The Witherspoon Conference on global mission and justice

BECOMING NEIGHBORS:
An Invitation to Global Discipleship

September 16 - 19, 2007
Louisville, Kentucky

by Doug King    [10-4-07]

From the Witherspoon conference

Called to mission in an age of Empire

The Witherspoon Society conference was held from September 16 to 19 at the Hampton Inn in downtown Louisville, near the offices of the Presbyterian General Assembly. While the registered participants were not as many as we had hoped, the group was augmented by a number of people from the Louisville area who dropped in for at least part of the event, and enriched it by their own contributions.

Practicing Global Discipleship

We began on Sunday evening, Sept. 16, with three mission volunteers telling us of their own practicing of global discipleship.  Libby Hunter and Kori Phillips spoke in a dialogue about their one-year experiences as YAVs – Libby in Northern Ireland and Kori in Lima, Peru.  Click here for a short report, or see the full script of their presentation.

Shannon O’Donnell then spoke out of her experience in Jerusalem during the past year as a Volunteer in Mission, where the Witherspoon Society has been a partial sponsor of her work on the staff of the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem.
 

Prayers for Peace

Following these three very personal presentations, we were led in Evening Prayers by the Rev. David Gambrel, who is the associate for worship in the Office of Theology and Worship of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This worship was designed to be Witherspoon’s small part in the round-the-clock peace vigil that has been initiated by the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq.
 

Current Mission Movements

Monday morning, following morning prayers, we heard four lively reports on current mission movements. As Co-Moderator Jake Young said in introducing the speakers, we were clearly beginning the conference with "praxis," and then moving to hear and think about the theological "theory" which is reflected in the mission actions.

Three specific movements were represented: the New Sanctuary Movement (Trina Zelle), the Campaign for Fair Food (Noelle Damico), and the National Sweat-Free Consortium (Andrew Kang Bartlett). Hunter Farrell, the new director of the PCUSA's World Mission program area, offered a more general -- and very personal -- look at "World Mission in an Age of Empire."

The New Social Creed

Monday afternoon we focused on the New Social Creed which is being drafted to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the so-called Social Creed of the Churches, which was adopted in 1908 at the founding of the Federal Council of Churches. Currently the Methodists and the Presbyterians, as well as the National Council of Churches, are  drafting a new, updated version of the Social Creed, responding to the new concerns of the 21^st century.

To help us think about this important new statement, a panel including Chris Iosso, Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty and Gene TeSelle, all of whom have been involved in the Presbyterian drafting team, helped us understand the process and the content of the draft. After some question-and-answer exchange, the Rev. Roberto Jordan, a pastor from Argentina, was invited to share his perspective in light of his experience in the drafting of the Accra Confession, which was intentionally written for the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to reflect the perspective of the Global South on today’s issues.
 

Evening Worship: Celebration of Communion, and a sermon by Roberto Jordan on "Becoming Neighbors"

Our time of worship on Monday was centered on the celebration of Communion, in what worship leader David Gambrell called a "Word and Table Service."

The service opened with a responsive reading of Micah 6:8:

God has shown us what is good.
What does the Holy One require?
To do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.

The Rev. Roberto Jordan preached the sermon, taking the conference theme seriously by challenging us to think in new ways about "Becoming Neighbors." 

To be neighbors, he said, is to be shaped by our sisters and brothers in the community of faith – with no person being above another person, no nation being superior to another nation. Each of us has a different function, different gifts, and it’s that variety of gifts (and our respect for each other’s gifts) that makes the church a dynamic movement rather than simply an institution. Only when we begin to practice this kind of "closeness" with those who are different from us will we be truly practicing neighborliness.

A Challenge from Accra for North American Churches

Tuesday morning saw us shift our attention to the very important statement issued by the General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches meeting Accra, Ghana, in 2004. A recently published pamphlet with the text of the Accra Confession introduces it by explaining that the Confession was "based on the theological conviction that the economic and environmental injustices of today’s global economy require the Reformed family to respond as a matter of faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Accra Confession calls upon Reformed Christians around the world to engage injustices in the world as an integral part of their churches’ witness and mission."

We heard first from the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the PC(USA) and current President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and then from the Rev. Dr. Setri Nyomi, who is the General Secretary of the World Alliance, and is originally from Ghana.

Cameroon:  Living out the Accra Confession

Later Tuesday morning, Christi Boyd and Valéry Nodem, of the Joining Hands Network in Cameroon, described how the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon is taking the lead in the struggle for justice – social, economic and environmental -- as one expression of the commitments made by those who shared in Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth.  They work with RELUFA, the Network for the Fight Against Hunger, which is a national network of Cameroonian churches, along with ecumenical and secular non-profit organizations, working since 2001 to take common action against hunger, poverty, and social, economic, and environmental injustice.   

They described ways U.S. Christians can help in their struggle, especially by supporting the "Publish What You Pay" campaign.

More on the Accra Confession and "Covenanting for Justice"

Roberto Jordan considers the Accra Confession from the perspective of Latin America  

Following the presentations Tuesday morning on the Accra Confession, and on the way some of its ideas are being put into practice the Cameroon, we heard again from Roberto Jordan, offering his perspective as an Argentine citizen and one of the drafters of the Confession, on both the Confession itself and the wider framework of ideas that accompany it.

"Open Space Technology" -- time (and space) for do-it-yourself small group discussions

Tuesday afternoon, following Roberto Jordan’s challenging discussion of the Accra Confession and the new "Covenanting for Justice in the Economy and the Earth" program, we made use of the Open Space Technology method for creating small group conversations about a variety of topics that were announced and led by conference participants.

Closing worship – commissioned for justice

Wednesday's closing worship, again led by David Gambrel, was designed as a service of commissioning, with the readings based mainly on the Accra Confession which had been the centerpiece of our time together and now provided a direction for our going forth.

"Church activists" push for reforms
New Social Creed will take global view
[10-18-07]

Peter Smith of the Louisville Courier-Journal filed a report on the Witherspoon conference (published almost a month after the event) focusing on the discussion of the proposed New Social Creed.

It may not add much to what we have reported here, but you may be interested to see how he looks at the discussion as an outside observer.

So what's this about "activists"?

One little thought: The reporter clearly saw this group – as well as the writers of the Social Creeds, old and new – as "activists." Whatever his intent, I find it interesting that the word "activist" is so often a term of opprobrium, if not derision, in today’s right-wing rhetoric. Activist judges are labeled as a threat to the Constitution; fair-trade activists are challenging America’s push for so-called free trade; labor activists negotiate, or maybe even strike, for decent wages.

Of course, the activist attitude is not limited to the progressive side of the spectrum. A quick Google search for "right to life" plus "activist" turns up about 307,000 citations. (I haven’t counted them all, but that’s what Google tells me, and who am I to question a company that makes as much money as they do?)

What assumptions lie behind this use of the word "activist"? It seems to imply that acting to deal with a problem (whatever you define that problem to be) makes you unusual. Most people, it suggests, don’t act, but just roll along in their well-defined ruts. Getting upset enough about some issue that you take to the streets, or write letters, or try to do something to make a change in the world, makes you odd. Maybe even deviant!

Peter Smith was right, then, in labeling the Witherspoon conference as a bunch of activists, for the people gathered there, and the speakers we listened to, all reflected a concern that things need to be changed. And more than a concern – a willingness to do things (talk, write, march, or whatever) to help those changes come about.

Maybe it’s time we become more intentional about activism as a commitment and a style of life (collective and personal) to be claimed with pride.

What about the twenty-somethings?

You might want to contrast this with a recent article by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who reports that after being on a few college campuses, that "the more I am around this generation of college students, the more I am both baffled and impressed. I am impressed because they are so much more optimistic and idealistic than they should be. I am baffled because they are so much less radical and politically engaged than they need to be."

What he calls "Generation Q" — "the Quiet Americans, in the best sense of that term, [are] quietly pursuing their idealism, at home and abroad." But they see the looming disasters in our country – environmental, economic, and more – and are not getting active to demand changes.

He adds: "America needs a jolt of the idealism, activism and outrage (it must be in there) of Generation Q. That’s what twentysomethings are for — to light a fire under the country. But they can’t e-mail it in, and an online petition or a mouse click for carbon neutrality won’t cut it. They have to get organized in a way that will force politicians to pay attention rather than just patronize them."

Read Friedman’s column >>

Page 1

Sunday evening: Mission volunteers talk of practicing global discipleship

Evening worship: prayers for peace

Monday morning: Current mission movements, including the New Sanctuary Movement (Trina Zelle), the Campaign for Fair Food (Noelle Damico), the National Sweat-Free Consortium (Andrew Kang Bartlett), and a more general look at "World Mission in an Age of Empire" (Hunter Farrell, new director of the PCUSA's World Mission program area).

Page 2

The New Social Creed

Worship with Roberto Jordan preaching on "being neighbors"

Page 3

The Accra Confession introduced by Clifton Kirkpatrick and Setri Nyomi

Page 4

More on the Accra Confession -- analysis by Roberto Jordan

Page 5

Young Adult Volunteers tell their stories

Page 6

Living out the Accra Confession: Presbyterian Church in Cameroon takes lead in the struggle for justice

Page 7

Open Space Technology small group discussions

Closing worship: commissioned for justice

GA actions ratified (or not) by  the presbyteries   

A number of the most important actions of the 219^th General Assembly have now been acted upon by the presbyteries, confirming most of them as amendments to the PC(USA) Book of Order.

We provided resources to help inform the reflection and debate, along with updates on the voting.

Our three areas of primary interest have been:

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PVJ's Facebook page

Mitch Trigger, PVJ's Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!

Voices of Sophia blog

Heather Reichgott, who has created this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:

John Harris’ Summit to Shore blogspot

John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive

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