A Report on the Big Tent Conference of the Presbyterian Church USA

By Lorraine Nagy

August, 2009

For the first time in PCUSA conference history, a "Big Tent" mega assembly convened in Atlanta, Georgia June 11-13, 2009. Its stated purpose was to celebrate the combined ministries of Evangelism, Elders, Social Justice, Stewardship, Peacemaking, Health Ministries at home and overseas, Multi Cultural, Ethnic and Racial Convocations (including Covenant Network), Immigrant inclusion, the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song and related liturgical renewal groups, the Communicators’ Network and in all presentations to define how to how bring “Big Tent…the Word Made Flesh” into the everyday lives of people. This was an impressive, and impossible agenda. It took place over three nights and two days of intensive meetings, worship services, prayers and field trips meant to engage the denomination’s vision of a Christ centered world, made possible through the collective efforts of people of faith. An estimated 2,000 participants gathered for Big Tent, from the US, Canada, Central America, Brazil and Korea. The liturgies reflected this diversity, with multilingual hymns, preaching with contemporary language and Presbyterian challenge meant to engage young and old, and ministers of word and sacrament whose faces, accents, issues and genders, all created in the participants the sense of being part of an ethnically rich, racially diverse, and socially progressive denomination of believers.

For many in Bradley Hills, much of this Big Tent content will have a comfortably familiar ring (peacemaking, social justice ministries) other themes anticipate new perspectives on music ( a new hymnal in progress) and how to set in motion a realistic program for making real the Peacemaking Pledge of PCUSA to which our church is committed. This conference provides reassurance that BHPC is not alone in the struggle to define how to live the Christian charism of going into the world to bring forth the ‘kingdom of God’ while at the same time giving attention to the many needs of church members, including a prayer life and spiritual communion. Big Tent evolved as it unfolded, giving participants the chance to spend time with one another, each in the respective calling to which their smaller conferences drew them .   Joanie Friend and I met on the first night, in worship, and never saw each other again. I chanced to see Susan Andrews with lunch in hand, standing alone in the crowd, and seized the chance to spend a precious hour with her talking about Israel/Palestine and PCUSA! Then she was gone. It is the story of Big Tent, and a casualty of the concept. It was a bold experiment to put such diverse concerns and commitments in PCUSA together  under one enormous roof, to explore our faith stories and to think about ways to keep the spark alive in our congregations and the denomination. I came away with contacts with whom I intend to explore these issues, along with curriculum materials, orders of worship, networks, books, DVD’s, and a deeper understanding of the human interests that are behind the bland committee names and resolutions. Moving forward with what was for me a profound experience that only ‘skimmed the surface’ of the issues presented, I hope in the future months to make presentations to BHPC committees on what I have learned from Big Tent, including:

1.       Worship and Arts: Liturgical renewal, with focus on a new Presbyterian hymnal in progress, to be published in 2013. See presbyterianhymnal.org to learn more and to share your ideas.

2.       Social Justice: Peacemaking is moving from social action forums in congregations to full integration in worship, education, Local/Global Missions. This direction takes it into the arena of liturgical renewal with emphasis on hymns and sacramental practices that are inclusive gender neutral, culturally sensitive (eg how to present Holy Scriptures sensitively to Middle East Congregants! Think Egypt…) and in peacemaking language. 

3.       Stewardship. PCUSA is a very proactive denomination when it comes to rules respecting socially responsible investments. Divestiture is not controversial to the ‘stewards’ whose job it is to investigate where the financial contributions of its members flow. For example, Caterpillar is under intense review, with heated discussions underway. This is a forceful committee in PCUSA and one which could be highlighted in educational programs.

4.       Multi-Cultural Vision : how to make this value a reality for a congregation that wants to be inclusive and does not know exactly how this is done (language, concepts, programs need to fill the gap between good intentions and the reality of bridges not yet created among the faithful). There are local resources in NCP who have written books on this subject and presented excellent programs on Conflict Resolution.   Networking with these leaders would need to be discussed.

Look for more presentations in BHPC when it will be possible to share ‘lessons learned’ from Big Tent, starting September 1^st at Lay Ministries night when I will talk with Worship and Arts about the liturgical innovations highlighted in the worship of this conference. Hopefully there will be chance to meet with groups and individuals interested in Big Tent and the underlying vision of PCUSA that was brought forth in presentations of its many ‘mini conference’ symposia. As in the tradition of ‘clarification of thought’ reminiscent of Quakers and Catholic Workers, PCUSA in Big Tent appears to be calling its members into active listening and a re-examination of its commitment to a faith centered life of service and prayer. I am reminded on the African American hymn that was one of the themes of the Civil Rights movement, in which “God’s gonna trouble the waters!” and we must do our job by entering /wading into these waters at the call of the Holy Spirit.