SEMPER REFORMANDA
NEWS UPDATE
October 2000
The Robert J.
Stone Washington Internship Project
At the June meeting of General Assembly, Semper
Reformanda presented a check for $10,000 to Elenora Giddings Ivory,
the Director of the Presbyterian Washington Office. It was a special
moment and the culmination of fundraising efforts by members of Semper
during the past year. Since that moment an additional pledge for $2,000
has been received. The internship honors the Reverend Robert J. Stone,
the first elected president of Semper Reformanda (1995-1997). Stone, who
died in 1999, was a pastor for fifty years in interracial congregations
in New York City and Pittsburgh. He also served as Associate Director
for the Presbyterian Commission on Religion and Race. He was a lifelong
peace activist, an organizer for civil rights, and one of the campaign
managers for the Reverend Edler Hawkins, the first African American
pastor to be elected moderator of the Presbyterian General Assembly.
The new Washington Office Internship will begin in
January of 2001, and will continue for six months through the 2001
General Assembly. This additional staff for the Washington Office is
crucial at a time when its budget has been cut and staff reduced. By
supporting the Internship, Semper seeks to demonstrate a strong
commitment to the work of justice and peacemaking at the national and
international level. You can demonstrate your commitment by sending a
generous gift directly to the General Assembly EXTRA COMMITMENT
OPPORTUNITY ACCOUNT #051422, at 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY
40202-1396. Or, you can send your check to SEMPER REFORMANDA, marked for
Washington Internship, to Barbara Miller, Treasurer, 1420 Santo Domingo
Avenue, Unit #229, Duarte, CA 91010. Your continuing financial support
is crucial for the continuation of this vitally important service to the
Church.
A Call for a
New Auburn Affirmation
The Reverend David Bos, a minister at the Downtown
Presbyterian Church in Rochester, New York, preached a sermon in
September in which he issued a call for a new Auburn Convocation, to
take place in Auburn, New York, following the General Assembly of 2001,
to reaffirm the freedom of interpretation of scripture and theology
provided in the Presbyterian Form of Government. Bos said, "It is
time to restore the liberty that is our rightful legacy from the
Reformation. The attempt of reactionary forces to use faith in God as a
means to advance their agenda appears in every generation. Then (1923),
as now, an attempt was made to purge the church of those individuals --
especially those in positions of leadership -- who did not conform to a
narrow view of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ and a
member of the church."
Click here
for an earlier report
on the Auburn Affirmation proposal
In 1923, Presbyterians gathered in Auburn, New York,
at the Auburn Presbyterian Seminary to write an Affirmation of freedom
of conscience and unity in Christ. This movement came in the midst of
the fundamentalist-modernist controversies in which the Presbyterian
General Assembly attempted to coerce doctrinal conformity to the
so-called five fundamentals of faith. This reductionist effort was
resisted by a strong and creative minority that affirmed historic
Presbyterian principles of the liberty of conscience (God alone is Lord
of the conscience) and freedom to interpret scripture and constitution
without prescription. The text of this historic document can be found in
the book, The Presbyterian Enterprise: American Presbyterian History,
edited by Armstrong, Loetscher, and Anderson, Westminster Press, 1955,
which is in many church libraries.
The need for a new Presbyterian Affirmation of Freedom
of Conscience arises out of the systematic efforts of right-wing
conservatives within the Presbyterian Church at the General Assembly
level to once again prescribe doctrinal focus, limit pastoral freedom,
exclude members from leadership based on sexual orientation, and coerce
congregations into a narrow path of faith and practice.
Now, as in earlier times, the concern is the highly
organized effort, which has had at least temporary success, in imposing
new ecclesiastical restraints on the ordination process for church
pastors, elders and deacons with reference to sexual orientation. These
new restraints go far beyond faith commitment to Jesus Christ, which is
the essential unifying center of the Presbyterian Church.
The Leadership Team of Semper Reformanda has indicated
its strong support for the call for a new Auburn Convocation and a
reaffirmation of the Reformation principles of unity in Jesus Christ,
religious liberty, and freedom of interpretation within Reformed
tradition. In a conference call on September 30, the Leadership Team
voted to work with others for the creation of a "New Auburn
Affirmation." We would Like to hear from Semper Reformanda members
and friends with reference to your thoughts for such a theological event
and its meaning for our Presbyterian Church. You can e-mail Barbara
Kellam-Scott at bkswrites@earthlink.net,
or e-mail Nile Harper at jaharper@msn.com.
General Assembly
Council ranks programs by budget priorities
At its September meeting, the General Assembly Council
used a forced choice ranking process to prioritize all its programs
based on two previously adopted mission goals -- Evangelism and
Discipleship. The Council, working in three program committees
-- Congregational Ministries, National Ministries, and Worldwide
Ministries -- voted to rank every program High, Medium, or Low in impact
value. The purpose of this exercise was to set funding priorities for
the next budget cycle. John Detterick, GAC Executive, indicated that the
desired outcome was to do fewer things better by directing more funds
and staff to those programs identified as having a high impact value in
the areas of Evangelism and Discipleship.
In anticipation of this new prioritizing for the next budget, three
General Assembly advisory and advocacy groups met in Seattle,
Washington, in August this past summer. Together they issued a joint
Advice and Council Document to the General Assembly Council showing from
the Form of Government and the Directory of Worship that evangelism and
discipleship are defined as including and emphasizing a strong witness
for justice and peacemaking. After quoting the Form of Government and
Directory of Worship extensively, the Advice and Counsel Document gave
three clear challenges to the GAC to keep in mind when setting budget
priorities:
In 1988 the Assembly committed to increased funding
for the decade in solidarity with women; instead, funding and staff for
Women's Ministries have declined. In 1998 the Assembly committed to
increased racial and ethnic church development, but has never adopted
funding for this new major goal. The Advice and Council challenges the
GAC to fully fund both of these previously adopted commitments.
Having demonstrated from the constitutional principles
of our church that discipleship means doing justice in the world, the
Advice and Council calls the GAC to give high priority to ministries of
Economic Development, Health Care, Affordable Housing, and strengthening
Public Education.
The Advice and Counsel calls on the GAC to take
leadership for planning and initiating a new, major fundraising campaign
to increase resources instead of simply cutting up a decreasing treasury
of diminishing financial resources.
The outcome of the GAC process is that some of the program areas for
ministries of justice, racial-ethnic ministry, women's ministry, and
ecumenical ministries received medium or high ranking. However, Low
ranking was voted for the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program, Theological
Education, Church and Society magazine, the Presbyterian
Washington Office, Self Development of People, and Ecumenical/Interfaith
Programs. Some of these low rankings were partially justified by
indicating that some of these areas have outside sources of income
beyond GAC funding. Nevertheless, it is clear that Presbyterians who
care about social justice will need to work, study, prepare, and engage
politically for sustaining GAC budget for justice ministries under this
new order of forced choice ranking related to evangelism and
discipleship.
Semper Reformanda leadership team conversation
with Witherspoon representatives
In keeping with its commitment to explore ways of
greater cooperation with organizations having similar purpose, the
Leadership Team of Semper Reformanda met with representatives of the
Witherspoon Society in November to explore ways in which the two
organizations may be able to collaborate. It was agreed that a Task
Group of four persons would continue this work in the new year. The
inclusion of Semper News and Views in this Witherspoon web site (and in
the print newsletter, Network News) is a first step of our
cooperation.
