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8th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana

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At this time there is less coverage of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana than the General Synod of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.  It is currently meeting so maybe there will be more news later in the week when it concludes.

One article from Ghana Web focuses on the comments of the Moderator, the Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong-Manso in his Moderatorial sermon yesterday.  He encouraged the PCG churches “to pray for peaceful, transparent, free and fair elections.”  He also commented on the political process saying “As we work towards
Election 2008, let us pray for presidential and parliamentary
candidates who seek office because they see themselves as a call to
serve God and his people and not themselves first.”

I have noted previously that the Rev. Frimpong-Manso is forthright and outspoken when commenting on the moral state of society.  According to this article he also addressed that in his sermon:

Rt. Rev.
Frimpong-Manso said Satan had re-packaged immorality, bribery and
corruption, ethnicity, alcoholism, among others, “so that they are now
called weaknesses worth tolerating”. He appealed to Christians to be
watchful and lead upright lives and said “today we encounter forces of
division and rancour, sexual promiscuity, murder and crimes as well as
forces of family breakdown and breakdown in cherished values of
society”.


The Assembly also heard the call for churches to work for peaceful elections in a statement from Ghana’s President Kufuor that was read to the Commissioners, according to another story from Ghana Web.

In addition, Rev. Frimpong-Manso reported on the project to construct a new conference center and he reported on the church’s television ministry.  For both projects he appealed for the church’s continued financial support of these ministries.

As the week goes on we will see if additional news stories give us more information about the Assembly.

The 67th, and last, General Synod of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana

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As the “General Assembly Season” winds down we come to the meetings of the two Presbyterian Churches in Ghana.  First, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.

The title of my post does not imply that the church is going away, rather that one of the actions of the EPCG was to reorganize their highest governing body to be the General Assembly instead of the General Synod.  In an interesting move, the EPCG is also “upgrading” their presbyteries to synods, apparently leaving the church without presbyteries at this time.  It is not clear if the church structure is intended to stay this way or if this paves the way for the creation of new presbyteries within the synods.  It was announced that this change is being made to bring the EPCG in line with “international practice.”

The theme of the General Synod, which concluded today, was “Called to Serve” and it was attended by 133 delegates.  The new moderator of the EPCG is the Rev. Francis Amenu who succeeds the Rev. Dr. Livingstone Buama who has reached the eight year limit on his service in that position.  In addition the Rev. Godwin K. Osiakwa was elected the new clerk.  The Rev. Amenu is a second-career minister, having been originally trained as a mining engineer.  Both Rev. Amenu and Rev. Osiakwa received their theological training abroad, Rev. Amenu in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the US and Rev. Osiakwa in Cambridge in the UK.

In line with the theme of the Synod, the Rev. Buama, in his sermon marking his conclusion as Moderator, said:

“Called to serve” was meant to be a wake-up call that can remind us and
challenge us to change our posture and disposition towards our vocation
and calling.

My key submission is that, if things are not
changing as they should, it is because we are not serving as we
should.

The kind of service that move things forward or effect a
change for the better in the church, the nation and the world at large
is not lip-service, but visible, tangible purposeful and sustained
service.

We are to excel in serving and not in power struggle and self-aggrandisements.

The Synod also heard from Mr. Kofi Dzamesi, the Volta Regional Minister, who urged the church, with its influence on the people of Ghana, to encourage and work for a peaceful election in December.  He urged the church’s nutrality in the elections to enhance its position as a steadying influence.  He also promised to work with the District Assemblies to help with financial support for the Evangelical Presbyterian Church University College.

For more coverage of this General Synod there are articles on Joy Online and Ghana News.

Closely Watched Judicial Cases Affecting the PC(USA) Scheduled For October

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We got news this week that two closely watched judicial cases with implications for the Presbyterian Church (USA) will be heard by their appropriate judicial bodies this coming October.

The first of these will be the trial of the Rev. Janet Edwards by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the Presbytery of Pittsburgh on October 1.

This hit the news last week with a news release by the Presbyterian News Service about the case.  I am at a bit of a loss to explain the release of this news item at this time unless a) it was a slow news day or b) the trial date was announced.  I’ve been looking for documents related to the trial on line and not finding any so all I can say is that I suspect, but can not confirm, option b.

A quick recap of this case:  The Rev. Janet Edwards preformed a same-sex ceremony for a lesbian couple back in June, 2005, and everyone involved with the ceremony is describing it as a “wedding.”  A complaint was made, an investigating committee formed, and the investigating committee filed charges.  One little problem… The charges were filed four days past the deadline that investigating committee had to meet so the Presbytery PJC dismissed the charges.  A new complaint was made, a new investigating commission went to work and filed five charges, in a timely manner, and back in June the PJC reviewed the charges and dismissed three of the five.  Among the new charges was the accusation that parts of the ceremony were not Christian, but contained Buddhist elements related to the beliefs of one of the partners.  That was part of what was dismissed on the theory that if a ceremony is prohibited in the first place you can’t specify how it should be done properly and what is improper.  (If that theory sounds familiar hold the thought, I’ll get back to it in a minute.) (Story on the dismissal from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)

A few notes and comments on the story so far:  In researching this I have seen several references (like this article) to the original dismissal as being for “statute of limitations.”  While I am not a lawyer I understand the statute of limitations to relate to the offending action not to the judicial process itself.  Since the investigating committee missed a deadline this would be an administrative problem.  And since the charges were brought up again clearly it is still within the time limit on the alleged infraction.  Related to the charges being brought up again, this new hearing has also been referred to as “double-jeopardy.”  Again, the first case did not actually go to a “guilty/not guilty” decision, therefore it is not double jeopardy in my understanding of the process.

It is interesting to consider the outcome of this case.  It would have been within the realm of possibility, based on the current legal precedent, that all the charges against the Rev. Edwards were dismissed back in June since that hearing was after the Spahr v. Redwoods Decision in April.  That decision said “By the definition in W-4.9001, a same sex ceremony can never be a marriage.”  It went on to conclude that since it can’t be a marriage the minister can not be guilty of preforming a same-sex marriage.  All the Presbytery PJC had to do was cite this precedent and “game over.”  But this result would have been about as unsatisfying as the GAPJC decision.  And the dismissal of three of the charges does have that similar ring of legal reasoning.  (I am not a church lawyer so if I missed a critical point in our polity here related to the hearing or dismissing the case please let me know.)

So it appears that the PJC sees a point in hearing this case.  It could be that Edwards will be acquitted based on the Spahr decision.  It could be that she will be acquitted or found guilty on the merits, rather than the definitions, of this case alone.  If it is decided on its own merits I would expect this to make its way up the judicial ladder and it could be the case for a more satisfying decision by the GAPJC.  The GAPJC has eight new members elected at the last GA so the balance or dynamics of the body may change.  We will have to see.

In the latest Presbyterian News Service article Rev. Edwards is quoted as saying “I’m sure that we will press the parts of the Spahr decision that
supports my presiding at the wedding and calling Brenda and Nancy’s
relationship a marriage. We see a lot of positive
things in the Spahr decision.”  I would say to be careful what you ask for because by the Spahr decision says that by definition the relationship can not be a marriage.  The Rev. Edwards has a web site with information about the case called “A Time To Embrace” on which she has posted a statement in her defense.  The brief makes specific reference to W-4.9001.  After the GAPJC made clear in the Spahr decision that this is the definition of marriage and anything that deviates from this is not a marriage, Rev. Edwards now argues (p. 31) “[W-4.9001] is definitional in nature only, and contains none of the language that the Book of Order instructs must be present to set forth a mandate or a prohibition.”  The brief goes on to argue that there is no prohibition on same-gender marriage ceremonies, seeming to ignore that the fact that one of the decisions they cite says there are no such thing as same-gender marriage ceremonies based upon the Book of Order passage Edwards’ cites.  While Edwards’ brief does briefly mention the definition in the Spahr, it puts much more emphasis that an acquittal is in order because the charges are vague and not defensible.

There is one additional point in the brief that I find interesting.  It makes note of the action by the 218th General Assembly to vacate previous Authoritative Interpretations regarding the ordination of self-acknowledged practicing homosexuals, and it discusses the GAPJC’s divided interpretation of W-4.9001 as to its applicibility as a prohibition against future same-gender marriage ceremonies.  The brief does not mention that the 218th General Assembly, by a wide margin (I got it right that time), voted not to propose changes to W-4.9001.

Well, that was more of a point-by-point analysis than I had planned.  OK, on to the second case…

Regarding the second judicial case, I was notified two days ago that trial is now set to begin on the “Episcopal Church Cases” before the California Supreme Court on October 8.  Don’t let the “Episcopal” distract you; there are amicus curiae briefs for this case filed by Clifton Kirkpatrick and the national office, the Synod of Southern California and Hawaii, and the Presbyterian Lay Committee.

This case is a test case on church property in California and comes from three linked cases out of Los Angeles and Orange Counties where three Episcopal Churches tried to realign with other Anglican communions outside the US and the Dioceses went to court to keep the property.  The case is highlighted by the fact that in this particular case the Appellate Court decision used the “highest government” legal theory, which favored the hierarchical church and ruled against the particular churches in their bid to hold onto property, while other Appellate Court decisions have used the “neutral-principles analysis” which would favor the particular congregation.  With both on the books the Supreme Court took the case and will decide on the proper legal theory for our state.

I probably don’t need to remind any regular readers that there is a lot riding on this state Supreme Court decision.  Along the length of the State of California there are Presbyterian, as well as Episcopal, churches trying to get out with their property and there are rumblings of more waiting in the wings for this decision.  I don’t know how the decision in this case could influence other places in the country, but it could have a major influence on the denominational map in California.  Then again, we could go with the “Graceful Seperation” that General Assembly endorsed.  Again, time will tell.

72nd General Synod (2008) of the Bible Presbyterian Church

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The 72nd General Synod of the Bible Presbyterian Church was held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from July 31 to August 5.  This is the highest governing body of the BPC which is the smallest of the Presbyterian Branches that I try to follow.  It has only five presbyteries and lists 25 churches on it’s church directory web page.  The theme of the General Synod was “Beholding God, Pursuing Godliness, Proclaiming Christ.”

I have seen no official news about the General Synod yet, but in response to a specific question posted on PuritanBoard the new Stated Clerk of the Synod, the Rev. John T. Dyck, posted a brief summary and an answer to the question.

Rev. Dyck summarizes the meeting saying “Overall, we had a very good synod. There is a renewed resolve amongst
our men to focus on evangelism and church planting as we seek to
rebuild our federation.”

What seems to be the major item of the meeting, and what prompted the question, was the vote by the South Atlantic Presbytery (SAP) to disassociate from the BPC.  (No future association was specified.)  Now, under BPC polity it is clear that congregations and ministers may freely leave the denomination “no questions asked,” or at least without any resistance.  The action by SAP brings up the polity question of whether the same holds for presbyteries, to which the General Synod made it clear that it does not.  First, “the presbytery is a creation of the synod and subject to its oversight; it does not exist independently.”  Second, “we do not believe that [the members of presbytery] had authority to speak for their individual churches without congregational meetings.”  Finally, some members of presbytery voted against the action and by doing so chose to remain associated with the BPC.

Rev. Dyck also notes that a protest was filed with the denomination’s Judicial Appeals Commission and as an administrative action (as clarified in a second post) the Commission has declared them the continuing presbytery and minister members and sessions of the previous SAP are being asked to clarify their status with the denomination.

I noted in my comments on the Orthodox Presbyterian Church General Assembly that the fraternal representative from the BPC to the OPC GA explicitly mentioned the differences of opinion in the BPC over the continuing correspondence with the OPC.  Rev. Dyck hints at that when he says “The BPC continues to have Corresponding Relations with the OPC. Rev Tom Tyson was their representative to our synod.”  (It is helpful to understand that the BPC broke with the OPC shortly after the OPC broke with the mainline Presbyterians back in the late 1930’s.)

I’ll post a follow-up if there is new and interesting information in either an official report on the General Synod, or actions appear on the BPC’s Resolutions Passed page.

For All Have Sinned And Fall Short Of The Glory Of God

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When the rumors about John Edwards’ sexual impropriety turned into a full-blown news story and then a confession I sort of shrugged and thought “this is not news, it is a reminder.”  First, this has happened before, and second being in a Reformed denomination “sin” is not just something we do, “sinful” is something that we are.  So I pretty much stopped following the story, what with the situation in the country of Georgia and the Olympics seeming a lot more important.  One thing that did catch my attention in many of those news reports was that so many of them contained a litany of other politicians from both sides of the aisle that had their own problems with marital infidelity.

But today I came across an article on Ethics Daily that pointed out an interesting twist on this story:  Back in June of 2007 on a CNN candidates forum about politics and religion Edwards was asked about the “Biggest sin he had ever committed.”  He gave a typical non-committal answer that he sins multiple times every day and that we are all sinners, that we all fall short, and we all need to confess and repent.

What caught my attention was not so much that he said this on the air after his affair had ended, but rather the article pointed out that when he issued his statement this week the affair was not referred to in terms that would sound as much like a “sin” but “a serious error in judgment.”  While this wording avoids the cosmic implications, I will give him credit that at the end of the statement he acknowledges that he lost perspective and uses scripture-like language about being “stripped” and “made low”:

In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was
special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you
want to beat me up — feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have
already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work
with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.

But in thinking about this another thing jumped out at me which has been one of my criticisms of G-6.0106b in the PC(USA) Book of Order:  At the present time we have two ethics situations playing out among prominent national politicians — John Edwards’ sexual impropriety and Ted Stevens’ indictment for financial impropriety.  Which is getting more press?  Is one of these a “bigger sin” than the other.  OK, I’ll admit that there is a confession and the “other woman” in the Edwards case and Stevens’ is denying any wrong-doing.  Still, in the case of Edwards no civil laws were broken while Stevens has criminal charges against him.  In general, it seems to me that a national figure’s sexual sins get bigger play in the media than other types of wrong doing.  If you believe Google News counts, John Edwards has 17,500 while Ted Stevens has 7,000.

As I suggested above, the PC(USA) has done something similar with the Book of Order.  While G-6.0106b talks about “any self-acknowledged practice the confessions call sin” the section singles out “fidelity and chastity.”  I am not so much advocating change in the language as I am for perspective and balance in how we regard different sins.  Even in sexual sins, do we give the same weight and seriousness to heterosexual adultery by officers of the church as we do with homosexual relationships?

For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God. [Romans 3:23]

(And just in case you thought about the irony of John Edwards name, some headline writer at the Hartford Courant did produce “J. Edwards in the hands of an angry God” for one of their columnists although the column seems to have no religious references.  Sometimes a good headline is hard to pass up.)

75th General Assembly (2008) of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church

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The 75th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church was held at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, from Wednesday July 9 to Wednesday July 16, 2008.  There were around 150 OPC commissioners and fraternal delegates.  The OPC web site has a GA Report web page that was updated regularly throughout the week written by the Rev. James J. Cassidy with editing by Stephen Pribble, Linda Foh, and Barry Traver.  My report below is a summary and commentary on that report.

Business began with worship, including the Word preached by the Moderator of the 74th GA, the Rev. Robert Y. Eckardt.  After the roll call of commissioners and seating of fraternal delegates the floor was opened for nominations for Moderator.  The Rev. Alan Strange, Associate Professor of Church History at Mid-America Reformed Seminary was the only nominee and so was elected by acclimation and applause.  Following his installation of the Moderator the commissioners received their Advisory Committee assignments and the Assembly adjourned for the night.  [The Advisory Committees are the commissioner committees of the GA’s of other branches and as a PC(USA) based GA Junkie I have to keep straight their acronym “AC” which to me stands for “Administrative Commission.”]

On Thursday the commissioners worked throughout the day in committees and gathered in plenary in the evening to hear the reports of the Stated Clerk, Trustees, Statistician.  In addition all of these individuals were re-elected to serve again in those capacities for the coming year.  The Statistician reported a growth in the OPC of eight churches and 221 individuals.  Proportionately this is growth of about 3/4 of 1%, but it is growth even with the departure of one large congregation.

The evening session also included the report of the Committee on Coordination that works with three other standing committees for a unified Worldwide Outreach by the OPC.  One of these three committees then reported, the Committee on Christian Education.  One emphasis of the committee has been on recruiting young men for the ministry since at this time almost half of the active OPC ministers are over the age of 50.  It was also reported that a new Psalter-hymnal is in preparation for publication in 2011 and a report on the continued partnership with the PCA in their publishing arm, Great Commission Publications.

On Friday the Assembly heard the report from the Committee on Home Missions and Church Extension, including the information that there are currently 20 church planters working around the country with support from the denomination.  There was also a report on Foreign Missions and the outreach work of the church around the world.

There was a greeting from fraternal delegate the Rev. Kevin Backus from the Bible Presbyterian Church who was straight forward in his report of disagreements in the BPC over the relationship with the OPC.  In the end the BPC has chosen to remain in communication with the OPC despite the loss of some members over that decision.

On Saturday Dr. D. Clair Davis brought a word from the Presbyterian Church in America.  The report describes his comments:

He expressed how happy he was to hear the foreign and home missions
reports—”God has been good to you!” Dr. Davis explained that the PCA
grew by 1.5 percent last year, but 1/3 of the congregations are under
50 members, and 2/3 under 100. In other words, Redeemer Church in
Manhattan is not a typical PCA congregation. “Have we traded in
doctrine and life for church growth? I don’t think so. If we did, we
got cheated.” He went on to say that WCF 15:5 (which reads: “Men ought
not to content themselves with a general repentance, but it is every
man’s duty to endeavor to repent of his particular sins particularly”)
has something to teach us. We need to repent of not just being
separate, but for what we have said and left unsaid. He encouraged us
to get to know each other better, and have lunch with a local PCA
pastor. And lastly, Dr. Davis shared something of what the PCA is doing
to reach Muslims today. More and more Muslims are making their way into
Europe and America, and thus we have an opportunity to reach them: “I
urge you to support us and work with us in the conversion of Islam for
the glory of Jesus Christ.” After his address Dr. Davis received a
standing ovation.

[If you did not get the reference to Redeemer Church in New York City, that is the multi-site “mega-church” whose head of staff is the Rev. Tim Keller.]

On Monday the Assembly considered the two overtures (yes, two compared to the 100+ for the PC(USA) and 19 for the PCA) presbyteries had sent to the GA.  The first considered was a request that the Presbytery of New Jersey expand its boundaries to include Puerto Rico.  The Assembly Committee that considered it recommended approval and the Assembly agreed.  The second overture, from the Presbytery of the Northwest, proposed a change in the process for a congregation to withdraw from the denomination (Form of Government XVI:7:a) that would change the time for the presbytery to respond from three weeks to “as soon as possible.”  The requested change was disapproved.  (I have not found the texts of the overtures but I am curious if the rational wants to allow the presbyteries less or more time to respond, probably more.  It is also interesting that this change is in the spirit of PC(USA) Form of Government revision that proposes to remove specific time frames from the polity.)

Other regular business before the Assembly included the approval of the records review, ratification of new member denominations for both the North Americans Presbyterian and Reformed Council and the Presbyterian and Reformed Joint Committee on Chaplains and Military Personnel, invitation of churches into corresponding relations with the OPC, and hearing reports on Interchurch Relations, Chaplaincy, and from the Historian.  These routine matters also included the rejection of a change to the constitution of the International Conference of Reformed Churches that would have introduced a bit more flexibility in the confessional standards a denomination must hold to be a member.  In another difficult matter, the committee on pensions had to report that while the pension fund was doing all right, the medical fund was not.  The Assembly voted to disband the fund in early 2009 and assist churches in finding alternate medical coverage for ministers.  In this and other reports churches were encouraged to look after their ministers.  On a better note, there were no judicial appeals for the Assembly to hear and deliberate on this year.  (Much as the PJC or SJC would hear and decide a case on appeal from a presbytery or synod.)

The balance of the Assembly’s time was spent deliberating and discussing the Amended Proposed Revised Version of the Directory for the Public Worship of God (APRV).  This has been in the works for a number of years, and in fact the 74th General Assembly began work on the revision last year, knowing that they would not finish the task.  It was with great rejoicing that this year’s GA did finish, but not without a significant amount of time and parliamentary deliberation.  By my count, of the rough equivalent total time of five days of plenary meeting time, almost three full days were spent on the APRV, and as I said, they picked up with they left off last year.  If you want the blow-by-blow description you will have to check out the report, although Rev. Cassidy says in the report that even he is not capturing everything.  I have picked out three details of the discussion that struck me to highlight.

1)  As I read through the report, it seems that the most time was spent debating the third membership vow:

Do you confess that because of your sinfulness you abhor and humble
yourself before God, that you repent of your sin, and that you trust
for salvation not in yourself but in Jesus Christ alone?

There was extended time, like a whole evening and then continuing on into the next assembly session, debating the precise wording of this vow.  Among other things, how the word “abhor” was used and its context in the vow.  In the end, after several (numerous?) proposed changes, the original language was retained.

2)  The second item was closely related to this:  Later in the debate a protest was filed that begins:

The undersigned protest against the action of the seventy-fifth General
Assembly in mandating the use of the exact language of the membership
vows, and furthermore in adopting language that is not acceptable to
several members of the Assembly, thereby binding consciences beyond
what was required of them at their ordination vows.

It then goes on to argue that  this has pastoral implications and that by requiring specific language a session can not have scruples over the specific language.  (Scruples are not just a concept or issue in the PC(USA))  A motion to reconsider was requested.  Seeing a time-sink ahead of them they did the logical think and took a break for dinner.   After dinner the motion was made and passed to reconsider the previous action.  Specifically, all this dealt with a revised footnote that now allowed modification of the vows only in the case where an individual could not understand them in their exact form.  After further consideration the Assembly returned the footnote to say that a session did have the power to modify the language of the vows for their church but  must note the change in the minutes.  With passage of that wording the protest was withdrawn.

3)  Monday morning the motion was made to recommit the APRV to the committee that drafted it with instructions for them to review it and break out the portions of it that are not specifically guided or directed by scripture and place those portions into a manual.  (Like one of the guiding principles in the PC(USA) for the revision to the Form of Government.)  This would have reduced the Directory in size and brought it back to the next GA for word smithing.  The vote on this motion to recommit was first postponed to Monday evening, then postponed again to Tuesday morning, and postponed again to Tuesday evening where the motion was finally voted upon and failed 46 to 88.

This is not the end of the saga for the APRV, but it is now one major step closer to being published in a few years.  The next assembly will have to finalize the changes, and propose the changes to the Book of Church Order where the new Directory affects it.  While the process was long, and from Rev. Cassidy’s fine description it appears to have been as loaded with parliamentary procedure as any major decision in a Presbyterian General Assembly is, the Assembly took the job seriously and got through it.  In the PC(USA) the Assembly did not have the time to work through the revised Form of Government.  For this and other reasons they handed it off to a task force for further review and comment by the presbyteries.  But in our Presbyterian system this is not just a parliamentary exercise but our way of discerning God’s will.  As Rev. Cassidy says in the report:

It is a humbling thing to know that we are working on something so
awesome. This is all about the glorification of God’s great name! May
we not lose sight of this as we work to the point of weariness on this
Directory. This is not mere word-smithing or an exercise in rhetoric or
debating skills. This is to the end that God might be glorified in the
worship of his people.

Thank you Rev. Cassidy for your report.

Finally, and if this was in the report in past years I don’t remember it, the OPC GA presented the “jack-in-the-box award.”  This award is for the commissioner who jumps up to the microphone to speak from the floor the greatest number of times and is a regular unofficial report from the Church of Scotland staff.  The award itself was a Machen bobble-head doll.  How appropriate.

The Continuing Saga of the Anglican Communion

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While the Presbyterians have been occupying my attention the past few months I have been keeping an eye on developments in the Anglican Communion worldwide.  Part of this is the mirroring of the discussions and disagreements different Presbyterian branches are having.  Another point of contact is that there is significant overlap and cooperation, on both sides of the issue, in the property litigation.  (The test cases in the California Supreme Court which multiple Presbyterian governing bodies and groups have filed amicus briefs on, is dealing with Episcopal churches.)  But maybe at the heart of it the goings on in the Anglican Communion right now make a great soap opera or high global drama.  While physical conflict is not involved, there is still the air of a great global battle with leaders on one continent allying themselves with groups on another continent.  Like in chess, Risk, or Diplomacy there are strategic positions, blocking moves, and alliances.

Well at the moment the Anglican Communion is in the middle of their major decennial meeting to which all (or almost all) the bishops world wide are invited, the Lambeth Conference.  (FYI: It is named for Lambeth Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, although the conference is being held at the University of Kent.) While not a legislative meeting with such a great attendance from across the Communion is a major “Instrument of Communion” and carries some consensus and institutional weight.

For a brief review of where the Anglican Communion is at the moment, and a not very optimistic view of where it is headed, Christianity Today just posted a good summary on their web site.

To briefly review:  In the United States, Episcopal churches, and even dioceses, that are not happy with The Episcopal Church’s permissive stand on ordaining and elevating to bishop practicing homosexuals, exemplified in New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson, are looking elsewhere in the world for church oversight.  These groups came together with similarly oriented representatives worldwide before the Lambeth conference as the Global Anglican Future Conference, being referred to as GAFCON.  This meeting itself was a mini-soap opera because it was supposed to start in Jordan at a Dead Sea conference center, but there were permitting and visa issues and the meeting was prematurely moved to Jerusalem.  Any way, the Jerusalem conference issued a final statement,  the Archbishop of Canterbury responded, and an additional GAFCON statement followed that.

Now, as if that were not enough, on July 7 the General Synod of the Church of England voted to permit the elevation of women to bishops without safeguards, or ways to opt out, for those opposed to the women bishops.  This was greeted by an expression of concern from the Vatican about breaking with apostolic tradition and a caution to Anglican clergy that although they may be dissatisfied with their current church’s positions, they would not be roundly welcomed into the Roman Catholic Church.  The Russian Orthodox Church also criticized the action, but left open the avenue for Anglican priests to switch to that church. (Note that The Episcopal Church has permitted women to serve as bishops for a while now and the Presiding Bishop is female.)  Further votes, including one requiring a 2/3 majority, are needed and it will be a couple of years at the earliest that this could happen.

So, where does this leave the Lambeth Conference?  We will have to see.  It is interesting to note who was not invited to this event that is supposed to include all the bishops:  Prominent on the not-invited list was Gene Robinson.  In addition, a bishop with close ties to the ruling regime in Zimbabwe as well as U.S. bishops who had been elevated by overseas archbishops over the objections of The Episcopal Church.  Who did not come?  Many of the no-shows are bishops who would have liked to have seen the supporters of Bishop Robinson on the not-invited list.  In addition to these divisions over doctrine, there are reports that the conference is heavily in debt and does not have the funds to pay the final bill.

While it is tempting to draw one-to-one comparisons of the Anglican situation with the PC(USA) situation, such as GAFCON = New Wineskins, I will leave that as an exercise for the reader.  However, I will leave you with one other item about Lambeth, and that is the presence of religious cartoonist Dave Walker, invited as the “cartoonist in residence” for the event.  I would point you to this contribution in particular.

News from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana

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Well, I’ve gotten a little preoccupied with North American Presbyterianism in the last couple of months and the PC(USA) in particular.  So, looking globally there have been a series of interesting news items from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana over the last few weeks.

It is worth noting that the PC Ghana can be described as being, at the least, “well connected” in Ghana’s society and government, and it is probably fair to say that in some areas, including education, it is a significant contributor to society.  This fact was recently recognized when the Moderator of the General Assembly, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong – Manso, was recognized with a State Award from the President of Ghana.  The Rt. Rev. Frimpong-Manso was one of 147 individuals to be recognized this year and his specific award was the ORDER OF VOLTA – OFFICER (RELIGION) distinction for his contribution to the Christian community and national development.

The Rt. Rev. Frimpong-Manso has been an outspoken leader for moral values in society and earlier this month at two ordination services for new clergy, some of his comments were picked up separately in the news media.  From two of these services were reports on his exhortations to clergy about showing humility in their work and being faithful and responsible in their obligations.  The story on ModernGhana.com about the first service says:

He expressed regret that some clergymen praised and advertised
themselves instead of preaching the word of God to address the
challenges and vices in society.

and

He
said: “The constant changes and decay in the world today, are always
calling the church to its mandate of transformation based on the
imperatives to the great commission of Our Lord to go into the world to
make disciples of all nations”.

He entreated clergymen to at
all times strive to work within the principles and tenets of the Bible
in the discharge of their duties to sustain and enhance the image of
the priesthood institution.

He picked up a similar theme at the second service according to the article on GhanaWeb.com:

[He] urged ministers of God to be humble and patient with the institution of the church in which they had been called to work.



Rev Frimpong-Manso said some pastors had neglected to fulfill their
obligations concerning visitations to the sick, the poor and vulnerable
and payment of assessments.



He said those same pastors did not attend meetings nor did they submit
statistical data about their activities.


In the first service reported on, Rev. Frimpong-Manso led the way in addressing the “challenges and vices in society” by criticizing advertising of alcoholic beverages and calling for a ban on advertising.  An article on JoyOnline picked this up as a story with an different emphasis on the same sermon.  That article says:

The Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of
Ghana (PCG), Right Reverend Dr Yaw Frimpong-Manso, has appealed to the
government to ban all advertisements on alcoholic beverages as it has
done with tobacco.

According to him the widespread intake of
alcoholic beverages in the country did not give any revenue to the
government or individuals.

“Alcohol has only succeeded
immensely in contributing to increase in diseases, immorality and crime
in the country, he observed.

and

“The earlier we became concerned about this canker and arrested it
before it succeeds in destroying our dear nation, the better it would
be for us all,” he said.

The moderator, therefore, urged the
public not to be lured and pressured by advertisements to take to
drinking alcoholic beverages, because there was nothing to be gained
from their intake, but would only give huge revenue to producers.

While in town for one of these ordination services, the Rt. Rev. Frimpong-Manso helped open an Information and Communications Technology centre built by the Northern Presbytery.  This is a training facility mostly funded by European partners to benefit the PCG educational programs as well as those of “other sister church members and the public.”  (Ghana Broadcasting Corp. article)

Finally, there was also news this past month about the Moderator helping to lay the foundation stone for a new Presbyterian Conference Centre.  The vision for the conference center is multi-fold, providing not just a location for Presbyterian meetings, but to be state of the art so that it will provide a revenue stream from corporate meetings and employment of Presbyterians in the area.  The Moderator also made an appeal for church members to give towards this project with a suggested regular monthly donation of one Gahanian cedi (currently worth about $0.90) per member.

The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) — Organizational Reactions

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To say that there has been a lot of reaction, positive and negative, to the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) would be a major understatement.  With the web casts and various live blogs during the meetings there was immediate coverage, analysis, and commentary on the developments.  One number published by the PC(USA) was that there were 13,000 connections to the web cast.  They don’t say if that was unique IP numbers or peak number of simultaneous connections, but either way that is a number far greater than I would have estimated.  But is a significant fraction of the 20,000 “polity wonks” that I estimated in an earlier back of the envelop calculation.  So Presbyterians were out there watching, reading and reacting.

[Update: Thanks for the very rapid comment below from Dianna Ott, Director of Creative Services for the PC(USA).  She clarifies that the 13,000 is the peak number of connections to the live streaming.]

This instantaneous coverage led the PC(USA) to issue the first pastoral letter from our top three office holders (Moderator, GAMC Executive Director, Stated Clerk) within hours of the Assembly adjourning.  For the 217th GA the one and only letter was released three days later.  This first letter reported on the most controversial items of business, the ordination standards and the definition of marriage, that were causing all the stir across the denomination.  A second letter, just issued this week, is more of the usual letter with a summary of a wide variety of topics the Assembly dealt with, particularly the items adopted by a wide margin.

The initial letter began with a paragraph briefly describing some of the other actions taken by the GA:

The assembly dealt with well over 400 business items. Some items
had undivided agreement, including a covenant to join together to carry
out mission together and a churchwide commitment to “Grow God’s Church
Deep and Wide.” There was an action to continue to study a revised Form
of Government, and one committee devoted its time entirely to youth
issues. In addition, we continued our longstanding work toward peace in
the Middle East. More information on these and other actions will be
coming soon.

It then continues with the four highest-profile items set out in a very formal and factual manner.  (I have edited out the full Book of Order language changes for brevity.)

Perhaps the subject that will make the most
headlines has to do with the ordination standards of our church. It is
a subject with which Presbyterians are familiar and one that tends to
evoke great debates and deep emotions. With that in mind, we want you
to know what the assembly did—in the actual wording—in regard to
ordination standards, and what will happen next.

  • By
    a 54% to 46% margin, the assembly voted to propose an amendment to our
    Book of Order to change one of our current ordination standards. The
    change is to replace the current language that says officers of the
    church must live by “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a
    man and a woman or chastity in singleness” (G-6.0106b) to this new
    language: Those who are called to ordained service in the church…
  • By
    a 53% to 47% vote, the assembly adopted a new Authoritative
    Interpretation (AI) on G-6.0106b: Interpretive statements concerning
    ordained service of homosexual church members by the 190th General
    Assembly (1978) of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States
    of America, and the 119th General Assembly (1979) of the Presbyterian
    Church in the United States and all subsequent affirmations thereof,
    have no further force or effect.
  • By
    a 54% to 46% vote, the assembly adopted a new AI on G-6.0108 which
    restores the intent of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and
    Purity of the Church report (2006) to allow someone who is being
    considered for ordination or installation as a deacon, elder, or
    minister to register a conscientious objection to the standards or
    beliefs of the church and ask the ordaining body to enter into a
    conversation with them to determine the seriousness of the departure.
  • The
    assembly left unchanged the definition of marriage found in the
    Directory for Worship (W-4.9000)—”a civil contract between a woman and
    a man.”

By
its actions, the assembly has initiated a new opportunity to focus
ordination on primary allegiance and obedience to Jesus Christ, as well
as to Scripture and the church’s confessions. The assembly places the
responsibility onto sessions and presbyteries for discerning a
candidate’s fitness for ordination.

In
all of this, it is important to note that the assembly has not removed
the church’s standard of “fidelity in marriage and chastity in
singleness.” For the proposed change—making obedience to Christ the
ordination standard—to become part of the Book of Order, a majority of
presbyteries will need to ratify it over the next year.

We
know the assembly actions may do little to ease the anxiety that seems
to permeate our life together as a denomination. The debate isn’t new
and the future holds difficult challenges. As the Rev. Dan Holloway,
moderator of the committee that took up the items on ordination
standards, said, “As we move forward, it is essential that we have
conversations that are gracious and loving and welcoming, since we are
not all of one mind.” Our hope is that none of us will act or react
immediately to the decisions, choosing instead to pray and talk with
one another about these issues.

The new letter picks up where the first left off:

In that first letter, we outlined the assembly’s actions and our church’s next steps in a continuing story, the outcome of which
is known only to God. Most importantly, we infused our letter with our
strong and abiding hope for the future ministry and witness of our
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), because we are a Good News people.

We
hope that you will share with us a bold and unabashed hope, firmly
grounded in the solid foundation of our faith, that is daily confirmed
for us in seeing how God is at work in and through our
PC(USA).  Every day, we hear story after story of new churches and
fellowships, of immigrant and multicultural ministries, of large
churches joining with smaller ones to support and encourage
each other.  Everywhere there is a new and growing hunger to hear and
to tell the Good News.  The commitment to “Grow
Christ’s Church Deep and Wide” — overwhelmingly approved by the
assembly — grew out of that very hunger to say “no” to a climate of
decline and say “yes” to declaring a church wide commitment to participate in God’s activity in transforming the PC(USA).

With
this letter, we invite you to continue to celebrate with us good news
of our General Assembly and of our Presbyterian Church.  We ask you to
join us in giving collective voice to the hope, the passion, and the future that has the power to unite us as Presbyterian Christians:

The letter then goes on to discuss church growth in the “Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide” initiative, approval of the strategy for growth of African American congregations, he “Invitation to Expanding Partnership in God’s Mission,” a document which emerged from the Worldwide Mission Consultation in Dallas earlier this year, an approval of an increase in mission personal, the first in 50 years, a call for “Solemn Assemblies” around the church, and reaffirmed:

Called by Jesus Christ to be peacemakers, the assembly continued to
boldly affirm that stance around the world. The assembly called for
“responsibly” bringing the troops home from Iraq, continuing
peacemaking with Israelis and Palestinians, and supporting human rights in Zimbabwe, the Philippines, North Korea and Colombia.

The letter calls on PC(USA) members and governing bodies to respond by recommending people to serve as mission co-workers, hold Solemn Assemblies, participate in the “Grow Christ’s Church Deep and Wide” program, and support the work of mission around the world.

In reading through the two letters we seem to get the good in the second, the bad in the first, and the ugly is not covered.  I do realize that space is limited, even if two letters were needed, but membership decline is only briefly implied, the legal fights and funding are not mentioned, the GAC reorganization to the GAMC is pretty much missing as is the disagreement over designations with the Foundation, and the commissioner resolution on graceful departures is not touched on.  Yes, the letters, and the second one in particular, are trying to be uplifting and hopeful, but there is also a need for realism and honesty.  And in a very polity wonk comment, I would note that the votes listed in the first letter are the final votes on these items.  When a minority report was involved the other, not recorded vote, was whether the substitute motion should become the main motion and that vote was sometimes narrower and with about 1% abstentions.  Also the vote on definition of marriage is not listed.

Well, that is the official line from the PC(USA), but various affiliated organizations have their own take on the situation.

On the progressive side the web site for That All May Freely Serve opens with

TAMFS Thanks GA

That All May Freely Serve Thanks the General Assembly for its Prophetic Witness

With gratitude to God, the board, staff, and community of That All May
Freely Serve rejoice in the vote by the 218th General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church (USA) to open the door to the gifts and callings of
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer members by removing its
institutional barriers to ordination.

The news at More Light Presbyterians is

Today, the 218th General Assembly of the PCUSA voted 54% to 46% to
end discrimination against LGBT members of our Church; and to provide
spiritual and ordination equality for LGBT Presbyterians.

And at the Covenant Network says

The 218th General Assembly fully lived into its theme, “Do Justice,
Love Kindness, Walk Humbly with your God.”  It took important and
historic steps toward a more welcoming church and spoke prophetically
on many issues.

It is interesting that the need for presbytery approval of the new language of G-6.0106b is mentioned in a secondary position, so the implication of all three is that systemic change has been achieved with just the new Authoritative Interpretations.  (With a GAPJC decision that will be proved right or wrong.)  It is interesting to note that in contrast to the 217th GA I have not heard anyone claim “Nothing has changed.”

On the evangelical side there are also predictable reactions. Presbyterians for Renewal has several articles on “the way forward.”  One begins:

Contending for the Faith: The Way Forward After the 218th General Assembly

The
218th General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
recently took numerous actions on important and controversial issues.
This article will outline several deeply troubling actions that require
the prayerful and active response of those concerned for biblical faith
and life in the PC(USA).

And another laments

A New Way into the Future

by James Harper, PFR Board President, July 11, 2008

The
General Assembly last month certainly changed the conversation around
the PFR table. For the last two years, we have been busy with the
process of redefining our mission and vision. You may have already seen
that we are about the mission of “mobilizing the leaders of
congregations within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to be biblically
faithful and missionally minded in their service to Jesus Christ.”
Delving into the political issues of the General Assembly may seem
incongruent with our new mission statement. To the contrary, we have
discovered that it is difficult to mobilize leaders and congregations
for the service of Christ when the denomination is fractured and
conflicted by the actions of a General Assembly. Nothing at this
General Assembly has changed PFR’s commitment to its mission, and to
preserving a denominational context conducive to church renewal.

The Presbyterian Coalition web site posted a Friday press release from member organization The Presbyterian Renewal Network that began:

Today the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) lies gravely wounded, by the hand of its
own General Assembly. This Assembly has struck multiple blows,
threatening to sever the sinews that hold us together as a Christian
body and as a part of the larger body of Christ. This is a day for
grieving.

And from the New Wineskins Association of Churches, the leadership team writes:

Theologically unhinged – The 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church (USA) has become theologically unhinged from our Biblical and
Reformation foundation. The actions of this Assembly are schismatic.
They foster division within our denomination and threaten the sundering
of the denomination from the world Church of Jesus Christ.

Finally, the article from byFaith, the official publication of the Presbyterian Church in America, says:

PCUSA Eliminates Restrictions on Homosexuality

The 218th Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly met in San Jose,
Calif., June 21-28, and made sweeping changes eliminating prohibitions
to homosexual behavior.

The
commissioners deleted the requirement that church officers and ministry
candidates adhere to “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between
and a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness” and struck a phrase
condemning “homosexual perversion” from the Heidelberg catechism.

And my compliments to “Harvey” for his commenting on this article and pointing out that some things require presbytery approval, even if some of the subsequent people commenting consider that a foregone conclusion (which few in the PC(USA) are willing to concede).

Well that is probably enough info for one post.  But as I noted earlier, we came out of the 217th General Assembly with the claims that the PUP report had not changed anything, and to some of our amazement the GAPJC decisions actually made that so.  Now we have a series of actions that nobody is claiming “nothing has changed,” not even the AI that is supposed to restore the intent of the PUP report.  In the next two years the Presbyteries and the GAPJC will put their mark on all of this.  Stay tuned.

PC(USA) Process for Amending the Consitution

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In case it is not obvious yet, I have slipped into a “low level” blogging mode and will continue this for the month of July.  Still a lot to post, but after the “high energy” GA stuff I need some slower time to think more and write less.

Having said that, an important question was raised about amending the PC(USA) constitution.  This can be found in Chapter 18 of the Book of Order, but to summarize:

The two sections of the Constitution have different processes with Part One, the Book of Confessions, having a much higher standard.

To Amend Part 2, the Book of Order, requires the General Assembly to send out to the presbyteries any proposed changes.  The presbyteries vote in the nine months following the GA and if approved by a simple majority of the presbyteries it becomes part of the next edition of the Book of Order.  With 173 presbyteries approval needs 87 affirmative votes and then it becomes part of the 2009-2011 edition of the Book of Order.

With the higher standard for Confessions, the GA authorizes the process and a special study committee is created to study the confession, decide on translation issues, and prepare the official text.  Then the next GA must approve the confession.  In the following year the presbyteries vote and if 2/3 agree then the following GA must agree again.  So, for the PC(USA) at the moment, the 2008 GA approved the process and the study committee(s) begin work, the 2010 GA must approve of the confessions’ text, in 2010-2011 the presbyteries vote and if at least 116 agree then the 2012 GA would vote again.  With approval a new edition of the Book of Confessions is published.