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The Presbyterian
OUTLOOK
GOD IS TURNING THE WORLD:
THE 222ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.)
» Portland, Oregon » June 18-25, 2016
BY LESLIE SCANLON, Outlook national reporter
Commissioners to the 2016 General Assembly sang “The
Canticle of Turning” more than once while gathered in Portland to elect new
leadership and consider business ranging from climate change to church confessions.
They sang, “Wipe away all tears, for the dawn draws near, and the world is
about to turn.”
After the assembly took several
historic actions — choosing female co-moderators; adding the Confession of
Belhar from South Africa to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Book of
Confessions; and electing the PC(USA)’s first African-American stated clerk —
this felt to many like a time of turning for the church.
Themes of reconciliation and justice —
particularly racial justice — were woven through the week. Plenary sessions
began with personal testimonies — for example, Therese Taylor-Stinson,
moderator of National Capital Presbytery, describing her rise in leadership
in her church and then hearing someone say: “The little colored girl is in
charge today.” Participants recited together almost as a litany sections from
the Belhar confession, affirming the biblical mandate of unity won for us in
Jesus Christ.
As the country struggled again in the
wake of the violent massacre in Orlando, as floods devastated parts of the
country, and as the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union,
Presbyterians sang, “This saving word that our forebears heard is the promise
which holds us bound, till the spear and rod can be crushed by God, who is
turning the world around.” Prayerfully, the actions of the 222nd General
Assembly are part of that transformation.
Some highlights of the assembly:
BELHAR. It took the PC(USA) two tries and more than six years
to adopt Belhar — which was written in the heart of South Africa’s struggle
against apartheid. It becomes the first PC(USA) confession from the global
south. Godfrey Betha, vice moderator of the Uniting Reformed Church of
Southern Africa, told the assembly: “Your decision affirms you say to your
children, you say to all, ‘When you come to us looking for a glimmer of
racism, don’t come to our church.’”
NEW AND DIVERSE LEADERSHIP. This assembly marked an historic
change in leadership. On June 24, the assembly elected J. Herbert Nelson II,
a third-generation Presbyterian pastor and the director of the denomination’s
Office of
Public Witness, to a four-year term as stated clerk, replacing Gradye
Parsons, who is retiring. Nelson
becomes the PC(USA)’s first African-American stated clerk. The assembly also
made history in choosing T. Denise Anderson and Jan Edmiston, both teaching
elders, as its co-moderators. It’s the first time an assembly has elected
co-moderators (rather than a moderator and vice moderator) and the first
all-female moderatorial team; Anderson — who is African-American — is, at 37,
the youngest moderator ever elected.
2020 VISION TEAM. Responding to an idea from its The Way Forward committee, the assembly voted to create a 15-person “2020 Vision Team” to set a new vision for the denomination by 2020. The vision team will draft a guiding statement to “help us to name and claim our denominational identity as we seek to follow the Spirit into the future.”
ADMINISTRATIVE COMMISSION. Responding in part to concerns raised by review committees for the Presbyterian Mission Agency and the Office of the General Assembly, the assembly voted to create a 12-member administrative commission with the power to determine the structure and function of General Assembly agencies.
MIDDLE EAST. The assembly adopted an amended version of a report called “For Human Values in the Absence of a Just Peace” — which addresses Israel’s violations of Palestinians’ human rights. The assembly also reaffirmed the PC(USA)’s long-standing call for a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine.
FOSSIL FUELS. Choosing an approach some described as a “middle way,” the assembly voted 391-161 to pursue a process of trying to influence energy companies through stockholder engagement rather than divesting comprehensively from fossil fuel companies. Some commissioners contended Presbyterians have a moral obligation to act swiftly and boldly to reduce their carbon footprint.
APOLOGY. By a vote of 463-51, the assembly stopped short of issuing an outright apology to people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer or questioning — but voiced the church’s deep “regret that, due to human failings, any person might find cause to doubt being loved by God” and the denomination’s “deep sorrow” over members and congregations who have left over disagreements regarding sexual orientation.
HOPE. The new leaders both challenged the PC(USA) to become more diverse and engaged with a hurting world, and sounded a theological vision of hope. Edmiston called on Presbyterians to “look at what breaks God’s heart in your neighborhood,” and then to act.
“We are not dead. We are alive,” Nelson said of the PC(USA). Led by God, “we are transforming the world, one person at a time.” O
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