From Pastor Brent
SESSION/AMENDMENT 10A UPDATE
Last Thursday, during its monthly meeting, the session received the report from the Amendment 10A Taskforce listing the implications of Amendment 10A's passage as well as the wide spectrum of options available to us as a congregation. Several members of the session voiced their opinions on the matter and it was clear that while we have elders on both sides of the issue, there is a strong desire for unity (even though there is a recognition that unity might be difficult to maintain).
For that reason, the Session has called a special Session meeting for Sunday, July 24th at 11:30am (following worship) in the Starkey Friendship Center for the sole purpose of receiving comments and opinions from the congregation on Amendment 10A, its implications, and how we, as a congregation, should respond.
More information regarding this special meeting of the session will be forthcoming.
Many people in our congregation might be wondering what the big deal is ("Did something happen and I missed it?") or what Amendment 10A means. Many others in our congregation might understand the issue (and possibly not see it as a "big deal"), and they don't want what has happened to divide us or distract us from the ministry to which God has called us here and now. Some have said that it would be a shame to ruin the progress we've made in the last few years. Still others are concerned that this is a "big deal" that we either "can't live with" or "must support" and therefore we should respond in some way even if it is painful and divisive.
What do you think? That's what the session would like to know.
To help you think through this issue, there are various and divergent groups with resources on the web to which you can turn. I have pasted several links to these VERY DIVERSE groups from BOTH ENDS OF THE THEOLOGICAL SPECTRUM (along with a brief description of each) below. Did you know that such diversity in the Presbyterian Church (USA) existed?
Presbyterian Church (USA) www.pcusa.org
Presbyterian Outlook www.pres-outlook.com
Fellowship PC(USA) www.fellowship-pcusa.org
The goal of the Fellowship is to form a new way for Presbyterian congregations to relate, recapturing more of what it means to be the body of Christ. The mission of the Fellowship is to create an environment in which these congregations can grow and thrive as communities in covenant.
Presbyterian for Renewal www.pfrenewal.org
Mission: Mobilizing the leaders of congregations within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to be biblically faithful and missionally minded in their service to Jesus Christ.
Covenant Network of Presbyterians www.covnetpres.org
Mission: The Covenant Network of Presbyterians is a broad-based, national group of clergy and lay leaders working for a church that is simultaneously faithful, just, and whole. We seek to support the mission and unity of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in a time of potentially divisive controversy. We intend to articulate and act on the church's historic, progressive vision and to work for a fully inclusive church. We seek to live out the Reformed faith found in Scripture and our confessions, and in our life together to follow the principles laid out in the Call to Covenant Community. We strive to proclaim and embody the gospel as we have learned it from the life and ministry of Jesus; we affirm the centrality of the Bible in our church; and we value the dynamic tension between unity and diversity.
The Presbyterian Coalition www.presbycoalition.org
Description: The Presbyterian Coalition is a movement of people committed to life and transformation in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) by exalting Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, energizing its congregations, and upholding historic biblical leadership standards.
Presbyterian Voices for Justice - Merger of the Witherspoon Society & Voices of Sophia www.presbyvoicesforjustice.org
Mission: We are a spirited and passionate community of women and men in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) who are called to proclaim the Gospel vision of God's extravagant love and justice in church and society. We seek the wisdom of the Spirit for following Christ's example and for living into the hope of sustained gender equality, racial reconciliation, full human rights for LGBT persons, economic justice, environmental wholeness, an end to war and all forms of violence, and a justice-loving shalom over all the earth. We commit to risking the transformation of our own selves and our organization to live into this vision, even as we invite both church and society to meet this challenge.
The Layman www.layman.org
Objectives: 1) To provide reliable information and resources concerning significant issues confronting the PCUSA and the Church Universal, thereby equipping and empowering faithful congregations and leaders in the PCUSA and other denominations to fulfill the Great Commission in the 21st century. 2) To inform and equip congregations and leaders in the PCUSA and other denominations concerning the urgency for greater emphasis on the teaching of the Bible as the authoritative Word of God and regular Bible study and prayer. 3) To inform and equip congregations and leaders in the PCUSA and other denominations concerning the urgency of presenting Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior through preaching, teaching and witnessing, with evangelical zeal, as the primary mission of the Church. 4) To inform and equip individual Christians in the PCUSA and other denominations to engage the ethical and moral issues in cultural, economic and political affairs as Christ's active disciples.
New Wineskins www.newwineskinsassociation.com
The New Wineskins effort is an effort to live out a biblically based missional and Reformed witness right now. We will not allow the present institutional malaise and theological confusion of the present denomination to hold us back in seeking to go about the work of our ministries to which Christ has called us. We intend to be fully missional and Reformed as New Wineskins congregations, regardless of whether or not the PC(USA) hears this call to reform and renewal.
More Light Presbyterians www.mlp.org
Mission: Following the risen Christ, and seeking to make the Church a true community of hospitality, the mission of More Light Presbyterians is to work for the full participation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of faith in the life, ministry and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
