Immediate
Opportunities
October 25, 2007
Our denomination is in the midst of some big changes right now. I hope you'll join me in acting on several urgent opportunities before us.
1.
Overture the General Assembly on FOG
A complete revision of the Book of Order's Form of Government will be
proposed by an eight member task force at the upcoming General Assembly.
Many Presbyterians are responding with concern that the changes are too
radical and the time line too short. We think commissioners at the General
Assembly may welcome an opportunity, presented to them by overture, to
provide for a delay in decision to allow additional time for study of
the document.
A renewal team is suggesting wording for an overture on nFOG to allow time for churches and presbyteries to study the proposed Form of Government prior to any decision by General Assembly.
The deadline for overtures related to the constitution is February 22, 2008. That may seem like a long way off, but it's really a very tight deadline. Your session will have to consider and adopt and overture and then get it before a presbytery for a vote prior to that deadline. Some presbyteries require two readings. Not all presbyteries meet monthly. However, there are a great number of presbyteries that will meet before February 22. If yours is one, we hope you will act on this overture immediately.
2. Other overtures
The Coalition's website has a collection of overtures [overtures].
A number of them also have the February 22 deadline. Several are overtures
that already have been passed by presbyteries. Your session and presbytery
might wish to strengthen one of those overtures by concurring with it.
Other overtures on our website are suggestions for changes that I hope
you will consider initiating in your session. Some of them have a later
deadline because they are not related to the constitution. Please help
us take positive steps to bring reform to the PC(USA) through the overture
process.
The overture packet includes basic information about the process and the deadlines. I know this is not a process you use every day. Many sessions have never sent up an overture. So, if you would like further assistance in using the overture process, please contact me. I'm happy to help.
3. Position opening
Would you pray for, look for, and even consider applying for, a new General
Assembly Council staff position in World Mission. The opening is for "Coordinator,
International Evangelism and Frontier Areas." The position description
says: "Primary functions of the Coordinator are the administration
and supervision of mission personnel appointed to serve in security sensitive
area of the world, along with networking, funds development/grant administration,
and advocacy among U.S. and global partners in support of the GAC goal
for Witness and Evangelism worldwide.
"The Coordinator serves as the primary GAC/WM liaison with Validated Mission Support Groups for collaborative program and personnel support in frontier mission and evangelism, and with all other ecumenical and international partner church programs of evangelism."
This is a fulltime national staff position in Louisville. If you want more information, please contact Antissa Riley by email at jobs@ctr.pcusa.org, or call 800-728- 7228 Ext. 5301. If we can be of assistance, contact Jerry Andrews at jandrews@firstpresge.org.
Please consider these opportunities to win back our denomination for faithfulness to the Savior. Let's work together for restoration. As the book of Nehemiah says, "Let us rise up and build!"
Terry
Schlossberg
The Presbyterian Coalition
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