Floor Fight Likely Over Handling of Social Justice Issues

A floor fight is shaping up over proposed changes in how the General Assembly handles social justice issues.

Almost 70 people met after the conclusion of Wednesday evening’s worship service at 9:45 p.m. for a meeting billed, “Justice Advocacy: the Future of Prophetic Witness in Our Church.”

Members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)’s two major social justice organizations – the Disciples Peace Fellowship and the Disciples Justice Action Network (DJAN) – led the talk, which focused on General Assembly Resolution 0925, “A Call for Action.”

The proposal, scheduled to be taken up Friday, would eliminate the sometimes-controversial Sense of the Assembly resolutions, which may be offered by local congregations, and replace them with four main issues screened by the General Board. The changes would go into effect provisionally with the 2011 General Assembly.

DJAN’s Charles Bayer proposed that when the issue comes up Friday, a procedural motion will be offered to refer Resolution 0925 back to the General Board. Such a move would bypass the Committee on Reference and Counsel, where resolutions are typically sent for revision while the General Assembly is still under way. . . .

Kathy Coggins, program director for Disciples Peace Fellowship, said a vote against the resolution does not equate to an endorsement of the current way of handling social justice issues. "But we don’t want to take one broken system and replace it with another broken system," she said.

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