MODERATOR’S REPORT
209™ GENERAL ASSEMBLY
JUNE 14, 1997

This is an extraordinary church, I have loved it all my life and after a year of service as
Moderator, visiting its congregations, presbyteries, synods, GA Mission programs in this country
and abroad, its colleges and seminaries and networks, I tove it even more. And I am happy to
report to you that in spite of what you might read about us in the press - or in the newspapers
printed by various parts of our own family who want us to be different and who hold us up for
criticism, in spite of that, I’m happy to report that we are a strong and vital and creative and
mission minded and faithful church of Jesus Christ and that there is much about which to be
hopeful and positive and deeply grateful. And if that is news to you, you might want to try
reading a different newspaper, or at least expanding your horizons a little bit. May I suggest the
brand new Presbyterians, “Being Faithful to Jesus Christ” which we are introducing at this
Assembly, and which you may receive in your home, four times a year, and which will tell you
every three months, good news about your Church. .

Thank you for the honor of serving as Moderator of the General Assembly. It has been a
great privilege, an exciting and exhausting adventure and I shall never forget it.

My heart is full of gratitude to Moderators who have preceded me and shown me how to
do it. I think particularly of Bill Laws who, in 1970, led us with grace, fairness and conviction in
stressful times.

And I want to thank the people with whom I have been privileged to work:

« Gay Mothershed, our gracious Vice Moderator.

« The General Assembly staff at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, particularly
Valerie Small and Diane Dulaney.

« Cliff Kirkpatrick,our distinguished Stated Clerk,and personal friend.

« Frank Diaz and Youngil Cho who have led this year with stability and courage.

* Executives of Board of Pensions, Foundation, PILP, Publishing Corporation, who
have established a new style of collaboration and cooperative leadership.

* The General Assembly Senior Staff , Eunice, Curtis, Gwen and Bob, who serve our
church with great dedication.

* The Commissioners to the 208" General Assembly who elected me;

+ The people of Fourth Presbyterian Church who allowed me to be away and supported me
with encouragement and prayers, and who have thrived this year without me.

* My circle of friends from Chicago, Columbus, and Altoona, PA, who haye been with us
all year and have come to be with us today.

¢ Sue, my wife, my children and son-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, whose love
and support sustained me all year long.

I have been pleasantly surprised, every single day at how much affection and pride
Presbyterian people have for their church. The Moderator receives it every time people rise and

applaud. But all Moderators know that the affection is not for us personally, but for the office
and what it symbolizes: the history, unity and mission of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

I have received a lot of mail: much of it expressing anger, pain, concern about the issue
which has dominated our life this year. But, also encouraging letters, letters expressing the hope
and love of Presbyterian people.

This one arrived on December 15":

“Dear Mr. Maderator,

When things get frustrating and discouraging, please remember that people
you don’t even know are earnestly praying for you and for our church. What a
cloud of witnesses!

May God give you grace, strength and wisdom for your office.
In Christ,

Jim Gooch and the Session of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Corsicana,
Texas”

Presbyterian congregations are worshipping faithfully, baptizing their infants, teaching
the children, standing with their young people, learning and growing in faith and engaging in
mission where they are with unique faithfulness. Presbyterian congregations are feeding the
hungry, sheltering the homeless, counseling the disturbed, advocating for the oppressed every
where.

And they are doing it with consistent joy from Fifth Avenue Church in Manhattan to John
Knox Church in a racially mixed neighborhood in Los Angeles, from First Church downtown
Atlanta to Community Presbyterian Church, Millwood, Washington.

At our best we Presbyterians have a twinkle in our eye. It’s theological for us. We know
about grace, we know that none of us deserves to get into the kingdom. We're in because God

has invited us in — so there is an element of joyful playfulness at the heart of the enterprise at our
best.

At San Rafael, California, Norm Pott used me as a prop in his children’s sermon. He told.
about the cross and invited the children to give the Moderator a “high-five” and then not wash
their hands for the rest of the day.

Fairlington Presbyterian Church, Alexandria, Virginia, invited me to preach for the
church’s 50" Anniversary. Now the Moderator receives many more Sunday invitations than
he/she can accommodate, so difficult decisions must be made. Sometimes the invitations are
creative in order to influence the decision making process. Fairlington’s, for instance, was three
pages long, and said “Mr. Moderator, believing like you do that “church matters,” we, the
congregation of the Fairlington Presbyterian Church hope and pray you will honor our request
and come and speak to our congregation.” Attached was a petition signed by 108 members of the

church. Well, who could resist that? Jan Edmiston and Fred Lyons are co-pastors and as Jan
was introducing me in worship she said. “Mr. Moderator we have a confession to make. You
know that petition with all the names on it? Well, if you looked closely you’ll see that the
handwriting is very similar for many of them. After we sent it I was looking at a copy of it and I
noticed that. I noticed that there were names on that list of people I know were out of town on the
Sunday we passed it around. And then I noticed names of people who used to be members but
have moved. And then I noticed the names of a few members of Fairlington Presbyterian Church
whose funerals I’ve had recently. | was horrified. I called the Elder in charge and she said, “yes,
as a matter of fact, we didn’t get many signatures — so the committee signed for people we
thought might like a moderator visit... Same for the ones who died. We chose the ones we
thought might ttke it. Besides the Moderator’s from Chicago, he’ll understand that. That’s how
they elect alderman, isn’t it?”

I have visited 72 of our Presbyteries and even though we love to complain about
Presbytery meetings, I’m pleased to report to you that our Presbytertes are functioning effectively
and nurturing community. I traveled to the Presbytery of South Dakota in the dead of winter, the
tiny plane circled the field several times before deciding to land on the snow packed runway. On
the ground I discovered a Presbytery of 70 congregations, mostly small, scattered all over the
state — and those commissioners were happy to be together. We had a great roast beef dinner for
the occasion. I’m not sure they weren’t pulling my leg a little but they told me our dinner was
walking around in the pasture earlier that same day. While I was there, the Executive Presbyter
Richard Melin told me what the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) means to the people of South
Dakota. It was a rough winter with huge, disastrous snow accumulation. 100,000 cattle died in
South Dakota, many small ranches went bankrupt. Almost all ranches lost fences, barns, heavy
equipment. Snow is a benign disaster, Rick explained. It looks pretty, but people here are
desperate and alone. And grateful for an immediate grant from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.},
One Great Hour of Sharing to start the relief process and for the 20 Presbytery volunteers from
the Synod of the Trinity who traveled to South Dakota to help rebuild.

I am happy to report to you the health and vitality of our seminaries — I’ve visited and
spoke with students at every one of them. Our community of scholars is one of our most
precious treasures. Our Presidents and faculties care deeply about the church and their role in
educating leadership for the future.

Our colleges and universities are asking the critical question of how they can maintain a
more important and closer relationship with the church and I am greatly encouraged that there is
a new day for our ministry in higher education.

And New Church Development, we know the New Church Development is the strategy
which will allow us to obey our Lord’s mandate and at the same time to take seriously our
membership loss. We’re thinking about NCD, and we’re doing it, and we need more - more
plans, strategies and resources

We are ani old church. I’ve brought the greetings of the whole church to congregations
celebrating anniversaries - 50", 100", 200", 250", 300". We have congregations on islands off
the coast of South Carolina that are almost 325 years old. This is the 209" General Assembly, but
we were here a century before that. Our Presbyterian Scots-Irish ancestors were among the first
settlers in the néw world and they brought with them their Calvinist suspicion of authority and
hierarchies and monarchies and their insistence that individuals have God given rights and
responsibilities for their governance. They provided the philosophic/theological rationale for
revolution, $0 much so that William Pitt, on the floor of parliament, referred to the skirmishes at
Lexington and Concord as that “Presbyterian Revolt.”

After Independence was won, we Presbyterians helped to write a constitution and build a
nation and because our theology is Reformed we expressed ourselves on all the matters of
concern in the society and brought into our courts and meetings and worship services the issues
that were vexing and troubling and sometimes dividing the nation: slavery, war, economics,
poverty, race.

We are an old church.

And we are a big church. There are still 2.7 million of us. And the polls indicate that
perhaps twice that number think of themselves as Presbyterians. There are 11,400 congregations,
68 colleges and universities and we are in mission in 87 countries.

And we are a distinguished Missionary church. Presbyterian mission activity began in the
middle of the last century. Presbyterian missionaries were often on the field first and always with
their Reformed concern for evangelism and social justice, establishing churches but also
everywhere schools, colleges, hospitals.

The Moderator brings greetings and encouragement to our Mission personnel and our
mission partners on behalf of the General Assembly and so we were privileged this year on your
behalf to visit:

* The Presbyterian Reformed Church of Cuba

« The Presbyterian Churches in Brazil, Chile and Argentina

* The Waldensians in Rome

« The Vatican Secretariat for Ecumenical Relations, bringing greetings to Pope John Paul II
* The Reformed Church of Hungary .

* The Reformed Church of Croatia

+ The Presbyterian Church of Korea and the Korean Presbyterian Church

Because of the faithful and courageous witness of missionaries 100 years ago there are
today thriving indigenous, partner Presbyterian Churches all over the world.

There are more Presbyterians in Kenya than there are in our nation.

There are strong Presbyterian Churches and hospitals in the new Republic of the Congo
and the Sudan.

In Cuba — our Presbyterian partners are now free to live as a church in a new way with
amazing results. Churches are full — bursting at the seams. The Seminary at Matanzas is full of
bright, committed young students and the new President, Ofelia Ortega, will be our preacher
Tuesday night at the Ecumenical Worship Service.

In Brazil — the dynamic Presbyterian Churches are moving toward reunion as they are in
Chile — a development that will greatly enhance their evangelical witness in those two critically
important nations.

In Argentina, a group of 15 wonderful young Presbyterian young adult Volunteers in
Mission traveled, some for hundreds of miles, to meet with the Moderator and to hear a word
from home. They live on a shoe string so I bought their dinner - I hope you approve.

In Croatia we spent time with our mission workers in Osijek, a beautiful old city that
sustained serious damage in the recent war. We support a seminary in Osijek and Agape, a
refugee resettlement project. We visited a feeding center — the refugee problem in Croatia is
horrendous. Osijek is flooded with Bosnian Muslim refugees, Serbians, and Croatian Catholics,
Orthodox and Muslims, all of whom have suffered ethnic cleansing, destruction of homes and
entire villages, and who have literally no where to go. At the feeding center I met the workers and
the people lined up to receive a loaf of bread and a bow! of soup ladied into whatever container
they brought: jars, cans, pots and pans, even a scrub bucket. A little self-consciously, I ladled
soup for a while and then as we left a Muslim woman asked who we were. Our translator told
her we were Presbyterians from the U.S.A. She took my hands in hers and with tears flowing
freely she told the translator to tell me that her husband and sons were executed — ethnic
cleansing. Her daughter was raped and disappeared. Her home was destroyed, she had nothing.
“Teli them — I thank God for them”, she said. “Tell them that without this help, this food we
would starve.”

On Sunday I was invited to preach at the Reformed Church of Vincovsci where the
Bishop of the Reformed Church of Croatia, Endre Langh is Pastor. That little church sustained a
direct mortar hit in the bombardments that virtually destroyed most of the public buildings in
Vincovsci: hospital, museum, schools, the Roman Catholic Cathedral was leveled. So the
Orthodox Cathedral was blown up in retribution. The little Reformed Church was hit too, the
people had evacuated. But now they are back. A grant from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.}
has helped repair the building, a small sanctuary and attached manse. On the Sunday after Easter
the church was crowded with men, women and children to see and say thank you to the American
Moderator. What an experience, to be in that tiny pulpit one week after standing in the high
Gothic pulpit of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago — totally safe ~ in the midst of the
secure comfort and affluence we take so for granted — and to preach about the hope of the

resurrection and to assist Bishop Langh by breaking and serving the bread of communion and see

the tears in the eyes of our Croatian brothers and sisters, tears of gratitude for the church and for
the hope of the Gospel.

in Korea I brought your greetings to congregations, colleges, serninaries, denominations,
staff members, and at the end of a 1,000 meter tunnel, 75 yards underground, beneath the DMZ
at the 38" Parailel, to the surprised South Korean sergeant on guard. The Presbyterian story in
Korea is amazing and all of us were deeply grateful for the strength and faithfulness of the
Presbyterian church and the courage of our missionaries who arrived there in 1888. Our General
Assembly staff has been to North Korea where a major crisis is occurring before our eyes. But
there are, we know, 500 Presbyterian congregations in North Korea, all but two functioning
without a building, meeting in homes — South Korean Presbyterians have family members in
those churches who they have not seen for 47 years. They pray for reunification. They help, in
every way they can think of to send food and desperately needed supplies. If there is hope for a
peaceful future in North Korea it is in part because of the church that transcends the 38" Parallel.

We are an old church and a big church and a distinguished mission church. We are a
diverse church and we are, all the world knows, a church deeply divided over an issue which is
very clear to some.of us, and for many of us very complex. When the vote on Amendment B was
taken on Friday of the 208" General Assembly, I knew that in the Spring of 1997 the Presbyteries
would vote and there was coming a day when a significant part of this wonderful family was
going to be deeply disappointed, hurt, angry, and wondering whether or not there was any longer
a place for them in the family. I knew that it would be painful ~ because I have good and trusted
friends on both sides of this issue. We did not know, of course, which side was going to be
happy and which would be unhappy: only that someone was going to be very disappointed.

_ Tam glad to report that the conversation throughout our family went well. We can be
grateful for the respect, civility, courtesy and love which characterized the Amendment B debate
in our Presbyteries. We did something important, | believe, in the way we talked with one
another.

And now, you are the General Assembly which inherits the process and the decision.

I will tell you that I have heard from a lot of people about this issue. I have received
every day for the past three months, long and painful letters, from faithful, life long Presbyterians
announcing their resignation from the church, from gay and lesbian Presbyterian elders, deacons,
trustees, church members, Sunday school teachers, letters from parents of gay and lesbian
Presbyterians who cannot believe what our church has done to their children, and want me to
explain. I have heard from peopie representing one side of the debate who are furious with me
for not condemning the decision and giving public voice to my personal opposition.

And I have heard from people asking me to lead the implementation and enforcement of
Amendment B, furious because I have said that “enforcement” is the wrong word and wrong

concept: very angry because | Said that there are Many churches which wil] have a very difficult

time changing their behavior, which has historically been more inclusive than this provision
allows, my own among them,

And in the midst of it al} [ have heard Many, Many voices ~ worried, fearful — saying
please, please God, let’s not divide or destroy this church, | have heard voices on both sides
saying we do not intend witch hunts or mass resignations, we do not intend to turn our beloved
church into a battle field of acrimony, accusation and ecclesiastic litigation,

We need more of those voices now. The conversation will go on. Some believe it is
resolved. It is not. It is not resolved in the Congregation I serve. We must, I humbly suggest,
like it or not, continue the conversation. Churches and individuals who cannot implement

Biblical authority, disagree and dissent,

I hope that somehow in the next week, you will find a Way io move us ahead, Seventy
years ago, when the church was almost coming apart over the Modernist/Fundamentalist debate,
the General Assembly created a commission to consider all the implications of the action and to
preserve the unity of the church. Perhaps we need such a commission now.

That Commission, back in 1925, produced a report which I have read and reread
carefully. In that report they said some important things about who we are as a people. Let me
read a few sentences to you. They have encouraged and inspired me during this year.

“Presbyterianism is a great body of belief, but it is more than a belief it is also a
tradition, a controlling sentiment. The ties that bring us to it are not of the mind
only; they are ties of the heart as well. There are people who, despite variant
opinions, can never be at home in any other communion. They were bom into the
Presbyterian Church. They love its name, its order and its great distinctive
teachings. In its fellowship they have a precious inheritance from their forbears.
Their hearts bow at its altars and cherish a just pride in its noble history. Attitudes
and sentiments like these are treasures which should not be undervalued hastily,
not cast aside lightly.”

Special Commission of 1925
Members 138" General Assembly (1926) p, 62-87

Commissioners to the 209" General Assembly, thank you for your service to our church.
Help us see the way ahead. Cherish this precious church, its name, its order, its distinctive
teachings, its fellowship, its ties of the heart.

There is so much for which to be grateful and hopeful. We stand together on the
Common Ground of the Gospel, ground carefully and lovingly cultivated by those who have
gone before us. We live in a household of faith carefully and lovingly constructed. May we be
good stewards of the gift and may we at this Assembly and in the days ahead strengthen and
cultivate and build and hand the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) whole, strong, faithful, to our
children and our children’s children.

Thank you for the privilege of allowing me to be your Moderator. Madam Vice
Moderator, this is my report.