Mid-Council Issues Committee members discuss the dissolution of Hanmi Presbytery.
DETROIT, Mich. — The Mid-Councils Issues Committee will recommend that Hanmi Presbytery be dissolved by action of the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly.
During its meeting Monday afternoon, the committee decided to ask the 221st GA to take action on an overture from the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii (Business Item 05-07) to dissolve the Korean presbytery, allowing the synod to oversee the transfer of Hanmi Presbytery congregations and teaching elders to geographic presbyteries, or to supervise the gracious dismissal to another Reformed body of any Hanmi Presbytery congregations that refuse to or cannot meet those geographic presbytery criteria, all to be accomplished before Dec. 31, 2014.
The committee, which voted 63-4 in favor of proposing the dissolution, bantered about amending the recommendation to extend the effective date for all steps to be completed by June 30, 2015, but ultimately chose to leave it as proposed by the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii.
The GA will consider the recommendation on dissolution of the Hanmi Presbytery later this week.
The full committee broke into individual groups to discuss the matter, and nearly all of them were in agreement that dissolution was the proper course of action to be taken, despite some reservations if six months would be enough time to complete the process.
Hanmi Presbytery’s creation was approved by the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii in 1984 to support and encourage new immigrant congregations. An Administrative Commission (AC) has worked with the presbytery since 1999 on a variety of issues.
The recommendation for dissolution explains that presbytery and congregational leaders would be better served by being exposed to the life of a geographic presbytery. After 15 years of working with Hanmi, the AC believed that the presbytery cannot function within the polity and practices of the PCUSA.
Synod of Southern California and Hawaii Executive and Stated Clerk Doska Ross said it is time for the action to take place, to end the constant bickering and infighting that plagues the presbytery and takes so much time away from the synod, which has adjudicated dozens of judicial cases on even the most minor of grievances the last 15 years, brought on often because of a disparity of elder commissioners in the presbytery.
“The Koreans are wonderful people, and I admire them. This is not about individuals,” she said. “The hard truth is the Presbytery of Hanmi is not viable.
“It’s time now, in 2014, to stop this separation of language and ethnicity. The Koreans bring a lot to the table, and our geographic presbyteries are not benefitting from such a spirit. This decision, as you can imagine, has been extremely difficult for the presbytery and synod. It’s time for this to happen.”
Carl Sohn spoke against the dissolution, saying the presbytery is trying to change its ways.
“I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. We just ask that you give us more opportunities,” Sohn said.
Clark Cowden, executive presbyter of San Diego Presbytery, spoke in favor of dissolving the Hanmi Presbytery, noting the financial strain that numerous judicial complaints from the presbytery have cost the synod.
“To allow the Presbytery of Hanmi to continue is poor stewardship,” Cowden said. “Their fighting with each other, filing lawsuits and judicial complaints has cost the synod $3 million. We can no longer find people who want to work with them. There is continued conflict that never gets resolved. There is no light at the end of the tunnel.
“There has to be a better way. That way is to approve the motion to dissolve the presbytery.”
Linda Culbertson, general presbyter or Presbytery of Pacific, agreed with Cowden.
“We won’t tolerate the drain on us any longer with no beneficial outcome,” she said.
John Moon gave an impassioned plea for more time to address the matter, saying the presbytery asked the synod for more time only to have that request denied.
“Now we plead with you,” Moon opined. “Brothers and sisters, can we just have a little more time?”
In taking action to approve the dissolution of Hanmi Presbytery, the committee effectively nullified the overture to delay the dissolution (Business Item 05-05), brought by the presbytery. The vote on disapproving that overture carried by a vote of 65-2.
In another matter related to Korean congregations, the committee voted 65-2 to recommend the GA form a task force to study how Korean-speaking churches can develop into healthy members of the PCUSA (Business Item 05-06). It includes a financial implication of $45,860, paid by per capita, through 2016
The task force should be formed with leaders from Presbyterian Mission Agency (PMA), Office of the General Assembly (OGA), presbyteries, synods, nongeographic presbyteries (Korean) and second-generation Koreans. The task force would report its study to the 222nd General Assembly (2016).