News That MRTI Heard

MINNEAPOLIS—When the Committee on Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) met in Minneapolis April 17–18, items the committee heard in a number of reports seemed useful for Presbyterians at large to know as well. So here are a few scoops picked up at the meeting:

• GAC wants to be renamed. Chair Carol Hylkema also serves as a liaison to MRTI from General Assembly Council (GAC), which had met in February. Hylkema noted something almost humorous in its absolute Presbyterianness: GAC now wants to change its name. Now there’s a significant task for a foundering church to sink its teeth into!

  The preferred new name would be the General Assembly Mission Council. Since the GAC does implement the mission of the denomination, the name change makes sense, despite the fact it could also lead to people expecting to get a car loan, since GAMC is so similar to GMAC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation).

• GAC composition to shift radically. More than half the present GAC members’ terms are ending as of the conclusion of General Assembly in June, Hylkema estimated. Combine that turnover with the dramatic GAC downsizing being phased in, and Presbyterians will have a substantially different GAC, come July. Even Hylkema, herself, will be only a former GAC member following General Assembly. Hylkema guessed that only about 20 of the present GAC members will remain in July.In addition, a smaller pool of GAC members is causing problems in finding liaisons from GAC to many other entities.
• Recent GA commissioners to be nominated to GAC. Hylkema also hinted at personal suspicion concerning how three new GAC members will be nominated, one each from among commissioners to the three most recent General Assemblies. “I have no idea how they might get selected,” she worried darkly. “Will it be the person who jumped up the most to the microphone? Somebody’s favorite friend?”

  It is interesting that Hylkema, a consummate insider, frets about potential cronyism. As a GAC member, chair of MRTI, a committee or task force member on various GAC entities, a Presbyterian representative for travel and commerce in Palestine and Israel, and the holder of numerous other volunteer and official offices and roles, Hylkema could hardly be better placed, and yet she is suspicious of her fellow denominational leaders! Then again, the three recent GA commissioners could have substantial influence on the reconstituted GAC, so their selection is important to track.

• Direct selection of presbytery representatives to GAC. No longer will there be somewhat-mysteriously selected synod representatives to GAC, according to Hylkema. Instead a number of presbyteries will directly select a representative apiece to GAC, without going through the General Assembly Nominating Committee process. This new process could put diversity at risk, Hylkema warned. Unstated was the possibility that it might also bring in some new blood less beholden to national church insiders
• MRTI housekeeping matters. MRTI will meet next for two full days on September 11 and 12, at a location yet to be determined. Of 12 voting members, no more than 7 will remain, with Carol Hylkema, Gary Skinner, Adele Langworthy, Karen Breckenridge, and Bernice McIntyre rotating off, and Bill Saint requiring reelection, which will likely be routine. Brian Ellison was elected the new chairperson, and Shelly Wood will be vice-chair. Both are young pastors serving in the Midwest—Brian near Kansas City, and Shelly in Iowa.
• Per diem is a pretty penny. Those serving on Presbyterian committees such as MRTI don’t have to scrimp on food. In Minneapolis, the MRTI members could be reimbursed for documented expenses up to $13 for breakfast, $19 for lunch, and $32 for dinner.
• Unrest at Macalester College. MRTI invited Peter Rachleff to talk about activism concerning the Coca Cola Corporation. Rachleff is a history professor at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. His business card lists his occupation as “labor educator.” Rachleff told of mixed success in agitation to ban Coke from campus vending machines, due to alleged labor and human-rights violations by the corporation. Rachleff specifically cited violations in Latin America, where, he claimed, labor organizers all too often are being killed.

  At one point, someone from MRTI sung the praises of the covenant linking historic Presbyterian colleges such as Macalester to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Rachleff, however, stopped him short.  “My concern is that we [Macalester College] are running as fast as we can away from that covenant!” Rachleff lamented. Then he asked MRTI to help apply pressure to the college president and board. “I’m heartbroken about what’s going on at the college,” he confessed, “and I would really encourage you to use whatever moral suasion you can.” He welcomed his remarks being published.

  While MRTI acted as if it didn’t know what to do with that hot potato, Rachleff’s plea should come as no surprise to those who have been bewailing the departure of many church-related colleges from any meaningful attachment to traditional Christian beliefs and mission. “Running as fast as we can to get away” was simply a colorful description of a sad reality at too many ostensibly church-related colleges. This process of self-induced de-Christianization was described masterfully in James Tunstead Burtchaell’s The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges and Universities from their Christian Churches (Eerdmans, 1998). It is the same concern that Pope Benedict XVI raised in his meeting with U.S. Catholic educators last week. One would hope that many Presbyterians would also share the same concern.