(RNS) Advocacy groups say plans of cable television companies to offer family-friendly programming packages are flawed and designed to thwart consumers from getting what they really want: a la carte sales, in which subscribers pick and choose their channels.

The marketing model traditionally used by cable companies and the two leading satellite TV services requires consumers to subscribe to channels in various pre-packaged "tiers." "Right now, to get the good channels, you have to buy the raunchy channels," complained Jim Metrock, head of the Birmingham, Ala.-based child advocacy organization Obligation Inc.

Portions of the cable industry -- under pressure from the federal government -- have come forward with a new willingness to package family-friendly channels into a special programming tier to help parents

Dr. Elizabeth Johnson Walker will join the faculty of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in June as Associate Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling. She currently is a professional counselor with the Georgia Association for Pastoral Counseling in Decatur, Ga., and an adjunct professor in the area of Persons, Society & Culture at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta.

She earned a Bachelor of Science in religion and philosophy from Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Ala., and the Master of Divinity degree from Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. She earned her doctorate in theology from Gammon Theological Seminary and the ITC, where she completed her dissertation on "A Model of Pastoral Counseling with African American Women." Her clinical training was received at the Georgia Association of Pastoral Care in Atlanta. She is a licensed marriage and family counselor (LMFT), a Member Associate of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors (AAPC), a Clinical Member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), and a member of the Society for Pastoral Theology.

(PNS) The recent murder of an Iranian pastor is generating fears that the government in Tehran is cracking down on Christian "house churches."

The body of Ghorban Tourani, 50, was tossed in front of his house shortly after he was abducted there by unidentified assailants.

Tourani converted to Christianity after hearing the gospel from visiting evangelists while held in a Turkmenistan jail for manslaughter, having killed a man in a knife fight. His house church was in Gonbad-e-Kavus, a town on the Turkmenistan border, just east of the Caspian Sea.

In his obituary, Tourani was described by an unnamed Iranian pastor as a "fearless Christian" who would "boldly share about Jesus in ... the streets, shops and bazaars."

In Iran, such proselytizing is punishable by death.

Compass Direct, a news agency that reports on persecutions of Christians, said 10 other Christians in several Iranian cities, including Tehran, were arrested shortly after Tourani's murder and tortured by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security

(PNS) Westminster Church sits on a corner in the poorest per-capita-income community in Washington state.

Spokane's West-Central neighborhood is a refuge of last resort. Known for dilapidated homes, crime and broken lives, this tough urban jungle has nicknames like "Felony Flats" and "The Twilight Zone." It's a haven for transients and families who cannot break a cycle of poverty, domestic violence and drug addiction -- some are third or fourth generation welfare recipients.

There are drug houses, convicted sex offenders and unsupervised children along with a high school dropout rate that's alarming.

But mission-minded Westminster Church has become a center of outreach and hope for the troubled neighborhood thanks to strong ministry and legions of dedicated volunteers from the church and around town.

"Here in the church it's like a family unit," said Westminster member Kathy Allie. "We all care for each other and build up one another's self-esteem. If other people have problems we pray with them, we talk with them. It's just a really close-knit family."

The congregation, which celebrated 100 years of ministry in May, sponsors programs like the Westminster Food Bank, Christ Kitchen, Christ Clinic, Westminster House, Homework Helpers and the Boy Scouts.

Mission funding from the Presbytery of the Inland Northwest helps keep the church operating.

George and Jan Beran, former Presbyterian missionaries now in their 70s and living in Ames, Iowa, have challenged other Presbyterians from Iowa to come up with $250,000 for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)'s Joining Hearts & Hands fundraising campaign. The money would be used to send two mission co-workers or a family to the Democratic Republic of Congo for three years to do agricultural work.

To kick things off, the Berans have pledged the proceeds from selling a duplex they bought 25 years ago as a rental property.

From their own time overseas, teaching as missionaries in the Philippines and later as Fulbright professors in Nigeria, the Berans have seen firsthand the impact of Presbyterian mission work.

They also know what grassroots believers can do. Close to 30 years ago, their adult Sunday school class at Northminster Church in Ames was studying world hunger. Members raised money to support mission work in Kenya and Tanzania -- underwriting projects that helped farmers learn to improve their crop yields, to store food and produce drinkable water.

For some, the question they'd most like to ask about the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s big fundraising campaign is: Is it working? Will they reach the $40 million goal?

But another question that seems to be growing organically from the campaign itself is: What's being learned? What is this campaign teaching folks about how Presbyterians think?

Because in the two and a half years since The Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands campaign started, it's seen a few extreme makeovers. What started as a "deep pockets" fundraising effort, targeting wealthy Presbyterians with the ability to make substantial gifts, has shifted to a much more diversified approach, with considerable involvement from presbyteries and individual congregations.

Jan Opdyke, the campaign's director, asked what's changed since the campaign's beginning, told a group of Presbyterian communicators that it's gone "about 180 degrees in the opposite direction" of where it started.

But she added that, about halfway through the five-year effort, more than half the $40 million has been pledged -- about three-fourths of it through partnerships with presbyteries. As of September 30, the campaign had reported more than $22.5 million in pledges, and had collected more than $1.3 million of them, with some of that money already being used to put mission co-workers out in the field

(PNS) The trustees of Columbia Theological Seminary have approved a proposal from the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to create a program for the study of Presbyterian and Reformed history and theology.

Under the terms of the agreement, most of the collection of the Montreat, N.C. branch of the Presbyterian Historical Society will be moved to Columbia's John Bulow Campbell Library when the Montreat facility closes in December 2006.

During a Dec. 5 trustees meeting, the board authorized CTS President Laura Mendenhall, and a committee she appointed, to work with COGA on the details.

Friends,

On the night of my election as Moderator of the General Assembly, I asked Presbyterians several questions. "Are you ready to 'get in the boat with Jesus?'" "Is the Assembly ready to imitate the disciples as they took the huge risk of leaving behind all they knew to be both comfortable and sacred, and follow Jesus to 'the other side,' to the land of the Gentiles, the unclean, and the community with whom Jewish law expressly forbid them to have contact?" I invited Presbyterians to make a leap of faith - to believe that if we let go of our fear and step boldly into the world - God will do remarkable things both in and through the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Many Presbyterians have responded to the image of getting in the boat with Jesus. They are excited to share their own stories of "getting in the boat." I've seen clear indications that many of our congregations are tired of "business as usual," and they're looking for opportunities to "cross over to the other side."

As I've traveled, I have tried to listen carefully. I have prayed for discernment -- for the insight to see "the signs of the times" and the work of God's spirit in our present life. I've asked Presbyterians what they need from our denomination in order to live their faith with courage and conviction.

After eighteen months of an intimate look into the heart of our church, I am convinced that God is calling all of us to become something new. This is our moment to let go and strike out for the other side.

(RNS) Half of Americans have had a spiritual transformation experience, and 35 percent of those are not born-again Christians, according to newly-released research from the University of Chicago.

Most "changers" were part of a religious community when they had the experience and reported an increased commitment to God that has lasted for many years, the study found. Many transformations occurred early in life and at a turbulent time -- during an illness or after an accident or a relationship breakup.

Tom W. Smith, the study's author, was surprised by the reported endurance of the behavioral changes. Thirteen years, on average, have passed since most respondents' experiences.

The question was posed to 1,328 adults in 2004 as the religion component of the General Social Survey by the university's National Opinion Research Center.

Fundamentalist and evangelical Christians reported the highest percentage of changers (72 percent). These groups are more poised for a change experience because their language encourages it, Smith said.

Out in Presbyterian-land, the calendars for January and February are full of presbytery meetings at which overtures will be discussed and voted on -- perhaps giving as good a sense as any of what the mood of the church might be.

It doesn't seem particularly settled. Some early-arriving overtures have the General Assembly revisiting a controversial decision from 2004 involving divestment and Israel. Others want the assembly to take stands on gay marriage and on ordaining homosexuals.

Debates on controversial matters seem inevitable in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the months to come.

But some are hoping that the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the PC(USA) may have nurtured a climate within the denomination in which the differences can be talked about with less rancor, with more civility and open-mindedness.

"If these people can work it out and come to a unanimous agreement, it seems the church ought to be able to do that too," said Bill Gannaway, a retired minister from Topeka who works part-time for the Fund for Theological Excellence, trying to raise money for seminaries. "That's the hope I have."

In October, Gannaway helped lead a question-and-answer session in Northern Kansas presbytery, featuring Task Force Co-moderator Gary Demarest of California. Demarest and the task force's other 19 members have been answering invitations all fall, speaking at presbytery meetings and before other interested groups, trying to explain what the task force is recommending as the culmination of its four years of work.

The task force will meet in Atlanta Jan. 11-13 to assess how the report it made public last August is being received and to decide how most effectively to work toward approval of it from next summer's General Assembly.

(PNS) Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), issued a statement on capital punishment shortly after the death of the 1,000th person executed in the United States since 1976.

Kirkpatrick, noting that the PC(USA) and its predecessor denominations "have long been opposed to capital punishment," said: "Capital punishment is wrong because it is impossible to know that a person who has murdered can never be redeemed or restored. As a matter of faith and faithfulness, this possibility must be left open for every human being."

The statement was mailed to the governors of all states that still have capital punishment.

It's an uncomfortable question but one, some Presbyterians think, it's imperative to ask: What is the U.S. government position these days on torture? What's the policy, what's really happening and what should people of faith do about it?

On Jan. 6-7, Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly, is inviting Presbyterians concerned about torture to come to Miami for a time of prayer, spiritual reflection and public witness. He wants at this conference, http://no2torture.org/ come/miami06.shtml, to generate some thinking on "how we might encourage a grass-roots movement of Presbyterians to stand unequivocally against the use of torture by our government and to name the ideals that might lead us to authentic security," Ufford-Chase has written in his blog.

That's not all.

George Hunsinger, a professor of systematic theology at Princeton Theological Seminary, is helping to convene a group of academics and religious leaders Jan. 13-15 for an event called Theology, International Law and Torture: A Conference on Human Rights and Religious Conviction.

LOUISVILLE -- "How do we understand our little tribe of God's folks?" asked Eileen Lindner, a Presbyterian minister who works gathering and analyzing statistics for the National Council of Churches in Christ.

In other words, what do the numbers say about the health of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the challenges it faces?

First, and perhaps most obvious, is the continuing decline in membership for the PC(USA) and other mainline Protestant denominations -- a combined loss of millions of members in recent decades. But that's in part due to demographics. "We were big winners in the post-World War II sweepstakes," the baby boom, and now that high birth rate has leveled off, Lindner told a national gathering of presbytery and synod moderators, convened in Louisville on Nov. 11 by Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly.

The membership losses the mainline denominations are experiencing should have been expected, projecting ahead the death rates based on those birth patterns, said Lindner, who edits the annual Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.

"It's not so much what we did wrong," to cause people to leave, "as what we didn't initiate" to bring people in once high birthrates stopped driving growth, Lindner said.

Simplicity.

That's a cut-against-the-grain word in this season of so much everything -- so many parties and too many cookies, herds of lit-up reindeer marching across the lawns, lines of frantic shoppers hunting Xbox game systems or one more package of anything to put on the mound.

We do it, but in many hearts there's also a whisper -- maybe even a shout -- of "too much," a longing for a sacred silent night.

And so some people are deliberately, consciously, intentionally choosing less. Less Christmas shopping. Fewer decorations to put up and then haul back down, fewer plastic bins into which to cram it all.

Those who cultivate simplicity say they want more time, more peace, more care for the world -- not just at Christmas, but for the rest of the year as well, as a deliberate statement of their faith in God. Some are asking hard questions. How do the choices we make -- what we buy, what we eat, what we drive, what we invest in -- affect the world? What impact do our choices have on the earth and those who produce the goods we buy?

The simple-living movement is about more than saying "too much" to a consumer-driven Christmas, however. It ties together elements of environmental stewardship, of global economics, of socially-responsible investing, of caring for the least in a world in which many Americans have so much while the vast majority of the world's people live in poverty.

Congress Should Defeat Budget Reconciliation Once and for All

(RNS) Christians have begun the Advent Season in which we prepare to celebrate our Savior's birth -- the Savior who began his public ministry by proclaiming that God had anointed him "to bring good news to the poor."  We view this as a time for purposeful reflection, recognizing that we live in a fractured and fearful world, but seeking to find hope for ourselves and to give hope to those without hope. 

Throughout this year we, five leaders of Christian denominations representing close to 20 million followers, have asked that the Federal Budget be recognized as a concrete statement of our nation's values, and as such that it "bring good news to the poor." At each stage of the complicated legislative process, we have viewed the budget through the lens of faith and our values and found the FY '06 Federal Budget wanting. Now we ask that it be defeated once and for all.

The traumatic events of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita showed the nation and the world the faces of poverty in this country. The statistics from the most recent U.S. Census Bureau report on poverty presented hard numbers of 36 million Americans living below the poverty line, thereby verifying what our eyes had seen along the Gulf Coast but know to be true throughout the land. Yet Congress continues to make decisions which benefit the rich but are paid for by the poor and most vulnerable in our land.

ORLANDO -- The preachers talked a lot about trust in a sovereign God, even in difficult times, even when surrounded by "slippery theology," as pastor David Swanson put it. Don't lose hope. Don't give up. Don't lose sight of the truth.

But the political discussions at the Presbyterian Coalition's national meeting Nov. 7-9 were mostly about how to keep bad things from happening at next summer's General Assembly -- and what to do if something terrible does happen, such as (from the Coalition's point of view) the assembly approving the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

If that does happen, some contended, certain evangelical churches will be ready to leave the PC(USA).

There was also another theme subtly drifting through the conversations at the Coalition meeting, held at First Church in Orlando. Don't just look at what's wrong with the other side, evangelicals were told -- take a look at yourselves too.

Andrew Purves, professor of pastoral theology at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, preached during closing worship about the need for both truth and love -- saying that a church with "shining orthodoxy" but without love "is no longer the church."

Swanson, senior pastor of  First Presbyterian in Orlando, did not stint on criticism of the PC(USA)'s misguided directions during his opening sermon, citing examples such as a declining number of missionaries, a Washington office that supports political causes, sessions or presbyteries that ordain lesbians and gays.

ORLANDO -- How much do many evangelicals dislike the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)?

Listen to some of what's been said at the national gathering of the Presbyterian Coalition, held Nov. 7-9 at First Church in Orlando.

Jim Berkley, interim director of Presbyterian Action for Faith and Freedom, the Presbyterian arm of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, called the task force report "an indigestible sausage" that "would permit behavior that would have scandalized Jesus himself."

Michael Walker, executive director of Presbyterians for Renewal, has praised some sections of the task force report. But he described the task force's fifth recommendation as 'damaging to the church,' and said it could with one General Assembly vote 'effectively do an end run around three decades of discernment by the whole church.'

John "Mike" Loudon, an evangelical pastor from Lakeland, Fla., who's one of the 20 task force members, was invited to answer questions about the report. But Berkley, not Loudon, got to describe and analyze what the task force had done -- and the first question Loudon was asked was about what tradeoffs the task force had made to achieve a unanimous vote.

Loudon was gracious, saying he sees the report as a way for the PC(USA) to stay together, keeping its national ordination standards but allowing them to be applied locally. "Nowhere does it say to remove those national standards," Loudon said. "In fact, I fought long and hard to maintain those national standards."

ORLANDO -- The Presbyterian Coalition, not content to wait, started months before a major task force report was due out to prepare its own statement of where it thinks the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) ought to be going -- a paper that is not shy of proclaiming theological truth.

The paper -- "Given and Sent in One Love: The True Church of Jesus Christ" -- concludes in an afterward that the church should reject the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Two pastors wrote "Given and Sent in One Love" -- Gerrit S. Dawson of Baton Rouge, La. and Mark R. Patterson of Ventura, Calif. -- and it was published as a book with help from the Presbyterian Lay Committee, Dawson said.

The Coalition released the paper, based on the prayer that Jesus prays in the 17^th chapter of John, on Nov. 7 at the start of its national gathering at First Church in Orlando.

Thomas W. Currie Jr. died at Charlton Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas on November 7. A memorial service was held at North Park Church of Dallas on November 10 with the Rev. Stephen W. Plunkett officiating.

Born in Austin, Texas, he was educated in the public schools there as well as the Choate School in Wallingford, Conn. He was a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and subsequently received a B.D. from Union Theological Seminary of New York and degrees from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary (M.Th.) and Union Theological Seminary of Virginia (Th.D.).

MEMPHIS -- Where do moderate evangelicals stand?

That's a question Jon Walton, a pastor from New York and co-moderator of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, slipped into his remarks when talking about one of the biggest issues facing the General Assembly next summer in Birmingham: the long-awaited report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The Covenant Network -- a progressive group in the PC(USA) -- would love to know what moderate evangelicals think of the report, and whether they're willing to take a public stand on it. Such information would help the progressives know how solid their own footing is and what the prospects may be that the assembly will approve the task force report.

But there are other questions to ask as well -- including what Covenant Network supporters privately think of the task force report, whether there might be more support from them than seems apparent, and whether the church as a whole cares much about the positions all these special interest groups take.

MEMPHIS -- Spiritual practices -- such things as showing hospitality and forgiveness, giving and receiving, reading Scripture, praying, healing, discernment of God's will -- often are messy, full of ambiguity and even conflict.

They aren't spiritual merit badges -- do this as a sign of how good or godly you are.

They aren't private, transcendent spiritual experiences that no one else can share.

They are instead "an attempt to catch up with and respond to God's merciful and transforming presence in the world," said Amy Plantinga Pauw during the opening session of the 2005 national meeting of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians.

She said such practices "are like holding out our hand to receive the bread of life at communion," an act of faith and at the same time "a concrete acknowledgement that we are not whole, that we are not at peace, that we need healing and nourishment that we cannot provide for ourselves."

Pauw, the Henry P. Mobley professor of Doctrinal Theology at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, was speaking on "Graceful Practices." And the theme of this Covenant Network gathering, held Nov. 3-5 at Idlewild Church in Memphis, is "Disciples in Community," an exploration in part of how to be faithful in a church with so many opinions of what is right and what is sinful.

(PNS) The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) got updates on several proposed policy documents, including four to be presented to next year's General Assembly, during a recent meeting here.

ACSWP, which develops social witness polices for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), heard presentations on three papers, on energy, economic security for older Americans and lending laws. The documents and recommendations are subject to ACSWP review and revision before they go to next summer's 217th General Assembly in Birmingham, Ala.

During the Oct. 20-22 meeting, the committee discussed a proposed policy statement on ministry to people with disabilities and a referral concerning a study paper on the value of human life.   

ACSWP also welcomed its new coordinator, Christian "Chris" Iosso, and honored Gwen Crawley for her work as interim coordinator of ACSWP

ATLANTA -- Kwame Bediako, a pastor and theological educator from Ghana, called it "a shift in the center of gravity of Christianity," a seismic lurch from north to south.

It means this:

·         Asia, Africa and Latin America are producing many new Christians -- Christians who have their own understandings of faith and religious diversity and much to teach those who live in the north.

·         More Christians from those countries are moving to the U.S., knocking on the doors of churches here, bringing with them their own cultures and experiences of God. Some see the secularized north as the next Christian mission field.

·         And more people from other faiths are moving north as well -- meaning that even Americans who don't leave home will be much more likely to encounter Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others, and will live out their faith in contexts in which Christianity can't be assumed as the norm. 

At a global mission conference in Atlanta, Presbyterians -- most of them from North America, many struggling to figure out what the new configurations will look like -- considered some of the new realities.