219th General Assembly Moderator Election
Cynthia Bolbach: In Her Own Words
The Layman, Posted Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Please identify the top five issues at the upcoming General Assembly, and share your position on each. (Answers are printed exactly as received – each candidate had a 500-word limit)
Elder at First Presbyterian, Arlington, Va.
Presbytery: National Capitol
Vice-Moderator: Landon Whitsitt (Heartland Presbytery)
There are two issues that are central to not just this General Assembly but to the future of our denomination. First, how can the P.C. (U.S.A.) as an institution most effectively proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ into the second decade of the 21st century and beyond? Second, how do we, as this community of faith called the P.C. (U.S.A.), come together to accomplish the necessary transformation to enable us to be prophetic witnesses of Jesus Christ?
Of course there are important issues on which the Assembly will vote. But unless we embrace the need for change in our institutional structure, those votes will have something of the “if a tree falls in a forest, does anyone hear it?” nature. 
Get to know Cynthia Bolbach
Bolbach’s Web site
Bolbach’s Facebook page
Twitter: @cbolbach
Bolbach’s YouTube Video
Presbyterian News Service article
Presbyterian Outlook article
Presbyterian Outlook interview
Previous article from The Layman
I believe that the P.C. (U.S.A.) has an ongoing, vital role to play in enabling mission and ministry – but only if we realize that the top-down corporate structure that worked fifty years ago doesn’t work now. The denomination that many of us grew up in, that we all know and love, has to change and adapt if it is to continue to serve Christ effectively. We have to learn how to proclaim the Gospel in a multicultural age where Christianity is no longer at the center. We have to learn how to tell people who have grown suspicious of institutions why an institution like the P.C. (U.S.A.) can be of value to them as they seek to live with integrity and purpose. And we have to accept the loss of the church we have always known – as the church transforms itself into something new.
Of course, as the Co-Moderator of the Form of Government Task Force, I’m going to say that GA should approve the proposed new Form of Government. But the nFOG is not the answer; it’s simply the first step on the road to an answer. I am by no means the first person to raise questions about how our structure needs to change; and my first hope for this GA is that, as commissioners deal with nFOG and with other overtures on such issues as the role of synods, non-geographical presbyteries, and GA itself, we can begin a dialogue about what a transformed P.C. (U.S.A.) might look like.
To answer the specific question, my top five issues are: nFOG (in favor), ordination (in favor of allowing gay and lesbians into full leadership in the church), the Middle East study report (believe that more study by the church is needed), adoption of the Belhar confession (in favor), and the report on marriage (still considering). But paramount in my mind is the hope that, in considering these issues, we commissioners can come together and enter into relationship with one another. Our denomination will survive only through relationships. We have much to teach each other; we have much to learn from each other. We can only do that if we respect one another and listen to one another.