Darren, I think your cynicism is justified. I will be interested to see if our congregation - not on the EMU lists - gets an invitiation, survey or anything else. But what would we do with it if we got it?? ----- Original Message ----- From: "darren wright" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "[EMAIL PROTECTED] Com. Au" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, September 25, 2003 11:30 AM Subject: RE: post emu summit
> hmmmmm, > > a couple of imediate thoughts: > > "A new Uniting Church alliance that claims to represent up to 80 per cent of members was formed yesterday to reverse gay ordination > and restore "biblical principles"." > > - is this a newer alliance than EMU or is this EMU, or is this an EMU sub committee? or does this alliance have another cool > acronym for me to add to my dictionary? > - i believe that from my reading of the scripture it's pretty much a biblical principle to not create schisms. > > "Mrs Hawkes said the alliance would carry out a nationwide survey next month to gauge church opinion on leadership and sexuality." > > - i always have problems with surveys as i believe that surveys are only as good as the answers that you wish to receive. it's > always been my problem with the NCLS data that i just have a distrust with surveys. > - Also that the survey wont be an official UCA or NCLS survey i wonder who will fill it in, if it will actually be filled in by a > cross section of the UCA or of EMU churches or faith communitite, schools, nursing homes, missions... > - will i be given a survey to fill in? if i do will i actually want to fill it in? > > "Evangelicals believe the national assembly, which voted to recognise gay ordination two months ago, is dominated by professional > committee people and is out of touch with the church grassroots." > > - this automatically excludes anyone at assembly from being "evangelical" and i take offence to that. > - the problem i am facing is that as a member of assembly i was not there to represent anyone. infact i was there to pray, reflect > and discern the will of god and the call for the UCA over the next 3 years. i am not a professional committee, im actually > unemployed, under 35, part of a faith community and by large "not normal." yet i distinctly remember feeling the presence of god > when i read what was "proposal 84" and the feeling that this was the right way forward for us. > > "Mrs Hawkes said the orthodox Christians, congregations and councils who would be invited to join the Reforming Alliance could > represent 70 to 80 per cent of the church. The survey would authenticate this." > > - once again i point out that surveys are only as good as the answers you wish to receive. in this case i dont even want to read > the survey results as they have been predetermined by the new "alliance." > > "We're very determined. We're not in the mood for playing games and sitting round tables," she said. "We're ready for some serious > action, working to change the way the church operates and to bring it back to biblical principles. If we can't get a change in > leadership we'll work around them." > > - oh... good. > > i wont write anything else because im noticing that i'm quickly becoming cynical about this process. for a group thats "tired of > playing games and sitting around tables" this certainly stinks of a game, and a game that i long since decided that i wouldn't play. > > > cheers > > darren > --- > Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. > Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). > Version: 6.0.520 / Virus Database: 318 - Release Date: 18/09/03 > > ------------------------------------------------------ > - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] > - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) > See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm > ------------------------------------------------------ > ------------------------------------------------------ - You are subscribed to the mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] - To unsubscribe, email [EMAIL PROTECTED] and put in the message body 'unsubscribe insights-l' (ell, not one (1)) See: http://nsw.uca.org.au/insights-l-information.htm ------------------------------------------------------
