An overture on evangelism developed by Knox Fellowship and endorsed by three church sessions was approved July 23 by the Presbytery of Tampa Bay. Before the overture can be considered by the 222nd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), another presbytery must concur.
The Presbytery of Tampa Bay approved the overture in a 81-44 vote despite a recommendation by the Bills and Overture’s Committee to disapprove.
The evangelism overture requests that the section G-2.0607c, Final Assessment and Negotiation, be amended by adding “practical training in evangelism;” defined as “agile speaking and teaching concise truth about Jesus Christ as confessed in the Nicene Creed,” so that the section would read:
a transcript from a theological institution accredited by the Association of Theological Schools acceptable to the presbytery, showing a course of study including Hebrew and Greek, exegesis of the Old and New Testaments using Hebrew and Greek, practical training in evangelism (agile speaking and teaching concise truth about Jesus Christ as confessed in the Nicene Creed), satisfactory grades in all areas of study, and graduation or proximity to graduation; and …
“We have seen astonishing year over year decline, a significant rise among the non-Christian population while there is no comprehensive practical evangelism training across the PCUSA enterprise,” said the Rev. Carl Lammers, in his statement supporting of the overture during the presbytery meeting. With an affirmative vote, the Tampa Bay Presbytery will promote constructive constitutional dialogue addressing central concepts such as missions, evangelism and contextualization grounded in a central Confession, the Nicene Creed, the most ecumenical of all confessions. The overture is correctly placed to call for a structural change designed with prescriptive wording to get at the very heart of the problem many of us have—to articulate our faith in Jesus in any climate or place to any tribe, tongue or nation. We need to equip the next generation differently for the formidable task ahead.”
Included in the presbytery’s meeting packets was a document highlighting the merits of the overture.It spoke not only of the PCUSA’s membership and generational declines, but of the “rise of the nones” – a reference to the increase of those with no religious preference. A book by the same title, “Rise of the Nones”, by James Emery White was published in 2014. Nearly 30% of US respondents do not identify as Christian according to Pew Research poll published May 12, 2015.
“An Evangelism Overture is required to initiate a constructive constitutional dialogue about the future of evangelism,” according to the document. “The GA is the only forum in which presbytery delegates and Seminary representatives will converge to discuss evangelism with hope of productive outcome. Without a formal overture, Presbyterian evangelism cannot be discussed in any constructive way leading to results. Presbyteries through an Evangelism Overture would constructively engage PCUSA Seminary Curriculum Committees, Committee on Theological Education (COTE), and the newly created PCUSA Mission Agency Ministry Area known as Theology, Formation and Evangelism.”
The 222nd General Assembly will be held Jun 18-25, 2016 in Portland, Ore.
Related resources:
The Merits of an Evangelism Overture, which was included in the Tampa Bay Presbytery’s meeting packets.
9 Comments. Leave new
Until the Property in Trust clause is repealed, or modified is such a way to establish guarantees of freedom of movement, association and assembly. Any and all else the PCUSA may wish to do, like to do, desire to do, to assuage effected groups is irrelevant and simply rearranging the deck chairs.
This is a great overture, and much needed. With the spread of Universalism and even atheism in some areas of PCUSA, a reinforcement of evangelism training for teaching elders could energize the much-battered literal-faith community in PCUSA. At least it will strengthen the resolve and improve the witnessing skills of the faithful remnant.
…it’s all about that Property – no Trust
Praying this overture will be successful ! That would be good news.
“Without a formal overture, Presbyterian evangelism cannot be discussed in any constructive way leading to results.”
How sad that this is needed before people can be told about Christ… no wonder…
@ Betty – that is the SOLE opinion of whoever wrote this article – not anyone else and I would propose not true at all. Our congregational leadership and Presbytery talk about evangelism often and whenever the Spirit leads us! Also what a poorly written overture – “agile speaking” – The definition of agile is: able to move quickly and easily?
YEP, your’re right, no Trust.
It is a known fact that all of us have been “called” and “gifted”. “Called” in that God has called each of us to do a task for His Kingdom. “Gifted” in that God has given us the gifts to do the task. One of the important tasks that we have is to share the good news about Jesus with others. There is a hungry world out there. But how can we share our faith if we do not know our faith. Thus Christian Education is important. We have to tell the story of Jesus to the next generation or it will be lost.
Betty, you have expressed my thoughts and sadness that Evangelism is not front and center in this denomination. It will be interesting to see where this overture will go in the next GA. This is a chance for the denomination to make a little effort in the area of educating the clergy for sharing the Gospel and being prepared for that task. We shall see if it is a priority or not by watching where this overture goes. Meanwhile join me in praying for a positive out come!