Looking Back on the Consultations

by Gary Torrens

“Where is God leading us in the presbytery (or synod)?”

This is the question that began small group discussions during the consultations that the elected leaders of two of our General Assembly entities held with middle governing bodies. During the calendar years of 2000 through 2003, the Stated Clerk, the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, and the Executive Director of the General Assembly Council, Elder John Detterick, made visits to 100 of our 173 presbyteries and fifteen of our sixteen synods. Frequently, elected members of one of the six General Assembly entities accompanied them. The focus of these visits was to build relationships with the middle governing bodies and to reflect together on what God is calling the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to do and to be. In most of these visits, the setting was a regular or called meeting of the middle governing body, so that the minister members of presbytery and key elders from congregations would have opportunity for face-to-face conversation with these leaders of our denomination.

The conversations were rich and covered the whole gamete of mission and ministry concerns of our denomination. In spite of regional differences and the conflicts that frequently are in the foreground, Presbyterian leaders throughout the church continued to talk about mission above all else. Churchwide, several mission themes emerged with greatest urgency:

-evangelism (spreading the good news of Jesus Christ)
-racial ethnic new church development
-multicultural mission and congregations
-strengthening congregations and their leaders
-developing new models for leading congregations (such as certified lay pastors)
-mission partnerships of all kinds

Participants everywhere talked about the need to transform and renew existing congregations. In addition, they expressed the desire for our governing bodies to work effectively together to reach persons in burgeoning neighborhoods, in racial ethnic and new immigrant communities, and in the younger generations. A striking statistic that underscores this need is that presbyteries in every region of the PC(USA) are currently engaged in new ministries with racial ethnic and/or new immigrant populations.

Participants expressed a need and willingness to receive help from the wider church in these efforts. An example of this comes from the consultation held with Charleston-Atlantic and New Harmony presbyteries. Over 200 minister members and elders met on a sunny spring Saturday at the Santee Presbyterian Church, Santee, South Carolina. When asked to talk about the strengths these presbyteries have to share with the wider church, they were excited to say, “Since reunion (PCUS and UPCUSA in 1983), we have had to learn what it is like to be black and white Presbyterians together, and we have learned a great deal.” Then when asked what help they needed from the wider church they said, “We have a lot of new Hispanic neighbors and we do not know how to relate to them; we need some help in this.”

The consultations made it clear that the church has moved increasingly into a partnership and networking style of doing mission. Participants told exciting stories about partnerships both local and international. In fact, over two-thirds of the presbyteries in our church have international partnerships with governing bodies in another nation. In several regions, presbyteries are partnering with neighboring presbyteries or ecumenical governing bodies to accomplish mission programs. One of the surprises of the consultations was that synods in several places are more important to these networks than many though they were several years ago. A good example of this comes from the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, where the synod and three presbyteries have a partnership, along with the General Assembly Council, in support of new ministries with Sudanese communities in Des Moines, Omaha, and Minneapolis. Another partnership has the General Assembly Council in partnership with synods and presbyteries in three regions to support regional staff personnel working for congregational transformation (east coast, midwest, and west coast).

Presbyterian leaders in all the synods and presbyteries are running to catch up with and respond to the rapid changes happenings in their “backyard.” As they continue to make plans to expand the mission of Jesus Christ in their regions, they affirmed over and over again our Presbyterian way of gathering in governing bodies “to discern the will of Christ” (Book of Order, G-4.0301). At the same time, they implored us to reason together as a church, at every governing body level, to find ways that our polity and processes can be flexible to encourage and support new mission and ministries rather than be used as regulatory devices.

The consultations were an overwhelming success. Leaders throughout the church expressed appreciation for the opportunity to talk with and be heard by these two entity leaders. As one might expect, individual participants had concerns and issues that needed to be heard. One of the concerns heard very often is the “disconnect” experienced at every governing body level. Members and congregations are disconnected from the presbytery and, in turn, from the synods and the General Assembly. In response to this concern, participants urged better and better communication. They affirmed these consultations as a good example of “high touch” communications (face-to-face), and they urged more use of “high tech” communication as well. More and more of our presbyteries and synods are finding creative ways to use electronic communication to keep information flowing to congregational leaders.

The theological tone for these consultations was set in a worship setting by a sermon that the Stated Clerk preached on 1 Corinthians 12:4-14, 26-27. The theme was “The New Testament Church in a New Century.” It challenged the consultation participants to consider that never before in the history of the church have we been so near to the conditions of the New Testament church as we are today, with a multicultural/ multinational setting, the disestablishment of the church, a church struggling to find unity in the midst of diversity, and a nation with gargantuan spiritual hunger. It was this kind of setting where the Holy Spirit came to knit together a diverse community of faith into the body of Christ, empowered to turn the world upside down for the gospel. So too, is the calling of this part of the body of Christ—the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)—called to turn the world upside down for the gospel.