(CP) Clifton Kirkpatrick, a former stated clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and head of the World Communion of Reformed Churches, has died. He was 79.
Kirkpatrick died on Saturday on the Four Seasons Retirement Community in Columbus, Indiana, in accordance with Presbyterian News Service (PNS), with a memorial service to be held at Strathmoor Presbyterian Church of Louisville, Kentucky, in March.
Kirkpatrick was preceded in death by his wife of over 50 years, Diane Worthington, who died in March of 2024. He is survived by a sister, two children and five grandchildren.
“A mighty good man was Cliff Kirkpatrick,” said former PCUSA stated clerk, the Rev Gradye Parsons, in a press release quoted by PNS. “From the day he asked me to return work with him I quickly realized what a world understanding he had of God’s church.
“He seriously faced the struggles of the PC(USA) and its detractors and I heard him say this quote a thousand times: ‘Our role as Christians shouldn’t be to be within the judgment seat but to be within the witness box.’ We are all higher for having lived our lives with him, along with his leadership and along with his faith.”
A native of Harlingen, Texas, and born on May 1, 1945, Kirkpatrick held various roles in quite a few local Christian organizations, including the Dallas Council of Churches, the Fort Worth Council of Churches, and Houston Metropolitan Ministries. He eventually served on the chief committee of the World Council of Churches.
Kirkpatrick went on to function director of Worldwide Ministries at PC(USA) after which was stated clerk for 3 consecutive four-year terms in 1996, 2000 and 2004. He was also a professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
In 2004, Kirkpatrick was also elected president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, which later modified its name to the World Communion of Reformed Churches, serving until 2010.
WCRC Interim General Secretary Setri Nyomi released a statement saying that Kirkpatrick was “an expensive friend whose leadership and pastoral gifts were very inspirational in my ministry and ecumenical engagement”.
“We met for the primary time in 1996 when the small team commissioned by WARC to place together the document ‘Reformed Self-Understanding’ met in Louisville,” stated Nyomi.
“We were warmly welcomed by the then recent stated clerk of the PCUSA. That was before my time as general secretary of WARC. Since then, Cliff made a mark on me. I saw him as an insightful theologian and ecumenical leader committed to justice.”
In an interview with The Christian Post in 2005, Kirkpatrick addressed the problem of longstanding decline within the PCUSA, explaining that he believed an enormous factor was that “we have now not been as effective in evangelism as God would have hoped us to be.”
“The best challenge is to centre ourselves in Jesus Christ and to have a growing recognition that Jesus is the one who calls us to work for justice, to be a community, and to serve one another because the body of Christ,” said Kirkpatrick.
“Jesus is our peace, purity and unity. We are usually not all alike, but what’s more precious than those differences is the united belief that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Saviour.”
