With all due respects to my friends in Ireland, for me, today was about the Presbyterian Church in Canada General Assembly.

As I mentioned in my preview piece, one of the big items on the agenda today was for the GA to discern a path forward in the on-going discussion regarding same-sex marriage and partnered LGBTQI individuals’ involvement in the denomination.

So spoiler alert: Through the process today the GA chose a pathway towards an inclusive stand for the church. Caveats: It was acknowledged that it was not “full inclusion” as there are still unanswered details – like expecting active LGBTQI individuals to be in relationship within marriage; It is not a done-deal as aspects of this need to be approved by presbyteries under the Barrier Act; and details of churches wanting to leave the denomination with resources and property are to be addressed later.

To briefly review, a blue-ribbon panel of 14 former moderators made up a Special Committee that returned with a process and four pathways forward to be considered in the process. The process was to have the Assembly descend into a committee of the whole to first ask questions, then have large-group time when people could speak to their preferred pathway, and sometimes a second choice they could live with. This was followed by small group discussion and finally preferential (ranked) voting on the four pathways. The four pathways are quickly described as Current Practice, Inclusive, One Denomination – Three Streams, and Pastoral Accommodation.

As the business began there were a series of parliamentary/polity motions, most of which were defeated or ruled out of order. The first was to count the Young Adult Representatives’ (YARs) votes with the commissioners. That was ruled out of order because they are not commissioned by their presbyteries and don’t have the standing to speak for them. It was granted to the YARs to have their voting preference recorded. Another motion was to have the live stream turned off. I was ready for this as this does sometimes happen with sensitive topics. It turns out the stated objective was not privacy but to keep commissioners from being coached by observers from afar. While defeated the request was made for those in the room to turn off their phones and put needed devices on airplane mode. While a bit heated at times, and at some points confused by the parliamentary differences between committee of the whole and assembly, the GA did not descend very far into the first “polity circle of Hell.”

From there on out the discussion was similar to what long-term observers of these discussions have heard before. One of the big differences was hearing speakers say “I favour A but could live with C” or “I really want B, but will speak in favour of D because I think it has a better chance of passing.” The debate was civil and I was impressed with the high number of commissioners that stuck to the rule and spoke only positively about their preference(s). But, the full-group time did drag out and had to be continued after lunch, with the length of speeches cut to 90 seconds.

At the end of the committee of the whole time both YARs and commissioners voted for Pathway B and rising from the committee of the whole back to the full Assembly there were immediately a number of amendments including change B to C (three streams) which was defeated, and adding language about departing churches – which was ruled out of order as that will be considered in a later report.

As for the vote, it was not originally going to be announced but pressed by the Assembly I thought I heard that 121 votes were for Pathway B and 91 dissents were filed after the vote. Will update when the minutes are posted.

One of the interesting points in the discussion related to churches leaving is that many commissioners were using the phrase used in the PC(USA) – “gracious dismissal.” In one of those “you keep using that word…” moments, in the PC(USA) the dismissals are being viewed as less gracious where the denomination – be it the presbytery or the national church – has obtained a legal judgement. Here, I sensed that the speakers were looking for a fairly cost-free dismissal. Stay tuned for more on this later in the week.

So what the PCC has is a pathway forward. The Special Committee was clear that they were providing frameworks to chose from and not planned out scripts for moving forward. The details will be in the hands of an Implementation Committee, a committee which will not include one of the former moderators. (This would be much like the PC(USA)’s Way Forward Commission passed the work off to the Moving Forward Implementation Commission.) The members of the Committee on Pathway Implications were elected in the evening sederunt with the need for a re-do in the sederunt with concerns about the diversity of the members of the committee.

And one of the interesting points about the Inclusive Pathway was discussed and acknowledged in the Assembly – while there will be liberty of conscience for teaching elders already ordained, and any ruling elder, teaching elders ordained in the future will not have that liberty and would be “expected to affirm same-sex marriage and to participate in the ordinations and inductions of LGBTQI clergy who are in same-sex marriages.” This seemed to leave at least one student in the room thinking “I better finish up, find a call, and get ordained soon.”

The full report with English, French, and Korean versions is available. I have extracted the one page with the Pathway B: Inclusion info if you want the bare minimum. And there is the official update on this business from the PCC.

So that is what happened today at the Presbyterian Church in Canada GA. And yes, that was about all the business that was handled today – a bit of other business was squeezed into the evening session. There is much to be worked out so we will see what happens in the days, weeks and months ahead with all the details that need to be worked out and approvals that need to happen. Stay tuned…

And if you want a commissioner’s perspective on today’s process check out Scott McAndless’ piece on his blog.

I hope you are ready because it is now the month of June and the General Assembly Season is about to get VERY busy. First up, this evening the 145th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada opened with worship and they have installed their new Moderator.

The first sederunt this evening, including opening worship, was held in the sanctuary of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, of Kitchener, Ontario. The meeting will continue through Thursday 6 June 2019 and the remaining business sessions will be held at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario

A few things to know to help follow along:

• There will live streaming of the Assembly meetings and they are typically archived afterwards
• From the GA 2019 page you can download the full and final Book of Reports. The daily schedule is found on page 4 of the packet and a more detailed docket begins on page 6. The Supplementary Reports is available from the GA 2019 page as well. The Book of Reports contains both a synopsis of each report, frequently one page in length, as well as the full report from each body reporting. The synopsis of reports begins on page 32.
• Official news updates are available on the news feed. We can probably expect follow-up after the meeting in the new PC Connect e-newsletter.
• I anticipate there will be daily GA Briefings and probably video recordings of the sederunts posted regularly. The Briefings, a summary of each sederunt, will probably be available on the GA 2019 page and the videos archived on the Live Stream Page.
• The General Assembly Resources page is where you will find the important doctrine and governance documents including the Book of Forms and a link to the Acts and Proceedings page.

The theme for the meeting is “Receive the Holy Spirit”.

The Assembly can be followed on social media through the PCConnect Facebook page and through their official Twitter feed @PCConnect. The hastag for the meeting is #pccga2019. And we can expect pictures on the PC Connect Flickr feed.

As we go into this GA, let me first point to one of my Twitter stalwarts, Jeff Loach (@passionatelyhis) although I have not seen a GA tweet from him yet. I have seen GA activity from another GA go-to commentator, Scott McAndless (@A_Nobel_Theme) who once again will be blogging about the GA. And one more who has had a few GA-related tweets is Matthew Brough (@mbrough). UPDATE: Pleased to see that another GA veteran is tweeting, that being John Borthwick (@jborthwik).

Over the last few years, the continuing discussion has been on human sexuality and what path the church is going to take. At last year’s Assembly they decided they were at an impasse and decided to form a Special Committee of Past Moderators – fourteen in total – to help them through it. (And I would note that one of the Moderators’ first recommendations is “we are concerned that this not become a practice of the church.”) This Special Committee will be the first report on Tuesday morning and their proposal can be found in the final edition of the Book of Reports starting on page 472. Procedurally, they are proposing that the Assembly descend to a Committee of the Whole to discuss, both as a large group and at tables of smaller groups, four possible paths forward.

The first pathway is the Current Practice option. This would hold things are they are: marriage is between one man and one woman, homosexual orientation would not be considered a sin but the church would not conduct same-sex marriages and only celibate LGBTQI individuals would be eligible for ordination as teaching and ruling elders.

The Inclusion Pathway would open the church to conducting same-sex marriages and those in same-sex marriages would be eligible for ordination as teaching and ruling elders. Significantly, while this option would have the liberty of conscience for sessions, individual ruling elders and congregations, there would be none for new teaching elders going forward and those ordained in the future ” would be expected to affirm same-sex marriage and to participate in the ordinations and inductions of LGBTQI clergy who are in same-sex marriages.”

The third Pathway is One Denomination – Three Streams. If adopted, this would set up a Traditional, an Accommodating, and an Affirming stream in the church. Sessions would recommend to their congregations and congregations would approve their membership in a particular stream. Congregations and teaching elders would be free to change their stream at any time. All presbyteries would be dissolved and new presbyteries within each stream would be created. Because of this structural change, the plan would require that it be sent down to the presbyteries under the Barrier Act for their concurrence before the plan could be implemented. (And to be clear, the second and fourth pathways also have elements that would require the presbyteries to approve under the Barrier Act.)

Finally, the fourth Pathway is Pastoral Accommodation. Under this option, the doctrine of the church would remain as it is now, as discussed above in the first pathway. However, there would be a suspension of discipline so that congregations that felt called to could host same-sex marriages and could ordain, call and install married LGBTQI individuals in their congregations without concern for being disciplined.

Will this break the impasse? Tune in on Tuesday morning for the start of this discussion which will have additional reports and discussions on Wednesday. In addition, the Special Committee Re Listening (LGBTQI People) has a recommendation that “any form of conversion or reparative therapy is not a helpful or appropriate pastoral response.” Also, as a response to this whole process, the Assembly Council is asking that a group be formed to bring a report to the next GA regarding churches that which to leave the denomination.

There are a number of other topics up for discussion and a few jumped out at me. The International Affairs Committee has a recommendation “That the Moderator write to the Presbyterian Church in Taiwan expressing prayerful support for its country and its people that they will continue to live and serve one another in a peaceful democracy.” The Clerks of Assembly have a recommendation that options for flexibility in ruling elder terms on sessions be sent down to the presbyteries under the Barrier Act. And the Committee on Church doctrine is recommending that the report on recreational marijuana be brought to next year’s GA.

So prayers and best wishes for the members of the 145th General Assembly and as they address issues so difficult, but so important to the future witness of the church. May you indeed be guided by the Holy Spirit in these substantive matters of witness and ministry.