What I Want the Church to Be…A Prophetic Voice

Tina DeYoe - our on-the-ground report at this year's General Assembly of the PC(USA) - offers us the following report on this year's happenings.

At what pace are we as the Presbyterian Church (USA) to be prophetic? After attending the PC(USA)’s 219th General Assembly last week, this is the question I am asking. As a long distance runner throughout high school and college, I am used to pacing myself at a moderate speed. Sprinting is definitely not my cup of tea. However, when dealing with social justice issues in regards to society and the church I would rather be running the 100m race! When injustices are happening throughout the world I want the church to be a place that steps up and makes a statement or acts quickly! The 219th General Assembly (GA) did step up quickly on certain issues, but on others we were caught running the pace of a long distance runner.
This summer I have been interning in the Advisory Committee for Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) office within the PC(USA). What do we do? We are assigned to encourage the prophetic voice of the church on matters of social justice. We work with volunteer member-experts to write policies, resolutions, and study papers that are then adopted at GA by the PC(USA) as a whole. After these papers have been adopted the PC(USA) agencies are supposed to act in accordance to what is stated in the recommendations. The basis for most of the writings comes from applying the Bible, theology, confessions, and past policies to current challenges.

Sounds fun right? Think of having the grand assignment and scope of superwoman or superman fighting injustices and evil in this world, but instead of having special powers to fly and stop bullets we use words, research, and our biblical and theological texts to combat such evils like gun violence, domestic violence, usury, discrimination, oppression, immigration detention abuse, sex trafficking, torture, and pretty much any evil you can think of. I was lucky enough to observe and work with ACSWP during this year’s 219th General Assembly and also helped them get some of their policies and papers passed. Papers like: Loving Our Neighbors: Equity and Quality in Public Education; Becoming an HIV and AIDS Competent Church; Gun Violence and Gospel Values (a paper on gun violence prevention); Living Through Economic Crisis: The Church’s Witness in Troubled Times; Human Rights Report 2010.

Other awesome social justice papers, policies and resolutions that were passed by different ministries at GA include: Amending ordination standards which allows all people to serve the church no matter their sexual preference; Directing the PC(USA) Board of Pensions to Extend benefits to the same-gender spouses and domestic partners; Approval of a study group to study violence against women and children on the Mexico-US Border; Approval of refraining from holding PC(USA) national meetings at non-PC(USA) establishments in Arizona; Recommendations for the PC(USA) to work with local communities and the families affected by the Deep Water Horizon Oil disaster with finances and resources from the church; Directing the PC(USA) to call on the US Government to end military aid to Israel; Directing the PC(USA) to call on the US Government to impose a national moratorium on the imposition of the death penalty; the Belhar Confession to be included in the Book of Confessions; and many more pieces of legislation.

However, there were also papers, policies, and resolutions that were not passed by the GA or parts of the document were passed, but the main parts left out. Some of these include: Calling on the PC(USA) to divest from the Caterpillar Co. because their vehicles are being used by Israelis to bulldoze Palestinian homes; On amending the definition of marriage in the PC(USA) book of worship (which then would have included LGBTQ people); On Living a Human Life Before God study paper, which provides a well-reasoned base for churches to engage in moral discourse regarding life and death issues; and a key recommendation of Neither Poverty Nor Riches: Equity, Compensation and the Unity of the Church report, which would have prevented top salaries in the General Assembly Mission Council of the PC(USA) from being more than 5 times higher than those of the lowest paid, was removed from the document. These and several other papers, policies, and resolutions would have allowed the PC(USA) to have more of a prophetic voice in this world by more fully backing words with deeds.

Looking back at all the resolutions adopted, the church can be rightly proud, but again at what pace is the PC(USA) church to be even more prophetic in this world? I look to the prophet Micah as being a voice and example who can lead us in the right direction -- out of the corruption of power so visible in a lot of today’s society. It is a voice, which states, “And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God,” Micah 6:8. This is a prophetic voice that can lead us out of fear and into hope.

Yes, I am disappointed in the PC(USA) for not having been as prophetic as I would have liked; however, I do have hope for what our church did accomplish at this year’s assembly. Throughout my life I will continue to advocate for the church being a prophetic witness to the world. I will push the pace of policies, resolutions, and papers so that those who are being oppressed will be oppressed no more. I will live in the light of hope even if sometimes that light seems to fade only to a peep hole. I will keep running the race and will sprint when necessary, and will continue to help others sprint to the finish along with me in order to help bring God’s kingdom closer everyday. It is our job as prophetic Christians in this word to help push one another to run and sprint to the makings of a just and peaceful world!

What do I want the church to be? A joyful chorus of prophetic voices, that comes together to end oppression, evil, greed, hate, and violence in this world.

Tina DeYoe is a seminary student at Princeton Theological Seminary and an intern for the Advisory Committee for Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) of the PC(USA). She is also - generally speaking - awesome.

Photographs courtesy Danny Bolin and the PC(USA).