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From
PresbyWeb:
The state of the Church
– by Douglas G. Pratt
"... the
middle does not – and cannot – lead or set the agenda for the
entire body...
"We simply do not know, or have forgotten, how to be a
denomination that sustains growing congregations...
"Perhaps the time has come at last when we will be open to
truly new ways of being the Church of Jesus Christ..."
From The
Layman:
The moving middle
Commentary by Parker T. Williamson
New Wineskins work seeks to 'articulate the future to which we
believe God is calling us together
Christology is biggest battle tearing apart PCUSA, pastor tells
Gathering
Participants dared to become 'the church God has in mind'
Gayle Parker: 'Don't try to save the church'
Coalition plans no Gathering in '04
Coalition calls on Presbyterians to review stated clerk's
performance
Moderator praises 'consensus' model
'Culture war prevents us from the first great end of the church,'
Gathering VIII told
Moderator opposes 'gracious separation,' continues support for gay
ordination
Discipline 'a very faint mark' in PCUSA, Gathering told
PCUSA feels like a 'failed experiment, now in its waning days,'
pastor says
PCUSA divided by two competing theologies, Gathering VIII told
New seminary focusing on pastoral ministry planned
From the
Presbyterian News Service:
PC(USA) - News Release Number 03436- A time for coalescing
From the
Witherspoon Society:
Some want to "stay and fight" for orthodoxy and purity in the
PC(USA)
While
proposals for "gracious separation" drew the attention and support
of many participants in the Presbyterian Coalition Gathering in
Portland, there were still important voices raised in support of
the Coalition's long-held position that conservatives ought to
stay in the Presbyterian Church, working in various ways to return
the church not so long ago called "apostate" to traditional
beliefs and morality.
In the
Tuesday morning Forum of Ideas, two of those voices came from
Terry Schlossberg, executive director of Presbyterians Pro-Life
and a member of the board of the Coalition, and Bob Davis,
executive director of another of the "renewal groups," the
Presbyterian Forum.
Advocates for separation speak out:
A number
of speakers through the day advocated for "gracious separation,"
while others offered their vision for a new kind of church under
the title "New Wineskins."
Korean pastor says he'll stay - because racism is the issue,
not sex
The
strongest applause in Tuesday morning's sessions came not for the
"stay and fight" statements or for the "gracious separation" ones.
Instead it was the Rev. Jin S. Kim, Moderator of the Coalition of
Korean American Ministries, president-elect of PFR, and organizing
pastor of a new multicultural congregation in the Presbytery of
the Twin Cities Area, who drew the clearest attention and
appreciation of the roughly 200 people in the audience.
From the
Outlook:
Leader of Mosaic says he almost tore
his church apart to make it successful
By Outlook National Reporter Leslie Scanlon
Coalition talks options, including schism
but comes to no decisions about future
'Gracious Separation' just an idea for now
Two Differing Viewpoints from the Presbyterian Coalition
From
Presbyterians For Renewal:
Schism lite? – by Jim
Berkley, PFR
"There is
quite a bit of talk from one quarter these days about "gracious
separation" or "negotiated separation"....
"...whether it is gracious or fractious, negotiated or winner
take all, separation is a form of schism...
"What God has joined together, only God can separate. And he
will. At Judgment."
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