Wade confirmed as vice moderator
Presbyterian News Service, June 26, 2008
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Rev. Byron Wade, pastor of Davie Street Presbyterian Church of Raleigh, N.C., was confirmed as vice moderator of the 218th General Assembly on Wednesday.
In his address before the Assembly, Wade demonstrated the hope and enthusiasm he has for the church of Jesus Christ. He answered the installation questions while the one who chose him for his new role, GA Moderator the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow, looked on.
The Rev. Byron Wade (Photo by Presbyterian News Service) Over the next two years, Wade will travel the country on behalf of the Presbyterian Church (USA), sharing and listening to stories of mission and faith. He will also assume other duties as needed from Reyes-Chow.
Church growth strategies approved
Presbyterian News Service
SAN JOSE, Calif. — In two separate but related initiatives designed to address the persistent decline in Presbyterian Church (USA) membership as well as the church’s commitment to grow in diversity, the 218th General Assembly on Wednesday wholeheartedly approved a Strategy for Church Growth for African-American Congregations and a resolution to help Christ’s Church Grow Deep and Wide during the report of the Assembly Committee on Church Growth and Christian Education.
In introducing the African-American Church Growth recommendation, the Rev. Lonnie Oliver, chair of the task force charged to develop the strategy, noted that African Americans have been a strong witness in the life of the PCUSA for more than 200 years.
The recommendation to help Christ’s Church Grow Deep and Wide was presented on the Assembly floor by the Rev. Tom Taylor, deputy executive for Mission for the General Assembly Council (GAC). “This particular item, as it has been amended, was initiated in the GAC in great part in response to what so many of us have recognized as a persistent decline,” he said. “Yet so many of us know of places that are growing rapidly and dynamically. In light of that, we came to the belief that it’s faithful to take affirmative steps.”
In earlier business:
- The items from the committee’s consent agenda – confirmation of nominees to the Board of Directors of the PCUSA and revisions to the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program’s (PILP) 1995 deliverance – were approved. The Rev. James “Jay” Hudson was also approved for an additional four-year term as PILP’s president.
- The list of colleges and universities related to the PCUSA was approved with the addition of Goodland Academy (Oklahoma).
- The Assembly also concurred with the committee’s recommendation to disapprove an overture from Blackhawk Presbytery to encourage the promotion and observation of Children’s Day on the second Sunday in June.
Expanded coverage for congenitally disabled kids sought
Presbyterian News Service
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) urged the denomination’s Board of Pensions on Wednesday to expand its medical coverage for children with congenital developmental disabilities to include occupational, speech and physical authority. The expanded benefits would apply to children with such maladies as Down syndrome and autism.
Most health plans, including the Board of Pensions benefits plan, cover “rehabilitative services” for children who have lost function due to accident, illness or injury but not “habilitative” services for children with congenital conditions.
The Assembly directed the Board of Pensions to consult with the General Assembly Council’s Office of Social Welfare Organizations – which includes Presbyterians for Disabilities Concerns – throughout its review of the proposal. The Assembly also asked the Board of Pensions to provide an annual report on its Relief of Conscience Plan, which segregates medical plan dues paid by employing organizations conscientiously opposed to abortion to guarantee that those dues are not spent on abortion procedures.
Youth Committee items approved
Presbyterian News Service
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Committee on Youth brought five items of new business and a commissioner’s resolution to the floor for consideration on opening evening Wednesday of the 218th General Assembly’s plenary session.
One approved item directs the General Assembly Council’s Office of Ministry with Youth to provide each presbytery resource center or resource contact person with a copy of Christian Smith’s documentary DVD, Soul Searching: A Movie About Teenagers and God for congregational use.
Funded by a Lilly Foundation Inc. grant, this film for youth workers, parents or anyone else interested in the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers is drawn from the findings of a seven-year scientific study of youth rather than from the personal experiences of one person.
Two other approved items direct the moderator of the General Assembly to appoint a task force to seek input from youth, young adults and adults to continue the dialogue begun at this Assembly. The task force also is to find and present model programs, focus on the needs and development of youth ministries and report back to the 219th General Assembly (2010) specific recommendations for designing and conducting various youth ministries under a “new vision” for youth.
The final approved action changes the designation of youth advisory delegate (YAD) to young adult advisory delegate (YAAD).
Commissioner Resolution 17-01 – to encourage full participation by youth ages 12-17 as volunteers to future General Assemblies – was defeated due to liability, insurance and supervision concerns.
Foundation, Publishing Corp. leadership confirmed
Presbyterian News Service
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The 218th General Assembly confirmed Wednesday the elections of two leaders to Presbyterian Church (USA)-related agencies.
Upon recommendation of its Assembly Committee on Board of Pensions, Presbyterian Foundation and Presbyterian Publishing, the assembly confirmed the reelection of Robert E. Leech to a third four-year term as president of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Foundation and the election of Marc Lewis as president and publisher for the Presbyterian Publishing Corp. (PPC), the official publisher for the PCUSA.
Lewis succeeds Davis Perkins, the founding publisher of PPC in 1993, who resigned last year to assume the presidency of Church Publishing Inc., the publishing house of the Episcopal Church.
Covenant founder: PCUSA will be all-inclusive someday
Presbyterian News Service
SAN JOSE, Calif. — While the Presbyterian Church (USA) is not fully inclusive today, the denomination will eventually include all God’s people, according to the Rev. John M. Buchanan, who addressed the Covenant Network of Presbyterians’ Luncheon at the church’s General Assembly meeting here Monday.
Buchanan was the moderator of the 208th General Assembly (1996) that saw the passage of the addition of G-0106b to the Book of Order that requires ordained church officers to practice “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness.” It’s a section that would have “disqualified everyone I know” from ordained office, Buchanan said.
A founding co-moderator of the Covenant Network, Buchanan offered a litany of sins, from lewd glances to premarital sex, that would prevent ordination, but he point
ed out that only one group was affected by the amendment. Those affected by the amendment were the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered, Buchanan said.
Youth video contest winners announced
Presbyterian News Service
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Youth groups in New Jersey, Indiana and southern California have been chosen winners of the inaugural Youth Video Challenge sponsored by the Presbyterian Church (USA) Foundation on its social networking site, ymiLIVE.
Robert E. Leech, president of the foundation, announced Wednesday at the 218th General Assembly that the youth groups of Central Presbyterian Church in Lafayette, Ind., Elmwood United Presbyterian Church in East Orange, N.J., and Emmanuel Presbyterian Church in Long Beach, Calif., produced the best short videos creatively expressing the theme of this year’s 218th General Assembly: “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).
Each of the three winning congregations will receive a $25,000 endowment to provide continued financial support for their youth ministry programs.