PCI General Assembly

Presbyterians Talk: Lifestyle

Tuesday night at the Assembly was again handed over to Presbyterians to talk, and this year the chosen theme was 'Lifestyle'.

A large audience met to begin a discussion which the Church wants to continue all year. Based around a report presented at this Assembly written by the Global Concerns Committee and previewed in the May edition of the Presbyterian Herald, Lifestyle will be on the agenda of every Presbytery over the next 12 months.

The evening was lead by Dr. Trevor Morrow elaborating on the theme From Lordship to Lifestyle developing the thinking that if Christ is Lord of our lives then that has clear implications for our lifestyle particularly in these days of climate change and credit crunch.

The broad ideas became more focussed when the audience divided itself among four seminars looking more closely at money, environment, time and the theology of lifestyle, led by Professors Drew Gibson and Gordon Campbell, Tearfund's Tim Magowan and Presbyterian World Development convener, Mark Gray.

A good night of lively discussion and debate but one which all were agreed needs to move to action.

Four students from Union College attended the evening with each participating in one of the breakout groups. Here is what they thought...

Presbyterians Talk: Environment

Jane Nelson who attended the talk on Environment reports:

Mark Gray kicked off the seminar by saying that the world we have created with our technology is subject to death and is collapsing around us. As a global family we need to look beyond this world to how God would have us live.

Gordon Clarke, who specialises in the area of transport, pointed out that while there is no absolute certainty as to the effects of climate change the following effects are likely

Loss of food production especially in the 'grain belts' of the word.
Rising sea levels and displacement of people.
Loss of fresh water supplies.
Greater incidence of flooding and drought.
More extreme weather events.
Loss of biodiversity.

Biofuels, often portrayed as part of the solution, may in fact be part of the problem. As rainforests are felled and land in food production makes way for biofuels the net result is that in the west we feed our cars while the two-thirds world goes hungry.

How should we respond? Do nothing? Leave it to market forces? Leave it to governments? Why not adopt a more sustainable lifestyle now?

Buy locally produced foods saving transportation.
Buy organic foods saving on high energy inputs of fertilizers.
Reduce our travel needs, especially air-travel.
Use public transport, cycle or walk.
Build the new manse beside the church!

Gordon made a connection between healthy people and a healthy planet that is worth exploring. For example, walking to work increases fitness for healthier bodies and reduces carbon emissions for a healthier planet.

Bob Hannah told the seminar about an initiative running in the Republic of Ireland called "The Power of One." This government initiative seeks to promote energy efficiency. One particular street was monitored to see how much they could reduce their energy needs by fitting energy efficient light bulbs, walking more, using public transport, only boiling as much water in the kettle as is necessary, home insulation etc. They achieved a reduction of 20% which meets government targets for energy efficiency.

There is also a bigger picture in all of this that will involve a reorganising of our communities. Gordon Clarke spoke of the need to bring the places where we work, live, school our children and shop together to reduce travel. This is a bit like turning the clock back to when these all existed in each community, whereas today many of us travel great distances between all of these.

There are emotive issues here. Rev. Cogitator from Malawi addressed the seminar saying that in his grandmother's day Malawi was not subject to the damaging effects of drought as it is today. Their climate has changed for the worse and as a church we do not have a good track record. According to Mark Gray the first missionaries to Malawi recommended the felling of trees to allow Malawi to develop economically.

Perhaps the most startling thought expressed during the seminar was that if the whole world were to consume at the same rate as we do in the west, then we would need three earths to sustain us all.

Is it a case of change or die?

Presbyterians Talk: Time

Liam Rutherford who attended the group on Time reports:

Sunday - Shop Window of our Faith

Professor Drew Gibson led a thought provoking and interactive discussion seminar about being good stewards with our time. We learnt that how we live on a Sunday plays a central role in how we live out the rest of our week. How we "do" Sunday provides a shop window to our faith. It displays who we are as believing people.

Old Testament - Sabbath

We looked at two big ideas about the importance of Sabbath in the Old Testament.

Genesis 2:2f tells us that God created the world in 6 days and on the 7th day he rested. As we are created in God's image then we should act as he does. Sabbath restores what the week drains out and prepares us physically, spiritually and emotionally for the week to come.

Ex. 20 8-11 a challenging account of a man being stoned by the Israelite people because he had gathered wood on the Sabbath day. We discussed how we should understand this difficult issue and concluded that it was a combination of the following; lack of trust in God's provision, disobeying God's commands, a selfish attitude, a denial of who Israel was before God. What is how we live on Sundays saying about who we are as Christian people, what is it saying about the distinctiveness of our faith?

New Testament - Sunday

We looked at the significance of Sunday in the New Testament. Why do Christians worship on Sunday - the first day of the week? Essentially because that was the day our Lord and Saviour rose from the dead and we come together on the first day of the week to celebrate the fact that He is Risen! We also looked at how Jesus taught in Mk 2 22 -38 that Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. Sunday was created for our good and we should order it in such a way that we have physical rest, mental and emotional rest and most importantly that we receive spiritual rest as we worship God together as the corporate body of his people. Sunday is a day when we anticipate heaven and one participant described this as having a "spiritual connection in community".

Sunday is Counter Cultural

We discussed the fact that in Ireland today viewing Sunday as a day to rest and worship God is an alien concept. It goes against the norm and is seen as being a bit odd. We thought of the implications for 21st century lives - Should we let our children go to birthday parties on a Sunday, should we revise for exams on Sunday afternoons? Should we play sport or read non Christian books and magazines? These are difficult decisions and as we think them through we should remember that how we live on a Sunday shows the world what we believe in. It also sets the priorities for the week ahead, how we approach our work, our families and our free time. Sunday is the shop window of our faith.

Presbyterians Talk: Money

Kathryn Viner who attended the track on Money reports:

'Money is about People' sums up the message Tim Magowan emphasised in this track along with his colleagues Richard Johnston, Sharon Johnston and Vic Simms. Essentially our financial choices impact other people around the world and this was illustrated by one biography presented by Tim. He identified climate change, consumerism and limited foreign financial aid as factors effecting other people in the less economically developed countrys (LEDCs).

Richard Johnston presented five key aspects to investments. Firstly, stewardship means we need to recognise that we are appointed by God to look after creation. Secondly, Work is part of our dignity as human beings and it is a challenge to make things flourish and prosper. Thirdly, Sabbath is time to appreciate the good around us. Fourthly we live in a sinful world that is full of injustice and oppression. However, finally through grace we are a liberated people who are called to be liberators to others.

In light of these, ethical investments are an important consideration for Christians today. For example, the Coop Bank has ethical policies. We need to be asking our banks about micro-credit, negative and positive screening, and we need to be considering organisations such as CRU (visit their website on the net). These are options along with charitable giving that we can prayerfully consider as we organise our finances.

Sharon Johnston informed us about 'Spending Fairly' and particularly our choices as consumers that impact the poor. We need to consider whether the producers of the products we purchase are safeguarding children, offering a fair wage for skill and effort, providing good working conditions for example Tearcraft which ensures all of these are in force and that poor communities are served through the work of committed follwers of Jesus Christ.

The action that we can take is simple, from becoming a Fairtrade church, choosing to buy Fairtrade gifts or organising a one-stop shop at Christmas. However the most important action we can do is making our government trade fairly and this is the challenge we all need to respond to.

Finally Vic Sims encouraged us to 'Spend Sustainably'. People in the developing world are most effected by climate change. Lobbying our MPs is also an equally important action is this area of our finances, as well as choosing public transport, buying locally, insulating our homes and making them more energy efficient and knowing our carbon footprint. Mark Green's recent article in Christianity Today is recommended as an informative comment on Spending Sustainably as well as the Tearfund website.

These areas highlight that money is about people because it's about our choices and the consequences of our choices on others.

Presbyterians Talk: Theology

The fourth track which covered Theology was attended by Andrew Faulkner who reports:

Professor Gordon Campbell led the discussion group on theology and suggested 19 Cs of how good theology should shape us in the way that we live.

Commencement -- the kingdom of heaven is here already but also not yet in it's fullness
Christ -- First He is our unparalleled salvation but secondly he is our example in life
Conduct -- This sense of faith in Christ must govern our actions
Care -- We have been entrusted with so much in this world and we are to act as good stewards.
Creation -- If there is going to be redemption of creation then this world really matters to God
Corporeality -- Our resurrection is physical as evidenced in Jesus' resurrection body
Covenant -- especially in communion services we are pointed to the coming kingdom with its implications on behaviour now
Common Grace -- It is necessary to cooperate with non-Christians for the common good
Common Humanity -- We are part of a world-wide family, most of which are in extreme poverty
Community -- God calls us as individuals but then to belong to community
Confidence -- We have a sure and certain hope in the physical future to come
Concord -- We are called to pursue harmony and justice in this world
City -- The original city was the garden city of Eden and now the new Jerusalem -- God loves the city!
Culture -- We have to understand the culture that we are placed in to be effective in it
Consumerism -- The new mantra of 'I shop therefore I am'. Shopping malls as the new Cathedrals -- As Christians we should be interested more in quality than quantity -- developing the fruit of the Spirit
Carbon -- Our basic resources are limited
Climate -- The current changes are to some extent a result of consumerism
Covetousness -- This could be regarded as a core value in society today -- for the Christian we should be developing contentment with what we have
Conviction -- This should bring us to contrition -- a repentance and hence a change and then to conversion -- we are not the same as the rest of the world!

The underlying message through this fascinating discussion which was enhanced by many observations and questions from the group as a whole was that the practice of doing good theology should lead to changed lives in the present rather than being a remote and irrelevant pastime.