What I believe . . .

I seek to encourage, teach and proclaim a Christian witness that actively embodies in the life of our church a full range of theological perspectives and interpretations of our Holy Scripture. For me, this is our opportunity to make a faithful, strong witness to our culture. Our culture is increasingly fragmented, and often bitterly divided, between republicans and democrats, between rich and poor, between urban and rural, between Anglo-Saxon whites and other races, between sportsmen and gun-control advocates, between hawks and doves, between evangelicals and mainline Christians, between young and old, etc. and etc. Likewise it would be easier, following the example of our culture, for our church to retreat into our own, like-minded, theological caucuses and name our own caucus “the truth” or “our tradition” or “the biblical way.” I believe we now have a higher calling. Our calling fights against all the pressure from our culture to fragment, divide, and retreat into like-mindedness. We have an opportunity to proclaim that we do not need to be like-minded to be united; we do not need to think the same to serve the same Lord, we do not need to compel others to believe as I believe to be together in the same Church; we do not need to hold our convictions so tight that we must name others as wrong. This is the church I am striving to build.

"Thank You" to our Twelve leading Shared Giving congregations.

Thank you!

These twelve congregations are leading the way in our presbytery. These congregations have pledged a total of $280,620 in Shared Mission Giving in 2014. Our total Shared Mission Giving budget for the Presbytery in 2014 is $330,000. Thus these twelve congregations are contributing 85% of our Presbytery’s total Shared Mission Giving budget in 2014. Thank you!

Thank you for your continuing and generous support.

Derry, Hershey
St. Andrews, Lebanon
Market Square, Harrisburg
Middle Spring, Shippensburg
Second Carlisle
First United, Newville
Pine Street, Harrisburg
Paxton, Harrisburg
Mechanicsburg
Greencastle
Lower Marsh Creek, Gettysburg
East Waterford

Report from Honduras: A Growing Partnership

This report was written by Pastor Kim Wadlington, the chairperson of our Presbytery's Mission Advocacy Committee and a fellow traveler to Honduras:

In October a team from the Carlisle Presbytery went to Honduras to participate in a week of conversation with many pastors and congregation members from Honduras. World Mission staff members, Hunter Farrell (World Mission Director), Tracey King-Ortega (based in Nicaragua and serving as liaison for Central America), and Juan Sarmiento (PCUSA evangelism catalyst) were also present for conversation as well as members of both Tampa Bay Presbytery and the Presbytery of Arkansas who serve in Honduras. The team spent two days travelling the Honduras countryside visiting with pastors and their congregations, hearing about the hopes, dreams, and challenges.

We rejoiced in the growth of the Honduran church and were bolstered by their faithfulness in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ with their neighbors despite sometimes being persecuted for doing so. We received reports on many of the ministries the Honduran Church has undertaken together including the housing ministry in which we participate, scholarships for young people to further their education past the required 8th grade, healthy snacks and uniforms provided for young school children, and more.

Additionally we heard reports about the distribution of food aid supported by our Presbytery. Together we sent a total of $8,300.00 for food aid to Honduras with donations from many individuals, the September Offering received at Presbytery meeting and donations from our Mechanicsburg, Lost Creek, Dickinson, and First United churches. We were gratified to hear that in each place aid was offered, it was offered to the entire community, not just church members! Presbyterian Women in Honduras headed up this operation, purchasing the food, organizing it in bags with a message from the churches, and then travelling for distribution. They are a powerful agent for ministry within the Honduran church and it was our privilege to partner with them in this effort.

Lastly we were privileged to see the progress made on the Retreat Center and to present to the Presbytery of Honduras a gift from our Mercersburg and St. Andrews Lebanon Church to help with building that center. There will be another trip to Honduras next year to participate in the building of the Retreat Center. Mark your calendars for April 13 - April 20 and consider joining us. We always come home with spirits enlightened and faith emboldened by our relationships with our Honduran brothers and sisters! 

Report to the Presbytery September 2014

September 2014

Dear Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) colleagues,

The Carlisle Initiative

The Coordinating Council of the Presbytery of Carlisle requests that Presbyterian leaders across the nation join us in a movement to renew our beloved Church. We are prepared to express our request for renewal as an Overture to the 2016 General Assembly in Portland. But, first, we seek involvement and support from all across the Church. This Initiative is offered out of the deepest commitment to and love for our Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) which in our Pennsylvania has a direct, institutional heritage of more than 300 years. We are convinced that the recent culture wars which have wracked our beloved Church with division are over. We believe great days, in God’s providence, are ahead of us as Presbyterians, certainly smaller, free from the demands of political power and cultural expectations, connected with a vibrant, global Christianity and poised to become a nimble and deeply authentic denomination in service to our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is work to do! We have defined three broad areas which, we believe, need attention: our theological foundations, our General Assembly structure and the stewardship of our financial resources:

1. Considering the theological convictions of our Church today, we seek:

A. To create a process for the writing of a new, comprehensive Confession of Faith to be added to our Book of Confessions. This Confession should seek to express our belief for our modern 21st century context.

B. To articulate our understanding of the historical concept of “central tenets.” There are vital, theological reasons why we will not articulate a “list” of our “central tenets.” We seek to articulate the ways Presbyterians today, especially our ordained officers, should understand this history and theology

C. To explore the ways an understanding of Christian doctrine and systematic theology has changed in our digital age. We seek to understand the ways that teaching and learning the Christian faith have shifted.

2. Considering the organization of our Church today, we seek:

A. To develop and express a plan for the full, institutional merger of the Office of the General Assembly and the General Assembly Mission Agency.

B. To develop and propose specific ways that the mid-councils of the Church – presbyteries, synods and the General Assembly - can improve in their mutuality, collegiality, coordination and communication.

C. To develop and propose specific ways the agencies of the General Assembly can improve in their mutuality, collegiality, coordination and communication.

D. To develop and articulate a plan by which one common vision and direction for the whole denomination is defined. Develop a means by which such a plan is communicated widely, understood and agreed to throughout our Church.

3. Considering the funding system of the Church, we seek:

A. To develop a plan for the implementation of a single stream funding system given the potential merger of the Office of the General Assembly and Mission Agency.

B. To study the historical development of the Church’s current funding system with specific attention to the history and development of the Per Capita system and the Shared Mission giving system.

C. To evaluate the Mission Agency’s recent efforts in creative fundraising. To define specific ways this effort may benefit the whole Church.

D. To study and develop a plan by which current practices of fund raising and funds development in the non-profit sector may be adopted for use by our Church.

What can you do?

· Join us! How many Presbyterians does it take to create a movement? Consider ways that we may actually accomplish these huge transformations and not simply discuss them. Is the Overture process the correct way to proceed?

· Evaluate and reflect on the goals expressed here and write your responses and reflections back to us.

· Share this paper and your responses with other Presbyterians leaders.

· Rejoice in all that God has done with and through our Presbyterian Church, and pray that God will prepare us and move us forward into a new day.

Grace and Peace!

Mark Englund-Krieger

  

  

The Belhar Confession

An Affirmation of Faith

Our presbytery, along with all the presbyteries, will be voting on whether or not the Belhar Confession should be added to our Book of Confessions. The General Assembly approved this action and thus, as a constitutional amendment, this action requires approval by the presbyteries. You may read the the Belhar Confession at http://www.pcusa.org/resource/belhar-confession/.

If this Confession is approved and becomes part of the confessional basis of our church it will be important, in my mind, to include it in our worship services. This was done as part of worship at the Montreat Youth Conference I recently attended. Thus I share here an edited version of the Belhar Confession which may appropriately be used in worship as a public affirmation of Christian faith. Please note that this is not the full text of Belhar, but simply a short, edited version appropriate for public worship. This is copied from the worship bulletin at Montreat on Sunday July 6, 2014:

An Affirmation of Faith: The Belhar Confession

We believe in the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who gathers, protects, and cares for the church through Word and Spirit. This, God has done since the beginning of the world and will do to the end.

We believe that Christ’s work of reconciliation is made manifest in the church as the community of believers who have been reconciled with God and with one another.

Unity is, therefore, both a gift and an obligation for the church of Jesus Christ.

Unity must become visible so that the world may believe that separation, enmity, and hatred between people and groups is sin which Christ has already conquered.

We believe that God has entrusted the church with the message of reconciliation in and through Jesus Christ;

That the church is called to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world;

That the church is called blessed because it is a peacemaker;

That the church is witness both by word and by deed to the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells.

We believe that God’s life giving Word and Spirit has conquered the powers of sin and death, and therefore also of irreconciliation and hatred, bitterness and enmity; that God’s life giving Word and Spirit will enable the church to live in a new obedience which can open new possibilities of life for society and the world.

Jesus is Lord.

To the one and only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, be the honor and the glory forever and ever.

Amen! 

General Assembly (2014) #18

Here is my list of the top eleven actions items approved by this year’s General Assembly. Several of these are incendiary. Several of these are not controversial at all, but deserve our attention. A hyperlink to a document which includes all of these action items is available on the Presbytery of Carlisle homepage. You may also find these actions by the item number under the committee tab in PC-Biz.

Item 04-04: On the Middle East
Item 05-04: On Synods

Item 06-15: The Heidelberg Catechism

Item 08-13: Special Offerings

Item 10-02: On Marriage
Item 10-03: On Marriage
Item 10-07: On Marriage

Item 13-01: Belhar Confession

Item 13-02: Directory for Worship

Item 13-08: On John Knox

Item 14-03: Living Missionally

General Assembly (2014) #17

Marriage: 

A constitutional amendment allowing same gender marriage was approved by the General Assembly with a vote of 429 to 175. It will be necessary for our presbytery to vote on this action and for a majority of presbyteries to approve it before it is added to our Book of Order. In my mind, it is crucially important that the sentence copied here was added and approved also. 

"Nothing herein shall compel a teaching elder to perform nor compel a session to authorize the use of church property for a marriage service that the teaching elder or the session believes is contrary to the teaching elder’s or the session’s discernment of the Holy Spirit and their understanding of the Word of God."

The challenge before us is precisely clear. Can we be one church with two definitions of marriage? I believe we can. I will work for this kind of church. Our ability to do this may be a remarkable witness to the world.