The alchemy of the newsroom

It is the evening before the final day of the Uniting General Council in Grand Rapids and I am in a reflective mood. How has it happened that the team of communicators with whom I have worked over the past 12 days is the best ever? They have produced top quality work in print, photos, video and on the web. They have written humorous pieces, insightful analysis and brisk news stories - in four languages. They have followed the bouncing ball as the schedule was reorganized. They have worked long hours. They have worked with software with which they are unfamiliar. And yet, there has been no tension, no major problem.

How does this happen? I designed a team and chose the best people I know. I prepared careful job descriptions. I did both individual and team briefings. The technical facilities at Calvin College were superb, the technical staff was topnotch. But this could all be said of other events. Yet never have I worked with such a team. What is the alchemy that creates such a team? I don't know. But may that same genie visit other ecumenical events. It is a blessing.

Kristine Greenaway

Women's ordination and an inclusive or exclusive communion

As I write this the Council is making its way through policy reference reports, having finally finished with section reports. The debate is fairly lively - or should that more honestly be that alot of people are talking - and we've just come through quite a complex backwards and forwards about women's ordination and subsequently about peace and reconciliation.

Should the ordination of women be a condition for membership in the communion? How should WCRC working towards women's ordination be phrased? How do member churches who do not ordain women receive such injunctions, recommendations or ideas?

Robina Winbush from the Presbyterian Church USA agreed to removing the word condition but pointed to the WCRC being a communion and no longer simply an alliance. "A communion with full table and altar fellowship" is what the constitution says, Winbush then asked, so does that full communion only apply to men who are ordained? While agreeing to tone down the injunction she also asked for recognition of the pain this caused to women who are ordained was needed.
Describing herself as a feminist, Cheryl Meban, from the Presbyterian Church of Ireland - a Church which she described as continuing to have some problems with women's ordination - made a plea for not having exclusive wording on this issue. "I plea not to exclude those with whom we disagree but to remain in communion, communion is a slow process, we need to include."

It's an interesting dynamic in unity when those who are excluded plead for the inclusion of those who potentially exclude them.

Vimeo of Richard Twiss

Richard Twiss from Uniting General Council WCRC on Vimeo.

Edwin de Jong has been doing a brilliant job making videos for the UGC you can find more of them here. I particularly like the many hallelujahs one

It was just a tweet ... but it made me think

So far I've written over 600 tweets for this Uniting General Council but one from near the beginning still sticks with me - I don't know how to search the tweets so I can't actually find the tweet itself any longer - but it went something like this:
"Zimbabwe: theology faculty meeting 15 minutes spent on theology; the rest of the time is spent on survival issues."

Then I heard later in the week about a student from Zimbabwe whose visa to the USA was refused for the Global Institute of theology, supposedly because he didn't have enough money in his bank account.

I realised how privileged I am. It is so easy as an (albeit humble) church bureaucrat to get blasé about international meetings, to not always realize what a fabulous and unique opportunity each one of them represents, to get worn out by work, to sometimes even get cynical. Then typing 140 keystrokes for a twitter update brings me back down to earth with a bump and that bumpy feeling has remained much of the week as we look in the plenary hall at the "remember the 73" poster at the front.

Earlier in the week I put on my personal blog a sentence from John O'Donohue
"The duty of privilege is absolute intregity"

I know that I bear the duty of privilege yet I am very aware that I am a long way away from that absolute integrity ...
All that remains is to pray and ask for God's grace, it's not the answer to everything but it might be the beginning.

A New president for a new Christian World Communion

Rev Dr Jerry Pillay is the general secretary of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of South Africa has been elected the first president of the World Communion of Reformed Churches. Pillay's election came as a late birthday present, he'd celebrated his 45th birthday the previous day.
"I have at heart all of the churches even if I have a perspective from global South ... I shall be a president of the full communion."

We wish him and the newly elected WCRC executive committee good luck with the work that lies ahead of them

So should we be moving to South Africa?

Wesley Granberg Michaelson has just stood up at the end of the finance report (in a very bright fishing shirt!) and made a strong plea for the new executive committee to consider properly moving the new WCRC to the Global South. The previous executive committee had looked at three options in Accra, Johannesburg and Hong Kong.
Geneva is extremely expensive and one of the four most expensive places in the world for those visiting from abroad.
Michaelson listed the price of some of his expenses on a recent trip to Geneva. He pointed to considering a move being a question of stewardship, of justice and of solidarity as the centre of global Christianity has moved to the South. He expressed the hope that the WCRC would be the first of the church organisaitons to take the bold decision to move to the South. "If South Africa can host the World Cup it can also host the offices of the newly formed of WCRC" he added "We cannot continue in a place this expensive".

He also expressed the hope that as part of the process for searching for a new general secretary from 2014 this be undertaken in conjunction with a decision about moving the headquarters. The previous executive committeee had not made a decision on this because of the transitional nature of this time following the Uniting General Council and because of the high costs involved in relocating in the first instance.

Sounds like the new WCRC executive is going to have some interesting decisions on its agenda.

the invisble work of the interpreters gets a great photo

Here's another really great photo from Erick Coll. These are my interpreter colleagues up in the top gallery of the main plenary. Great photo of really hardworking professional folk. Meanwhile check out the rest of Erick's work for the Council over on Flickr.