

The latter brings greetings and a prayer

7:06 PM Commissioning service of the GA commissioners

7:15 PM Necrology – A time to remember all the Ministers of Word and Sacrament who have joined the Church Triumphant since the last General Assembly
Not projected on the screen but copies of the 10 page list distributed
Time to look over the list indivudually
Prayers for those saints

7:20 PM Election of the Moderator – the six candidates (three teams) are escorted onto the stage and an opening prayer is offered

7:22 PM The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly informs us that the proposed nominations of the the teams that intend to be nominated are in order

7:24 PM Nominations made from the floor
Chantal Atnip and Ken Hockenberry (CA & KH)
Eliana Maxim and Bertram Johnson (EM & BJ)
Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri and Cindy Kohlmann (VCO & CK)

7:28 Speeches – order by random drawing. Each team has 5 minutes to share as they wish

CA&KH go first
CA talks a bit about her service at the local level
Talks about KH’s polity experience
Tells her story of sense of call along the lines of what is in the printed materials
Finishes by talking about the Book of Acts and the Holy Spirit providing all the early church needed
What it means to be connectional and covenantal
She takes the whole 5 minutes

EM&BJ
They each introduce themselves
EM includes how she met Bertram when he worked in Seattle
BJ talks about what led him to move from a Baptist upbringing to a Presbyterian calling
EM talks about only doing it if BJ would join her. He says he told her no, but she prevailed
EM says they see the PC(USA) reframing what it means to be church, and to see God’s church grow
BJ talks about how the PC(USA) must recapture the vision in Matthew 25
EM talks about how the church must promote justice in our communities and nations
Unison: “Here we are – send us”

CK & VCO
Start with a bilingual welcome
Tell a bit about themselves
VCO – They are bold, unapologetic women. TE and RE pairing represents the parity of the system
CK – In their partnership want to invite church into diversity. Call to embrace Jesus Christ and confront injustice. “We choose welcome”
Invite commissioners to look around at each other.
CK The stories you bring. God is not done with us yet
VCO – Look forward to seeking the will of God and love of the Spirit

7:44 PM – Questions
Stated Clerk give the ground rules: There will be 45 minutes. The teams will rotate in what order they answer successive questions. Each team has 2:30 minutes and can decide who on the team will answer

Question 1 – My small church did the previous moderators’ “One church, one book” challenge. How will you support pastors that have very little experience in handling these issues

CA – From an area that has that experience. Worked on this in a synod gathering bringing back exercises from Big Tent. KH – Continue these conversations. Example from a church where a black couple shared they were denied GI Bill benefits

BJ – Grateful this work has started and to the questioner that he is interested in continuing with his congregation. Need to have these conversations in seminaries to equip pastors. EM – The sin has run rampant for 100’s of years so it will take time and work to address it. Your context will help determine what form the work will take. Needs to happen in denominational structures as well.

CK – She took up the study in the two presbyteries she is the resource leader for. Discovered there are lots of resources – TED Talks, Belhar and C67, papers, people, listening to stories. VCO – Presbytery used Waking Up White which led to wonderful conversations. Need to keep pressing on.

Question 2 – Young adults: Over the last two days a lot of orientation and interaction with YAADs. Great experience here but friends at home don’t have any interest. Spiritual but now religious. How do you bring them back into the fold?

EM – Seattle is very spiritual but not religious. They want to be involved, they want to see it happen. How are lives being transformed. Don’t think about getting them back inside the building. Think about getting them involved where they are. BJ – Amen. (When pushed to use time) A lot of things geopolitically provide an opportunity to model who we are and draw them in.

VCO – Need to listen to each other. Listen to signs of the time. Do church differently? Go out there? We don’t see where they are and what they want. They want connection with God and we are disconnected. Her current church when she arrived. The doors were closed. Doors need to be open. CK – My step-daughters are here, and they got excited about the people who walk for fossil fuel divestment. They are excited about hearing about justice. Partners in making the world a better place.

CA – Need to claim we do good things because we love Christ. We gave an offering this morning and Tuesday we are going to walk because we love Jesus. Need to claim that. KH – His daughter asked that question as she advanced to candidacy. Her answer: seek justice. Seeking justice in local community is attractive. I don’t know if 1001 New Worshiping Communities is still in existence [ed note – it is] but some groups that made things real

Question 3 – Why some co-moderator, and one moderator/vie moderator?

VCO – We portray parity in our equal standing. CK – Important to me as well. Pastors come and go but ruling elders stick around. Also important to have diversity as equals

CA – Told you the story of my call. Heard that she needed to stand as moderator. Call old enough that before co-moderators. Over the years looking for the right person to stand with. God in his/her infinite wisdom led me to Ken late in the process. We are a team, similar view. KH – I got a phone call and I had no desire to serve as a moderator but wanted to support her. May be more sharing than in past. And again, TE/RE parity.

EM – I have always flourished in collegial relationships. Knew I would need to do it with someone I trusted and could call me out. BJ – Had not thought about this, EM drew this out. My ministry has been partnership so a co-mod relationship makes sense.

Question 4 – What is your greatest strength and weakness as a team?

KH – I enjoy parliamentary procedure – I know that sounds weird [ed note – no it doesn’t] – but I enjoy the process. CA – My strength is my relational abilities. KH – Weakness – resist temptation to get burned out and get cynical. CA – This position is way out of my comfort level. Thrilled and excited, but out of comfort level

EM – I love people and move easily between different groups. Weakness, I can over do it and need trusted people to call me out on it. BJ – Strength as a team – work well together and not afraid to call people out. Personal weakness – not always trust myself

CK&VCO – We get in our heads a lot. We both do it. VCO – strength as a team – we are very loving. And I cry a lot. Is that a weakness? CK – vast experience we have – 42 years of ordained ministry. Weakness we have as a team is we forget what it means to be in someone else’s shoes.

Question 5 – In San Francisco Bay area we have people who are third, or even fourth generation out of the church. So we have some evangelism to do. Speak to your theology around that.

BJ – Many mission fields available to us right now. We need to meet people in their needs. Need to pay attention to the community and see what they need. EM – We are not the church of building large buildings anymore. The church of Acts was concerned with building relationships and not buildings. Have people ask “Why to they care about people others don’t care about.” We have to embody it.

CK – God called me to Massachusetts to be of service. Reminded by a friend that they are in the top five of unchurched communities. Talk about an intentional effort to put churches in places with no center place. Took locks off door and became a gathering place. People think of it as their church even if only for community building, and not worship. VCO – Ditto. Need to rethink structures that we have.

CA – We are in a time of Acts again. Ate, prayed, shared all things together. Vision for sharing that with people who are not part of the church. Her church is starting an initiative for community education in parenting. KH – What breaks God’s heart? That is the starting point for ministry.

Question 6 – (Last question) In a society divided by so many issues and believing that if we don’t agree we can’t be in relationship. Who will you handle times when people don’t agree.

VCO – A loss for words because I am often different. But need to concentrate on what we have in common. Need to be able to listen. Continue striving and showing up. CK – Repentance. For breaking down instead of building up. Need reconciliation. Build new bridges. How can I not do that again.

CA – need to set the table. Presbyterian polity says we can have different opinions and worship together. We can share our God and Jesus and break bread together. KH – And then be ready to stay at the table. Stay engaged, stay in relationship. Shift conversation from difference to their stories. Probably find common ground in stories.

BJ – Speaking personally, I often are in settings where I know people disagree with me. I am also a pastor and sense responsibility to speak truth. A burden and a calling to speak to my siblings in Christ about what it means to love God and neighbor as yourself. Put our relationship through lens of Christ, but it is hard work. EM – Our center needs to be Christ but we fill it with other stuff. I want to be in relationship with people who are different than me.

8:37 PM – Announce that Peg, a GA attendee from National Capital Presbytery, fall yesterday and passed away today. Prayer is offered with GA holding hands and gathering around the commissioners from National Capital.

Time is closed with singing Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah, candidates are dismissed.

8:43 PM – Stated Clerk gives voting instructions

YAADS – CA&KH – 10   EM&BJ – 90     VCO&CK – 33
That’s a winner if YAADs are the usual good predictor

Commissioners – CA&KH – 45   EM&BJ –  250    VCO&CK – 229
No Majority – vote again – Need 262

YAADs – CA&KH – 5   EM&BJ – 98     VCO&CK – 30
Migration to the leader, a usual pattern

Commissioners – CA&KH – 18   EM&BJ –  256    VCO&CK – 248
No Majority – vote again

YAADs – CA&KH – 4   EM&BJ – 101     VCO&CK – 30

Commissioners – CA&KH – 9   EM&BJ –  255    VCO&CK – 261
No majority – Moderator confirms still one vote short

YAADs – CA&KH – 4   EM&BJ – 99     VCO&CK – 29

Commissioners – CA&KH – 9   EM&BJ –  253    VCO&CK – 266
We have Co-Moderators

Interesting to note that this is one of the rare times that the YAADs did not predict. In addition, the shift to another team as voting went on is seldom seen. I fully expected the YAADs to have called it and the migration would be to the leaders in the first round that agreed with the YAADs. Welcome to GA – never know what you will get.

9:10 PM – The new co-moderators enter and we move to the installation of the co-moderators
The affirmations
The questions
The prayer of installation

The symbols of office – the stoles and the crosses – are passed.

Brief comments by the new Co-Moderators.

Presentation of Communion Sets to the outgoing Co-Moderators from the Committee on Local Arrangements

Presentation of gavels to the incoming Co-Moderators from the Committee on Local Arrangements

Thanks to the outgoing Co-Moderators from the Stated Clerk and a memento and moderator’s cross replica presented to them

After the closing prayer from a YAAD the General Assembly is in recess until 2:30 PM tomorrow afternoon. (Using the newly presented gavel)

223rd General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

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With the largest American General Assembly (about 1300 commissioners) having just concluded it is time to turn to a few more. The big one this coming week is also the highest numbered, and therefore, I guess, oldest or longest running.

logo+pcusaStarting today we have the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in St. Louis which begins on Saturday 16 June and finishes a week later on Saturday 23 June. There is a lot to look forward to in this meeting as the denomination works to connect with the host city, connect with itself, and decide how to position itself for the future.

The source for information on all this business is, as usual, the on-line PC-Biz system. And the PC(USA) event guide for the Guidebook App  is back as well. There are Android and iOS apps and it can be viewed in a web browser. The full program guide with schedules and worship resources is available from the GA web site home page.

A proposed docket is posted is posted as well as a full schedule including the non-business events, and you can also find the schedule, reports overtures/business items on PC-Biz as well as all the Constitutional documents, the Manual of the General Assembly, and other useful items on the PC-Biz Resources tab.

The Assembly will begin with opening worship with celebration of the Lord’s Supper scheduled for 11 AM local time and will be live streamed in the window embedded in the GA home page or directly from ustream.tv. Formal business will begin at 2 PM in the afternoon followed by the election of the Moderator Saturday evening. Sunday is worship in churches throughout the St. Louis area and a plenary session with reports of special committees and commissions in the afternoon. Committee work begins in that evening and it will run into Tuesday afternoon, maybe into the evening for some. During that time PC-Biz is the place to find out what the committees are doing with the pieces of business near and dear to you.

The meeting moves back to plenary on Wednesday morning and then it is a mad push to get all the business done by Friday night or in the wee hours of Saturday morning. But one of the realities is that there is no real schedule of when particular committees report until later in the week when committees have finished their business and they are assembled on the docket like a jigsaw puzzle. The final Saturday morning session is highlighted by worship and the closing business formalities.

One new feature of this Assembly is the Hands and Feet initiative to connect with the local community. This effort is under way and has been part of preliminary meetings in St. Louis, and it is planned to continue in the cities that will be hosting future General Assemblies. At this Assembly many of the Mission Tours are opportunities to get out into the community and help with various forms of service. On Tuesday there will be two different opportunities to participate in rallies/protests. In in the early afternoon there will be an immigration rally and later in the afternoon the “Hands and Feet Community Action.” The offering from today’s opening worship will be used for the local bail relief fund project to help out people in jail for minor offenses because they do not have the money to pay the fine. (And you can donate online if you won’t be there in person.) The community action is an un-permitted public action march to the City Justice Center that will deliver the offering and hopefully bail out some individuals on the spot. Finally, Hands and Feet will be offering a special concert on Thursday evening – Hands and Feet Celebration featuring Kirk Whalum sponsored by Northern Trust Securities. This is the first such concert I can remember since the Dave Brubeck concert in 1997.

Another similar point is the theme of the Assembly. The original theme of the Assembly was from Matthew 6:33 – “But strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” That has been tweaked slightly to change kingdom to kin-dom and incorporated as the preaching theme – “Kindom building for the 21st century.”

Opening worship and plenary sessions should be live streamed and the viewer can be found embedded in the GA 223 Home Page.

The tracking utility on PC-Biz is the best place to follow business. While the PC(USA) does have a general Twitter account (@Presbyterian), the General Assembly feed (@presbyGA) usually provides more play-by-play. There is also the Presbyterian News Service on Twitter (@PresbyNews). The hashtag for the meeting is #ga223.

News items will also appear on the GA223 web page as well as the Presbyterian News Service feed. There is also a Facebook page, and the daily GA news is now by email – you can register on the main GA web page. The daily news roundup is also available from pcusa.org/ganews.

There are numerous entities of the PC(USA) that have Twitter accounts and you might want to watch the hashtag or check the list I compiled in a post a while back. One not on that list is the Committee on Local Arrangements (COLA) at @StLouisGA.

For individuals of note let me start with the candidates for Co-Moderator and Moderator/Vice Moderator that I know of Twitter accounts for: Eliana Maxim (@elianamaxim), Cindy Kohlmann (@cindykohlmann), Chantal Atnip (@atnipchantal), and Ken Hockenberry (@clerkkennyh). To this let’s add the outgoing Co-Moderators: Jan Edmiston (@jledmiston) and Denise Anderson (@thesoulstepford). There is also a twitter account for the Stated Clerk (@PCUSAstatedclrk) as well as J. Herbert Nelson’s individual account (@jherbertnelson). Moving on to Moderators of previous assemblies we can begin with Bruce Reyes-Chow who tweets at @breyeschow and @brc_live. Neal Presa, can be followed at @NealPresa, and as the incoming vice-chair of the Presbyterian Foundation Board of Trustees his insights could be interesting. And we will see if Heath Rada (@heathrada), is there as well. For previous Vice-Moderators watch for Larissa Kwong Abazia at @LarissaLKA, and Landon Whitsitt (@LandonWhitsitt). In this list of individuals let me throw in the Director of Operations, Thomas Hay (@DirOfOp) and also a true GA Junkie in his own right, Andy James (@andyjames). Finally, for color with a degree of snark (yes, some of us need this during the meeting) you can follow Jodi Craiglow.

Out in the press corps, keep an eye on the Presbyterian Outlook on their website (pres-outlook.org) and Twitter (@presoutlook) as well as their special correspondent Leslie Scanlon (@lscanlon) who will be covering the hot-topic Way Forward Commission.

I will be at the meeting for the opening weekend. I plan to live blog the plenary sessions here, but maybe not as closely as in the past. The rest of the week I will try to be glued to the live stream as much as possible and will post as appropriate and able. (I still have my day job) The Outlook has posted two articles I wrote for them on business coming to the Assembly related to Constitutional Overtures, and a backgrounder on Per Capita. I do plan to tweet extensively but not completely during the Assembly at my regular Twitter handle – @ga_junkie. And if someone is planning to live tweet the Assembly let me know and I will point people in your direction.

Finally, I will once again be passing out my “I’m A GA Junkie” buttons. Find me if you want one. Also, the Bingo Card is available for the meeting.

A few notes on the business of the meeting are in order. First, both the PC(USA) and the Presbyterian Outlook have produced summary articles for the different committees and business categories. There will be lots of the usual with fossil fuel divestment appearing to headline the social justice issues and Middle East issues coming to that committee.

The Assembly will have to deal with some important and controversial internal issues as well. The Way Forward Commission is already hard at work and they are bringing a proposal to unify a lot of the high-level workings of the national structure, something the Presbyterian Mission Board opposes. And as I discuss in my Per Capita article, the Office of the General Assembly originally proposed a 38% increase in per capita, which they scaled back to 10% annual increase each year for the next two years, after some significant negative feedback.

And so I am looking forward to an exciting week in St. Louis, some in person and some on the live stream.

But the decisions facing the commissioners are significant and our prayers are with them as the prayerfully, and critically, discern God’s will this coming week. Best wishes and get your sleep when you can.

Some Quick Thoughts On The Teams Standing For Moderator Of The 223rd PC(USA) GA

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As I wrote the three previous pieces on the teams standing for Moderator of the 223rd PC(USA) General Assembly, I found some interesting threads. One of these was that half of them have some connection to Florida (Bertram, Vilmarie, and Chantal). Not sure how relevant that is, but some other notes:

  • It is mostly an East Coast bunch: Bertram – NYC, Vilmarie – Miami, Cindy – Massachusetts, Chantal – Pennsylvania. Ken is in the Midwest (but still east of the Mississippi) and Eliana is in Seattle. That also gives Ken the shortest distance to travel.
  • As is typical, there are the Princeton Theological Seminary connections: Half the TE’s have M.Div.’s from there – Bertram and Ken; Cindy’s is from Austin and Eliana’s is from Seattle.
  • Both Bertram and Cindy have theater experience
  • Both Cindy and Chantal were born abroad as children of U.S. active duty military personnel. In addition Eliana is a native of Colombia.
  • Two attended Presbyterian schools for their undergraduate training: Cindy – Whitworth, Ken – Grove City.
  • It is four women and two men, four teaching elders and two ruling elders, and three people of color. So, there will be a female Moderator or Co-Moderator this year, and a 2-out-of-three chance of a ruling elder.

My best wishes to all of them. I regret that with a problem with my airline flights I will not arrive in time for the meet-and-greet tomorrow morning, but looking forward to the election and press conference afterwards. And hope to catch some of you in the hall.

On to GA

Standing For Moderator Of The PC(USA) – Chantal Atnip And Ken Hockenberry

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As we approach the convening of the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) this Saturday afternoon, we look forward to the election of the Moderator(s) on Saturday evening. There are three teams that have declared and been endorsed, two co-moderator teams and a moderator/vice-moderator team. All three announced and were endorsed in quick succession last December. I am going to present these in three consecutive posts over the next two days and will do so in the order they announced, or more precisely the order their announcements appeared in the PC(USA) news outlet of record 😉 , the Presbyterian Outlook. So we conclude with…

Chantal Atnip and Ken Hockenberry

The third announcement for Moderator came from Chantal Atnip who later announced that Ken Hockenberry would be joining her as her Vice-Moderator candidate. While they have no moderatorial web site that I found, they do have three extended articles on the Synod of the Trinity web site news section: One with her announcement, one in interview format with her discussing the sense of call and other matters, and another announcing the vice-moderator choice. Their information and responses to questions is the first set in the Moderators Handbook put out for the General Assembly, beginning on page 3 of the PDF file.

Chantal is a ruling elder who has served as the treasurer for the Synod of the Trinity for the last 13 years. She is an active member of the Pine Street Presbyterian Church of Harrisburg, PA, where she currently serves as clerk of session. She has a degree from Florida State University in Mathematics and Math Education. Her career has been varied including teaching and IT work, particularly software development and as co-founder of a computer consulting company.

While connected with the Synod of the Trinity, she has little experience at the national level, something she describes as an asset for her standing for Moderator [quote from the Synod article]:

“I am not connected to the national church, so I have a different set of eyes and a different voice than the other people who are running for moderator,” she said. “I bring an openness and an ability to cross the different levels of the denomination. I have been asked what I plan to do (if elected moderator). I don’t ‘plan’ to do anything. A moderator is just that – we moderate. We are to be problem solvers.”

You can follow Chantal on Twitter @AtnipChantal.

Ken Hockenberry is a teaching elder in the Presbytery of Chicago serving as the interim pastor at Carter-Westminster United Presbyterian Church in Skokie, Illinois. He did his M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary and some additional post-graduate work at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Before his present call he was the pastor of Beulah Presbyterian Church in Louisville as well as serving as the stated clerk (part time) of Mid Kentucky Presbytery. The Synod article also mentions that he has served as the moderator of the Presbytery of Cayuga-Syracuse, and the bio in the Moderators Handbook mentions his decade of service as a pastor in that area.

You can follow Ken on Twitter at @ClerkKennyH.

In their choices on the optional questions in the in Moderators Handbook, they did not answer what the church of tomorrow looks like, but instead chose to give their elevator speechs about what it means to be Presbyterian. Chantal talked a little about her faith journey and wove in the 223rd GA. Here is Ken’s answer, in full, where his experience as a stated clerk is on full display:

To be Presbyterian means I am part of a church community immersed and empowered by grace and gratitude. We believe God’s grace and love is freely given to us, rather than something we have to earn. Because we are immersed in this free gift of grace, we are empowered to engage in acts of gratitude, giving thanks to God through worship, as well as ministry and missional service to others.

To be Presbyterian also means that I am part of a church community where elders are called to rule and to teach. That’s what the word “Presbyterian” means: “governed by elders.” God – through the Holy Spirit – calls ordinary people to general missional service in the church and in the world, following in the way of Jesus Christ. God also calls some ordinary people to particular kinds of missional service, into what we call the ordered ministries of Deacons, Ruling Elders, and Teaching Elders or Ministers. This means our church community operates with a high degree of shared leadership, found and called from the bottom – up, rather than from the top – down.

Best wishes to Chantal and Ken in their standing for Moderator and Vice Moderator. And prayers for the commissioners as they discern the next moderatorial team. We can meet the candidates Saturday morning and I look forward to the press conference with the successful team following the election Saturday evening.

Moving on… A quick summary

Standing For Moderator Of The PC(USA) – Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri and Cindy Kohlmann

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As we approach the convening of the 223rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) this Saturday afternoon, we look forward to the election of the Moderator(s) on Saturday evening. There are three teams that have declared and been endorsed, two co-moderator teams and a moderator/vice-moderator team. All three announced and were endorsed in quick succession last December. I am going to present these in three consecutive posts over the next two days and will do so in the order they announced, or more precisely the order their announcements appeared in the PC(USA) news outlet of record 😉 , the Presbyterian Outlook. So we continue with…

Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri and Cindy Kohlmann

Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri and Cindy Kohlmann

The second team to announce that they would be standing for Co-Moderators was Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri and Cindy Kohlmann. They have an extensive and well designed moderatorial web site with not just their basic information and sense of call, but a blog as well that talks a bit more about their journey to GA. And a lot of the site is quadralingual with not just English, Spanish, and Korean, but a Portuguese version as well.  Their information and responses to questions is the third set in the Moderators Handbook put out for the General Assembly, beginning on page 23 of the PDF file.

Vilmarie Cintrón-Olivieri is a ruling elder and educator who lives in Miami with her family. Her service as a Youth Advisory Delegate (YAD) to the 205th General Assembly (1993) gave her the understanding of the connectional church, and she later served as a commissioner to the 212th General Assembly. She was ordained as a ruling elder at the Iglesia Presbiteriana en Caparra Terrace, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has served as a member and chair of several presbytery committees as well as the Vice Moderator of Synod Boriquén and council member. On the national level she has been a member of the General Assembly Committee on Theological Education.

Vilmarie’s higher education includes a B.A. in Education from the University of Puerto Rico and a Master’s in Education from Turabo University. Professionally, she has taught high schoolers and adults, first in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and now in Miami, Florida, where her husband, Rev. José Manuel Capella-Pratts, is the pastor of Primera Iglesia Presbiteriana Hispana.

Cindy’s higher education was at Whitworth College in Theatre and Religion and then earning an MDiv from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. While in seminary, Cindy served in the U.S. Naval Reserves as a Chaplain Candidate. She was ordained to a call as a solo pastor at New Jersey Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, OH and later she moved to Clinton Presbyterian Church, Clinton, MA, after he marriage to the Rev. Eric Markman. For the last three years she has served as Resource Presbyter for the Presbyteries of Boston and Northern New England.

Cindy can be followed on Twitter at @CindyKohlmann.

Throughout the answers to their five questions in the Moderators Handbook they weave in the preaching theme of the “Kindom of God.” In question one which asks specifically about the theme of “Kindom building for the 21st century” they say:

Jesus’ call to “strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness” comes at the end of his words regarding worrying and striving after daily necessities in the Sermon on the Mount. It is within this context that we believe the Kindom of God will be firmly established, both individually and corporately: when scarcity becomes abundance, safety overcomes insecurity, marginalization is replaced by full community, and daily needs are no longer in question for any person.

And in answer to the question about describing the church of tomorrow they begin with

The church that is emerging is a reflection of the Kindom of God, where the radical love of Jesus Christ is on full display, the power of the Holy Spirit is blowing us to new places, and the creative force of Almighty God is breaking out in new ways.

Best wishes to Vilmarie and Cindy in their standing for Co-Moderators and prayers for the commissioners as they discern the next moderatorial team. We can meet the candidates Saturday morning and I look forward to the press conference with the successful team following the election Saturday evening.

Moving on… Team #3 coming soon