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It is a year since Leslie Scanlon in May 2006 reported our denomination's deepest budget cut and the most extensive reordering of staff in nearly fifteen years. John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly Council, was quoted as saying, 'We are at a watershed, shifting from a denomination that tells congregations from on high which programs the PC(USA) will offer to one that supports the mission work being done by individual Presbyterians and congregations.' The news that 55 missionary positions were to be cut was most troubling. However, the news that a new Deputy Director for Evangelism and Witness would be created was good news indeed. And Bill Lancaster's 'GAC renews emphasis on traditional evangelism' in the April 16-23 issue of the Presbyterian Outlook is truly encouraging. The Mission Committee of our Presbyterian Church in Payson, Arizona, has for decades included in its missionary outreach such disparate organizations as the Nazareth Hospital in Israel, Witnessing Ministries of Christ to the Untouchable people of India, Campus Crusade in Mongolia, Trans World Radio, a Church for the Unchurched in Scottsdale, World Witness among Iranian Muslims, and the Medical Benevolence Foundation, along with support for long-time Presbyterian missionaries Durwood and Barbara Busse in Central Asia, and Presbyterian organizations like the Cook College and Theological School in Arizona which was founded by Presbyterian missionary Charles Cook in the early 1900s. These efforts have grown out of the experience of members of our congregation and are characterized by personal relationships which reach beyond the familiar Sunday morning talks by visiting missionaries. For example, Barbara Busse, in church on a private visit with us, mentioned Philip and Elizabeth Prasad's work with the Untouchable people in India. A number of church members promptly adopted Dalit children who were attending revitalized schools for the untouchable community in India. Our Mission Committee, remembering Barbara's enthusiasm, made Witnessing Ministries of Christ one of our projects. As it happened, our taking up of support for the Prasad's work antedated our denomination's adoption of Witnessing Ministries; making an early example of our denomination's watershed vision looking to individual Presbyterians and congregations for missionary leadership. The Appointment of Tom Taylor to be Deputy Director for Evangelism and Witness suggests that Sessions throughout our denomination may expect to be strongly encouraged to give primary place in their work to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), taking the initiative for our denomination. We are commanded to 'teach all nations' but America's relations with Muslims have become such that a special urgency attends our witness in the world of Islam. Echoing Mr. Detterick, 'This is a wake-up call for the church.' Gerald Shenk's 'Cracking the code with Iran' in the March 19th Outlook and Kenneth E. Bailey's 'Forgiveness: Breaking the cycle of violence' in the March 26th issue offer light for our path. A hundred and fifty years of Presbyterian witness in Iran, harking back to the 1830s when Justin Perkins planted a church, opened a school and established a printing press in Urmia, also shed light on our path. There were other forces at work, but the Presbyterian Mission in Iran was a key factor in producing the Iran of the 1970s where people of all faiths lived and worked together in harmony and where Christians were free to witness and evangelize. Jordan Avenue, which is a major North-South highway in Tehran, continues even under the aegis of Iran's Islamic Republic to memorialize revered Presbyterian missionary educator Samuel Martin Jordan. In the Outlook's April 9th issue Leslie Scanlon reports that our General Assembly Council strongly concurs with the Evangelical Church of Iran (Justin Perkins' 'tall steeple' church) in asking U. S. political leaders to 'initiate diplomatic dialogue with leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran'. Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic Revolution, which was inadvertently abetted by misguided American humanitarian concerns and by misplaced French hospitality for Khomeini himself, commandeered Iran's latent Shi'ism to produce the fountainhead of Islam's militant resurgence, the Islamic Republic of Iran. American efforts to establish democracy in Iraq do not change hearts and minds for the better. Democracy in Islam elects entities like Hezbollah and Hamas which enshrine Islam's Shari'ah Law. Men and women who become new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) do not condone such hallmarks of militant Islam as amputation, stoning, beheading, and the indiscriminate murder of men, women and children. A century and a half ago Presbyterian missionaries went to Iran to work with the moribund Nestorian Church. In God's providence the Evangelical Church of Iran which Presbyterians midwived and nurtured now seeks a formal advocate in its mother, today its sister, church. The Christian community in Iran has grown stronger since Iran's revolution. Should we not see and enthusiastically second the Evangelical Church of Iran as the fountainhead of a strong countervailing witness for hearts and minds? If Iran can be the fountainhead of an Islamic resurgence Iran can surely be the fountainhead of a Christian rennaissance. But quite apart from such related concerns as power, politics and culture, our Lord's command is simply to 'go' and 'teach'. (Matthew 28:19-20). Do we share the vision and zeal of strong Presbyterian role models, people like Justin Perkins, William McElwee Miller and Samuel Martin Jordan, to name only three? Are our sessions prepared to give the Great Commission primary place and to adopt the General Assembly Council's newly revised perception of Presbyterians as members of a connectional church? Our rich heritage of Presbyterian Missions tells us that the answer to such questions is a unaminous yes.
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