Monthly Archives: March 2009

WARC And REC Merger To Form WCRC Moving Forward

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Over the weekend there was news, courtesy of the The Christian Post, that the years-in-the-making union of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Reformed Ecumenical Council (REC) continues to move forward.  And in this new technology-driven world the news is that the new body, the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) now has a web site for the Uniting General Council.  The Council, to mark the unification of the two organizations, will be held in June 2010 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S.A.  (But I would note that none of these web sites have an RSS feed for the their news thus making it more laborious to keep track of developments.)

To look back on the developments in the uniting process you should check out the WCRC page on the WARC web site.  The news includes the unveiling of the new symbol for the WCRC.  The first joint meeting of the two groups governing bodies with a quote about the new organization:

“This
is not a merger or a takeover but the creation of something new,” added
Peter Borgdorff, president of REC. “I am very excited that this has
come about. At its core, Reformed history is a history of separation.
This is a global witness that emphasizes the better and more excellent
way.”

And there is also news about the work of the implementation committee for the Uniting Council as well as the preparations for the Global Institute of Technology that will immedieatly precede the Uniting Council.

Finally, back in October 2008 a draft constitution was sent out to the member churches for their approvals.

All this news leaves me with two somewhat “tongue in cheek” comments:
1)  According to a paragraph in this article, either the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, someone has done some rounding, or there is a math problem somewhere.

WCRC
will represent 80 million Reformed Christians around the world. WARC
has 75 million members in 214 churches in 107 countries. REC has 12
million members in 41 churches in 25 countries.

(Actually, the answer is buried in another article that notes the two groups currently have 25 churches that belong to both.  This means that over half the REC members, 25 of 41 churches and 7 million of 12 million members are in WARC as well.)

2) While “warc” and “rec” seem to have natural pronunciations, how should we pronounce “wcrc.”  I’d like to buy a vowel.

Hope For The Presbyterian Mutual Society Stakeholders?

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In the spirit of “All politics is local,” British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government has bailed out a Scottish building society in his previous district.  The government arranged for the failing Dunfermline Building Society, a financial institution like an American Savings and Loan, to be taken over by The Nationwide Building Society with an infusion of £1.5bn from the Treasury.  (BBC Article)

While news in its own right, especially since Dunfermline was the largest Scottish building society, this raises the hopes of those invested in the failed Presbyterian Mutual Society in Ireland and might put added pressure on Mr. Brown.  As the article from the Belfast Telegraph says:

The [Ulster Unionist Party’s] deputy leader Danny Kennedy said Mr Brown will be accused of
favouritism if he does nothing for the Mutual’s investors after saving the
Dunfermline Building Society, which is in his Kircaldy constituency in
Scotland.

And it goes on to quote Mr. Kennedy

“An intervention of this scale for a local building society is a perfect
template for action over the Presbyterian Mutual. What is sauce for the
Dunfermline goose is also sauce for the Presbyterian Mutual gander,” said Mr
Kennedy. “I now call on the Prime Minister to move quickly to protect the
savings of Presbyterian Mutual investors.”

In another article from the Belfast Telegraph a letter from the Treasury Minister Ian Pearson is quoted saying “The Government is keen to ensure a sucessful resolution to this matter.”  That, and a quote from Mr. Brown in the previously mentioned article, “It is important to recognise that throughout this whole crisis, everyone who
has been saving in a UK institution has been protected,” seem to give hope of Government help for the Mutual Society.  However, both articles note that at the present time it is only discussion and no action.

Economic Downturn Impacts The PC(USA)

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I have a collection of drafts for posts where I am waiting for the proverbial “other shoe,” but I figured enough shoes had dropped here that I should put out an update.

This is not so much a new story as a developing story, and probably will continue as one for a while yet.  I talked about it last fall, and one of the early casualties in the global Presbyterian family was the Presbyterian Mutual Society of Ireland.

Within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) the first agency I saw make a public statement was the Presbyterian Foundation Group which offered an early retirement program with a retirement date of last Monday, March 23, according to the Presbyterian News Service (PNS) article from February.  I have seen no word yet on how many individuals took advantage of the offer or if the Foundation met its goal for cost reduction.

In the headlines this week was the General Assembly Council (GAC) meeting where they dealt with a shortfall of around $10 million on a $111 million annual budget.  The GAC began working on this a while back and the first move, based upon employee suggestions, was to have a mandatory, unpaid furlough the week of May 17-23, 2009.  This was accompanied by the announcement of salary freezes for the 2010 budget. (GAC Press Release, PNS Article)  Going into the meeting this week the GAC staff had put together a recommendation to cut about $4 million and spend about $6 saved from previous years budgets.  The recommendation was accompanied by the press release, the PNS article, and a video with Linda Valentine, executive director, and Tom Taylor, deputy executive director for mission, of the General Assembly Council.

It appears that the GAC accepted at least the outline of the staff recommendation because after their meeting they announced the approval of a revised 2009 Mission Budget with about $4 million in reduced expenses and the use of about $6 million in “prior year accumulations.”  The Council message, both written and on video, emphasized that the revised budget with the savings was in line with the restructuring of the GAC over the last two years.  The Summary of Budget Revisions gives more detail on the savings and lists events which are canceled and offices consolidated.  The news is not just about elimination of positions and events, but in line with the “Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide” initiative new positions will be created in church evangelism and personal evangelism.  One of the more far-reaching changes/cuts will be to the grants supporting new church developments and transformations.  Only the first round of applications will be done in 2009 with no fall applications “as we evaluate a new program design and roll out a new funding structure and methodology by 2010.” There are also across-the-board reductions in travel spending by 15% and postage by 10%.  There are also articles from the Presbyterian News Service and the Presbyterian Outlook covering the budget revisions.

Probably the hardest area is the staff reductions.  As part of the budget revision announcement it was revealed that 14 positions had been eliminated since last October.  In addition, another 14 were eliminated effective Friday, March 27.  The budget revision includes nine vacant positions that were eliminated in the last few months and 19 more eliminated on Friday.  And as I already mentioned, it is not completely elimination, but 12 new positions have been created.  These are all detailed on a list of staffing changes.  Peter Smith, religion reporter for the Louisville Courier-Journal, in his story on the budget revision also reports that local pastors were on hand at the headquarters to counsel with people in the wake of the layoffs.

Finally, for more thoughts on the GAC and the budget revisions I would encourage you to check out Michael Kruse and his Kruse Kronicle blog.  He is in the unique position of being the vice-moderator of the GAC. (Or GAMC – General Assembly Mission Council as he calls it.  That is the new name now approved by the vote of the presbyteries.)  And while I would suggest his short post from the beginning of the meeting, he mostly links to the GAC material I have mentioned.  He does say you can ask questions of him in the comments to his post, not that he’ll have answers.  And keep watching because once he recovers from the meeting and his half-century birthday (Happy Birthday Michael, from an oldest child who is rolling his eyes (read his post if you want the context for that comment)) he might provide more commentary.  UPDATE:  Michael posted at almost exactly the same time I did and you can now find his reflections online.

So where does this leave the PC(USA)?  The GAC is the largest single arm of the denomination with about 400 employees.  I have already mentioned the Foundation that has revenues primarily on the management fees from the invested funds.  With investments down they clearly take a hit on the fees.  The Office of the General Assembly (OGA) and the Board of Pensions probably have fairly stable, or at least more predictable, revenue streams.  While the GAC depends on more variable mission giving and investment income, the OGA has the revenue stream from churches’ per capita and the Board of Pensions from the employee pension contribution.  The Board of Pensions does pay benefits from investment of the funds, and while it has taken a hit the Board reports this spring that the retirement plan “remains secure.”  The Presbyte
rian Investment and Loan Program (PILP) deals in cash and CD’s so the securities downturn should not affect that, but I have not found information on their non-preforming loans.  Finally, the impact of decreased purchases, if any, from Presbyterian Publishing Corporation is unknown but it is a self-supporting arm of the church and depends on sales alone.

And this is the 2009 budget.  At the September meeting the GAC will have to project ahead to 2010.  Stay tuned…

UPDATE:  With the few extra days there has been more reflection and comments on the meeting.  The ones that I have seen include:
GA Vice Moderator Byron Wade
GA Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow
GAC Member Melissa DeRosia (h/t BRC)
I am expecting a few more as well.

In addition, there is a Presbyterian Outlook article on the OGA budget situation which will require about $400,000 in cuts for 2009 because of the decrease in investment income.

And the Louisville Courier-Journal has an article about a worship service recognizing all of those laid off.

Two Sign Posts On The Journey With Standards For Ordained Office: 2 – Church of Scotland and Aberdeen Presbytery

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Today the Commission of Assembly of the Church of Scotland deliberated another case regarding standards for ordained office, this one regarding the call of a partnered gay pastor to Queen’s Cross Church in the Presbytery of Aberdeen.

The Rev. Scott Rennie was called to serve as pastor of Queen’s Cross Church and this call was approved by the Presbytery of Aberdeen back in January by a vote of 60-24.  (For more details and reaction you can check my first and second posts from that time.) This is not an ordination question.  Mr. Rennie is ordained and was in a heterosexual marriage previous to his current life style.  The Church of Scotland does not have the case law that the PC(USA) has in the GAPJC Sallade v. Genesee Valley decision that says “this commission holds that a self-affirmed practicing homosexual may
not be invited to serve in a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) position that
presumes ordination.”

Following the vote twelve ministers and elders appealed the decision of Presbytery to the General Assembly and the appeal was debated by the Commission of Assembly today.  One of those appellants was the Rev. Louis Kinsey who wrote about the appeal yesterday in his Coffee With Louis blog.  The Commission of Assembly, not to be confused with the Council of Assembly, is a subgroup of the Assembly comprised of 10% of the commissioners to the last Assembly.  It has interim authority to make decisions on many matters for the current Assembly.

Thanks to the Rev. Ian Watson for letting us know that today the Commission decided that this issue was significant enough that it should be decided by the full Assembly and not this subgroup.  But it was by the slim margin of 42 to 41.  The Rev. Watson’s take is that they decided not to decide.  He is significantly closer to the situation both geographically and connectionally, so he may very well be right that the Commission decided not to wade into these waters but leave it for the next Assembly in May.  But in light of the caution shown by 2007 General Assembly to invoke the Barrier Act and send the issue of blessing same-gender unions out to the Presbyteries, I interpret this decision similarly as the Commission deciding to involve the greater wisdom of the wider church and greater buy-in to the final decision.  I would like to think that they are not ducking the issue but rather considering “discretion the greater part of valor.”  And as always, I could be completely wrong.  I have a lot less experience and no “boots on the ground” like Mr. Watson has.

So, this now goes on the docket for the 2009 General Assembly and we will have to see where it goes from there.  Again, the journey continues.

Two Sign Posts On The Journey With Standards For Ordained Office: 1 – PC(USA) and the Synod of the Pacific

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It is interesting that we are expecting two important decisions in two ordination standards cases in two different Presbyterian branches in two days.  Furthermore, it appears that these decisions may not present final decisions but rather markers on the journey that these cases follow.

The first is today’s decision from the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Synod of the Pacific (SPJC) that is probably just a step in the interpretative ping-pong game going on within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) right now.  This case comes in the “yes I can”/”no you can’t” discussion between the PC(USA) General Assembly and the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC) over scrupling.  The 217th GA (2006) adopted the report of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity (PUP Report) which included an Authoritative Interpretation (AI) that candidates for ordination could declare a departure from the standards of the church if they felt those standards were non-essential.  Their presbytery would then have to decide whether to agree that the departure was about a non-essential.  In response to this AI multiple presbyteries passed policies that G-6.0106b, the “fidelity and chastity” section, was an essential.  In the case Bush v. Pittsburgh, the GAPJC said that a presbytery can not pass a blanket statement but must consider each case individually on its own merits.  However, they also said that declaring a departure as a matter of conscience could involve belief but not practice.  In response, the 218th GA (2008) passed a modified AI that said practice, as well as belief, could be scrupled.  In this ping-pong game the little white ball is headed back to the judicial commissions.  That is the general framework we find ourselves in at the present time.

But PJC decisions are not made in the context of a general question but decided on the specifics of particular cases — In this case Naegeli, Stryker and Gelini v. Presbytery of San Francisco.  It is a remedial case filed against the Presbytery of San Francisco related to the Presbytery meeting of January 15, 2008, and as such the SPJC is the court to hear the case first with the full evidentiary hearing.  At the January meeting the Presbytery, by a vote of 167-151, declared Lisa Larges, a candidate in the preparation process for ministry, certified ready to receive a call.  As a practicing lesbian Ms. Larges declared an exception to the “fidelity and chastity” section of the Book of Order, which the Presbytery accepted with their vote.  You can read more in my post after the meeting or the Presbyterian News Service article.  And to remind you of the polity setting, this was after the 2006 AI, but before the 2008 modification.

Friday’s hearing before the SPJC was live blogged on The Bilerico Project and you can read the account there.  One of the more interesting details was the SPJC’s decision that Ms. Larges’ testimony was not relevant to the case.  This is not surprising since the case would focus not on Ms. Larges specifically, but how the Presbytery as a governing body handled the proceedings and made the decision.  (A complaint specifically against an individual would normally be a disciplinary case.)

Ms. Larges has been in various stages of the ordination process since 1985 and the GA adoption of the AI’s produced a way for her to finally be ordained.  She serves as the Ministry Coordinator of That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS).

The SPJC decision was released late today (thanks to PresbyWeb for a scanned copy) and this interesting decision hinges on two technical details of Presbyterian polity.  The decision was unanimous.

Specifications of error 1 to 9 dealt with the SPJC review of documents and procedures from the Committee on Preparation for Ministry.  The SPJC uniformly said that it “has no jurisdiction to review the actions of a committee of presbytery. (G-4.0103(f), D-6.0202a(1))”

Specification of error 12 was that the presbytery incorrectly granted an exception to a “mandatory behavioral ordination standard of G-6.0106b.”  Instead of answering this error, the SPJC pointed out that the AI specifies that an exception must be declared during the examination for ordination and so this exception was voted on at the wrong point in the process.  Errors 10 and 11, concerning the presbytery process, are effectively moot because of the decision on error 12.

Bottom line:  This was the wrong point in the process for the presbytery to deal with the declared exception.

Relief granted:  The status of “ready for examination” is rescinded but Ms. Larges remains on the rolls as a candidate.  In addition, the Presbytery is admonished “to faithfully execute its constitutional obligations to the entire church to enforce mandatory church wide ordination standards.”

Consequences?  The decision could be appealed at this point but I think that the SPJC got it right and so it looks like Ms. Larges should receive a call and be examined for ordination with her declared exception.  (although it looks like the vote on “certified ready” must be redone with out the declared exception)  And then repeat the judicial process?  Being a SPJC decision I’m not sure that it directly affects Mr. Scott Anderson’s process in another synod, but it is something to keep in mind.  John Knox Presbytery dealt with his “affirmation of conscience” on advancing him to candidacy.  This does suggest a reshaping of the polity landscape since previous GAPJC decisions Sheldon v. West Jersey and Stewart v. Mission dealt with them during the preparation process.  And keep watching the next few days to see if anyone says they do want to appeal this decision.  Also, the decision is fresh and it is late in the day so give it a day or two for reactions.

Finally, I’ll comment that the media has generally not figured out the situation in the PC(USA) while covering this case.  For example, an article on the KGO-TV web site says “Presbyterians may have their first lesbian minister.”  Or from glaadBlog — “Lisa Larges may be first openly gay pastor in the Presbyterian church.”  Both of these articles seem to overlook others who have been ordained previously, like Janie, as well as Paul, Ray, and Scott (who was ordained, renounced, and is now working to restore it).  Yes, on this third attempt of hers Lisa has become the test case for the new openness to declare a departure, but I think I have heard her give credit to the few others who have gone ahead of her.  In fact, Lisa does give her “forebearers” credit, although not by name, in a quote included in an radio piece from KPFK linked to by TAMFS.  The reporter in the piece does a well-above-average job of describing Presbyterian polity, even if the anchor introducing it has a couple of mis-steps, like referring to Ms. Larges as a “deacon that has been denied ordination.”  As we know, a deacon is also an ordained office so it is ordination to the ministry of Word and Sacrament that has been denied.  (Yes, I know that in the grand scheme of things I’m being picky but the piece itself gets so much right that it sets a high standard.)  Or take the article from the KCBS web site when it presumably makes reference to Amendment 08-B and says “There is a proposal to allow each of the 11,000
individual congregations to decide for themselves whether or not to
ordain gay and lesbian clergy.”  I think they mean the proposal is before the 173 presbyteries which both decide on the amendment as well as act as the ordaining bodies for clergy.

Well, the journey continues whether it be back to the Presbytery for the examination or on to the GAPJC on appeal.

Tomorrow we can expect a decision for Aberdeen.  Stay tuned.

The Latest Issue Of Presbyterians Today

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A couple of brief notes about the March 2009 issue of the magazine Presbyterians Today published by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

The first item concerns the regular column “What Presbyterians Believe,” this month written by Dr. Michael Jinkins from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.  The subject is “What Presbyterians Believe about Heresy.” (Interesting note that the article is about “heresy” while the URL says “heretic.htm”)  Well, it turns out that between Mr. Jinkins’ original manuscript and the initial publication of the article an editor tried to improve on the headline and lede and, in Mr. Jinkins’ opinion, misrepresented his viewpoint.  The misrepresentation was significant enough that Prof. Jinkins wrote an article published online by the Presbyterian Outlook stating his complaint and including the article as he originally wrote it.  The online version of the Presbyterians Today article now displays Mr. Jinkins’ original version but presumably it is too late for the print version.

In the Outlook, Dr. Jinkins says this about the Presbyterians Today article:

Several months ago I was
asked to write an article on heresy for the “What Presbyterians Believe
Series” in Presbyterians Today.

When
the article appeared this week I was surprised and dismayed to discover
that the opening two paragraphs of the published article were so
clearly not my work that I have had to take the unprecedented step
(unprecedented for me at least) of formally distancing myself from
several key aspects of an article that appears under my name.

In
some thirty years of writing for church publications, this is the first
time I have ever had to do this. I have asked the magazine to retract
these paragraphs and to publish what I actually wrote because the
editors’ changes do not reflect my theology. I am frankly embarrassed
to have my name appear on the published article, and I do not want the
erroneous views attributed to me to reflect negatively on the
Presbyterian Church and the seminary I serve. I have informed the
publisher of Presbyterians Today that I am posting this blog to set the
record straight, and that I will refer readers to my original essay so
they can read it if they want to know what I actually wrote.

He goes on to discuss how the modification of the first two paragraphs made him sound sympathetic with “Arius, the arch heretic of the early church.”  In addition, he says the new title “How to spot a heretic” is inappropriate because it “conjures up a predatory spirit that I find profoundly disturbing in the contemporary context.”  Check out the Outlook article for the original text and the full discussion of these issues.

On a brighter note, it is a pleasure to welcome Elder Jody Harrington to Presbyterians Today and her new column “Best of the Blogs” which presents a few blogs each month with Presbyterian connections.  And I would be remiss if I did not thank her for including this blog in her March article.  Ms. Harrington is of course a blogger herself and her contribution to the blogosphere, Quotidian Grace, is a lively and wonderful mix of personal notes and reflections as well as her adventures in the Presbyterian church.  It is one of my regular reads and her Presbyterians Today column will also become a regular read.  Just when I thought I knew all the Presbyterian blogs, she lists another great one that is new to me.  Thanks.  Now we just need to get an RSS feed for “Best of the Blogs.”

As long as I am on the topic of Presbyterians Today, I will mention a piece of slightly older news, the January appointment of Jeffrey Lawrence as publisher of the magazine. (Presbyterian News Service article)  Mr. Lawrence brings a wide variety of skills to the job including legal, business, and pastoral experience.  I wish him well in his new position.

General Assembly Season Is Almost Upon Us

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It’s getting closer.  Can you feel it? In just two months will be the beginning of General Assembly “Season” for the Presbyterian branches in North America and Europe.  So dust off your Books of Church Order or Acts and polish up your parliamentary procedures to get ready.

For the other G.A. Junkies here are the ones that I’m tracking…

The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
Edinburgh
May 21-27
(no reports or docket posted yet)

The 76th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church
Kuyper College, Grand Rapids, Michigan
May 27 – June 3
(no reports or docket posted yet)

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland
Belfast
June 1-4
(no reports or docket posted yet)

The 135th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada
Hamilton, Ontario
June 7-12
(no reports or docket posted yet)

The 205th General Synod of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church
June 9-11
(no further information available on-line)

The General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church
Memphis, Tennessee
June 15-19
(no reports or docket posted yet)

The 37th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America
Orlando, Florida
June 16-19
Preliminary docket, Webcast

The 29th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church
Cornerstone EPC, Brighton, Michigan
June 24-27
(no reports or docket posted yet)

The 73rd General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church
Ryder Memorial Presbyterian Church, Bluff City, Tennessee
August 6-11
(no reports or docket posted yet)

Note that the next General Assemblies for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand are held every two years and each will have their next assembly in 2010.

There are a couple more that I’m watching for details and I’ll update this list as I get that.  Based on past Assemblies, for the 2009 Assemblies only the Church of Scotland and the Presbyterian Church in America webcast.

So mark your calendars and clear your schedules for the 2009 season.

PCA Amendment Voting And GA Overtures

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As the 37th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America approaches, business is being wrapped up from the 36th GA in the form of voting on a Book of Church Order change.  In addition, three more overtures to this year’s Assembly have been posted.

The one amendment to the Book of Church Order approved by the Assembly and sent to the presbyteries for concurrence is a clarification of the procedure for membership vows.  The profession of faith section of BCO 57-5 begins with “The minister may then address…” and then gives an introductory statement before the membership vows.  The section continues with the membership vows so that the last prescriptive word is “may.”  The proposed change would insert between the introductory statement and the actual vows the following “shall” statement:

The minister shall then ask the following questions (or alternate questions that communicate their substance):

The official vote tally, updated last Tuesday March 17, has 35 presbyteries approving and 16 against.  That is 69% approval, slightly ahead of the 2/3 (67%) of the presbyteries that must concur for adoption.  With 77 presbyteries in the PCA, 51 must agree to change the BCO.  There are 26 presbyteries yet to vote or report their votes.

The G.A. Junkies will be well aware that the PC(USA) is voting on a similar amendment to their Book of Order that would require new members to take membership vows as part of the reception process in front of the congregation.  At the present time that amendment is approaching passage with the official tally reporting a vote of 70 to 39.  (Concurrence of 87 presbyteries required for approval.)

The Overtures web page now has numbers 11, 12, and 13 posted.

Overtures 11 and 12 are similar in that they deal with the physical boundaries of presbyteries.  Overture 11, from Iowa Presbytery, seeks to “Redraw Boundary between Platte River and Iowa Presbyteries.”  At the present time Iowa Presbytery is the whole of the state of Iowa, including Council Bluffs, Iowa, across the river from Omaha, Nebraska.  They make the reasonable proposal that Platte River Presbytery, which includes Omaha, is interested in, and better positioned to, plant churches in the Omaha metropolitan area and request the transfer of the one Iowa county containing Council Bluffs to Platte River.  (Note:  The overture refers to the second presbytery as Platte River, while the PCA list of presbyteries and the Presbytery’s web site call it Platte Valley Presbytery.  That will no doubt be cleaned up as an editorial adjustment.)  We can probably expect the customary concurring overture from Platte Valley.

Overture 12 from Ohio Valley Presbytery requests the Assembly “Form Central Indiana Presbytery.”  The overture points out that the region of Central Indiana currently in Ohio Valley Presbytery has reached the requisite number of churches and members, and has the necessary potential for growth, and that splitting it off to form its own presbytery would make church planting more efficient.  Nine southern counties in Indiana would remain in Ohio Valley.

Overture 13 comes from Presbytery of Grace and proposes a possible statement on gender issues.  The overture title, “Adopt Danvers Statement on Gender Issues” refers to a 1987 statement by the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood that came out of a meeting in Danvers, Mass. —  The Danvers Statement on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.  This overture, for the sake of the Assembly and denomination speaking on the issue, proposes adopting the Danvers statement in whole while making one phrase specific to the PCA.  In Affirmation 6 the phrase would be changed from

In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, some governing and teaching roles within the church are restricted to men.

to

In the church, redemption in Christ gives men and women an equal share in the blessings of salvation; nevertheless, in accordance with the teaching of the Holy Scriptures, the offices of Elder (Ruling and Teaching) and Deacon are restricted to men.

(full sentence included for context)

As you would probably expect the Danvers Statement is very much a complimentarian statement and sets forth a rational and ten affirmations that I think many in the PCA would be in agreement with.

Commentary:  As I look over this overture and the Danvers Statement I have to admit that I don’t see how this is a contribution to the current polity debate.  It may be useful as a general, big-picture statement, but even in its modified form it really seems like it adds nothing beyond what is already in BCO 7-2 that offices are open only to men.  The current debate is not so much about women serving as ordained deacons, although that is in there for some, but about another commissioned status that begins to look like an ordained deacon.  Am I missing something about the usefulness of the Danvers Statement in this discussion?

Well, we are now less than three months from the convening of the General Assembly.  There should not be too much more business still out there. (That completely closes at 60 days.)  Registration is open, a draft docket is posted, and the more than 50 seminars listed, including a discussion/debate with TE Ligon Duncan and TE Tim Keller titled Discussing Deaconing Women.  The whole GA promises to be interesting.

Outreach By The Presbyterian Church Of Ghana

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There were two interesting news items in the last week from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, both dealing with the outreach and evangelism by the church.

The first, reported by Modern Ghana, is a workshop on “modern strategies of evangelism” held by the Akuapem Presbytery for catechists.  The article says

The workshop, which was organized by the Department of Church Life and
Nurture of the Presbytery, brought together more that 80 catechists on
Akuapem ridge to be equipped with modern ways of church leadership and
evangelism.

and continues

[The presbytery chairperson] said the only way the church could be attractive to the outside
world was when the old ways of worship gave way to new and modern
strategies by way of preaching, bible studies, praises and worship.

This is reported as the first of its kind in the presbytery.

On another continent, there is coverage by both Modern Ghana and Joy Online of the installation of the Rev. Dr. Charles Gyang-Duah as the Minister-in-charge of the Ebenezer Congregation of the Presbyterian Church in Ghana (PCG) Bronx, NY, and the new Chairperson of the Overseas Mission Field – USA.  In the recent interview carried by both news outlets Dr. Gyang-Duah…

…stressed the significance of the overseas assemblies of the
Presbyterian Church of Ghana by poignantly observing that language
barrier and an unfamiliar cultural environment necessitated Ghanaians
resident abroad having ready access to religious and cultural
institutions fashioned according to both their cultural norms – or
ethos – and linguistic needs

But, he also said

“We need to move away from our seemingly invariably acquisitive and
palpably unhealthy immigrant mentality. After all, this is the modern
era; we live in an organic global community of inextricable
interconnectedness,” Dr. Gyang-Duah opined and added, “We
[American-resident members of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana] see the
mainstream Presbyterian Church of the United States as our partner
Church; and we want to assure them of our unstinting support and
cooperation.”

The induction ceremony, hosted jointly by the Bronx and Manhattan congregations of the PCG, will be held on April 5 at the Manhattan church.  Participating in the service will be the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, the Rt.-Rev. Yaw Frimpong-Manso.

It is interesting that Rev. Gyang-Duah mentions the partnership with the “mainstream Presbyterian Church of the United States” as a partner because about a year ago Emmanuel Presbyterian Reformed Church was chartered.  This is, as best as I can tell, a union church between the PC(USA) and the RCA made up of about 20% of the members of the Ebenezer congregation who chose to affiliate with the American denominations.  There appears to be cooperation between the two congregations because Emmanuel posts of list of Ghanaian Congregations in North America that includes their sibling.  There is a detailed write-up of the Emmanuel history on GhanaWeb.

A Word Of Hope From The Amendment 08-B Voting Trends

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Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

First, for anyone looking
for my word of hope being in the fact that approval of 08-B is
trailing in the voting or that a significant number of presbyteries have switched
their votes from the negative to the affirmative in this round of
voting, you won’t find that here.

Instead, I have been
reflecting on some of the voting trends to see what it means for the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

While what I have
previously written about the amendment voting, especially the
analysis of the numbers, I view as data-driven and analytical, I do
realize that there is the potential for it being take as negative or
pessimistic because of the focus on membership decline and
theological controversy — the “doom and gloom” if you will. It is my motivation and intent that using my skills to drill down into
the numbers would help us better understand what is going on and
would lead to “building up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12). So
in a more explicit spirit of that let me offer what I see as a word
of hope:

In tracking the votes and
looking for correlations with membership trends my working hypothesis
was that declines in membership would be reflected in the voting
trends. However, as I discussed in another recent post this is not
the case. Hypothesis busted! While I do see trends that I can break into categories of behavior, looking for this broadly across the
denomination’s presbyteries does not show it. I consider that good news for the
PC(USA).

I do not mean to minimize
the challenges that are before the denomination. Membership is
declining in almost every presbytery. Amendment 08-B is an issue
with strong feelings on both sides. Total membership decline numbers do suggest some association.  But the presbytery data indicate that we can not take these and
paint across the denomination with too broad a brush. To paraphrase the
Tolstoy quote above, “every presbytery has its challenges in its
own way.” No broad generalizations can be made about relationships
between 08-B, theological viewpoint, and membership decline. This
leads me to the broad generalization that every presbytery is unique,
has its own individual challenges and stories, and should be worked with
on its own terms. It is just like one of our basic principles of
Presbyterian polity, it all comes down to the presbyteries.

What this effectively
means could be expressed in a couple of well-used phrases:

All politics is local

or

Think globally, act
locally.

If every presbytery is
unique, don’t look to the General Assembly or the Headquarters for
your solution. They are there to help, but not come up with the silver bullet to solve every
problem if there are 173 different problems. Look for what you can
do where you are to work on the challenges in your presbytery.  These data suggest that we need to change the denomination by starting at the bottom because this issue does not register as being the unique problem across the church.

(Having said that, there are
some general categories of behavior but nothing that is seen across the board. I’ll go back to my geeky data analysis and
lay those out in the next couple of weeks.)