08061
January 25, 2008

Open invitation

Consultation unites Presbyterian groups doing mission, outlines partnership for future

by Toya Richards Hill
Presbyterian News Service

Small- and large-group discussions were integral parts of the recent mission consultation held in Dallas. Photo by Toya Richards Hill

DALLAS – In an unprecedented attempt to commit to a shared set of core values and practices around how Presbyterians engage in mission, a diverse group gathered here last week and formally outlined a way to move forward together.

“Renewed Call to Presbyterian Mission in the World! A Dialogue for Our Shared Future” on Jan. 16-18 brought together leaders from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s World Mission program unit and various other Presbyterian entities engaged in mission around the world, including the Medical Benevolence Foundation, The Outreach Foundation and Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship.

Others on hand included representatives from the recently formed Presbyterian Global Fellowship, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, the Witherspoon Society, the PC(USA)-related mission networks, Presbyterian Women, and the denomination’s global partners in countries including India, Peru and Ghana.

Convened by the moderator of the 217th General Assembly, the Rev. Joan Gray, as a result of a commissioner’s resolution adopted by that assembly, the consultation was designed “to create a broad and open space where mission leaders from across the church and around the world could meet together, deepen trust and develop a shared set of core values and specific mission practices which these values require,” the Rev. Hunter Farrell, director of World Mission, told the assembled group.

With that as the backdrop, the group of about 60 gathered at host Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church immersed themselves through small- and large-group discussions to answer such questions as, “How can our church engage people in God’s mission in life-changing, world-changing ways?” “What does it mean to be partners in Christ’s mission today?” and “How should the various initiators relate to each other to work faithfully and effectively?”

“We want to walk away … with some new ideas, and some new things that we could do together,” consultation facilitator Maria Zack, board president of the Medical Benevolence Foundation, told the group.

The Rev. Lien Nguyen (left), the first ordained women pastor to the Presbyterian Church in Vietnam; and the Rev. Enos Das Pradhan, general secretary of the Synod of the Church of North India; were among the global partners present.  Photo by Toya Richards Hill

The challenges of engaging collaboratively in world mission have been punctuated even more in recent years as more presbyteries, congregations and individuals choose to facilitate their own mission projects rather than via denominational structures. Presbyterian groups are increasingly forming their own global partnerships and sending missionaries into the field.

“Now we must adapt slightly and return to blended structures of mission that involve open sharing of resources and extensive communication while embracing ecumenical diversity,” Scott Sunquist, associate professor of world mission and evangelism at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, said in a paper he presented at the opening of the consultation.

One of the main outcomes of the gathering was a two-page document, “An Invitation to Expanding Partnership in God’s Mission,” signed by all the participants.

“We acknowledge the rich Presbyterian heritage in world mission and reaffirm the Presbyterian understanding of God’s mission as it is expressed in ‘Gathering for God’s Future’ (a document adopted by the 215th General Assembly),” the group’s statement says.

“Grounded in this theological foundation we realize that God is calling us to new patterns of mission. The world has changed, and the majority of the world’s Christians are now in Latin America, Africa and Asia. 

“The great growth and mission faithfulness of the Church outside the West invite us into a new posture. We must listen and learn to receive. We must also be open to new patterns of collaboration. These new patterns involve new cooperation and partnerships within the PC(USA).”

Central to the consultation’s document are a set of Biblically based shared values such as trusting in the Holy Spirit and being humble.

It also includes a list of ways the group will “work cooperatively” with one another, and tasks for moving ahead, including:

• Forming a coordinating committee “to ensure that we will meet together to share and cooperate on a regular basis;”
• Working during the coming year to address two immediate priorities — coordinating and collaborating in the sending of mission personnel and expanding Presbyterian funding for mission personnel; and
• Sharing the document with their constituencies in the next three months and inviting them to buy into it.

“We invite those who would covenant with us to join in this new collaborative model of Presbyterian mission,” the group’s statement says.

The Rev. Sherron George, a member of the consultation writing team that sketched out “An Invitation to Expanding Partnership in God’s Mission” during the two-day meeting, pointed out importance of the document’s name.

“The document is an invitation. We are now extending that invitation to our broken and suffering denomination,” she said.

“It’s an invitation to partnership. God does mission in partnership and invites us into that partnership,” said George, who serves World Mission as regional liaison and consultant in theological education in the nine countries in South America.

Gray, who ends her two-year term as moderator at the General Assembly in June in San Jose, CA, said she was pleased with the results of the consultation.