Today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is reporting on their web site that at yesterday’s regular meeting of the Pittsburgh Presbytery the presbytery approved by 148-105 a motion declaring the ordination standards in the PC(USA) Book of Order the standards for their presbytery. The story reports that two protests were filed after the vote.
Riverside Presbyterian Church of Linn Grove, Iowa, voted to leave the PC(USA) over the summer, the Session voting on June 28 and the congregation on July 30. At a called presbytery meeting on August 14 an administrative commission was formed to handle the situation and the report of that administrative commission to the September 9 presbytery meeting is now posted on the presbytery web site.
Reading through the report it presents one side of the story. The report says that the AC was aiming to be pastoral and possibly conciliatory but they say that they were stopped from carrying out their task by the church’s lawyer and the leaders of the church prohibiting them from leading worship services and holding meetings. So, they have gotten their own lawyer, sent stronger letters, and are ready to bring in the Office of the General Assembly.
This is one side of the story. It would be interesting to hear the church’s side and I will keep looking for it.
News articles in the New Zealand press are beginning to talk about civil rights based legal challenges to the new leadership standards in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand confirmed by last month’s General Assembly. In summary, the New Zealand Human Rights Commission has been advised that religious groups are exempt from at least some civil rights laws. A retired Presbyterian minister is advocating for reclassification of ministers as employees so they would fall under the civil rights laws but the denomination points out that ministers are not under contract and elders receive no pay. Finally, the Human Rights Commission does say the religious exemption could be tested by a legal case if one is brought now that the GA has confirmed the rule.
One article about this from stuff.co.nz.
A news article in yesterday’s Scotsman.com entitled “Don’t worry, be
happy — and healthy” talks about the depressed mood in Scotland and the
“Scottish Cringe.” It focuses on Dr. Harry Burns, Scotland’s
chief medical officer, and the new campaign for happiness.
Scotsman.com writes:
Last year, the [Scottish] Executive pledged £150,000 over three years to a new
Centre for Confidence and Well Being in Glasgow. The centre, run by the
“happiness tsar”, Carol Craig, is designed to encourage more positive
attitudes, individuality and innovation, as well as recognition of
success in Scotland.
And what is the cause of the negative attitudes in Scotland? None
other than John Knox, the founder of the Church of Scotland, according to Dr. Burns. As
Scotsman.com puts it in the leading paragraph:
SCOTLAND should throw off the burden of “doom and gloom” imposed by
Reformation preacher John Knox and pursue happiness for the sake of its
health, according to the country’s chief medical officer.
and again later in the article:
He added that the founder of the Church of Scotland was partly to blame for a certain negativity in Scots culture.
“I think John Knox has a heavy burden to bear … ‘Oh doom and gloom’.”
I will grant two things: That a positive attitude does improve
your health and add years to your life expectancy. And that while the
Scots Confession, that John Knox helped write, does not say much about activities on the Sabbath, the Westminster documents do, including Q61 on the Shorter Catechism:
Q. 61. What is forbidden in the fourth commandment?
A. The fourth commandment forbiddeth the omission or careless
performance of the duties required, and the profaning the day by
idleness, or doing that which is in itself sinful, or by unnecessary
thoughts, words or works, about our worldly employments or recreations.
Yes, this is the same document that begins with the well known question “Q:What is the chief end of Man. A: To glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
Now I know that we are sometimes called the “frozen chosen” and we emphasize doing things “decently and in order,” but we also recognize a tension between “ardor and order” and being Presbyterian does not automatically equate to a negative mood!
But you don’t have to take my word for it. If you check out the bottom of the article the Scotsman.com invites comments from their readers and the comments are being added quickly. Those comments (posted so far) that mention Knox defend him, including one that points out he was trained and was influential in what is now the happiest country in the survey, Switzerland. Many of the commenters point to centuries of British rule as the cause of the bad mood, not the Presbyterian state religion. And a few even point out that the decrease in happiness parallels a decrease in the attenders of the Church of Scotland.
So, Dr. Burns may blame “Johnny Knox,” but it doesn’t seem that anyone else wants to.
Edinburgh Presbytery has become the first presbytery to vote on the act sent down from the 2006 Church of Scotland General Assembly allowing ministers to bless same-sex civil unions without fear of prosecution by the church. By a vote of 126 to 76 the presbytery voted to support the Assembly decision. Commentators in the news stories on both sides of the issue agree that this presbytery was expected to vote in this way. Opponents of the act are depending on the negative votes of other presbyteries to defeat it. It is expected that all the presbyteries will finish voting by January 2007.
The story is covered by Scotsman.com and Christian Today.
Here is the text of the pastoral letter the Moderator of the PCANZ
sent out following the GA decision to confirm the rule for sexuality
and leadership.
General Assembly 2006
51 Roy St
Palmerston North 441029 September 2006
Dear Friends
Greetings in Christ to you all, from the General Assembly.
I am writing a letter to the whole church to let you know the results of the vote taken at the
Assembly this morning on the issue of Sexuality and Leadership. The Notice of Motion read:that the Assembly now adopt the following rule: The General Assembly now rules, in accordance
with the Supreme and Subordinate standards of the Church and with the previous Assembly decisions,
that this church may not accept for training, license, ordain or induct anyone involved in a sexual
relationship outside of faithful marriage between a man and a woman. In relation to homosexuality,
in the interests of natural justice, this ruling shall not prejudice anyone who, as at the date of
this meeting has been accepted for training, licensed, ordained or inducted. (Note “the date of
this meeting” is September 2004).After vigorous and respectful debate, the motion was carried by 230 votes to 124 (65 percent in favour).
This means the status quo of the past two years continues.This issue has been a significant one for us as a Church for many, many years and we can be
satisfied that this decision was reached after thorough and prayerful discussion. We recognise
that for some in the church it will be a source of much pain and distress. I invite you all to hold
those most affected by the decision in loving prayer. We belong together even as we know we do not
always agree.Meanwhile, we in Auckland are continuing on with the Assembly, knowing that what holds us together
is greater than that which divides us. We are anticipating some excellent keynote addresses on the
theme “Christ-centred, community-facing”. We hope commissioners will return to their parishes inspired
to engage with their communities in mission.In the meantime, may the peace of Christ be with you all,
Yours in love
Pamela Tankersley
The first news reports are coming out about churches defying, ignoring, or “disassociating” from yesterdays decision confirming conservative standards for leadership and sexuality in the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. Here is one article from www.stuff.co.nz focusing on St. Andrew’s on the Terrace in Wellington.
This was probably the most anticipated and most reported on day of the 2006 General Assembly. The high-profile item, no surprise to any GA Junkie, was the “Rule on Sexuality and Leadership.” The rule was adopted by the 2004 GA but was subject to the Barrier Act requiring a presbytery vote and the confirming vote of the GA in 2006. The debate was described as “vigorous and respectful” and by a vote of 230 yes versus 124 no the Assembly confirmed the rule that states:
that the church may not accept for training, license, ordain or
induct anyone involved in a sexual relationship outside of faithful
marriage between a man and a woman
The PCANZ has their own press release on the action as well as a pastoral letter by the moderator the Right Rev. Pamela Tankersley which I got by e-mail but don’t see on the web site yet. Link or text of it later.
In addition, the decision was widely covered in the press, including international coverage. A selection from the articles including the New Zealand Herald, GayNZ.com, and the International Herald Tribune.
In other work, the Assembly adopted ad interim a new Book of Order. The Assembly summary describes the new version as:
The decision by Assembly is the culmination of a lengthy process of
re-casting the whole approach to the Book of Order, involving
re-writing in clear and accessible language, making room for a variety
of expressions of being Presbyterian, having a mission orientation and
regulating only where necessary.
The decision is also subject to the Barrier Act so the new Book will go to the presbyteries for approval and the 2008 GA for concurrence.
Lower profile business included a new Assembly Executive Secretary, Martin Baker. The abolishment of the compulsory retirement age of 66. (This action removes the references in the Book of Order but until the church trustees finish analysis of the effect on the Beneficiary Fund there will be no changes there.) And the Council of Assembly was trimmed in size from 23 to 14 members with four other “associated individuals,” that is ex officio members. The motion passed unanimously and the general feeling was that as the rest of the church administration is trimmed the council should be reduced in size as well.
The full summary of the day in on the PCANZ GA06 web site.
The 2006 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand began in Auckland today with a traditional Maori service and ceremony. As part of the ceremony the new moderator, the Right Reverend Pamela Tankersley was formally installed. In the installation the outgoing moderator, The Very Rev Garry Marquand, passed her the Moderator’s korowai tapu (ceremonial cloak).
Business began with a report by the “Focus on the Future” task group that is looking at the structure of the PCANZ in the future. The reduction of national staff over the last few years from 23 to 10 has left the remaining staff stretched and further reductions would be counter-productive. Recommendations for the Council of Assembly to focus on core matters and for national/presbytery relations to “address” the effectiveness of presbyteries was passed with discussion.
The business of the day closed with two overtures from Auckland Presbytery about financial matters. The first overture would have capped the Assembly assessment at 5% of parish income and outlined possible reductions and reorganization at the national level. The summary says this was defeated by a wide margin. The second overture would have limited the Assembly assessment, including mission and Beneficiary, to no more than 10% of parish regular income. After considerable debate the motion received 54% affirmative votes but needed a super-majority of 60% to pass. A follow-up motion referred the 10% cap to Assembly Council for their consideration and guidance.
Interestingly, there was a third overture that would affect the structure of the church moving it to a Federal model that was listed in the docket but no mention of it is included in the summary. I would surmise that the Assembly ran out of time and the overture was moved to the overflow time at the end of the Assembly. We will see where it surfaces.
You can read the full Thursday Summary.
This week two important tricentennials of American Presbyterianism are being celebrated.
One of these is the celebration of the Rev. Francis Makemie founding his first church in Rehobeth, Maryland in 1706. Makemie, Irish born and Scottish trained, was brought over to the colonies to establish churches and is frequently called “The Father of American Presbyterianism.” He established three churches in the area. The history of the church and more on Makemie is in an article from The Daily Times on delmarvanow.com.
This does open up the question of what does it take to be “Presbyterian.” If Makemie was the Father of American Presbyterianism than whatever churches he founded must be the first presbyterian churches, at least that is what the Daily Times article implies. But Puritan pastors were founding “Presbyterian” churches on Long Island, NY, as early as the 1640’s. Notably, the Rev. Francis Doughty, who arrived in New York, then New Amsterdam, in 1642 is credited with being the first presbyterian minister in the colonies.
So what does it take to be a Presbyterian, well a presbytery of course. If we consider ourselves a connectional church the structure for the connection must be there. And this week we also celebrate the first meeting of the first presbytery in the colonies. In 1706 the Rev. Makemie brought together six other presbyterian pastors from the colonies at a meeting in Philadelphia and founded the first presbytery. Ten years later the group had grown large enough to hold a Synod meeting comprised of four presbyteries. And yes, Francis Makemie was elected the first moderator of the Presbytery of Philadelphia.
The PC(USA) will be celebrating the event in Philadelphia this Sunday Oct. 1 and more information is available in their press release. The PC(USA) through the Presbyterian Historical Society (headquartered in Philadelphia) has information on their web site about American Presbyterian History. However, the single best resource I know of is a great series of articles by D. G. Hart and John R. Muether titled “Turning Points in American Presbyterian History” published by the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in their New Horizons Magazine. The second in the series covers the early history in America.