Calvin Synod Herald, 1975 (75. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1975-07-01 / 7-8. szám

4

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

For five full days from their seats in the Minneapolis Auditorium, delegates to the Tenth General Synod of the United Church of Christ were confronted by a huge red and blue banner with the words “Jesus Christ Frees and Unites” and the symbol of the United Church of Christ.

“That text and that symbol have been burned into our hearts and minds,” said United Church president Robert V. Moss, as the Synod closed.

“I believe we were united in Christ as no General Synod has ever been before. We were free of the separate personalities of our parent Congregational Christian and Evangelical and Reformed traditions, and were unhampered by our racial, ethnic and sexual differences.”

“After 18 years of turbulent, exciting life, the United Church of Christ has crossed the threshold of maturity,” Dr. Moss declared.

The General Synod approved, with one negative vote, a program to raise the status of women in the UCC. Key element in the plan is designation of a national affirmative action officer for fair employment opportunities for women and minorities. State and regional conferences, local churches and theological seminaries that train ministers for the denomination will all have roles to play in the new program.

The UCC presented the Antoinette Brown awards, commemorating the first woman minister ordained in the United States, to the Rev. Rhoda Jane Dickinson, 87, of Minneapolis, and the Rev. Joan Bates Forsberg, 47, of Yale Divinity School, New Haven, CT.

The 750 delegates from 49 states adopted a wide ranging program to attack the world food crisis. They called on “comfortable” Americans to make radical changes in their style of life to help prevent starvation in hungry areas of the world. Some specifics: cut down on lawn fertilizer, ride a bike, plant a garden, eat a modest and healthful diet.

They also called on the country to increase emergency food aid, step up farm production at home and abroad, encourage family planning and liberalize international trade policies.

UCC mmebers from the Great Plains area who joined the delegates at a mass worship service Sunday, June 30, contributed more than $7,000 to a special hunger fund.

Actions to foster the unity and well being of the local churches were given high priority by the Synod delegates. In a vote ranking 29 subjects considered by the Synod, the delegates placed as the first six: women in church and society, local church vitality, the world food crisis, evangelism, Christian education and stewardship.

National boards and agencies were instructéd to come up with creative new programs to develop the mission of the local church, train its leaders, increase its strength and enhance the quality of worship. New strategies and new' materials are to be developed to reinvigorate Christian education in the churches.

The Synod challenged the 1.8-million UCC members to increase their total giving to the church by 30 million dollars by 1979. A gift of $1 per week for every $1,000 of annual income is the goal unanimously endorsed by the Synod.

The delegates voted for establishment of a new Office for Church in Society as a successor to the Council for Christian Social Action. Discussion and debate made it clear that they saw their action as a strong affirmation of the denomination’s commitment to social action.

In other action, the Synod initiated a campaign to put the U.S. military justice system under civilian control.

Basing its decision on a massive four-year study of the system by the UCC Task Force on Ministries to Military Personnel, the Synod petitioned the Congress to reform the antique system to “fulfill the highest principles of the civilian constitutional law tradition.”

The United Church body also reaffirmed the military chaplaincy as the principal form of ministry to men and women in the services.

Civil liberties for gay and bisexual persons were endorsed by the delegates in a pronouncement which made clear that the Synod was not considering “the rightness or wrongness of same-gender relationships” but was expressing its Christian conviction that all persons are entitled to equal protection under the law. A study of human sexuality and its theological foundations is to be made for presentation to the Eleventh General Synod.

The General Synod also:

★ reaffirmed its support for political independence of Black Africans in nations of still ruled by white minorities;

★ appealed once more to the President of the United States for general amnesty for draft resisters, military absentees and civilian war protesters;

★ affirmed support for the Wilmington Ten — nine young Black men and a white woman who are free on bail provided by the UCC while their convictions on charges arising out of racial violence in Wilmington, NC in 1971, are being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court;

★ condemned surveillance of U.S. citizens at home and assassination attempts overseas by. the Central Intelligence Agency;

★ urged UCC members to sponsor at least 500 Vietnamese refugee families and asked the U.S. government to end restrictions on travel and trade with the new governments in Indochina;

★ opposed the use of corporate funds by companies doing business overseas to interfere in the political process or buy favors in host nations, and urged such companies to undertake “to improve the welfare and to enlarge the dignity of the people of the countries where they operate.”

★ called on President Ford and the Governor of South Dakota to curb the use of force in the Pine Ridge Reservation incident and voted to work for observance of Indian treaty tights and repeal of laws abridging Indian sovereignty on reservation lands.

The emphasis of the Synod on the vitality of the local church was symbolized by election to the post of Moderator for 1975-77 the Rev. Robert K. Nace, pastor of Zion’s Reformed Church, Greenville, Pennsylvania. Elected assistant moderators were Dr. Erna Ballantine Bryant, Boston, MA, and Gary E. Mistlin, Modesto, CA, a graduate student of business administration.

The Rev. Dr. Joseph H. Evans was elected to a third term as secretary of the church. Elected to chair the Executive Council was Dr. Helen I. Barnhill, who heads a management consulting firm in Milwaukee. Vice chairperson will be Robert L. Dressier, an attorney of Portland, OR.

The Synod adopted annual budget of $9,500,000 for support of national agencies in 1976 and 1977. The amount is the same as that approved for the years 1974 and 1975.

Off. of Comm.