Tag Archives: PC Canada

Top Ten Presbyterian News Topics Of 2015

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Once again, as I think back on the year and review what has happened I decided to make a list of the different themes that stood out to me from different Presbyterian branches. Here, in no particular order, is my list. Your list may vary.

Racial Reconciliation

One of the more dramatic moments in a Presbyterian General Assembly this year occurred at the 43rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. A good narration of the action comes from Travis Hutchinson’s blog. He begins his post with this description of the personal resolution offered from the floor of the Assembly:

Mississippi Teaching Elders, Drs Sean Lucas and Ligon Duncan entered a personal resolution at the beginning of the Assembly which acknowledged the involvement of our denomination (and our predecessor denomination) in promoting racism and failing to act to support the goals of the Civil Rights movement. It encouraged us to seek repentance and carry this message to our local churches. The resolution was referred to our Overtures Committee for a recommendation.

The Overtures Committee recommended referring it to the next GA to allow for it to be perfected but when it returned to the floor it was clear that many commissioners felt making the statement at the current Assembly was a more important action than waiting for refinement. But in that parallel universe that is Standing Rules and Parliamentary Procedure the choice before the Assembly was not to adopt the original motion but to refer it back to the Overtures Committee or refer it to the next GA. After much debate, a couple of votes and not a small amount of prayer the Assembly voted to send it to the next Assembly. Then a protest was filed “expressing [personal] confession of sin and hope for repentance.” Over 200 of the commissioners signed onto the protest according to the official news item. Another detailed description of the Assembly action on this item can be found on TE Timothy R. LeCroy’s blog.

Other news in this topic includes the continued work of the Reformed African American Network, the formation of the African American Presbyterian Fellowship within the PCA’s Mission to North America ministries, and the PC(USA) has launched an anti-racism campaign.

In the PC(USA) the presbyteries approved the addition of the Confession of Belhar to the Book of Confessions leaving only the final approval of the 222nd General Assembly in 2016.

Finally, in Canada, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been working with the indigenous peoples and at the release of their final report the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada made a statement that acknowledged the pain of the past while expressing hope for the future.

 

Mass Shootings and Gun Violence

With several high-profile mass shootings in the U.S. this year it may be impossible to chronicle every Presbyterian connection. But two in particular caught my attention. The first was the shootings at Charleston’s Emmanuel AME Church in June. Among many connections, the church has had a long and close connection to Second Presbyterian next door. I chronicled some of the many connections in a headlines piece at the time. The other tragedy was the recent San Bernardino shootings close to where I live and several friends were mentioned in local news stories about responses and pastoral care. The PC(USA) issued both a pastoral letter as well as an initial and then a follow-up news article.

In addition, the Vice-Moderator of the General Assembly, Larissa Kwong Abazia, issued her own personal statement about the situation and asking the denomination to seek ways to respond to gun violence in general. In addition, in light of all the shootings it was a year in which the PC(USA) film about gun violence, “Trigger“, was highlighted.

As I said above, there were multiple incidents world-wide and that same June Headlines piece also contained links to several stories about a terrorist attack in Tunisia that killed adherents from the Church of Scotland.

 

Presbyterian denominations and same-gender relationships

This was an issue across many Presbyterian branches this year with the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada beginning a study process to consider making their standards more inclusive and the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland debating and sending to the presbyteries under the Barrier Act the proposed changes to their governing documents. For the Canadian church the study documents have been released. In the case of the Kirk the indication is the changes to the Acts and Proceedings have been approved by a majority of the presbyteries but the results will not be certified until next year.

In the American Presbyterian church, the PC(USA) presbyteries approved a change in the definition of marriage in the Directory for Worship in the Book of Order. That change went into effect at the end of June and in early September the chapel at the PC(USA) national offices hosted its first same-gender wedding ceremony.

 

Reaction within the Presbyterian family to same-sex marriage decisions

The reaction to these decisions is worthy of its own item in the list with the reaction to the PC(USA) decision being swift and wide-spread. Within two weeks of the vote total being reached the National Black Church Initiative cut ties with the PC(USA) over the vote. A couple of months later the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB) and the Evangelical Presbyterian and Reformed Church of Peru (IEPRP) ended mission partnerships on the national level. The PC(USA) has issued a news article acknowledging these breaks but also saying that other mission partners have decided to continue the partnerships.

Elsewhere, the decision by the Church of Scotland was a concern in the Presbyterian Church of Ireland which initially expressed “deep sorrow” at the decision and during their General Assembly decided that they would not send a representative to the Kirk’s 2016 General Assembly. Outside the Presbyterian family the Russian Orthodox Church has broken off ecumenical discussions with the Church of Scotland over this.

 

Shifting between Reformed branches

The movement of churches between different Presbyterian and Reformed branches continues unabated. ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians announced that their membership had grown to over 240 churches, most are congregations that have departed the PC(USA). In Scotland the Free Church continues to see a few congregations and ministers wishing to move from the Church of Scotland. In addition, a few churches completed the process of transferring from the Reformed Church in America to the PCA.

 

Property

With shifts in Reformed branches comes the question of taking or leaving property. Those moving from the Church of Scotland to the Free Church typically do not get to take it. University Reformed Church was assessed about $300,000 to take their campus to the PCA.

But bigger and more plentiful property disputes came from churches departing the PC(USA) including congregations that walked away, were graciously dismissed with a payment, kept their property in civil suits, lost their property in civil suits, and one of the more unusual cases where the court awarded the property to the PC(USA) faction of the congregation but not on behalf of the presbytery.

Other interesting property cases include a very convoluted property case in California with the KAPC and a case in Malawi where the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP) “sued itself” over property.

 

Presbyterian branches working together

Particularly in light of very recent developments this might qualify as the most interesting topic of the year.

Let me begin with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America whose Unification Task Force is on track to bring a proposed set of bylaws to the 2016 General Assembly. This would put the two denominations on track to make final approvals in 2017 and unite in a single general assembly in 2018.

While not a move with unification in sight, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church held their General Synods jointly in a move to strengthen the ties between these two streams of American Presbyterianism. For those not aware, each of these branches traces their heritage back to Scotland separately and apart from the mainstream branch of American Presbyterianism.

Finally, in a move that is not between two Presbyterian branches but between two national churches, the Church of Scotland and the Church of England just formally announced their intent to be more intentional in their joint work in what they are calling the Columba Declaration. This was followed by the Church of England’s Anglican partner in Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church, issuing something of a “what about us” statement.

 

Refugees

In putting this list together it seemed at times that I could have filled it with humanitarian crises. But if there is one that that Presbyterians world-wide seemed not just outspoken about but responsive to it would be the Middle East refugee crisis.

Regarding statements, these came from all quarters including the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Free Church of Scotland, the Church of Scotland, the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, and the PC(USA), and many others.

In terms of action, there are accounts of relief and resettlement efforts all over the news. The Presbyterian Church in Ireland is partnering with the Hungarian Reformed Church. Presbyterian churches are among those across Canada ready to help resettle refugees. Similar things can be said for the U.S. where, among many towns and churches, Trinity Presbyterian in Atlanta is ready to sponsor two families. And in Princeton, NJ, Nassau Presbyterian Church and the Seminary are working together to help resettle a family.

And we also have the account of a PC(USA) group traveling to Turkey and seeing relief efforts first hand as they worked in a local soup kitchen and food pantry to help feed Syrian refugees.

In another refugee story, the final Central American individual who found sanctuary at Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson was able to go home after 15 months under a confidential agreement. However, with an announced round of deportations coming up the church, with others, has responded that they are ready to offer sanctuary to more refugees who fear for their lives if they are deported.

 

Membership trends continue

Not much new to say here. As with all the mainstream churches in the U.S., the PC(USA) membership decline continues with a loss of 2.1% in the number of congregations and a 5.3% decline in the total membership. What is interesting, at least to me, is that when normalized and compared the membership decline in the PC(USA) over the last decade is very similar to the decline in the Church of Scotland.

 

Publications and Media

Not sure what it was this year but publications and media, particularly those recognized with awards and honors, seemed to catch my attention more than most years.

Let me begin with the Learn resources from the Church of Scotland, particularly the Learn Eldership book that I reviewed last spring. It has been joined by two additional pieces – hard to call the relatively short How Will Our Children Have Faith? a book – that I might get time to review in the future.

But the series in general, and the Learn Eldership in particular, have been recognized by different organizations. In addition to being a best seller, Eldership was a finalist in the Publications category of the Scottish Creative Awards. It was also recognized in the Innovation category as being among the crème-de-la crème of Scottish magazines in the Scottish Magazine Awards.

From Westminster John Knox Press we have a winner of the 2015 Christianity Today Book Awards in the Theology/Ethics category. It is Faith Speaking Understanding: Performing the Drama of Doctrine by Kevin J. Vanhoozer. (Yes, technically announced in 2014 but awarded in 2015)

I would also include in this topic the just-released book by Dr. Sean Michael Lucas, For A Continuing Church: The roots of the Presbyterian Church in America. It is described as the “first full scholarly account of the theological and social forces that brought about [the PCA’s] creation.”

Finally, two films directed by PC(USA) Presbyterian Disaster Assistance agency photojournalist David Barnhart have been invited to the Beaufort International Film Festival in February. The films are “Kepulihan: When the Waters Recede” about the aftermath of the 2004 Indonesian Tsunami and “Locked in a Box” about immigration detention facilities.

 

So there you have my list of what caught my attention.

Some of you may be wondering where all the issues that were happening in Louisville are? In my list above I tried to capture more broad themes and those are more denomination specific. But, to add them here the news out of Louisville included: an outside audit of cost overruns at the last Presbyterian Youth Triennium; continued investigation, dismissals and lawsuits related to the New Church Initiative fiscal management; the departure of Linda Valentine and hiring of Tony de la Rosa in the Executive Director position; the search for a new Stated Clerk and Gradye Parsons announcing he would not apply again; and the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s own budget crisis.

For more information specific to the PC(USA) you can check out the Presbyterian Outlook’s list of top stories. For that matter, the Free Church of Scotland has their own year in review, and the Church of Scotland Mission and Discipleship agency has one as well.

And so I hope that 2015 was a good year for you and my prayers for all of you for a good 2016. My year will start out on a very high note, so stay tuned for that. Until then

Happy New Year and a Joyful Hogmanay

Ballot For The Moderator Of The 142nd General Assembly (2016) Of The Presbyterian Church In Canada

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Back at the beginning of the month the Principal Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in Canada announced the ballot for nominating the Moderator of the 142nd General Assembly. There are two names are on the ballot, a noticeably smaller number than the six on the ballot last year. Both gentlemen are pastors in parish ministry in the eastern part of the country. The information below is primarily drawn from the biographical sketches provided by the Principal Clerk’s office. The Presbyterian Record magazine will publish profiles of each in their January issue and I will update here as appropriate.

The Rev. J. Wesley Denyer is the pastor of the Rosedale Presbyterian Church in central Toronto. He has been there four and a half years and served previously in Brampton, Ont., Unionville, Ont., and Kirkland Lake, Ont. The Unionville position was a new church development and he helped grow the church and guide the construction of their first building.

His education includes a B.A. from the University of Toronto in psychology and an M.Div. from Knox College.

He has provided significant service to higher governing bodies including serving as a presbytery clerk and moderator and as convener of the Ministry Committee. At the national level he has served on a number of teams and committees including the New Church Development Committee and Assembly Council. He has also served as a member of the Knox College Board of Governors.

The bio also mentions that he considers his ministry style to be collaborative with congregational participation and transparency in decision making.

He and his wife, the Rev. Canon Dr. Judy Rois – who serves as Executive Director of the Anglican Foundation of Canada – have two adult children and two grandchildren.

The Rev. Douglas H. Rollwage has served as the pastor of Zion Presbyterian Church in Charlottetown, P.E.I., for almost 11 years. He holds a B.Th. from Queen’s Theological College (now Queen’s School of Religion) and an M.Div. from Knox College. (The bio is not specific about at which of the schools he earned an M.T.S.) He began his pastoral service at Strathcona Park Presbyterian Church in Kingston, Ont. Between there and Charlottetown he was the pastor at Guildwood Community Presbyterian Church in Scarborough in the Toronto Metro Area.

He has served the church locally as a presbytery moderator and nationally as a member of multiple committees including his current service on the Ecumenical and Interfaith Committee. He also serves as a resource person for the Assembly Office. He and his church are active with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank that provides food to those in need around the globe.

His bio talks about his leading pilgrimages to Israel, Turkey and Greece, an activity that has parallels in his current national committee service and which is highlighted on his Facebook page.

He and his wife Dana, a public school teacher, have two children, one a recent college graduate and the other still in college.

So our congratulations to Rev. Denyer and Rev. Rollwage for this recognition of their ecclesiastical skills and service and we look forward to revisiting this topic as additional events and information warrant.

141st General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Canada

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Presbyterian_Church_in_Canada_(logo)In the midst of other GA’s going on the 141st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada is getting under way. The Assembly will run from today ( 4 June ) through Monday 8 June, 2015 on the west coast of The Dominion in Vancouver. The meeting is being held at the University of British Columbia.

A few things to know to help follow along:

The theme for the meeting is “Imagining the Kingdom. …the Kingdom of God is like…”GA2015_web_banner-600x350

The Assembly can be followed on social media through the PCConnect Facebook page and through their official Twitter feed @PCConnect. The hastag for the meeting is #ga141. UPDATE: Friday morning it was announced that the hashtag would be #pccga2015. The official publication, the Presbyterian Record, will probably be posting updates on their Facebook page.

Looking at who is active on Twitter as the meeting approaches I would suggest following John Borthwick (@jborthwik), Fred Stewart (@PastorFred) and Ross Lockhart (@rossalockhart). Always, I will update as I am able once things get into full swing.

UPDATE: I would add at this point that Scott McAndless (@A_noble_theme) is actively blogging about his time at the Assembly.

Regarding the business of the Assembly, I have already highlighted the flood of overtures (24 of 37) that have been received related to human sexuality and ordination standards. The amount of interest and business was so high that a special process is being proposed for this work. In short, the process proposes that this Assembly begin a process of listening, discussion and prayer throughout the wider church and any definitive action on changing the Report on Human Sexuality or the ordination standards would be brought to a future Assembly. However, an Assembly does not have to take the advice and is free to act as it, in its wisdom, may deem best. So we will see if they make a decision, decide a trajectory or start a discussion.

Another item that will be of interest are changes to the Policy for Dissolution of Pastoral Relationships.  This is coming in the Life and Mission Agency report in the Ministry and Church Vocations area beginning on the 279th page of the reports. It is important enough that a supplemental background document is also being distributed. Specifically, there are revisions for accepted practice and clarity regarding the transition payments when a pastor leaves a call. Another item from the Life and Mission Agency from their Justice area includes working to help people with fair lending practices and working against payday loans. This has been a common theme across several Assemblies this year and one I hope to summarize later in the summer.

So there is a brief introduction to this meeting. I would note that the first appearance of the human sexuality business items is set for Friday afternoon and at that point I would expect discussion and possible adoption of the process for dealing with this business.

So prayers and best wishes for the members of the 141st General Assembly and we look forward to looking over your shoulder as you discuss and discern the church’s future on many important issues.

[Programming note: The busiest week in the GA season is next week and I have some family business coming up this weekend so I will undoubtedly fall behind on writing. I will do my best and will probably favour more shorter notes than a few selected long one.]

Overtures To The 141st General Assembly About Changing Ordination Standards In The Presbyterian Church In Canada

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Coming up later this week the 141st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada will convene in Vancouver. I don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that this Assembly meeting will be dominated by overtures and discussion directly focusing on ordination standards related to those in active same-sex relationships. While I will do a broader preview of the meeting in a couple days, here is a more detailed look at the background and business before the Assembly on this particular issue.

It is useful to realize that while ordination standards, and specifically those standards related to individuals in same-sex relationships, have been a hot topic for a while in a couple of Presbyterian branches, for the last couple decades it has been much more of a background issue for the Presbyterian Church in Canada (PCC). That has been changing quickly over the last few months.

The current discussion has its roots in the 1984 General Assembly when the Assembly asked for a Statement on Homosexuality which was presented to, and adopted by, the 1985 General Assembly. But to go along with that a study was requested and approved by the 1985 Assembly. It was presented to the 1992 Assembly which approved it and sent it down to the presbyteries. The final version was accepted by the 1994 General Assembly (page 251). The first two parts are available within a study guide prepared later.

The report deals with a number of issues regarding human sexuality but as regards homosexual relationships it follows the church’s doctrine and comes out against them:

6.20 Is homosexual practice a Christian option? Our brief, exegetical review of biblical texts set within the broader biblical perspective on our vocation as sexual beings leads us to say `No’. Committed heterosexual union is so connected with creation in both its unitive and procreative dimensions that we must consider this as central to God’s intention for human sexuality. Accordingly, Scripture treats all other contexts for sexual intercourse, as departures from God’s created order.

One individual resigned from the committee that drafted the study and four more recorded their dissent.

At the same Assembly where this study was accepted the Assembly was already dealing with a specific case. Mr. Darryl MacDonald was serving as a supply minister at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Lachine, Quebec. The church applied to the presbytery to ordain him and the presbytery approved and he was ordained. The decision was appealed to the General Assembly by 13 members of the presbytery and a nine-member investigating committee formed. With a slim five-member majority the committee recommended to the 1996 General Assembly that his ordination call be nullified. By a wide margin the Assembly approved the committee recommendations including that his certification for interim work be revoked as well. Presented with the request to come into compliance with the order of the General Assembly the church chose instead to sever ties with the denomination. There was another appeal to the 1998 General Assembly to at least allow Mr. MacDonald to preach in Presbyterian Churches. The Assembly reaffirmed the 1996 decision and stated that the revocation of the certificate was complete and he could not lead worship in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Ultimatly, St. Andrew’s joined the United Church and Mr. MacDonald was accepted as a minister in that denomination which had not barriers to ordination. In 2012 a petition was sent to the General Assembly pointing out that other United Church ministers could freely preach in Presbyterian pulpits and the force of the earlier Assembly decision meant one United Church minister in good standing in that denomination was singled out for exclusion. A special committee was formed and the Assembly concurred with that committee’s recommendation that the restriction should be lifted. The article in the Presbyterian Record quotes the committee convener:

“Accepting the petition removes an anomaly that only one ordained minister in a sister denomination is prohibited from preaching as a guest in one of our congregation’s pulpits,” said David Kilgour, a commissioner from the Presbytery of Ottawa and convener of the special committee.

  (Three other web sites that have information on this history include a page from Religious Tolerance, an AP news story and the successor church’s history web page.)

So that brings us to the recent developments. Since the 140th General Assembly a number of overtures from presbyteries and church sessions around Canada have been submitted for consideration by this year’s Assembly. The lead overture is #4 from the Presbytery of East Toronto titled “Full inclusion in the church of persons regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.” By my count there are six additional overtures that are concurring or similar in wording and intent. In response there was a flood of overtures that began with #6 from the Session Of Kortright, Guelph, Ontario titled “Affirming the Statement on Human Sexuality (1994).” There are a total of 13 of these or similar overtures. Beyond that there is an overture (#15) to encourage listening within the church on this subject, another (#16) to set up a process for dialogue about the issue and another (#29) to have the Church Doctrine Committee “review how The Presbyterian Church in Canada has formerly addressed the issue of homosexual relationships, and in particular to study the traditional exegesis of the biblical texts that speak to this issue, alongside the various revisionist readings of those texts that have been suggested in recent decades.”

In total, there are 24 overtures out of all 37 submitted to this Assembly that deal with human sexuality. You can find all the overtures at the end of the reports volume beginning on the 471st page of the volume.

One detail that might be a point of major discussion in this work, and which is the point of the one memorial submitted to the Assembly, is whether the act is a declaratory act and takes effect immediately or if it will need to be sent down to the presbyteries under the Barrier Act. The memorial and the overtures affirming the 1994 report request that any changes be sent to the presbyteries. The overtures requesting full inclusion ask for a declaratory act. In a parallel discussion the Church of Scotland just spent some time in a similar discussion and decided to send it to the presbyteries. On the one hand that is always a safe call, and from my sense of polity, if the PCC approves more inclusive language I would argue that it should go down to the presbyteries under the Barrier Act just as the Church of Scotland action did last year. However, I do disagree with the Kirk’s action this year as the action it took was more in the line of an adjustment to last year’s act to bring it in line with the new civil environment and not a brand new action so presbytery concurrence is not necessary.

One more interesting overture in here is the very last one, #37. It asks for a gracious dismissal policy for churches to leave the denomination, implicitly suggesting that particular churches might want to break with the PCC if the Assembly decides to change the ordination standards. As a polity note, and since the PC(USA) action is specifically mentioned, I would point out that the PC(USA) General Assembly action was to encourage presbyteries to have gracious dismissal policies resulting in a large number of various local policies and not a uniform national policy.

Now here comes the “hold onto your hat moment.” None of the actions respectfully requested of the Venerable the 141st General Assembly may happen, at least this year. Faced with this groundswell on both sides of the issue a special process is being proposed. Here are a few excepts from a Presbyterian Record article about the background:

Eighteen sessions and six presbyteries have filed overtures for discussion at this year’s General Assembly on the issue of human sexuality. This volume of response is without precedence in the Presbyterian Church in Canada.

“I went through the Acts and Proceedings from 1960 to 1966, the years before the ordination of women was approved,” Rev. Stephen Kendall [Principal Clerk of the General Assembly] told the Record. “There were three overtures on that issue.”..

The overwhelming response has prompted Kendall and his team at the Clerk’s office to proceed a little differently from previous years. All of the referred overtures have been sent to Committee on Church Doctrine and to Justice Ministries for review, so they can prepare themselves for the inevitable debate…

Three Presbyterian educators—Dale Woods, Principal of Presbyterian College, Montreal; Patricia Dutcher-Walls, Professor of the Hebrew Bible, Vancouver School of Theology; and, Kevin Livingston, Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry, Tyndale Seminary, Toronto—have been asked to prepare a facilitation process on human sexuality. Time on the assembly agenda has been designated for these discussions. “Assembly should be a safe place for conversation,” said Kendall. Several blocks of time have been allotted to ensure voices are heard and ideas are shared.

“Assemblies are places of discernment and when we’re actually there together we will have the opportunity to do just that.”

In summary, the special facilitation process being proposed would defer decisions on the overtures until the whole church has had a chance to talk about them.  It would begin with discussions among the Assembly commissioners and spread to the wider church in the coming year. The recommendations also come with a reading list. (It will be interesting to see if Kevin DeYoung’s brand new book gets added to that list.) Here are the specific steps (slightly edited) being proposed which the commissioners would have to accept (the Recommendations begin on the 158th page of the Reports Volume):

  1. That the General Assembly move into a committee of the whole for up to two sessions of a facilitated process to discuss the issues addressed in the overtures concerning human sexuality and our church’s response to them. The Saturday session would be “Listening Circles” around the tables and the Sunday session would be “Praying Circles.”
  2. That notes of the conversations during the facilitated process be submitted to the Committee on Church Doctrine and the Life and Mission Agency Committee (Justice Ministries) to assist those committees as they prepare their responses to these overtures for a future General Assembly.
  3. That the Committee on Church Doctrine and the Life and Mission Agency (Justice Ministries) confer throughout the coming year as each continues the work of responding to the overtures referred to them.
  4. That the church (congregations, sessions, presbyteries, synods and standing committees) be encouraged to engage in a year of conversation and discernment on the topics of human sexuality, sexual orientation and other related matters raised in the overtures.
  5. That the Committee on Church Doctrine and the Life and Mission Agency (Justice Ministries) prepare a joint study guide on sexual orientation to be posted on the church’s website by the end of October, 2015.
  6. That the above be received as the interim response from the Committee on Church Doctrine and from the Life and Mission Agency (Justice Ministries) regarding our church’s response to sexual orientation today.

So if the recommendations are accepted there would be the start of significant discussion but limited debate about these issues at this General Assembly and recommendations would be returned from the Committee and the Agency to the 142nd General Assembly.

We will see what the will of the Assembly is regarding the overtures and the proposed process. As this develops you will probably find discussions on Facebook on the Presbyterian Record page as well as page of Canadian Presbyterians for the Ordination of Gay and Lesbian People.

So there is the background, the overtures and the recommendations for the Assembly to consider later this week. As I said, I will have the broader preview in a couple of days, but right now, Belfast is calling…

Moderator Announcement From The Presbyterian Church In Canada – The Rev. Karen Horst Moderator Nominee

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A few minutes ago the Presbyterian Church in Canada made their expected April 1st announcement of the results of the voting for Moderator of the General Assembly. We would like to congratulate The Rev. Karen Horst upon her selection as the Moderator Nominee for the 141st General Assembly in 2015.

The announcement contains no new information or quotes so I will reprint here my summary from last month when I profiled all six candidates:

The Rev. Karen Horst – Currently serving the congregation of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church of Orillia, Ontario, she began her work in the diaconal ministry helping with educational resources and leader training. She has served extensively in the wider church including on numerous committees at the national level and as the convener of Presbyterian World Service and Development committee for six years. She has been the emcee for two national Presbyterian Women’s Gatherings and she served on design teams for Youth Triennium with the PC(USA). In her interview in the Record she talks of her passion for “the alleviation of suffering for humans and creation itself,” a motivation reflected in her time working with PWS&D. Under concerns she speaks of “the growing polarization between ideologies.” For fellowship and recreation she and her husband enjoy riding with her church’s “motorcycle gang.”

This summary is drawn in part from a much longer profile and interview that appeared in the Presbyterian Record.

Our congratulations to Rev. Horst on her selection and prayers and best wishes for the General Assembly and her moderatorial year.

General Assembly Moderator Ballot For The Presbyterian Church In Canada

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As we hit the middle of March we can look forward to the announcement of the results of the vote for the Moderator Designate for the Presbyterian Church in Canada. The ballot for Moderator of the the 2015 General Assembly was announced last Fall along with a supplemental sheet with brief biographies. There are six clergy – no ruling elders this year – four women and two men who geographically span much of the Dominion. Here are the honored individuals in the order presented in the press release. The links on the names go to more detailed profiles published by the Presbyterian Record.

The Rev. Marion R. Barclay MacKay – Rev. Barclay MacKay has served as the pastor of St. Andrew’s Church in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia, since early 2009. Before that she served with the International Ministries program working with the Presbyterian Church of Ghana. Her work there included helping develop the lay training and catechist program. Her first ordained position was with a different St. Andrew’s, that one in Calgary. Her education includes Ewart College (before it was integrated into Knox College) and the University of Toronto, the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia (now incorporated into Union Presbyterian Seminary), and Knox College. Among her leadership roles are serving as Moderator of both Calgary-Macleod and Cape Breton Presbyteries and as the first Canadian to serve as president of the Association of Presbyterian Church Educators.

The Rev. Dr. Nancy Cocks – She is currently the pastor of St. John’s Church in Medicine Hat, Alberta but her resume also includes academic and international experience. She has taught at the Vancouver School of Theology and the Atlantic School of Theology after finishing her Th.D. at Knox College. She was the first Associate Secretary for Faith and Witness at the Canadian Council of Churches as well as serving on the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches. She also spent four years with the Iona Community in Scotland as Deputy Warden of its Island Centres. She says in her profile that this experience showed her “that language in worship can be clear and simple yet still profound.” She also talks of her passion for children and she has authored 16 books for children.

The Rev. John Barry Forsyth – Rev. Forsyth currently serves as the pastor of St. Andrew’s Church, Sherbrooke, Quebec, but has also served churches in British Columbia, Ontario and Nova Scotia. In his various positions he has been the Moderator of three presbyteries and two synods. While his ministry focus has focused on parish work he has also spent some time in education teaching English as a second language and history. He has used his love of triathlon as an outreach opportunity and has a weekly radio broadcast. In the Record interview he mentions the challenges the church faces but says “it will be important that we not lose sight of what we are as a people.” He goes on to talk about “a covenant which we share; a binding promise to work together for the gospel of the kingdom of Christ.”

The Rev. Karen Horst – Currently serving the congregation of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church of Orillia, Ontario, she began her work in the diaconal ministry helping with educational resources and leader training. She has served extensively in the wider church including on numerous committees at the national level and as the convener of Presbyterian World Service and Development committee for six years. She has been the emcee for two national Presbyterian Women’s Gatherings and she served on design teams for Youth Triennium with the PC(USA). In her interview in the Record she talks of her passion for “the alleviation of suffering for humans and creation itself,” a motivation reflected in her time working with PWS&D. Under concerns she speaks of “the growing polarization between ideologies.” For fellowship and recreation she and her husband enjoy riding with her church’s “motorcycle gang.”

The Rev. Dr. J. Kevin Livingston – Rev. Livingston currently works in academia where he serves as an Associate Professor of of Pastoral Ministry at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto. In his previous parish ministry he served a church in British Columbia and two churches in Ontario. His education is varied with a B.A. from Seattle University, an M.Div. from Fuller Seminary and his Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen Scotland. He was originally ordained in the PC(USA) before moving to British Columbia. He has been a presbytery Moderator for East Toronto and has served on national boards including the Special Committee on Sexual Orientation. He chairs the Board of Trustees for Latin American Mission Canada and has published articles on missiology. In the Record interview he talks about his passion for being a pastor and preaching. Speaking of his concerns he says “I am concerned about the numerical decline of our Presbyterian Church in Canada in terms of a shrinking membership and the closure of churches. But I am even more concerned by what seems to be a loss of hope, rooted in a decline of confidence in the gospel as God’s power to change lives, churches and whole societies.” As for a theme for his moderatorial year, he talks about what it would mean for the PC Canada to be missional.

The Rev. M. Helen Smith – Currently serving Centennial Presbyterian Church in Calgary, Rev. Smith has also served a church in Alberta and two churches in Ontario. In addition, she has done non-parish work: she served as Program Director at the Evangel Hall Mission (an inner city mission in downtown Toronto), as the Director of Camp Kannawin in Alberta, and as the minister on staff at Calgary Urban Project Society (CUPS) (a homeless ministry). She has served as the Moderator of three presbyteries and on multiple national committees. At an even wider level she has served on the North America Area Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. When the Record asked about a theme for her time as Moderator she said simply “Sowing seeds of shalom.” This echoes back to her reply about where her passion lies and her discussion of doing mission locally and nurturing shalom in the community. The phrase is taken from a book on that topic by Dan Steigerwald.

So there are the candidates. As I went through the list is was difficult not to be impressed by the years of service and the hope they have for the church. They are a diverse group in many respects but it was difficult not to notice that five of the six have one thing in common – they are, or have, served a church named “St. Andrew’s.”

The Clerk’s office will announce the results of the balloting in just about two weeks and so as that date approaches we pray for the six of them in their waiting and the discernment of the church in their choosing.

Presbyterian Church in Canada Moderator Elect first elder to serve

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Hi there fellow junkies,
Caught this one on a news feed.  The moderator elect of the PC in Canada will be the first elder to serve as moderator of GA.  We in the PC(USA) have been used to Elders as moderator of GA for a while now.

Here is an article from the Toronto Sun: http://torontosun.com/Lifestyle/2006/04/30/1557516-sun.html (link is now broken)