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Hilary N. Shuford left her law practice to become general presbyter of the Maumee Valley Presbytery.
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New presbyter wants everyone's voice to be heard

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New presbyter wants everyone's voice to be heard

No single person has a corner on the truth, Hilary N. Shuford said. When conflicts arise within the local Presbyterian Church (USA), her job as general presbyter is to make sure everyone's voice is heard and then “facilitate a process where we can try to discern God's will for us.”

It's been an interesting 10 months in office for Mrs. Shuford, who left a law practice in Athens, Ga., to head the Maumee Valley Presbytery. She will speak Thursday night at Metro-Toledo Churches United's Spring Assembly.

“It's everything I thought it would be and more,” Mrs. Shuford said of her new position. “The learning curve, coming from a legal career into denominational work, is great but I have an awful lot of help.”

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The Maumee Valley Presbytery, which has 15,000 members in 81 churches in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, is facing many of the same challenges that mainline Protestant denominations are dealing with on a national level.

These include declining membership rolls, an aging population, a clergy shortage, and theological disputes between conservative and liberal factions within the church.

Mrs. Shuford was thrust into the midst of a local conflict in January, when the Maumee Valley Presbytery's committee on ministry voted to remove the pastor of Norcrest Presbyterian Church in Findlay.

A schism had developed at the 400-member church over denominational debate on whether homosexuals should be ordained and whether Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. The PC(USA) board intervened after Norcrest's pastor and some supporters voted to leave the denomination and join the more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

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Controversy is to be expected, Mrs. Shuford said. The biblical epistles of Apostle Paul often dealt with conflicts within the first-century church.

“I believe that good and dedicated Presbyterians disagree on issues. Only God has the absolute truth,” she said. “We all have kernels of truth. We struggle to find God's will for us.”

She believes that her law career offered good training for her new duties.

“The skills I developed as a lawyer, written and spoken communication and organizational skills, are all transferable to this position,” she said.

Mrs. Shuford was elected general presbyter of the Maumee Valley Presbytery in September, 2001, after a two-year search, and took office in June.

A native of Orrinda, Calif., she moved to Georgia when her father, a chemist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was transferred.

She grew up in the Presbyterian church and met her husband, Harry, in a sixth-grade Sunday school class. “God introduced us,” she said. “We were always friends but never dated in high school. We didn't get married until we were in our late 20s.”

After earning a bachelor's degree in history from Duke University, she earned a law degree from the University of Georgia. She worked for 18 years at a law firm in Athens that specialized in civil cases.

Mrs. Shuford said she felt a strong and clear calling to church work, although there was no dramatic transformation like Paul's experience on the road to Damascus.

She is an ordained elder and enjoys preaching, speaking at two or three different churches in the presbytery each month. “It's kind of funny for a lawyer,” she said. “I'm not making a case, I just feel I have a message and I'm taking it to the people.”

Mrs. Shuford has a lot of faith in a 14-member “visioning task group” she has organized in order “to plan and implement the mission of the church.”

The group is exploring ways to reach out to the community, to attract younger members, to recruit more clergy, and to seek God's will when controversial issues arise.

She said she is looking forward to the national assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), which will meet in Columbus June 15-22.

Last year, delegates to the general assembly in Louisville, Ky., voted to lift the ban on ordination of gays and lesbians. The measure was sent to the denomination's 173 regional governing bodies for ratification and was defeated by a three-to-one ratio, including a negative vote from the Maumee Valley Presbytery.

The general assembly appointed a theological task force to study key issues facing Presbyterians and report back in four years.

“We are called to reform and we are always reforming,” Mrs. Shuford said.

In her spare time, she enjoys fishing with her husband and can't wait to catch one of the walleyes that northern Ohio is famous for.

Hilary Shuford will speak at the Metro-Toledo Churches United Spring Assembly at 7 p.m. Thursday at Pilgrim United Church of Christ, 1375 Sylvania Ave. Tickets, $10, include dinner at 6 p.m. The assembly will also feature the Liturgical Dancers of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Maumee. Reservations are due by Wednesday. Information: 419-242-7401.

First Published April 13, 2002, 10:56 a.m.

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