Resolutions on Creation, Sudan Investments Approved

Post a Comment » Written on June 25th, 2007     
Filed under: News
PORTLAND, OR (June 25, 2007) – Delegates to the 122nd Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church approved resolutions that would mandate denominational  divestment from companies doing business in Sudan. Delegates also approved a resolution on care for creation.

During discussion of the “Resolution on Divestment from Sudan,” Emily Montfort, a delegate from Church of the Redeemer Covenant Church in Bowie, Maryland, expressed concern that “it is very difficult to do something like this and not have unintended consequences.” Globalization has made discerning which companies to divest from an uncertain task, because all companies in some respect will have some connection to Sudan, she added.

Under the initial resolution, denomination officials would use a list of companies on a particular website to guide their decisions. A successful amendment introduced by Neil Wolf, a delegate from First Covenant Church in Cadillac, Michigan, added that denomination officials also could consult “other appropriate resources or resources determined to be reliable and reasonably impartial” in making their decisions. Wolf and other delegates were wary of depending on a single source of information, adding that the website originally cited in the resolution might cease to exist or at some future point incorporate criteria that could be in conflict with Covenant ethics.

The resolution cannot mandate Covenant institutions to divest from particular companies if doing so would be harmful to fiduciary obligations, observed Herbert Hedstrom, the 2007 Annual Meeting moderator. Leaders must act in good faith, however, he added.

Also approved was a “Resolution on Creation-Care” calling on churches and individuals to examine their environmental practices, for denominational organizations and groups to publish educational resources, and that Covenanters publicly advocate on behalf of environmental stewardship.

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