Church of Scotland News: Part 2 – Ecumenical efforts to halt sectarian violence in Scotland

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This news story has been reported very widely in Scotland.

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland spoke yesterday at a summit on sectarianism convened by the Scottish Executive.  While the Rt. Rev. Alan McDonald’s remarks were brief and straight-forward, one aspect of them was picked up and much more widely publicized than the rest of the speech.  Rev. McDonald had suggested to the Scottish Roman Catholic Cardinal O’Brien that in a show of ecumenical unity they should attend a Rangers Football Club (soccer for the Americans) game together.  It turned out that while the cardinal and the football club were up for it, stadium security and the local police were afraid that it would raise tempers in the stadium.  So the idea was scrapped until Rev. McDonald mentioned it yesterday in the speech and now there seems to be a change of opinion and police now say the two religious leaders could do it and it would not incite the crowd.

The Church of Scotland has posted Rev. McDonald’s comments at the summit and the remarks by Cardinal O’Brien a couple of weeks ago after the release of a report on sectarian incidents.

Selected press coverage of the football controversy from the icLanarkshire and The Herald.

Church of Scotland News: Part 1 – Same-sex unions resolution defeated by presbyteries

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It is being reported by several news sources (such as The Herald and Scotsman.com but not the Church of Scotland news page yet) that the resolution to allow ministers to bless same-sex unions has been defeated by the presbyteries.  With 42 of 46 presbyteries having voted 36 have voted against the resolution.  Six presbyteries ( the mostly urban presbyteries of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, England, Europe, St Andrews and Melrose & Peebles) have voted in favor.  One of the articles says that it is not expected to come up again at the 2007 GA.

First woman to serve in Presbytery/District leadership in Presbyterian Church of Ghana

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The news web site allAfrica.com is reporting that The Reverend Esther Abam Adjetey has been inducted as the clerk of the Ga Presbytery and the District Minister of the Kaajaano District.  She becomes the first woman to serve in these positions in the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.  Rev. Adjetey is a teacher by training but has been active in the church earning a Special Ministerial Training Certificate, serving on church boards and attending international conferences.  In her acceptance remarks she is quoted:

I know that behind the seemingly chaotic and indiscriminate events of
my life, a bigger story, a divine story is being written. The divine
author, I am convinced, misses nothing.

I have never found an official web site for the Presbyterian Church of Ghana with information on their polity and church structure, but the web site for the Association of Churches and Missions in South Western Germany has information on their partner churches including the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.  Based on that information it is interesting to know that individual churches are staffed by a catachist and a District Minister oversees up to 15 of these parish churches.  In PC(USA) terminology these would be churches staffed by a Commissioned Lay Pastor which are mentored and supervised by an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament.

Our congratulations to Rev. Adjetey and our prayers and best wishes for her new ministry.

Mizoram Synod of the Presbyterian Church of India to preach against birth control

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At the meeting of the Mizoram Synod of the Presbyterian Church of India, which concluded today in the city of Aizawl, the Synod Assembly approved a measure to preach against the government birth control policies.  The concern is that at the present rates of population increase the mizos ethnic group is in danger of becoming outnumbered and that birth rate should be increased.

The Newslink English Daily reports on the meeting which began on December 8.  Among the other interesting resolutions was one which said that a pastor’s wife may not hold a government job since that would not give her enought time to support her husband.  The Synod web site does have non-English agendas and summaries available.

So where is the PC(USA) in the ordination standards debate?

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With a growing number of presbyteries discussing the adoption of policies affirming the Book of Order wording, specifically G-6.0106b, as their standards for ordination I have not been keeping this blog up-to-date on these happenings.  I will comment on two specific and noteworthy developments in a moment.  However, if you want to keep up on what is happening the Layman Online has been following this closely and is compiling a table showing the status of these resolutions in the different presbyteries (Current table embedded in today’s article).  According to the Layman’s count as of today the topic has been raised in 36 presbyteries with 16 “affirming constitutional standards,” three disapproving, one disapproving but to vote again, and the rest still in process.

In new developments, I wanted to note that the affirmative decisions by five of these presbyteries have been challenged as remedial cases in Synod PJC’s.  Specifically the actions of Sacramento Presbytery (mentioned in the summary of their December 5th presbytery meeting) and Presbytery of San Joaquin have been appealed to the PJC of the Synod of the Pacific.  The actions of the Presbytery of the Mid-South have been appealed to the Synod of Living Waters.  And a case has been filed with the Synod of the Trinity over Pittsburgh Presbytery’s actions and with the Synod of Alaska-Northwest over Presbytery of Olympia’s action (mentioned in the Full Court Presbyterian blog).  In the case of Pittsburgh Presbytery the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mentions in their article on the refiling of charges in the Edwards case that the Synod PJC has issued an injunction stopping enforcement of the policy.

On the opposite end of the activity, we have a refreshing second or third-hand report of planned non-action.  In the article from the PC(USA) news service about the confirmation of the Rev. Tom Taylor as Deputy Executive Director of GAC for Mission there is the following paragraph:

(GAC Executive Committee Members) Asked… about the efforts of some presbyteries to adopt
their own “essential tenets,” including in San Gabriel’s neighboring
San Diego Presbytery, Taylor said such a list has not come to floor of
San Gabriel. “One pastor was trying to push it, but a group of us
evangelicals don’t agree and told him so it’s dead in the water.”

So at least for the moment there appears to be one presbytery, San Gabriel, where essential tenets will not be brought up for debate and a vote.

Trivial Nit-Picky Errors in the Press Today

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As any GA Junkie knows, the popular press just does not understand how Presbyterians work.  We have all seen that when a General Assembly decides on a Book of (Church) Order change, the press thinks it is done but we know that it still must go back to the presbyteries for approval.  Well, here are two items just today in the on-line news sources that have subtle errors in them that might rub other GA Junkies the wrong way.

1) The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick preached in Havana and the International Herald Tribune reported:

U.S. Presbyterian official helps Cubans mark 100th anniversary of first Protestant temple
HAVANA: The executive officer of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
helped Cubans celebrate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the
capital’s first Protestant temple on Sunday, giving a sermon in which
he urged all Christians to do more to eliminate global inequality.

Well, to an international audience this might be the best description but at least within the PC(USA) there is also an Executive Director of the General Assembly Council who could also lay claim to the “executive officer” title. Technically we would think of Rev. Kirkpatrick as the top ecclesiastical officer.  One could also ask if he was there representing the PC(USA) or the World Alliance of Reformed Churches of which he is currently serving as president.

2) This next one gets to the heart of reformed theology, not just a subtle argument about titles.  The ABC news web site has a story about Michael Adee, the National Field Organizer for More Light Presbyterians.  In the article ABC says:

Adee would like to take the next step and become a pastor who performs
sacraments such as baptism and marriage, but that’s unlikely unless the
church changes its policy.

I bet you saw that one too:  In reformed theology we have two sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper.  Marriage is not a sacrament.

Thanks for playing along.  Now back to the Politics of Presbyterianism.

Pittsburgh Presbytery same-sex marriage case trying to be re-filed

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Upset with the PJC case against the Rev. Janet Edwards being dismissed on a technicality, there are press reports that a group is trying to get the charges refiled.  Just to review, Rev. Edwards was initially charged with conducting a marriage ceremony for two women on June 25, 2005, and went to trial with the Pittsburgh Presbytery PJC on November 15.  After deliberation the PJC unanimously decided to dismiss the case because the investigating committee filed the charges four days after their deadline.

Now it is reported (such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) that the Rev. James Yearsley, who filed the original charges, is collecting signatures to file the charges again.  He says that this is not double jeopardy since there was no decision in the first case.  While the Rev. Yearsley was formerly a member of Pittsburgh Presbytery he is now pastor of Village Presbyterian Church, Tampa, Florida, in the Presbytery of Tampa Bay.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article says:

Mr. Yearsley said he had considered filing a complaint against
Pittsburgh Presbytery for mishandling the case but concluded he did not
have evidence of deliberate misbehavior. “Suspicions are not a
sufficient reason to paint with such a large brush,” he said.

They are presbyterian?

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In a conversation this morning I was talking with my church’s men’s group about the three styles of church government: presbyterian, congregational, episcopal.  A retired minister in the group told us that the Assemblies of God, while clearly not Reformed or Calvinistic in theology and doctrine, are presbyterian in church order.  It turns out that they have presbyteries which are composed of both clergy and lay members.  Their candidates for ministry are monitored and certified by the regional bodies.  And there is accountability of lower governing bodies to higher ones.

Their web page on church structure has a basic outline of how they order themselves, and not surprisingly the word “presbyterian” is not to be found.  I don’t blame them since only a GA Junkie would be aware of the specific usage of the word for church governance as opposed to a reformed theology or a denomination.  (However, the Wikipedia entry for Assemblies of God does refer to them as “mostly presbyterian” in their church order.)  On their church structure I was struck by the fact that their opening statement is that Jesus Christ is the head of the church, just as the current PC(USA) Book of Order begins.  (I say current because the current draft of the rewrite would move that a section or two later.)

Well, I don’t plan on following the politics and polity of the Assemblies of God, but I thought that it was interesting that a non-reformed branch had a presbyterian government structure.

Moderator Designate for Free Church of Scotland 2007 General Assembly

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The Free Church of Scotland has announced its Moderator Designate for its 2007 General Assembly.  The committee has selected the Rev. Dr. John S. Ross currently serving at Greyfriars Free Church, Inverness.  He served four years as a missionary in Nigeria beginning in 1972 and has since served in a variety of churches and in a variety of ways for the denomination.  He holds a Ph.D. in Jewish Evangelism.

The Free Church of Scotland has issued a press release and there is a more detailed article from the Inverness Courier.

He stirred up controversy last Sunday in his sermon when he “accused the Government of forcing sexual orientation regulations through Parliament with ‘reckless speed'”.  He also said that the Government was not showing respect for freedom of conscience and the religious beliefs of Christians.  Gay rights leaders have accused Rev. Ross of inaccuracies in his statements and wanting to deny individuals of basic civil rights.   The article in the Inverness Courier has been picked up by many other news outlets.

New developments in Mission Presbytery over controversial church membership

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In a follow-up to a situation in Mission Presbytery that I commented on back in September, Toby Brown, in his excellent blog “A Classical Presbyterian,” updates the situation where a declared atheist was admitted to membership in St. Andrews Church in Austin.  The membership was challenged and Mission Presbytery voted to instruct St. Andrews about the standards for membership and to invalidate the specific membership.  St. Andrews appealed to the Synod of the Sun PJC.

Rev. Brown, in his recent update, details new developments.  The pivotal event is the decision by the PJC to deny the complaint and not issue an injunction.  This clears the way for the presbytery, through the Committee on Ministry, to dialog and instruct the St. Andrews’ session on these matters.  Check out Toby’s blog for all the details.

I would also add that the pastor at St. Andrews holds a non-traditional (he might say a non-western) view of the Greek word “kurios” and that it would not be properly translated as “Lord” as we would in saying “Jesus is Lord.”  If this is of interest to you check the discussion in the comments below Toby’s blog post.