Category Archives: GA business

41st General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In America

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  For American Presbyterians coming up this week we have a triple-header of General Assemblies with two beginning on Monday and one on Tuesday. Let me start with the 41st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America which will begin on Monday 17 June in Greenville, South Carolina. Committee meetings and pre-Assembly workshops and seminars happen on Monday and most of the day Tuesday with the Assembly formally convening Tuesday evening.

There is plenty of info related to this meeting. Here is some of the most useful and important material.

There should be no lack of activity on Twitter for this Assembly and the task is really to narrow the recommendation down to a reasonable number. As already mentioned the official news feed is @PCAByFaith and the hashtag will be #pcaga. As for individuals at GA… where to start? A few that have jumped out so far include Fred Greco (@fredgreco) who is promising coverage as well as Burk Parsons (@BurkParsons) and Ligon Duncan (@LigonDuncan) who are fairly high-profile in the PCA and active on Twitter. Probably should include Tim Keller (@TimKellerNYC) and Harry L. Reeder III (@HarryLReeder3) to the list but we will see how actively they are tweeting the meeting. The other early active and informative folks include William F. Hill Jr. (@WmHillJr). And for organizations you can include Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) although I suspect they will be tweeting more about their activities around the meeting than the meeting itself. There are a couple more I people expect to be active but have not seen them check in yet so I will update here if they do start tweeting.

Finally, I would be remiss not to bring to your attention @PCAPresbyter and his own unique view of the Assembly. And there is mention that there might be a microphone bingo card for the meeting (who gets up to speak) as opposed to my parliamentary bingo card.

There are several interesting seminars at the Assembly. On Thursday night Ligon Duncan and Tim Keller will be dialoging in a session titled Working Together in the PCA to Address our Cultural Moment. Thursday morning will be another seminar, Commending and Defending the Total Truthfulness of Scripture, with Ligon Duncan and Albert Mohler. In addition, the Gospel Reformation Network will be hosting a pre-Assembly conference on What Grace Does with keynote speakers Harry Reeder, Ligon Duncan, Richard Phillips and Al Baker. There are full lists of all the pre-Assembly activities and the seminars. And the seminars page does say that they will be recorded and available for purchase.

As far as business for the meeting, there are a number of very interesting overtures that I look forward to the discussion and discernment around. There are a significant number that involve judicial process, including requests for the Standing Judicial Commission to rehear or take original jurisdiction of certain cases. At this time I would note their inclusion in the business and will strive to produce a separate post regarding that business and the associated history.

But there are plenty of other interesting overtures and the ones dealing directly with confessional standards, and how the church relates to them, got my attention. One overture (No. 17) requests beginning the process to add to the list of required elements of worship in the Westminster Confession of Faith 21:5 “collections for the work of the church.” In other words, require the taking of a collection at a worship service. Another overture (No. 7) asks to “Establish a Study Committee on Sabbath Issue in Westminster Standards.” That overture notes that “a large number of officers ordained in the PCA take stated differences to the requirements for keeping the Sabbath or Lord’s Day…” and seeks to get a better understanding of the requirements. And finally, an overture (No. 8) asks to change the BCO section on officers receiving and adopting the Standards so that if an officer finds his views have changed he would have to notify his presbytery that his views differ from the Standards rather than differing from “the fundamentals of this system of doctrine” as is the requirement now.

Another interesting overture is the first one (No. 1) which asks for a special order for each Assembly that would put all the important stuff together starting on the second morning of the Assembly. The idea is to place the business together at a point that some commissioners could come for just one day and be able to have input on the items most important to the church. The overture points out that at the last GA only 25% of the commissioners were ruling elders and less than half of the churches even sent a commissioner – ruling or teaching elder. The hope is that this would consolidate the most important stuff at a given time so attendance can be improved among those who can not attend for the full week.

There is also an overture to form a new presbytery (No. 9) since James River Presbytery has now grown above the recommended upper limit of 30 congregations so it would be divided creating Virginia Tidewater Presbytery. There is also an overture to consider a largely paperless GA (No. 11). And another overture (No. 18) asks to correct a parliamentary problem by adding a line to BCO section 12-6 to restrict called meetings of the session to only those items of business in the call. Presently the GA, presbyteries and congregations — as well as Roberts Rules of Order — have this restriction but not called meetings of the session.

There are lots of interesting topics up for discussion this week and I am looking forward to hearing the various viewpoints expressed on these matters as well as several other. We pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the deliberations and discernment of the commissioners in the coming week.

General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church Of Ireland — Youth and Children: A Tale Of The Tweets

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I have been having fun the last couple of days following the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. There is no live streaming so the vast majority of what I can find out in real time is through Twitter.

A few transcripts and audio selections have found their way onto the internet. The church has posted the text of the addresses by the outgoing Moderator and the incoming Moderator. To hear parts of the Assembly you can check out a number of audio clips that Alan in Belfast has posted on his blog as part of his coverage of the Assembly meeting.  In addition, he has posted the report of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland Youth and Children Council (PCIYAC) from earlier today. (part 1, part 2)

And getting down to the subject of the Board of Youth and Children’s Ministries, they were fairly vocal in the debate yesterday concerning the proposal by the Structures Committee to reorganize and consolidate Boards. In particular, they were concerned about their loss of Board status as they would be included with the Council For Congregational Life and Witness. In the end the Structures proposal was not adopted this year by the vote of 190 to 119 so they continue as they are for another year.

This afternoon was the report of the Board of Youth and Children’s Ministries itself. The report went well, as you can hear for yourself on the audio clips above, lasting just over 40 minutes. One of the highlights was a video promoting Messy Church. Another was the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the Boys Brigade program and the impact that it has had, including a couple of testimonials from the floor. As for the seven resolutions in the report, nothing controversial that raised any real objections.

What did catch a number of people’s attention was the turnout of Assembly members for the report, at least at the beginning.

When the report began it was preceded by a prayer that included these lines transcribed from the audio clip:

“We thank you for those who serve within this Board, for the work of this past year. And now as they report help them to communicate to us what’s on their hearts and what’s of importance to them and to us.”

Thanks to Twitter we have some comments and pictures of the meeting space at about the time the prayer was being said. Among those tweets are these two:

 
James Currie @JCBelfast

Hall unfortunately nearly empty for the Youth and Children’s Board Report #pciga13 pic.twitter.com/pBrBMJTtD3
 

James McCormick @jamesmcc77

Not much interest in Youth & Children from PCI members. Poor show folks. #pciga13 pic.twitter.com/yUdxIRPj9o
 



As the prayer said “…what’s of importance to them and to us.” Not many of the “us.”

Now to be fair, these pictures were taken at the beginning of the report right after a short 15 minute break and the lines for coffee this week are reported to be very long. And the hall did fill up a bit more after this. Furthermore, this was not the only report with very low attendance at the beginning. But the reports on Twitter still seem to indicate that it never did fill up the way it had for some of the more high-profile reports. And comparisons continued later in the day.

So I am sitting here wondering do I really need to spell this out? Do I really need to point out that when we talk about the younger generation and their importance to the church and then we don’t show up for the report about their ministries it sends a pretty mixed message? Do I need to rant on about the theme of the Assembly being about transformation and then the report about working with the generation we are trying to transform the church for has so few people listening to it?

No I don’t think I need to do any of that. But what struck me about the events of today is that when there is so much concern and discussion about whether the church has a future I must admit that I was very surprised at the apparent lack of attention that was paid to an important Board that has responsibility for the youngest members of the Body of Christ, the ones that have the most riding on the future.

OK, rant over. Commentary mode off.

We now return to our regularly scheduled stream of tweets.

80th General Assembly Of The Orthodox Presbyterian Church

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Tomorrow evening in Moraga, California, the 80th General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church will convene.

On the one hand, this is always a very easy General Assembly to follow since a great running daily narrative is traditionally posted by the church.

On the other hand, if you are trying to follow along “live” this is usually not a meeting that provides a lot to follow. There is no live streaming, I have not detected any Twitter chatter (please let me know if I am missing it and I will update) and the reports and business the Assembly will be considering is not posted to the web, at least not that I have found. UPDATE: From the comments the hashtag should be #opcga.

This is a rare occasion with the OPC Assembly on the west coast, in this case at St. Mary’s College of California across the hills from Berkeley in the Bay Area. It was tempting for me to take some time to go observe but this is not the year for me to be doing that.

The one item on the docket that has been discussed is the development of a psalter-hymnal. This is a project that will take almost a decade and at this point the choice of the contents has been made. The news article says that the list will be presented to the Assembly but not for final approval.

If you want the background info you can find their Confessional Standards, Book of Church Order, General Assembly Papers (white papers on various topics) and the Standing Rules on the General Assembly page. There is also a guidelines and policy piece referred to as the Instruments of the General Assembly.

I look forward to following along on the Daily Updates and we extend our prayers for the meeting and for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your deliberations and discernment.

2013 General Assembly Of The Presbyterian Church In Ireland

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Beginning in a few hours we turn our attention to the western side of the North Channel for the penultimate General Assembly in the British Isles. At 7:00 PM this evening, Monday 3 May, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland will convene. This year will be a bit different as the Assembly takes one of their very occasional trips away from the Assembly Hall in Belfast (the last time was 22 years ago), this year to meet at the Millennium Forum in Londonderry.

If you are interested, here is some helpful information:

  • The Church has produced an excellent outline of their meeting on the Assembly page. There is also a news item with a narrative of the meeting and highlights for each day
  • The reports that were published in advance are available on the Reports Page
  • There are usually news reports from The Press Office. There is the news page or I will update if a separate page is used.
  • If you need a polity refresher you should check out their unified document, The Code as well as their Guide to Assembly Procedure
  • In the past the PCI has done a wonderful and prolific job of tweeting the Assembly at @pciassembly. For the meeting the hashtag is #pciga13
  • Other Twitter accounts related to the church that could be interesting are @PCIYAC from the Youth and Children department and @pciSPUD from the Youth Assembly
  • The best observer of the GA to keep an eye on is Alan in Belfast on both Twitter @AlanInBelfast,  and his blog Alan in Belfast
  • The local news site Slugger O’Toole with their Twitter @sluggerotoole is also a good source that might have some coverage
  • Finally, there will probably be PCI commissioners tweeting. Let me start with the moderator of a past General Assembly @staffordcarson. (And on a side note, Dr. Carson is up for approval by the Assembly to a new position. UPDATE: He was approved as the new Principal of Union College. ) Update: I would add to the list James Currie (@jcbelfast) who is active with PCIYAC and pciSPUD.

Regarding live streaming we have this unfortunate statement from the Arrangements Committee (pg. 7):

Web Streaming and ‘Twitter’
9. The Arrangements Committee regrets that due to technical restrictions, the General Assembly will not be streamed this year.  However, proceedings may be followed on ‘Twitter’

The raises a couple of questions in my mind, one being the quotes around Twitter. (Are those scare quotes?)
But further, in an advanced facility such as the Millennium Forum why are there technical issues with streaming? It seems the key word is… restrictions. It leads me to conclude that the requirements of the venue are that they handle the streaming at a cost which is prohibitive to the church. Another thing I see is that portions will be broadcast by the BBC so there may be restrictions to competition there. It may be something else but those are my guesses at the moment. For those of us who enjoy the stream and are interested in the business and decisions reached we still have Twitter but the lack of streaming is a disappointment when it seems easy enough to do.

There are two evening events of some interest. The first is a series of seminars on Tuesday evening at Magee College. It was founded by Presbyterians but is now a branch of the University of Ulster. The series of presentations will reflect on Presbyterian history and tradition. The second is “Christ Transforming Culture” on Wednesday night in the meeting space. As the description says of the event “Through drama and music the Moderator and others will lead an
exploration of how the Assembly theme, ‘A Place of Transformation’
impacts on the Church and individual Christians and on the culture of
where they work and witness.”

A number of interesting items of business on the docket. There is a report on Baptism from the Doctrine Committee (pg. 13 of the report) The report concludes that baptism by immersion is not necessary and is not the most appropriate method but does not recommend forbidding it.

There is an interesting report from an Advisory Committee to the General Board that includes a section (beginning on page 32) about helping resolve conflict in congregations. The many recommendations include better training of Elders and this:

(iii) The Church should seriously consider the Church of Scotland and PC USA [sic] model of having an interim Minister for up to a year, where there has been a long ministry of say 15 years or more. This would allow a Congregation to adjust, grieve if necessary, think of themselves without the previous Minister, deal with any outstanding issues and prepare themselves for a call.

In my experience, both are good moves and I might suggest shortening that 15 years down a bit to ten or even seven.

There is also some tension related to the trajectory the Church of Scotland is following on same-sex partnerships and the ministry. There are a few points that this may present itself during the Assembly including the Church and Society report as well as Ecumenical Relations. In particular, the Moderator’s Advisory Committee of the General Board is looking to open conversations about human sexuality within the church.

Finally, the Priorities Committee of the General Board (report beginning on page 39) is conducting a Structures Review that is looking at the form and function of the church. Among the issues it sees that resonate with the findings of a similar panel I have been on is about communication between bodies within the church with the report saying ” The current engagement that takes place between Presbyteries and Boards is at times very sparse.” Like that understated wording.

Almost all of there are General Board committees and will be part of the General Board report on Tuesday.

So there is lots going on this week and we look to the social media outlets for updates. Our prayers are with the Assembly and the incoming Moderator, the Rev Rob Craig. May the Holy Spirit indeed be moving among you in your discussions and discernment.

139th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada

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  We can now turn our attention to the first of the North American meetings for this year.

Beginning tomorrow, Friday 31 May, the 139th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada will convene at the Newnham Campus of Seneca College in Toronto. The meeting will conclude on Monday 3 June. It has the theme “That all may be one” and is being jointly hosted by the Eastern Han-Ca and Oak Ridge Presbyteries. The former is a Korean language presbytery.

If you are interested in following along with this meeting here is information you might find useful. (And be aware that most of the official links are programmed to automatically download to your computer.)

  • First, if you want all the official info I mention below together, along with a whole lot more, there are the consolidated Reports (331 pages in length) and General Information documents (92 pages in length)
  • There is both an agenda for the meeting and a daily schedule available
  • The reports can be accessed from the reports section of the Assembly web page. There is also a nice 16 page document, the 2013 Report Summaries
  • UPDATE: YES! There is live streaming.  At one time the Assembly meeting was live streamed but that did not happen last year and not yet finding mention of it I fear it will not be streamed this year. I will update here if I find out otherwise.
  • News about the Assembly will probably appear one the News and Events page
  • For the polity documents go to the Acts and Proceedings archive and the Book of Forms. There are some addition Resources available from the GAO web page. There is also the Practice and Procedure document for the General Assembly meeting.
  • If you are interested in the Assembly’s carbon footprint there is a special report on that
  • The PCC traditionally a great job of tweeting the Assembly at @PCConnect. For the meeting the hashtag is #ga139
  • I am not sure which of the Canadian Presbyterians I follow on Twitter will be at GA so I will update here when I find attendees that are helpful to follow.
  • Finally, the PCC also runs a Flickr photostream during GA

Looking at the business I found an overture (No. 1) that any polity wonk would love. There is a request to change the terminology “minister and session” to “minister and ruling elders on the session.” I don’t have to tell you that this is a great suggestion that fixes a two-fold problem: 1) the minister is a person and the session is a governing body (or whatever terminology you prefer for your courts of the church). 2) The minister is a member of the session with the ruling elders. Good catch.

For those who follow the form and function of the governing bodies, there is also an overture (No. 3) that asks that a special task force be established to restructure the duties of a synod so that those who chose to may go out of business.

And so, our best wishes and prayers to the whole Presbyterian Church in Canada and prayers for your 139th General Assembly this week.

Church Of Scotland 2013 General Assembly — “Affirm the Church’s historic and current doctrine and practice… nonetheless permit…”

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“Affirm the Church’s historic and current doctrine and practice in
relation to human sexuality nonetheless permit those Kirk sessions who
wish to depart from that doctrine and practice to do so.”

Yesterday was a long day for the commissioners of General Assembly 2013 of the Church of Scotland as they heard and debated the report of the Theological Commission on Same-sex Relationships and the Ministry. I had to chuckle as the Moderator made a comment about keeping remarks brief or they would be there until midnight as it brought back memories of late nights at PC(USA) GA’s.

The final outcome of the debate was an action that tried to find a middle way. It was reportedly worked out over lunch in the middle of the debate and moved by the immediate past Moderator the Very Reverend Albert Bogle.

The full actions of the Assembly on this report are now available from the Kirk web site but the closely watched portion now says:

3. (i). Affirm the Church’s historic and current doctrine and practice in relation to human sexuality nonetheless permit those Kirk sessions who wish to depart from that doctrine and practice to do so.

(ii) Instruct the Legal Questions Committee to bring an Overture to the General Assembly of 2014 which the following principles of 3. (i) above:

Principles of the Overture:

  1. Would not require the Church to abandon its traditional position.
  2. But would allow individual congregations – by decisions of their Kirk Sessions – to depart from the Church’s traditional position.
  3. Would allow ministers and deacons (current and prospective) who are in civil partnerships to be selected for training and to be trained. Would also allow them to be ordained/inducted into a charge the Kirk Session of which had decided to depart from the Church’s traditional position.
  4. Would cover inducted ministers and ministers and deacons working in other roles in congregations.
  5. Would not enable one congregation to depart from traditional position where others in a linking do not wish to do so.
  6. Would enable a Kirk Session to change its mind. But a minister or deacon who had been appointed to a congregation whose Kirk Session had decided to depart from the traditional position would not be prejudiced by a change of mind by the Kirk Session.
  7. Would preserve liberty of opinion and responsible expression. Would not permit harassing or bullying.
  8. Preserves right of members of presbyteries – whatever views – to engage or not in ordinations/inductions.

(iii) Instruct the Theological Forum to explore the relevant ecclesiological issues informing the principles of the “mixed economy” as set out in the Report of the Theological Commission and report to the General Assembly of 2014.

(iv) Instruct all Courts, Councils and Committees of the Church not to make decisions in accordance with section 3.(i) above until the position in relation to the proposed Overture has been finally determined by a future General Assembly.

What this means is that the Church of Scotland has effectively adopted the local option in determining suitability for ordination and service in a particular church and for recognizing and blessing same-sex civil partnerships. [Note: I use the term “local option” throughout this post but that is not an official term being used elsewhere in this discussion. It is a convenient term for me as this discussion and action parallels similar situations where the term is used.]

As I mentioned above, this particular motion — which was amended on the floor — was developed during the day of debate. As such one of its deficiencies is that it could not contain any changes to Kirk policies that are sweeping enough to have to be sent down to the presbyteries under the Barrier Act. Hence, the Overture based on the principles listed in the motion must be brought to next year’s Assembly and would not go into effect until 2015 if the presbyteries concur. This also leaves the action of this Assembly vulnerable to modification by next year’s Assembly when it will have to give approval to that Overture.

This motion was promoted as the middle ground to try to keep the Kirk together, a compromise where each side had to give a little in order to get something. And it had well-known members of the Kirk from across the theological spectrum speaking for it.

During the debate it was clear that this motion was a work in progress and that was bothersome to a number of the commissioners who spoke. There were points that the Principal Clerk had to try to interpret what the implications of the language would be. And it is clear going forward that the legal minds on the Legal Questions Committee will have a lot to do with what is ultimately brought back to the Assembly next year.

The debate was reasoned and well conducted with just a few points of frustration and raised voices. As with any debate of this complexity, with the multiple options and amendments flying, there were several points where commissioners were confused about what was happening. But overall the Moderator, The Right Rev Lorna Hood, did a very good job of keeping order and the process moving.

At the end of the day the commissioners had three options before them — this one and the two from the Theological Commission report I discussed in the preview. The other possible option, what was referred to as 2C, of which notice was given, was withdrawn on the floor. What was ultimately the prevailing motion was introduced as 2D.

After the arguments in favor of each of the three options a vote was taken on all three with 2A – the original revisionist option – receiving 270 votes, 2B – the original traditionalist option – receiving 163 votes and 2D getting 191 votes. With 2B voted off the island eliminated the final vote was 282 for 2A and 340 for 2D. (My thoughts on the voting shifts may come at another time.)

If the traffic on Twitter and the mainstream headlines are an indication this is being seen as a win for the revisionist side. (And I should add that several speakers expressed their disapproval of the revisionist/traditionalist labels the report used.) Many tweets repeat the BBC headline “Church of Scotland General Assembly votes to allow gay ministers.” Traditionalist are saying things like “How can you vote to affirm standards while allowing exceptions to them” as well as indications of individuals seriously considering leaving the church. And there are responses from members of the Free Church of Scotland as well. It is however interesting that the other issue in the report, that of same-sex civil unions, has seemed to get no play in the press or social media.

A few of the blog responses that appeared shortly after the decision include one by Chris Hoskins on his blog Endure Fort who reflects on his trying to figure out what he thinks of the compromise. More decided is John McLuckie in his blog JustLuckie who critiques how Scripture was used in the traditionalist argument. And an Anglican priest who followed the debate discussed first the debate and then a second post on Where Does the Church of Scotland Stand? UPDATE: I would add to the responses a long and thoughtful Open Letter to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland 2013 from Louis Kinsey.

In addition there are official reports from the Kirk and it’s official publication Life and Work.

But what is the bottom line here? Yes, the General Assembly has adopted an action that provides a path for ordination and blessing of civil unions for those in same-sex partnerships. It has also adopted an action that affirms traditional doctrine. But it appears to me that while a compromise agreement has been achieved that may avoid a major departure right away, the real result is that any actual polity change has been pushed out another year to 2015. And despite what the media is focusing on this is regarding both ordinations/training and civil unions. As point 3(iv) indicates, the moratorium is still in place. Under this action the traditional doctrine has been affirmed so in the discussion in the civil arena about same-sex marriage in Scotland the Kirk remains opposed to the proposed action of the Scottish Parliament.

This has also opened up a discussion on what allowing individual sessions to set their own standards means. Has the Church of Scotland taken a step towards congregationalism or, as one quote said, a “federation of congregations”?

The questions about this action are numerous: Will the 2014 General Assembly somehow undo this? Will this compromise hold the Kirk together, at least for the moment?  Is this system even workable if it is implemented? Would the proposed resolution be agreed to by the presbyteries under the Barrier Act? Could the local option be extended to other issues of human sexuality or even other issues in general?

What we see in this whole debate and action are two important Presbyterian values embedded in this debate and compromise. The first is the importance of process and doing things decently and in order. While this is a frustration to many who would like to see quicker change, we gather as community to discern together where God is leading. The second is the tension in which we hold doctrine and individual conscience. We are constantly seeking the line where individual views can be held but in the context of the community must be subjugated to the discernment of the community of which we are a part.

We will see how this action affects the future of the Kirk. Stay tuned…

2013 General Assembly Of The Church Of Scotland

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  Coming up this Saturday the first large General Assembly of the 2013 season begins as the 2013 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is convened in the Assembly Hall in Edinburgh.

The Assembly will begin at 10 AM local time on Saturday 18 May and adjourn a bit after 3 PM on Friday 24 May. The afternoon of Pentecost Sunday, 19 May, the Kirk will once again have their large public Heart and Soul festival in Prince Street Gardens (Event Guide). This year it is titled A Celebration of Celtic Christianity.

To follow along with the GA here is what you need to know

  • The Starting Point for almost everything is the General Assembly 2013 page
  • The Order of Proceedings is available as a PDF and the Daily Papers are starting to be posted. You can also find minutes and the text of speeches on that page.
  • Reports are available individually on the General Assembly 2013 page or all together in the Blue Book and Supplement
  • The Assembly will be webcast, as usual, linked to the media page
  • In addition, the media page will have the Daily Updates podcast and Assembly News Items
  • There is an official Facebook page for the Church of Scotland
  • On Twitter the official feed is @churchscotland and the Assembly hashtag is #ga2013 although I am also seeing some use of #ga13
  • Keep an eye on two other Church of Scotland Twitter accounts – the official magazine Life and Work (@cofslifeandwork), the Church of Scotland Youth (@cosy_nya) and maybe CofS World Mission (@cosworldmission)
  • A couple of other folks that I follow who will be there include Peter Nimmo (@peternimmo1) of Old High St. Stephens Inverness and Neal Pressa (@nealpresa) the Moderator of the 220th General Assembly of the PC(USA) who will be that church’s official representative to the Assembly.
  • I will add additional tweeps when the Assembly gets under way

If you want to have the polity documents at the ready you start at the Church Law web page and from there can get the Acts, Regulations, Standing Orders. Unfortunately, their publication An introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland is being revised so no version is available at this time.

This is already a high-profile year for the Assembly and it has not even convened yet. Two years in the making, the report of the Theological Commission on same-sex relationships and the Ministry has been widely anticipated and is docketed as the only business for Monday after the opening worship with communion.
While the Assembly in 2011 chose the trajectory towards, as this year’s report is calling it, the revisionist option, the Commission’s deliverance does include the opportunity for the Assembly to once again chose to reaffirm their earlier vote or consider taking the traditionalist option. For the polity wonks, or those interested in what process is next, the Supplementary Reports contains a section on how the selected trajectory would be implemented. There are three notices of intent to move amendments to the deliverance published in the first set of Daily Papers.

The second item of business which has gotten intense coverage in some quarters is the Church and Society Council’s special report The Inheritance of Abraham? A report on the ‘promised land.’ I wrote about this yesterday — how the first report had stirred up a bit of controversy in Jewish media and the report was pulled for revision after a meeting between representatives of both sides. This morning the revised version has been posted. The Council is docketed to report on Thursday, part way through the day.

On Tuesday, 21 May, there will be a special commemoration of David Livingstone for this the bicentennial year of his birth. Some of his great-grandchildren will be special guests of the Assembly that day.

I will update this info as necessary and comment in other posts as the week progresses. Prayers for the guidance of the Holy Spirit as the General Assembly meets.

220th General Assembly of the PC(USA) — A Summary Of Summaries

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Well, the 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church is behind us. I am taking a little while to digest a lot of what I saw and heard and will probably have at least a few things to say about it, and maybe a lot.  However, I have completed my summary sheet that I make available to my congregation and anyone else is welcome to it as well. This year it was particularly tricky to compile because a lot happened but in the end not a lot changed. I ran out of room to mention the debut of the new hymnal, corporal punishment, the language about “repentance for sin” and the various “means of grace” that is being proposed for the ordination standards (G-2.0104a) and the immigration and social justice issues (besides the Middle East), among other things.

If you want to see an official summary there is the traditional church-wide pastoral letter from the PC(USA) leadership. UPDATE: The PC(USA) has also now issued their summary, Assembly in Brief.

I have not seen other comprehensive summaries yet (please point them out if I am missing them) but there is plenty of information out there. (There is of course the published summary from the Presbyterian Outlook available for purchase and distribution to congregations.)

From the mainstream media there is a good article from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

If you want to drink from a fire hose there are these news feeds with copious articles about individual actions and issues

There was also a feed from the Presbyterian Layman and their collection of writers. In addition, Robert Austell has started ramping up the post-GA coverage on his GAhelp site.

Update: Christie Ramsey has put together a great collection of links to points of interest in the videos – Mountaintops, Valleys, Memorable, Important, and The Best of Gradye

There are also official reactions on specific topics from various organizations.  There are comments from:

[ Update – I originally had the following sentence above but on rereading I realized that the article was an extremely prescient and prophetic entry from before the Assembly that Tod reminded us of because it could have just as easily been written after the meeting – “Most notable is probably the reflection from Tod Bolsinger on the Mid Councils Commission blog about the fate of their report.” ]

Beyond this there are numerous individual reactions. At the moment I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to go through those, but I reserve the right to add a few of the ones I find particularly enlightening.

More later

220th General Assembly of the PC(USA) — Saturday Morning

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  		Live blogging the Saturday morning concluding session.
If you are following along live you will want to hit refresh periodically to reload the post. (And please excuse the typos as my fingers fly – even more so with the fatigue at the end of the week.)

The business for the morning is to finish all unfinished business, worship and adjourn the Assembly

[As a courtesy to my family members I am staying with I departed around midnight last night so I am still piecing together the business that happened after I left. I have not found a definite time that the Assembly adjourned but it was around 1:30 AM.]

The Assembly is dragging itself back and as the house band gets started they being with an instrumental version of “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” Got to think they had the “I am tired, I am weak, I am worn” line in mind, if not the rest of the verse “Through the storm, through the night/ Lead me on to the light/ Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home.”

[Yes, I just got confirmation that the Assembly recessed at 1:30 AM due to a combination of factors, but mostly because the buses would stop running at 2 AM. Thanks Andy]

So, all the usual – The band warms us up, the Moderator calls us to order at 9:00 AM and a ruling elder commissioner leads us through the prayer cycle.

The Moderator thanks the band and the Assembly gives them a standing ovation.

1001 Worshiping Communities – Common Table, Bend, Oregon

Bills and Overtures
   Committee 4 will report
   Final set of minutes will be reviewed by the members of the Bills and Overtures committee
   Thanks, and standing ovation, for the Moderator and Stated Clerk

Committee on Review of Biennial Assemblies – Committee 4
Arrested last night Item 04-01 Recommendations 3, 5, 8
Motion to refer on the floor – To ask the Special Committee to continue its work with emphasis on certain specific areas
   Can this be done by COGA?
   This motion negates the work we on the committee did
   These are good recommendations – let’s let them develop them more
   This motion is too prescriptive
Commissioner asks for reality check of where we are – “My body was here last night but my brain checked out.” In response even the Committee Moderator needs to be corrected about this
Two motions tried to be made but not in order at this time since they do not apply to the motion on the floor
Commissioner comment – We must aggressively work to empower those under 35 in this church
Commissioner argues that while further work might be good the Special Committee’s work is lacking from the beginning and the Assembly Committee had better ideas
Call the question – approved on voice vote
Vote on the motion to refer
   Advisory delegates [is there a problem with the voting system – nothing is happening. Awkward long pause. Now Gradye whispers something to Neal. Consultation with someone else. Gradye leaves.] The video system is having technical difficulties so the results will be delivered on paper. Singing while we wait.
OK, we go to hand vote – debate closed. The motion to refer is defeated

Back to the main motion
Committee recommends that Item 04-03A be approved with amendment
Commissioner speaks to trusting the committee, especially when they vote 24-2
Item approved without objection

Committee recommends that Item 04-03B be approved
Committee recommends that Item 04-03C be approved with amendment (that an overture from a presbytery asking for a constitutional change have the concurrence of one other presbytery, not 10% as proposed by the Special Committee)
Amendment from the floor – After making it and getting clarification the commissioner withdraws it
These items approved without objection

Item 04-08 Regarding Extending the Timeframe for the Work of the Review Committee
Recommend approval with amendment
Commissioner argues against – we have created enough task forces, this will cost $38K
Committee member responds that there has to be a better way to do business and they have ideas they would like to try
Talking polity of how to replace this with something else – recommendation of Moderator is to vote this down and them move something else
Commissioner argues for crowdsourcing as less expensive
[The keypads are working again]
Voting
    Commissioners – 347 yes, 128 no

Item 04-05 Regarding Young Adult Commissioners
Committee recommends that it be disapproved and referred back to the Special Committee
Commissioner, who I think said he was a stated clerk, asks if you can disapprove and refer
Substitute motion – Direct the Stated Clerk to communicate with the presbyteries to prioritize sending young adult commissioners to Assembly
Commissioner speaks to it and asks how we can be better structured to get young adults involved
Moderator suggests that it be an amendment to the comment
Commissioner objects and wants it to be an action item
Stated Clerk suggests adding it to the action item and it will be acted upon – Commissioner agrees
Commissioner argues that “We need to think outside the box and one of the boxes is General Assembly.” Need to think alternately to a week long meeting
YAAD objects – it gives us too little credit. Need to take action to bring young people in as commissioners not advisory delegates (Well received by assembly)
Is there anyone on the Committee under 35? Answer – almost half of the committee is under the age of 40 (And the Review Committee Moderator is the only one eligible for AARP)
More polity confusion as to what is on the floor
Commissioner speaks in defense of young people who will come to meetings – but want the time to socialize outside of the meeting
Amendment passed on voice vote

Substitute Motion – Actually, this will probably be done by amendment as it adds a paragraph that is the original language
Agreed that the best way to do this would be to vote down the current motion and then propose the new language
YAAD argues against – nice idea but there are better ways to do it as Assembly Committee discussed
Commissioner – We don’t need young adult synod representation. We need young adult leadershp
YAAD – There is no lack of young adult leadership at this assembly
Without objection the question is called
Vote on the Item
  Advisory delegates TSADs 31% yes, YAADs 50% yes, EADs 75% yes, MADs 67% yes
  Commissioners – 387 to 77
The committee’s recommendation is approved

This concludes the committee’s report

Questions: The property trust clause motion earlier was ruled out of order. Could the Stated Clerk please explain further?  Stated Clerk – There was language missing from the motion regarding business at a congregational meeting which if it had been added would have made the motion in order.

Report on the Encountering the the Gospel of Peace Anew Initiative
From the Peacemaking and International Issues

Commissioner moves reconsideration of 10-15 on the Status of Women in the PC(USA)
Information I did not hear last night – The report was mandated by the 218th GA
[Polity point – one Assembly’s action does not bind future committees]
Commissioner speaks in favor – also did not understand ramifications, we need to take this issue seriously
Commissioner argues that the money is better spent supporting women in ministry instead of studying it
Commissioner reminds Assembly that the cost is over four years so annual impact is small
Commissioner argues that this late in the Assembly, with some commissioners having left, this is not a good time to move reconsideration
[A couple of short fuses in the room – “we are tired, we are weak, we are worn.”]
Question for clarification and response: This is not just about the status of women but the view of women by men.
Vote on motion to reconsider
   Advisory delegates – TSADs 75% yes, YAADs 22% yes, EADs 60% yes, MADs 50% yes
   Commissioners – 127 yes to 305 no, 3 abstain
The motion to reconsider is defeated

Commissioner apologizes for being so vocal about the point of order and compliments the Moderator

Mission Coordination
  This Assembly has added $929,054 to the 2013 budget and $823,186 to the 2014 budget
     The GAMC will have to figure out how to pay for it
Commissioner points out that certain numbers don’t add up. Checking the written it is a typo and the screen is corrected
The recommendation is approved without objection
The outgoing GACM chair, Mike Kruse, makes remarks and thanks Linda Valentine for all the work she has done and the transformations that have happened
He passes the stole to the new GAMC chair, the first young adults GAMC chair – Matt Schramm
The new chair thanks Mike for his leadership and encourages young adults to get involved
This concludes our report

Linda Valentine and Gradye Parsons give a promo for Big Tent

The Committee on Local Arrangements is recognized and gets a standing ovation
Makes presentations to Moderator and Vice-Moderator
Thanks to the c
ast of thousands who helped out at this GA including the executive committee of COLA

General Assembly Procedures
  The Committee Moderator reports the membership numbers that were used for calculations in response to an earlier question
  Cost of actions for 2012 – $240 (has to be absorbed)
  For 2013 the Assembly’s actions will add 0.15 to per capita budget
  For 2014 the Assembly’s actions will add 0.08 to per capita budget
  There has been an agreement to absorb some costs from reserves so impact on assessed per capita will be lower –  $0.07 in 2013 and $0.04 in 2014. That brings the total per capita assessment to $6.87 for 2013 and $7.02 for 2014.
Approved on voice vote
Committee leads a short song of their own composition based on “We are one in the Spirit” thanking COLA

COGA makes some final announcements and thanks

Thanks and presentation from OGA to COLA
COLA Chair is presented with a commemorative plate

The Committee on Local Arrangements for the 221st General Assembly reports
Gives thanks that their video person produced a long and short version of their video and will now show the short version (applause)

The Stated Clerk gives thanks to all the people that have run the platform and worked backstage and behind the scenes.
And thanks to the commissioners for their hard work.

Moderator makes his thanks for the help of “his people”

Announcements – Leave the keypads on the table.

We now go into closing worship.

[My live-blogging ends here. Thanks to all who have followed along.
Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for letting me crash at their place.
I have posted my regular summary sheet on the GA on www.ga220.info
Now to worship and after that to go be a tourist for the rest of the day. And get some sleep.

Grace and peace to all of you.]

220th General Assembly of the PC(USA) — Friday Evening

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  		Live blogging the Friday evening session. (And I hope I don’t have to change that title to include Saturday Morning)
If you are following along live you will want to hit refresh periodically to reload the post. (And please excuse the typos as my fingers fly – even more so with the fatigue at the end of the week.)

I think I have some control on the technical difficulties with my connection. It is better but not perfect. I will do the best I can. Others have agreed that the wifi in the room is so saturated and they are also having problems staying connected.

The order agreed to in the afternoon session is:

Civil Union and Marriage (in progress)
Foundation video
Church Growth and PILP
Church Orders
Immigration
Mission Coordination
Peacemaking and Intermational Issues
Health Issues
Authoritative Interpretation
Review of Biennial Assemblies (please pray for them)

[And an apology for all those who are rejoining this in progress based on my inaccurate restart time of 7:30 PM]

Get ready folks – it is not clear if we go until we are done or if we have to adjourn at 11 PM due to shuttle bus schedule. Brings to mind my post about the Church of Scotland being able to take an afternoon off.

The house band gives us some nice music to get seated by

Brought to order by Moderator Presa and led through the prayer cycle led by two YAADs.

1001 Worshiping communities video

Bills and Overtures
We need to finish the Civil Union and Marriage Committee and then we have eight more committees to go.

Memorial Minute for Howard Rice, Moderator of the 191st General Assembly of the UPCUSA

Committee on Civil Union and Marriage – Committee 13 – In progress

Item 13-NB

Motion from the floor – Amendment that the action on 13-04 answer this item and all other items
Amendment to the amendment to remove 13-05 from the item
Discussion on the amendment to the amendment
   Please let us have the discussion on 13-05
   We have just been through a four hour discussion (actually 3.5) and we don’t need to do it again
Questions about where we are parliamentary process wise
   We need to talk about the AI – reformed and always reforming
Call the question – approved on voice vote
Vote on the amendment to the amendment
   Advisory delegates – TSADs 71% yes, YAADs 58% yes, EADs and MADs even split
   Commissioners – Defeated 307-334-4

[Sorry, just had a lovely conversation with an ecumenical representative and missed a bunch of the action]

Amendment to the amendment – Move to consider 13-02 on its own
   Commissioners – 257 yes, 378 no

Vote on original amendment – Item 13-04 being answered by 13-NB and 13-NB answers all other items
   Commissioners – 480 yes, 157 no, 3 abstain

Debate on the amended motion
   Commissioner speaks to the tension of doing ceremonies where it is legal and being public about it. Draw attention to it.

Call the question – no objection
Will all other items be answered by 13-NB as amended
   Advisors – Yes except TSADs
   Commissioners – 489 yes, 152 no

With thanks this concludes our report

The motion to create a Relief of Conscience fund relative to divestment was out of order earlier today. Now back but first need agreement to suspend the rules

Motion to suspend the rules (requires 2/3 or 460 commissioners)
   Advisory delegates – No
   Commissioners – 180 yes, 451 no, 2 abstain

[This Assembly knows it will be a long night and is now into streamlining mode. Sorry.]

Foundation video held over from earlier – in the interest of time has been skipped

The Vice-Moderator assumes the chair

Motion – can we compile a mega-consent agenda (my term) for all remaining items that passed unanimously.
Since this is going to take time the Moderator directs each remaining
committee to compile a consent agenda of items that passed by a large
majority.

Committee on Church Growth and PILP – Committee 16

Financial impact of committee’s report
Introduces the director of PILP – Thanks and good news. Up for reelection
Consent agenda approved
Video on College Ministry – UKirk ministries

Item 16-02 1001 Worshiping communities
Commissioner points out they won’t pay per capita until they become churches and they should have Presbyterian identity
Approved on voice vote

Item 16-07 The Church in the 21st Century
Moves all 10 recommendations
Request to remove recommendation 2
Request to remove recommendation 5

Without objection proceed to a vote on all other recommendations
Passed on voice vote

Item 16-07 Recommendation 2 – Bivocational Ministry
Report asked for a task force, Committee recommends just referring it to OGA
Amendment for a 7 member task force
Question about financial implications – $21,805 per capita
TSAD speaks against because it does not address ethnic groups
TSAD asks why there is no seminary representation since it affects seminary students
Commissioner speaks in favor but says that in actuality none of this goes far enough
Commissioner speaks against – committee dealt with it and trust the committee
Call the question – approved on voice vote
Voice vote – amendment fails
Voice vote on Item 16-7 Rec 2 – approved

Item 16-07 Recommendation 5 – Dealing with online information, committee modified for financial implications
Amendment to restore much of the original language
Committee says that of all 10 recommendations this had the largest impact – $1.2M. Cost savings
Question: Who decides what is essential? Answer: GAMC itself
Question: What does GACOR think of this? GACOR makes all its resources available in English, Spanish and Korean
Question: Why is this so expensive? Translation services
Commissioner in favor of the amendment because it is welcoming
Commissioner against the amendment asking to trust the committee work
Question called – passed on voice vote
Amendment defeated on voice vote
Item 16-07 Rec 5 approved on voice vote

Item 16-03 African American Church Growth Strategy
Commissioner rises to commend the action and the work of the task force
Debate closed on voice vote
Approved on voice vote

Item 16-06 On growing a diverse church
No discussion
Approved on voice vote

Information items – Affirmed the recepients of Women of Faith Awards; Affirmed the recipients of the Sam and Helen Walton Awards

This concludes the report
5 minute break – Music for the house band joined by the Vice-Moderator of Bills and Overtures on drums/bongo
[9:17 PM Seven committees to go]

Committee on Church Orders and Ministry – Committee 7
Financial Implications
Consent agenda – 12 items
   Remove 07-08
   Approved on voice vote

Group – Freedom of Conscience – Items 07-10 and 07-11
Recommend disapproval with comment
No discussion
Passed on voice vote

Group – Honoring Christ
Item 07-17 Recommend Approve as amended with comment
There is more than one way to interpret scripture
Minority Report – Substitute 07-02 to amend G-2.0104b with language that includes “marriage between a man and a woman”

Perfecting the main motion – declared perfected

Perfecting the substitute motion
Amendment – asking presbyteries to delay ordination debates and votes
  No discussion
  Fails on voice vote
Amendment – change “holy marriage” to “the covenant of marriage”
  No discussion
  Approved on voice vote
Substitute motion declared perfected

“Shall the substitute motion become the main motion?”
Debate
The effect of the substitute will be to place back before the presbyteries the language that was removed by 10-A. This is not the season to go through this debate
This will help heal the breach and bring unity
The only thing this minority report has the capacity to do is plunge us into turmoil
This amendment draws from the Heidelberg Confession [sic]
Question has been called – 96% yes
Shall the substitute become the main motion?
   Advisory delegates – TSADs 14% yes, YAADs 23% yes, EADs 50% yes – 50% abstain, MADs even split yes/no
   Commissioners – 169 yes,  437 no

Debate on the Main Motion
Generational difference
Scriptural support
The questions has been called and debate is closed with 95% yes
Main motion
   Advisory delegates – TSADs 79% yes, YAADs – 74% yes, EADs – 67% yes, MADs – 60% yes
   Commissioners – 405 yes, 230 no

This is not a good sign – the caterer has brought out coffee and tea…

Prayer

Move that 07-18 and 07-24 be answered with 07-17
No discussion
Approved on voice vote

Move that 07-02 be disapproved
No discussion
Approve on voice vote

Group – Ordination Standards
Move that Items 07-03 and 07-06 be answered with the action on 07-02

Move to approve Item 07-05 addition of “repentance of sin” and “means of grace”
Debate
Commissioner asks disapproval since it is redundant and confusing
What is wrong with “repentance of sin” If you are against repentance of sin vote against this overture (got groan from Assembly)
Question: What is meant by “means of grace.” Committee chair – we are not sure [May I suggest the Theopedia entry]
Question: This was divided in committee but was approved. What was committee sense? Answer – why would we not want to state these things
With a bad theological pun that is probably only funny when you are this tired the question has been called
Debate closed on voice vote
Advisory delegates – TSADs 35% yes, YAADs 70% yes, EADs one voting abstained, MADs 33% yes
Commissioners – 329 yes, 275 no, 9 abstain

[We now start the EAD watch – it happens every year: how long will the remaining EAD stick it out]

Group – Titles used for those in ordered ministry
Committee recommends disapproval
Return to Minister of Word and Sacrament and Elder
Does this really help? This is an internal title and others can be uses as appropriate
ACC – Teaching elder is that name of that order of ministry. There are other titles for what a person does.
Voice vote unclear
Electronic vote
   Advisory – TSADs 84% yes, YAAD 82% yes, EAD 3 no, 1 abstain, MADs 80% yes
   Commissioners – 412 yes, 200 no, 3 abstain

Item 07-08 Operations manuals
Removed from Consent agenda
Committee recommends disapproval
This will make it more difficult for some presbyteries [I’ll have to read it to figure out exactly what]
Voice vote is unclear
Electronic vote
    Advisory delegates – TSADs 88% yes, YAADs 86% yes, EADs 2 yes, 2 no, 2 abstain; MADs 83% yes
    Commissioners – 461 yes, 151 no, 5 abstain

This concludes the report

[10:38 PM Six committees to go]

Committee on Immigration Issues – Committee 12
Every item amended: Remove us versus them language and current legal language

Now place every item of Committee 12 on the consent agenda (wild applause)
   Remove 12-03 and 12-09
Consent agenda approved as modified
Commissioner wants to pull 12-04 – too late

Item 12-03 Section 2
Move to amend to have language that would encourage GA to assist immigrant churches to get ministers from overseas
The question has been called [There is now a commissioner who has the job of formally calling the question and has his own subtitle on the screen – “Call
the question, Edd!”]
Motion to amend does not pass
Committee recommends approval
Debate
Debate suspended without objection
Approved on voice vote

[Gradye returns and lets commissioners know that the buses have been extended and will run “for a while.” Yes it is now 11:00 PM. And Gradye is squeezing on a stress ball.]

Item 12-09
Amend to include the PC(USA) to develop initiatives that will enable theological institutions in affiliate countries to include Presbyterian Polity education in training
Maker of motion speaks to importance of knowing local language of immigrant fellowships but need the polity training
Questions: Have schools asked for this? Yes and no
Call the question, Edd! Debate is closed
[The Vice-Moderator is getting tired and stumbling over his words]
Amendment disapproved on voice vote
Main motion approved on voice vote

That concludes the committee’s report

[11:07 Five committees to go]

The Moderator resumes the chair and to the strains of Also sprach Zarathustra and with a spotlight removes his dress shirt to reveal a t-shirt, presumably from the that says “I’m Freaken Awesome” on the front and “Mr. Moderator” on the back. [So is the use of Also sprach Zarathustra the promotion of a non-Christian religion? ]

Committee on Mission Coordination – Committee 10
Nine items plus five parts of another item placed on the consent agenda
Items 10-03 and 10-21 removed form the consent agenda
The remainder of the consent agenda agreed to

Item 10-03 Young Adult Volunteers
Recommend approval of an alternate resolution
Person who pulled it just wanted to lift up this program and not have it fly through on the consent agenda
Approved on voice vote

Item 10-21 Christmas International House
Again – Just wanted to highlight this program
Approved on voice vote

Item 10-15 Study on status of women in the church
Recommend approval
Stained glass ceiling is still present
Question: How will money be spent? Answer: Survey interviews and compiling data
Question: The expense is $127K over six years. Is it worth it? Answer from Committee: Committee felt worth is. Expert: First study of its kind
Commissioner speaks against it as a lot of money to spend on studying the obvious. Could be used for mission
YAAD – Cost is high but change is crucial
Defeated on voice vote
Motion to disapprove 10-15, approved on voice vote

Item 10-16 Women of Color Consultation
Recommend approval with comment, there are financial implications

Item 10-17 Hispanic/Latino/a Leadership Convention
Recommend approval as amended
Answer by item 16-07
Approved on voice vote

Item 10-14 Special Offerings Task Force
Minority Report
The minority report reflects the original recommendations of the Task Force
The goal of the substitute motion is not to do away with beloved special offerings – the truth is our system is doing away with them if only 14% of our congregations are taking them
Commissioner requests the chair of the special offerings task force speak
Moderator says we are not there yet
Commissioner says they want to amend both main and substitute motion. Stated Clerk point out that you can only amend the one you are going to vote for.

And at this point I need to catch a ride back to my lodgings. Check twitter for continued updates, I know @landonwhitsitt and @andyjames are still in the house
Good night

[Logging off at Midnight local time]