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September 22, 2004

GAC welcomes Interfaith Listening Project participants

by Evan Silverstein

LOUISVILLE – The General Assembly Council (GAC) welcomed Christians and Muslims from around the world Wednesday as the visitors prepared to kick off the second Interfaith Listening Project.

GAC members heard from some of the guests about life in their native countries during its regular meeting here, which also included a visit from moderator Rick Ufford-Chase.

Under the Interfaith Listening Project, which starts this week, Presbyterian Church (USA) partners across 10 countries each sent a two-person team to the United States.  Every team is supposed to include one Christian member and a Muslim who already are in dialogue.

However, an immigrations snag at the international airport in Atlanta, GA, sent one participant back home to Niger, Africa. PC(USA) officials said they hope to resolve the problem so the member can eventually return to the United States to participate in the project.

Each team will visit congregations, presbyteries, colleges and local communities to share their experiences of the realities and challenges of Christian-Muslim relationships.

The program, first held in 2002, was developed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11^th terrorist attacks as a way for Presbyterians to engage in interfaith conversation.

“The idea is very simple, bring Christian-Muslim relationships in the flesh to people in our congregations in our local communities,” said the Rev. Jay Rock, coordinator of the PC(USA)’s Interfaith Relations Office.

Seventeen years of war in Lebanon “has given us an incentive to work on implementing programs that aims at bringing people together and building bridges,” said Lina Hamaoui, a Muslim from Beirut who serves the Ministry of Social Affairs on the Higher Council for Childhood. 

The denomination’s Worldwide Ministries Division’s Interfaith Relations Office and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA), in partnership with the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program developed the program.

“The Presbyterian Church has been a partner with us for a long time,” said Andreas D’Souza, a Christian from India who is director of the Henry Martyn Institute, an international center for Research, Interfaith Relations and Reconciliation. “It is with your partnership that we have been able to bring to our particular situation … a dialogue moving toward interfaith relations and reconciliation.”

Earlier, the GAC Executive Committee met. Business before the executive committee included:

• Hearing from moderator Rick Ufford-Chase of Tucson, AZ, who spoke about his recent trip to Columbia, South America. The purpose of Ufford-Chase’s visit there was to begin a program of “accompaniment” between the PC(USA) and the Presbyterian Church of Columbia. The program would establish an outside presence to protect people fighting for human rights, including church members in Barranquilla, an Atlantic coast city in the north
• Approving appointments to a newly-formed mission funding task force charged with devising a conceptual framework for a new mission funding system for the PC(USA), a goal of the denomination’s Mission Work Plan. Members appointed to the task force: Paul J. Masquelier Jr. of San Jose, CA; Carol G. Hylkema of Dearborn, MI; Dan K. Shoemer, Canfield, OH; Linda A. Knieriemen of Grand Rapids, MI; Conrad M. Rocha of Albuquerque, NM; and Reginald S. “Reg” Kuhn of Lincoln, NE;
• Approving appointments of members to a newly formed governance task force to evaluate, develop and propose a structure of the GAC (elected and national staff) that will strengthen connectedness with presbyteries and synods as part of a goal of the denomination’s Mission Work Plan. Those appointed to the task force: Carol J. Adcock, Fort Worth, TX; Susan Andrews of Bethesda, MD; Nancy Kahaian, Michigan City, IN; Kenneth R. Newbold of Rose Hill, NC; Joe W. Rigsby of Jacksonville, FL; and Ray Tanner of Jackson, TN.