February 17, 1999
PK drops plan for events at capitols
___By Adelle Banks
___Religion News Service
___COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (RNS)--Promise Keepers has scaled back its plans to gather men and their families at state capitols around the country on Jan. 1, 2000.
___Instead, officials of the evangelical Christian men's ministry now say they will provide materials for "in-home gatherings" on that day and will work with other church groups on other events, such as joint services, to mark the turn of the century.
___"As we have ... planned the events that will go on in the year 2000 ... it is becoming less likely that large gatherings at state capitols is a wise thing to do," said Steve Ruppe, director of public affairs for Promise Keepers.
___Ruppe attributed the decision in part to continuing concerns over potential Y2K computer problems. Y2K-- shorthand for Year 2000--refers to concerns that computers could read 2000 as the year 1900 instead, prompting a rash of possible malfunctions.
___"There's an awful lot of questions in some minds as to the Y2K bug and how much of an effect it's going to have on people," Ruppe said.
___Promise Keepers founder Bill McCartney announced the state capitols plan to men gathered at Stand in the Gap, the ministry's largest event in Washington, D.C., in 1997.
___Equal Partners in Faith, one of Promise Keepers' critics, cheered the decision not to go forward with that plan.
___"These rallies were planned for an election year and were clearly tied to the divisive and exclusive political agenda of the Promise Keepers' leadership," said Steven Baines, projects coordinator of the Washington-based group.
___Ruppe responded by saying that Promise Keepers has no political agenda.
___"The organization has been so totally non-political for its entire existence," he said. "That's just disingenous."
___Brenda Brasher, author of a forthcoming book on Promise Keepers, said the decision not to try and "top" Stand in the Gap with an even larger event may reflect a realization that that's not what average men involved with the ministry want.
___"I really am finding, at least at the regional level, that there is a diminished participation on the part of men in this organization and on the other hand, I'm still finding the accountability groups, the very small groups, going strong."
___Men have been meeting across the country in these groups, often weekly, to study a Bible text or a book recommended by Promise Keepers and to share their everyday struggles.
___"I think the event at the state capitols was really more in keeping with the organizational ideology at the national level," said Brasher, an assistant professor of religion and philosophy at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio. "This does indicate a marked change in the movement, but I do think it's a change in keeping with where the grassroots have been headed."Frontpage / Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!