Greetings,

   This is going to be a bit long but I have not found a good permanent link to this yet so I will reproduce it here.  I have seen it in the minutes of the presbytery, from which I extracted this, but it takes some reading of the minutes of presbytery to find it. (I know, if you are truly a GA Junkie, presbytery minutes are bed time reading material so go for it.)  It is also on a news flash page of the Presbyterian Forum, but from the naming of the page I don’t know if it will be persistent. 

   Therefore, I give you below, in its entirety, extracted from the minutes of the Presbytery of Mississippi Called Presbytery Meeting of July 13, 2006, the first official action by a presbytery reacting to the PUP report that I am aware of.  Several amendments were proposed, none approved.  The motion was approved but the vote was not recorded.  One dissent was recorded.

The Presbytery of Mississippi does hereby,

Declare that the action of the 217^th General Assembly
in the passage of Recommendation 5 of the Peace, Unity, and Purity Task Force
Report, is a grievous error seriously lacking Biblical, Confessional and
Constitutional integrity, and of such magnitude that it places the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) in a state of constitutional crisis, requiring that the
Presbytery of Mississippi re-evaluate the nature of its relationship with the
General Assembly,

Reaffirm its strong conviction that all constitutional
requirements for ordination, including G-6.0106b, are binding on all the
sessions and presbyteries of the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.), and none are
subject to being considered “inessential” by any governing body of
the Church,

Reaffirm its resolution that no exceptions to the requirement that
all deacons, elders and ministers must “live either in fidelity within the
covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or in chastity in
singleness” will be allowed within the jurisdiction of this Presbytery,
and

Resolve that any governing body of the Presbyterian Church,
(U.S.A.) which abrogates this requirement has broken fellowship with the
Presbytery of Mississippi. Ministers from such unbiblical, unconfessional, and
unconstitutional presbyteries will not be received for membership in this presbytery
unless they personally affirm their belief in and their willingness to be
governed by this requirement.

Rationale

Interaction between the governing bodies of the Presbyterian
Church should be marked by mutual trust. That trust is simply not possible when
the highest governing body commits egregious Biblical and Constitutional error
and when some presbyteries are openly and flagrantly in violation of Biblical,
Confessional, and Constitutional standards. The Presbytery of Mississippi, in
seeking to be faithful to the Bible, the Confessions of the Church, and the
Constitution as lawfully approved by the presbyteries of the Church, cannot
therefore stand in full fellowship with officers engaging in unconstitutional
and unbiblical behavior, or with governing bodies which bless such behavior.

At the same time, we understand that within unfaithful governing
bodies there are many ruling and teaching elders who seek to be faithful to the
Biblical, Confessional and Constitutional standards of the Church. We welcome
such faithful elders and ministers of the Word and Sacrament into our
membership. But because of the unfaithfulness of their sessions and
presbyteries, we must examine them with rigor similar to that which is required
for ministers received from other denominations.

The action of the 217^th General
Assembly, in passing Recommendation 5 of the PUP Task Force report jeopardizes
the role that Scripture and the Constitution play in the governance of the
church, thus the constitutional crisis. As we grieve over this devastating
action, we pray for God’s mercy and guidance as the Presbytery of Mississippi
discerns the nature of faithfulness in this post-pup context.

B.   appoint a task
force, consisting of presbytery’s commissioners to the last four meetings of
General Assembly (2002, 2003, 2004, and 2006) with Dr. Emett Barfield as
moderator, charging this task force with the responsibility to examine
carefully the implications of the current crisis on the future of and the
ministry of this presbytery and to report its recommendations at the October
2006 meeting of presbytery.

Greetings,

   The Office of the General Assembly (OGA) of the PC(USA) has issued two new advisory opinions (18 & 19) related to the PUP report as well as a less formal document referred to as constitutional musings.  There has been a response to the Advisory Opinion #18 from some church leaders on the conservative side.  Here are all the links:

Advisory Opinion 18 – Discernment in Examining Bodies – G6.0108 (PDF)
Response posted on the Presbyterian Coalition Web Site:  Flawed Advisory Opinion #18 Frustrates the Church (Web Page)

Advisory Opinion 19 – Implementing the Trust Clause for the Unity of the Church (Web Page)

Constitutional Musings #11 – Examining Officers (PDF)

The General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland, while it met back in May, is making news again as their debate about secular versus church schools hit the Ekklesia web site.

Has it really been three weeks since I have posted.  Sorry about
that.  I have a bunch of stuff to get caught up on.  I’ll try
to get it put up here in the next few days.

The breaking news it the New Wineskins Initiative Gathering in Tulsa
that concluded last night.  They are forming into the New
Wineskins Association of Churches.  In terms of moving forward in
light of recent PC(USA) actions they have adopted a “Congregational
Action Plan” that outlines a six month period of discernment. 
There are nine points to the Congregational Action Plan as well as a
five point “New Wineskins Initiative Action Plan.”  There is a
posting on their home page that appears to be a preliminary report.