07631
October 3, 2007

Moderator sees new energy across the PC(USA)

Gray: “Our good, Presbyterian decent-and-in-order genes kicked in”

By Sharon Youngs
Office of the General Assembly communications coordinator

LOUISVILLE — General Assembly Moderator Joan Gray says “my gut tells me two things — the level of anger and confusion and mistrust that I think we all experienced after last year’s General Assembly has moderated greatly …. and I sense new energy coming up ‘from the bottom’ of the church, and I see it in a number of ways.”

Speaking to the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) here during its Oct. 2-5 meeting, Gray continued: “Our good, Presbyterian decent-and-in-order genes kicked in after an intense emotional reaction [to the ’06 assembly]. We were all fumbling and reaching and trying to make sense of what this meant for our church and how it was going to affect our life together.”

Referring to the Assembly’s approval of the report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, she said, “We had the anxiety that hundreds of churches would be leaving, and that there would be masses of unconstitutional ordinations — neither of which has happened.”

Gray named each of the 27 states she has visited to date in 2007. Throughout her travels, she noted, she has felt “a new sense of ownership of our denomination by people who deeply care about the Presbyterian church and realize that a good part of how we have been church (style, habits, practices) is passing away because it’s not working in the 21st century.

“When people ‘hit the wall’ on how we’ve done church in the past and begin to dream new dreams, it’s exciting to see,” she said.

Gray sees “ministries and mission bubbling up” across the church. Among the examples she cited:

• New energy among younger African Americans who are “going to find a new way to be Black and Presbyterian”; and
• The New Wilmington Mission Conference this summer that attracted over 1200 participants, half of which were youth. “What blessed my soul was to see that group heavily invested in mission, and all of our people from Louisville were there. I left there feeling so encouraged about a new sense of cooperation in our church.”

The Moderator also suggested that COGA consider forming a committee to look at “issues around the [current] two-year term” for General Assembly moderators. Two years command an “exceedingly deeper commitment of time, energy, and money. … We need to be thinking about those we’re knocking out of the possibility of standing for moderator because of those factors.”

Gray said it might be time to consider remuneration for the moderator, as well as asking presbyteries and synods to help with travel expenses for the moderator’s itineration.

COGA also heard a report from Bob Wilson, Vice-Moderator of the 217th General Assembly.

Over the course of his travels, Wilson, an elder in Huntsville, AL, said he is “meeting and greeting dedicated, committed, and determined Presbyterians in the church pews. They are most appreciative to have someone from the PC(USA) come share — and listen — to their untold stories.”

He added, “They are positive about the future of the denomination.”

For Wilson, being the vice-moderator is an “awesome task for an awesome God and for an awesome denomination.”

The COGA meeting continues until Friday. It includes an all-day retreat at a nearby Presbyterian church that will be capped off with a celebration for the Rev. Gary Torrens, who is retiring from his position as coordinator of middle governing body relations in the Office of the General Assembly and the General Assembly Council.