Category Archives: GA business

Upcoming PC(USA) General Assembly — Late-March Update

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Things continue to move forward towards the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).  There has been little “news” but enough changes since my last update that I think it is time for another one.

First some “fluff” items:
The General Assembly web site has changed it’s “look and feel” so it is now unique in the PC(USA) domain.  It no longer fits the standard design you see on most other pages but has its own style with the navigation bar across the top, a wider area for content, and a gray “motif” with less contrast than the main pages.  I don’t see a change in the content though.  One thing that is gone is the prominent link to the Committee on Local Arrangements (COLA) and the COLA web site still has a style based on the PC(USA) main page.

The second item is that my son finally got registered on-line for the assembly.  The process was slow and threw back server errors a couple of times, but worked in the end.

Finally, there is now a detailed schedule of events posted for the GA, 26 pages worth, listing not just the business sessions and worship, but all the special meals you can buy tickets for and the speakers or awards at those meals.  My son looked at that and asked “but what would I be interested in?”  I pointed him to a couple that are up his alley.   I’ll return to a couple of interesting items on the schedule at the end of this post.

Over the last couple of weeks the number of overtures has only grown slightly, but the number of recommendations listed on PC-biz has started explode.

For the overtures, there are six new ones, bringing the total to 86.  Of these, there is one more about the FOG report (Overture 81)  from the Presbytery of Western North Carolina to receive the report, have officers and Governing Bodies study it, get back to the Stated Clerk by Jan. 1, 2010, and refer the business to the 219th GA in 2010.  Overture 86 is fairly routine business to establish Truckee Lutheran Presbyterian Church as a union church in Truckee, Nevada.  There is also a social witness overture, 82, from Twin Cities Area Presbytery, challenging the denomination to work for shalom in the world.  The overture singles out no specific geographic area or particular conflict, but does oppose the doctrine of preemptive war as well as torture while supporting the promotion of human rights.

The other three overtures are more unique, have some nuance, and have interesting implications for Presbyterian politics.

The first is Overture 83, “On Equal Rights for Families of Same-Gender Partners” from New Brunswick Presbytery.  This overture touches both sides of the PC(USA)’s seemingly paradoxical stand on same-sex relationships.  As the rational of the overture points out, the PC(USA) has a history of social witness promotion of the civil rights of same-sex couples.  At the same time the denomination has been embroiled in the controversy over the ban on the ordination of active homosexuals and on same-sex unions.  Some, on both sides, see these opposite stands as contradictory while many in the center do understand the differing social and polity stands to be perfectly compatible with our Reformed theology.  This overture is interesting because it touches both parts and blurs the difference.  Point 1 is pretty clear on renewing the commitment to civil rights.  But Point 2 asks for a special committee to report to the next GA on the relationship between our two positions.  Specifically it asks for a report on:

a.The history of the laws governing marriage and civil union, including current policy debates.
b. How the theology and practice of marriage have developed in the Reformed and broader Christian tradition.
c. The relationship between civil marriage and Christian marriage.
d. The effects of current laws on same-gender partners and their children.
e. The place of covenanted same-gender partnerships in the Christian community.

The final point in the overture is to support congregations as they “extend pastoral care to same-gender couples and their families.”

Overture 84 is a request from the Flint River Presbytery to change the standing rules so that amending the standing rules or suspending the standing rules only requires a majority vote rather than a super-majority of 2/3.  We will see how far this gets because one of our subordinate standards (just kidding!) is Robert’s Rules of Order which has a 2/3 vote to suspend the rules.  All that the overture rational says is that the current 2/3 imposes an “unrealistic constraint.” I have seen the GA amend and suspend the rules several times so it can be done for good reason.  Somebody who wants to look for “conspiracy theories” might find something in this change.  I’ll have to reread the minutes from the last GA to see what business was related to a failed suspension of the standing rules.

Finally, overture 85 proposes a change in the investment restrictions on General Assembly Council (GAC) allowing them to invest with organizations other than the Presbyterian Foundation.  The rational is that the GAC is the only PC(USA) entity required to use the Foundation exclusively and it points out that the Board of Pensions has done better elsewhere.  This overture was brought by the Synod of the Southwest.

As I mentioned above, the number of recommendations to the Assembly is growing, currently up to 26 beginning with the Report of the Form of Government Task Force as Recommendation 1.  In this post I’m not going to do a item-by-item analysis of the recommendations.  Some are routine approvals of a new seminary president (7), seminary trustees (6), Historical Society and Mountain Retreat Association Board members (20 and 26).  Some are the official wording or the items from the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy that I discussed in February.  Many of the remaining are recommendations from the General Assembly Council.  Let me highlight a couple:

Recommendation 19 is unique, so far, in that it is the only recommendation with proposed changes to the Book of Order.  This is unusual to come from an agency, but this is the result of the referral to the GAC of an overture to the 217th GA in 2006 to create a non-geographic Korean language sy
nod.  Following a consultation in December 2006 the GAC is recommending that a non-geographic synod not be authorized, but is suggesting changes to the Book of Order that would allow a church in a synod without a non-geographic language presbytery be able to join a non-geographic presbytery in another synod.  This does have interesting polity implications since Overture 10 is asking for a general flexibility in presbytery and synod membership.

Another document suggested for change is the Open Meeting Policy in recommendation 18.  This is more of a change for clarification saying that observers may not only attend, but have copies of the documents, and that cases under the Rules of Discipline also fall under the category of closed meetings.

There have been some new items among groups affiliated with the PC(USA) related to GA.  On the schedule I mentioned earlier, you will find that on any given day you can have a briefing by Presbyterians for Renewal at lunch time.

Also at every lunch break will be “Something Happening for Love Justice and Jesus” by That All May Freely Serve (TAMFS).  The description is:

Come out to celebrate the ALL of the Church’s future. Music? Art? Theater? Something Else? Watch for signs, check www.tamfs.org for where to gather for these daily events.

This appears to be linked to their advocacy at GA this year titled “New Church (R)evolution!”  Their web site describes it as:

Young adults and seminarians – our New Church (R)evolution team – will
claim their birthright as members of a just and inclusive church.
Through positive, life-giving action, the New Church (R)evolution will be the church we seek, as we invite the PCUSA to have the courage to join us in living into freedom and justice! [emphasis in the original]

With the mention of “young adults,” and the descriptions on the associated brochure, the target audience is clearly the same as has been the concern in the various discussions of Web 2.0 and the future of the church.  As the brochure says in one box, “Studies consistently show that people under 35 have heard the gospel message and support the inclusion of all believers, LGBTQ or otherwise. So while some people continue to use tactics to ensure exclusion, the next generation has already decided for the full equality of all people.”

Clearly TAMFS has a strategy for connecting with the younger generation in ways familiar to that culture.  It will be interesting to see if it does connect, if there are enough younger generation present to connect with, and if any conservative/evangelical leaning groups will have a similar presence.

This will be interesting so stay tuned for GA.

Notes on African Presbyterian Churches

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Over the last couple of weeks there have been some interesting reports about Presbyterian activities and politics in parts of Africa, but the reports of governing body actions have been too short to warrant a full post.  So here is a post bundling news from Sudan, Ghana, and Malawi.

Sudan
There were two brief reports by Anyuak Media from the General Assembly of the Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church (SPEC) a couple of weeks ago.  The first article is about the Rev. Philip Akway Obang being elected as the General Secretary of the SPEC.  Rev. Philip (as the article refers to him) has a degree in business administration as well as theological training.  The article says that he has been a church worker for 18 years doing evangelism and parish ministry, probably in a capacity like a Commissioned Lay Pastor.  He completed his theological training four years ago and was ordained a pastor two years ago.  One of the reasons for the article from Anyuak Media is because Pastor Philip is the only Anyuak pastor in the SPEC so there is cultural pride here.

The second article about the GA talks about establishing the first Synod in the SPEC.  The article reports that the new Synod will have two presbyteries, the North and West, and have about 70 pastors.  This is pretty much the extent of details on the new Synod and from a polity and connectionalism perspective it is not clear the role of the new governing body.  The article almost makes it sound like it is the highest governing body and that it might be operating in parallel with the GA.  Part of the confusion might be related to the church structure necessitated by the civil war in that country.  According to Reformed Online the SPEC maintains separate administrative units in government held areas and rebel-controlled areas so this might be related to that division.

The Anyuak Media article also provides a brief overview of the Presbyterian church in Sudan and the Reformed Online site expands on that.  The SPEC is the northern church while the Presbyterian Church of Sudan (PCOS) works mainly in the south.  Unlike northern and southern US Presbyterians, this is not a result of the civil war but due to the history of their development.  The SPEC began as a presbytery of the Egyptian reformed church while the PCOS was established by American missionaries.  Both have parallel administrations due to the civil war and both have churches in the other’s regions, apparently without problems.  The World Council of Churches web site says that they cooperatively run a seminary.  The half-century history of civil war has kept the two churches from uniting.

Ghana
The Presbyterian Church of Ghana is one of the more active African branches and it enjoys a good working relationship with the civil government.  A couple of news articles have appeared recently.  One covers the installation of the new national executive committee of the Bible Study and Prayer Group of the Presbyterian Church in Kumasi.  The featured speaker was the Right-Reverend Dr Yaw Frimpong-Manso, the current Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ghana.  He reminded the new officers to live exemplary lives and to be agents of change.  Another article covers the first graduation from a new campus at Okwahu of the Presbyterian University College.  The ceremonies included a message from Ghana’s President John Agyekum Kufuor read by Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Minister of State in Charge of Tertiary Education.  The message said “the Presbyterian Church had been a faithful ally of government in
providing the manpower needs of the country since it established a
primary school in 1843 and a training college in 1948.”  The article does note that the GA Moderator was present at this ceremony as well.  And finally, regional Presbyterian leaders have condemned violence in Bawku that destroyed property belonging to workers at the local Presbyterian hospital and is causing some of the workers to leave.  The church is actively providing supplies to workers who lost property in the violence.

Malawi
This not so much news, but blog posts about visiting Malawian churches on the blog Swords into Plowshares, the Peacemaking Blog of the PC(USA).  These blog entries record the visits, meetings, adventures, and worship services of a PC(USA) affiliated group as they traveled through this part of Africa.  The visit included the Presbyteries of Blantyre and Dwangwa, and the Livingstonia Synod of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian (CCAP).  One major focus of the trip was the programs to combat HIV/AIDS in the country and caring for those with and affected by the disease.  The PC(USA) has a significant presence in partnership work in the country.  While the blog entries make no mention of the internal controversy in the CCAP, and I have heard no updates for a while, several of these governing bodies are involved in territorial disputes over church planting I have mentioned before.

Upcoming PC(USA) General Assembly — Mid-March Update

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As the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gets closer the overture process is winding down, but lots of other things are winding up.

On the official web pages, my observation in my last post was correct and the GA Business page has been generalized, the overtures removed, and all information shifted over to PC-biz.  Also, the two previously unlisted overtures, 62 and 68 have appeared in the list now.

One can understand why overture 68 was being worked on for so long.  Foothills Presbytery has put together an extensive overture, both in recommendation and rational, that does some major word-smithing of the Form of Government Task Force (FOG) proposed text for the new Foundations of Presbyterian Polity and Form of Government sections of the Book of Order.  I should note right up front that the task force might have rearranged the first four chapters into three new chapters of Foundations, but this overture rewrites a lot of text in both sections to change the theological focus.  The overture runs almost 16,000 words in length and if pasted into a word processor comes to 38 pages.  Just some more light reading for the commissioners.

To quote the overture the intent of this theological redirection is:

1. Ensure that any revised Form of Government (and Foundations) approved by the General Assembly shall give pre-eminence to the Reformation marks of the true Church, with due consideration of their inner dynamics.

2. Ensure that any revised Form of Government (and Foundations) approved by the General Assembly shall give preference to the church participating in the mission of the triune God in contrast to the church as the delegated/ instrumental bearer (or provisional
demonstration) of God’s mission to the world.

To put it another way, from the Rational, “the marks of the true Church are participatory—where Christ is, there is the Church (ubi christus, ibi ecclesia). The marks are not instrumentalist—where the church is, there is Christ (ubi ecclesia, ibi christus).”  So this is about making the constitutional language reflect the initiative of God and that the church participates in the mission of God.  Much of the language in the General Rational section of this overture closely parallels the Missional Polity document the task force worked with and this overture appears to be proposing changes to the FOG that would more closely align the two in theological perspective.

As I read through the proposed language I find no changes in church operations, although the argument can be made that the FOG Task Force has removed operations from the new Form of Government anyway.  In some cases the word-smithing does not really change any language but places things into more readable forms, like creating bulleted lists, or splitting items in a list into more exclusive bullet points.  But there are a lot of changes in language placing new emphasis on the Triune God and the mission of God (missio Dei).  Some of the changes are linguistically subtle.  Some of these strike me as just some “clean-up” editing.  For example (added text in italics)

G-1.02 A congregation in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) can be organized and dissolved only by the authority of a presbytery and shall function under the provisions of this Constitution.

Some, while subtle word-wise, are theologically more important.  An example of this:  A line in G-1.0301 would change from

One becomes a member of the church through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and acceptance of Christ’s Lordship in all of life.

to

Believing that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord over all of life makes one a member of the church.

This is a good example of one consistent change in the overture where the language of “faith” in Jesus Christ seems to be uniformly replaced with “believing.”  Change like this are intended to place a greater emphasis on participating, as opposed to call and response.

As I read through this overture it strikes me that this seems to be somebody or some group’s idea of what the task force report should be if it is to be truly missional.  Looking at the members of the task force there is no one from Foothills so it did not come directly from a member who wanted to see more.  The overture is so complete and so extensive there has to be a “rest of the story” on this one.  It would be interesting to know how long the presbytery commissioners wrestled with this overture since it is so extensive.  And being this extensive, it will give the commissioners on the GA Form of Government Revision Committee even more to do.  I look forward to listening to, and maybe talking with, the GA overture advocate for this one.

Well, what else is new?  Maybe the most high-profile of the remaining overtures is 80 from Peace River Presbytery which complains about the Evangelical Presbyterian Church “actively pursuing a strategy to persuade Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) churches to disaffiliate.”  One interesting twist on this overture is that it asks for an investigation by the Executive Office of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) into the EPC’s actions.   Remember that the current president of WARC and presumably the head of the Executive Committee is the Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick.  (Have I heard that name before?)  If it were to go to WARC he would obviously recuse himself from any investigation.  A similar overture that complained about the EPC was proposed, but not approved, by Mississippi Presbytery.

The remaining overtures are directed at social witness policy, or closely related topics.  Some that impact PC(USA) entities: 76 on Directing GAC to produce Adolescent Human Development Resources since the 217th General Assembly discontinued the human sexuality resources; 78 on Directing PDA (Presbyterian Disaster Assistance) to continue nurturing relationships with presbyteries affected by the storms of 2005; 79 is another request to reinstate the Office for Environmental Justice, similar to overture 24; and finally 77 is a request that this GA celebrate “Living Waters for the World.”  The remaining new overtures are 73 – “On the use of non-disposable food service items,” 74 – On addressing the violence and suffering inflicted on Iraqi women…, and 75 – On temporary suspension of military aid to the State of Israel.

That does it for the major new business that I have seen published.  I would note that there will be a meet and greet with all four Moderator candidates at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, NJ, on April 25.  And the Witherspoon Society has gotten their GA web site started.

Upcoming PC(USA) General Assembly — End of February Update

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As the month closes out there are a couple of significant updates in the business for the upcoming General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

First, there is a fourth and probably final nominee for the Moderator of the General Assembly.  The Presbyterian News Service is reporting today the Elder Roger Shoemaker, a member of Southern Heights Presbyterian Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, in the Homestead Presbytery, was endorsed at the February 16 Presbytery meeting to stand for election as Moderator.  The news article lists his past service to the denomination as including vice-moderator and moderator of Homestead Presbytery and vice-moderator of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies.  His work with a partner church in East Germany led to his current service as Co-convener of the PC(USA) Czech Mission Network. On his web site he emphasizes both his distinctive and perspective as the only Elder in the group of nominees as well as his international experience.  (I will say that while the web site looks nice and has good information, there are some bugs and formatting issues to be worked out so it looks like it was thrown together quickly.)  On the site he talks about mission being a long-term commitment and partnership, and about building a strong spiritual foundation in the membership of the PC(USA), not a weak foundation made of sand.

I should also note that the first candidate to be endorsed for Moderator, the Rev. Bill Teng, has also gotten his web site up, running, and publicized.  I like the simplicity of it with the “Why Bill?”, “About Bill”, and “Ask Bill” tabs.  In addition, he talks about “unpacking” his thoughts so I expect we should keep watching the site for more of his thoughts and theology.

As for business, it looks like the GA Business page may be dead because the information keeps accumulating on www.pc-biz.org with no updates to the Business page.  The PC-biz system is now up to 72 overtures with a couple of interesting ones in there.

First, there are now two overtures from Philadelphia Presbytery to amend the new Form of Government in the FOG Report.  Each overture asks that the material in the Additional Recommendations of the report be swapped with the proposed language in the main report and the main report language become the Additional Recommendation.  The first, Overture 71, would make the language that any temporary pastor except an interim could be eligible for the permanent on 3/4 vote of presbytery.  The main proposed language now is that the interim would be eligible in the same way as the others.  The second, Overture 72, makes the language that governing bodies above the session may establish committees to advocate for diversity in leadership the main report language.

There is another recommendation, Overture 67 from Foothills Presbytery, that would send the FOG report to the sessions and presbyteries for a two year study and bring the recommended changes to the next GA.  It would also commend the Task Force for its work and emphasize that the spirit of the report is in line with what the PC(USA) needs.  Interestingly, it neither dismisses the Task Force nor explicitly keeps it active.

In the list Overture 68 is missing, but if you look this one up it is also from Foothills and is on Amending the proposed FOG.  No further details.

The remaining three are polity issues.  Overture 66 from Central Washington Presbytery would have the Office of the General Assembly and the General Assembly Council examine the synod structure with an eye to streamlining.  Overture 69 is very similar to Overture 60 and would replace G-6.0106b with a paragraph that makes the examining body responsible for determining suitability for ordination and removes old Authoritative Interpretations against the ordination of practicing homosexuals.

And Overture 70 may be the most interesting of the bunch.  It is titled “On allowing provisional amendments to the Book of Order.”  It would allow the General Assembly, by a 2/3 vote, to authorize a “field test” of a proposed amendment in up to six presbyteries and to have them report back at the next GA, at which time if the results are positive the GA would send it to the presbyteries for the customary vote.  However, the field test would only be applicable to changes to the organization, structure, or operation of governing bodies.  Because of the flexibility build into the FOG report this is one overture that does not strike me as carrying over to the proposed Form of Government.

So there we have it.  And I can tell you that the information machine is starting to roll at the Office of the General Assembly.  My son, who will be a YAD, has started getting the e-mails and the letters preparing him for it, but no business yet.  The commissioner/delegate training session has been scheduled so that is now on his calendar.  It is getting closer.

Upcoming PC(USA) General Assembly — At the 120 Day Mark

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By my count, there are now 120 days until the start of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).  The day is significant since it marks a couple of deadlines for the meeting, maybe the most important of which is the last day to submit constitutional business for the Assembly.

Related to business, in surfing around I found that the PC(USA) rolled out their new business tracking web interface back in December.  Yes, the previous system from 2006, “Les,” has been retired.  When I now go to Les I get an error message. (Yes, I’ll say it “No Les, no more.”) The new system is called “PC-biz” and can be found at www.pc-biz.org.  It is web based, uses ASP and javascript, and has a generally pleasing web interface and a “printer view” function to get rid of all the frames for viewing and printing.  The specs are generous requiring only Windows 2000 or Mac OS 9.1 but a relatively modern browser.  Some components were missing when I test drove it on Mac OS 9.2 with IE 5.5.  If you are using IE it needs 6 or better.  However, on this Linux machine with Firefox it seems to be doing fine with the extensive surfing I’ve been doing and it even worked well in Konqueror.  And it seems to do just fine in the current Firefox on a Windows 98 machine.  The FAQ says that they are migrating the Les data from 2006 to PC-biz.  And when you register and log in there is a nice filter option to view business related to the governing body you specified in your profile. (I have not tried switching back and forth between my Synod and Presbytery yet.)

One of the other things about this tracking system is that you can see the overtures when they hit the system, not just after they have been “perfected” by the Office of the General Assembly and make their way to the GA Business page.  So now, even though the Business page still lists the 30 I have already discussed, PC-biz lists 65 with only the last still listed as in review before going to the full Assembly.

When I found that there are now 35 overtures that I have not discussed my first reaction was that it would be a really long post to get caught up.  However after looking through them it should be no surprise that two topics swamp all the others in these overtures.  All together now:  “FOG and PUP.”

FOG ( Form of Government Task Force):  If you were to judged based upon the overtures you would think the change is moving too fast.  In this group are overtures: 34 (Northumberland Presbytery) – Send Foundations to the presbyteries, Keep the task force, study the rest for two years; 43 (Huntingdon Presbytery) – Send Foundations to the presbyteries but require 2/3 vote, Study Government for two years and then need 2/3 vote to pass whether you send it in two years or now, Keep the task force; 47 (Sacramento Presbytery, Concurrence St. Andrew Presbytery) – Study for two years, Dismiss the task force; 49 (Donegal Presbytery) – Commend to the presbyteries and study for two years; 57 (Southern New England Presbytery) – Dismiss the task force and make it available for presbyteries to edit if they wish and resubmit to a future GA; 58 (Middle Tennessee Presbytery) – Study for two years, Keep the task force to deal with the feedback; 59 (East Tennessee Presbytery) – Send it back to the task force for a detailed plan in six months for other governing bodies to review and a “strike-and-insert” form of the amendments [Editorial comment: OUCH!  Did you read the side-by-side?  There is so much going on in there that a full strike-and-insert might be useful in places but would be chaos in others.]; 61 (Plains and Peaks Presbytery) – Just refer it to next GA, Not in the Recommendation but in the Rational that now is not the time and we need time to study it.  I think all of that speaks for itself.  However, if we wait two years will the church really study it?  I’m not sure our record is all that good at doing that.  Overture 57 is interesting polity-wise since it wants the new Form of Government to be proposed by a Presbytery, not a task force.  So that is about 1/4 of the new overtures.

Heidelberg Catechism:  Before I move on to PUP specifically, there are two overtures that look to revise the Heidelberg Catechism in the Book of Confessions.  While I mentioned the overture request from Pittsburgh Presbytery in a previous post, it turns out that officially Pittsburgh is a concurring request on Overture 36 from the Northern Kansas Presbytery.  New York City Presbytery also concurred on this overture which calls for initiating the process of study for revising that confessional document.  Boston Presbytery, with Winnebago Presbytery concurring, proposed a slightly different approach in Overture 45, to ask permission to print the Christian Reformed Church in North America’s 1988 translation.

PUP, Ordination Standards, G-6.0106b:  This is a little bit wider of a category, but in the end they are all paths to the same issue.  In this group are overtures: 32 (Scioto Valley Presbytery) –  To have the Stated Clerk find ways to collect and share presbyteries’ theological reflection processes as recommended by the PUP report; 40 (Genesee Valley Presbytery) – Remove G-6.0106b and render ineffective all related Authoritative Interpretations (AI); 44 (Huntingdon Presbytery) – Rescind the PUP AI and pass a new one affirming G-6.0108b {Editorial comment: Don’t see the date of Presbytery action, but surely before the recent GAPJC decisions.]; 46 (Boston Presbytery) – Strike the current G-6.0106b and replace there and elsewhere with language affirming the promises made in the ordination vows; 54 (Pittsburgh Presbytery) – To amend G-6.0108b to clarify that standards specified elsewhere in the Book of Order can not be exempted using the conscience clause [Editorial:  Pre-GAPJC but after their policy was overturned by the Synod PJC]; 60 (Cincinnati Presbytery) – Replace G-6.0106b with language that the examining body determines suitability for ordination and asks to nullify old AI’s about standards; 64 (John Knox Presbytery) – An AI regarding G-6.0108 that would require presbyteries to consider exemptions in “faith and practice” except those related to the office they are called to.  Can’t wait to see the advisories on that last one in light of the GAPJC decisions.

Deep breath.  OK, I’ll keep lumping for a bit here but the categories will become a bit more general in a minute.  That is almost exactly half covered.  Nineteen to go.

Per Capita:  With the other high-profile issues catching the spotlight, this could be the sleeper that comes back to surprise everyone.  There is already Overture 20 that addresses per capita issues ( main page, PC-biz page).  In the latest batch there is also 38 (Grace Presbytery), 48 (Sierra Blanca Presbytery), and 56 (Santa Barbara Presbytery).  All of these call for limitations on what is in the GA per capita budget, Overture 56 by amendment to the Book of Order that would affect middle governing bodies as well.  The concern is to remove “mission” from the per capita and Overtures 20 and 48 specifically single out ecumenical agencies and relations and Overture 56 includes those in the list.  Obviously, passage of any of these would mean that the items shifted to mission would stretch the mission budget even thinner.

Social Witness:  Well, this is a mix but here it goes.  The following overtures address social witness policy, broadly defined, in one way or another:  31 (Susquehanna Valley Presbytery) – To endorse the World Council of Churches “Amman Call” regarding Arab-Israeli peace;  35 (Pacific Presbytery) – Have GAC develop a comprehensive HIV/AIDS policy; 41 (Denver Presbytery) – To support the Presbyterian Church in Zimbabwe in its humanitarian and social work; 51 (Baltimore Presbytery) – To have church governing bodies purchase goods that are from environmentally responsible manufacturing that are not sweatshops; 52 (Baltimore Presbytery) – To support the troops, but call on the government to pull out of Iraq; 53 (Pittsburgh Presbytery) – To annually have the Board of Pensions publish a Relief of Conscience Plan Report with details of BOP money spent on abortions and how members can opt out of paying for them; 55 (Pittsburgh Presbytery) – To direct all PC(USA) entities to present both sides of the abortion issue in balance; 63 (East Iowa Presbytery) – Encourages those visiting Israel and Palestine to visit Christian churches while there and seek balance between Israeli and Palestinian areas and perspectives while there.  Note that Overture 62 (Plains and Peaks Presbytery) on the international trafficking in women is not in the main list and further information is not available on its page to mere mortals.

This leaves six overtures, roughly one sixth, that address other polity areas, other institutional areas, or something else.  These are: 33 (Los Ranchos Presbytery) – To limit, without specifying the limit, the number of multiple filings someone can file in an abuse of the system; 37 (Blackhawk Presbytery) – On celebrating Children’s Day [You know, there is Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, there should be a Children’s Day]; 39 (Eastern Virginia Presbytery) – Adding to GAC a representative from the National Council of Presbyterian Men; 42 (Denver Presbytery) – To modify G-7.0301 to allow for ways that members of a congregation who can not be present at a congregational meeting due to health or work can still vote; 50 (Baltimore Presbytery) – To respond to an invitation from Muslim clerics for interfaith dialog; 65 (San Joaquin Presbytery) – Is a call to seek God through Solemn Assemblies for the renewal of the church.

Well, that wraps it up.  A lot there and I hope my very brief descriptions shed accurate light on these.  It should also be understood that anywhere the overture calls for a Book of Order change the change needs to be sent to the presbyteries for their approval.

Variations on a Theme

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This June’s General Assembly is shaping up to be an interesting one as ordination standards are addressed by the commissioners.  The inconsistency between churches and the variation in ordination practices are raising concerns among conservative congregations that the church’s polity and confessional standards are being stretched and an overture is being sent to GA to look at this.

Sound familiar?  Well this is the Presbyterian Church in America’s General Assembly.  Last month I mentioned that the Presbytery of Philadelphia was wrestling with the role of women in the diaconate and had approved this overture.  Well thanks to David in an article on the BaylyBlog, we now know that the official overture is available and he has filled in a few more of the details.

As I mentioned when this first came up, the questions boils down to the role of women in the diaconate and if they have a role how that should be recognized.  In this situation the women were not “ordained” but “commissioned” by the laying on of hands.  But the PCA has no definition or service of commissioning in this sense and there is an understanding among some that anything that involves laying on of hands and prayer is an ordination.  So, if it looks like an ordination and contains all the elements of an ordination, but you call it something else, is it still an ordination?

Well, the narrative attached to the overture provides us with the details in this case that I was lacking before.  It seems that in the Presbytery of Philadelphia there is a licensee who has taken exception to the office of deacon being open only to men.  Furthermore, the records review of the Presbytery minutes identified an exception regarding the commissioning of deaconesses at this licensee’s church.  To sort this out the Presbytery created a study committee and the church involved submitted to the Presbytery a proposed overture to GA to allow both men and women to be ordained as deacons on equal footing.  (That’s pretty much the “whereas” section of the overture.)  In light of these charges the Presbytery overtured the General Assembly to form an ad interim study committee to sort out the theology and give the PCA clear guidance, and clarify the polity if necessary, about the nature of commissioning and the role of women in the diaconate.

The post on the BaylyBlog also points to the church in question, liberti Church, posting on their photo page the pictures of worship service where the church was chartered which includes three pictures ( Pict 1, Pict 2, Pict 3) of the “commissioning” with the laying on of hands.

So, the PCA has some distinctions to sort out as the PC(USA) is doing.  And while the PCA and PC(USA) may be dealing with similar questions but different issues, the Presbyterian Church in Ireland may be addressing the ordination of women at its GA but from the other side:  women can be ordained, but congregations need not recognize it.

Upcoming PC(USA) General Assembly — Mid-February Update

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From an “official” point of view it has been a fairly quiet couple of weeks since my last post looking forward to the upcoming 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church(USA) (PC(USA)) in June.  We have had some personal business as I arranged for a hotel room for myself and we had to get release forms notarized for my son, who will be a YAD.  But on the PC(USA) web site there have been only a couple of items come up, and no new Moderator candidate endorsements or new overtures posted.  So, let’s get started…

First, shortly after that last post I found that Moderator candidate Carl Mazza has started a blog that he appears to update weekly, usually it seems in the early hours of Saturday morning, with moving stories about individuals and situations that he ministers to in his Meeting Ground ministry.

Second, I discovered that I was not drilling down quite far enough to properly follow the work of the Stated Clerk Nominating Committee.  So, now following their news page I find that they report having 14 applicants, all eligible for the position, and they are having phone interviews this month.

The last official item is the business sent to the GA by the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) from their meeting the last week of January.  This business is discussed in a news article from the Presbyterian News Service and will provide a lot of reading for the commissioners and delegates.

The ACSWP is sending two documents about Iraq to GA.  The resolution is titled “Costly lessons of the Iraq War” which includes a call for increased Christian-Muslim dialog as well as reducing anti-American pressure on Christian churches in majority-Muslim countries.  The study paper sounds like it is further reaching (I have found none of these documents on-line yet) covering “developing a plan to continue responding to concerns of Iranian and Iraqi churches during and after the war; providing ethical reflection and guidance to the PC(USA); and steps for education, advocacy and relationship building for members, congregations, soldiers, chaplains, governing bodies and the denomination’s United Nations and Washington
offices.”

The second topic was homelessness and a resolution titled “From Homelessness to Hope: Constructing Just, Sustainable Communities For All God’s People” was sent to GA.  This resolution is said to affirm those congregations and other entities involved in working with the homeless and calls on the church to be involved in a more comprehensive approach to ending homelessness.  It also asks the denomination to use investment money to work with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation to create a revolving loan fund.

Another resolution recognizes those that have contributed to clean-up and rebuilding efforts following Hurricane Katrina and calls for continued rebuilding work, to not abandon segments of society, and for better coastal public policy.  There is also a resolution on Voter Rights and Electoral Reform that, among other things, calls for the reauthorization of the voting rights act of 1965 and the standardization of voting across the country.  And there is a resolution calling for improved Human Rights in Columbia.

There is also a resolution on Energy Policy, that builds on the last policy statement from 1981.  This statement was ordered by the 214th General Assembly (2002).  The resolution calls for alternative fuels, conservation, sustainable agriculture, and for Presbyterian families, congregations and governing bodies to be “carbon neutral.”  A moratorium on coal and nuclear power plants is also called for.  I note the trade-off here since nuclear power plants are one path to carbon neutrality.  And expect more on carbon neutral policy in the future since the ACSWP web page has a page on Carbon Neutrality with a link to a working paper that was requested by the 217th General Assembly (2006).  That will probably come back in 2010.

Another issue that GA has looked at before is serious mental illness and ACSWP will bring to this GA a resolution that came out of their study requested by the 211th General Assembly (1999).  The resolution addresses justice-related issues and calls for full inclusion of the seriously mentally ill in the church and in society without having a stigma attached.

The resolution that probably hits closest to home is one on pay equity titled “God’s Work in Women’s Hands: Pay Equity and Just Compensation.”  In addition to society in general, the report looks at compensation within the PC(USA) and the differential between men and women in the same position.  It makes recommendations for congregations and bodies to examine and reform this.

The final ACSWP item is a new “ Social Creed for the 21st Century” that marks the centenary and updates the 1908 “ Social Creed for the Churches.”  This is an ecumenical document that will involve the National Council of Churches.  The news article says that the United Methodist Church is working on a version for “singing,” which should be interesting, unless that is a typo and they mean “signing.”  (Spell checkers don’t always help you).

This meeting of ACSWP was covered by James D. Berkley on behalf of the Institute on Religion and Democracy.  His article on the GA business is titled “ Commentary: ACSWP swamps General Assembly with papers.”  I must agree with him that the shear volume of material for commissioners to work through will be daunting.  We will have to see how it gets divided between committees.  But he talks about the volume being too large for ACSWP itself and how many of these papers were still in various stages of preparation.  In what condition will they make the February 22 business deadline?  In his commentary you can read Mr. Berkley’s comments on all this business from ACSWP I just outlined.

There are two other items that are floating around that I will mention, even though they have not made the official overture list yet.

It is reported that Pittsburgh Presbytery has passed an overture calling for a new translation of the Heidelberg Catechism.  The news is covered on, among other places, the More Light Presbyterians web site.  There have been concerns about the accuracy of the translation for a while.  As an elder commissioner to the 209th General Assembly (1997) I was lobbied to support a new translation.  For details on the perceived problems there is an article on the MPL web site about that as well.

The other overture that is “out there” is one calling for the reconsideration of the PC(USA) being in correspondence with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.  I discussed some of the reasons behind this last week, but the short version is that if the PC(USA) is not in correspondence with the EPC then churches can’t be dismissed to it and it would stem the flow of churches out of the PC(USA).  Well, according to Bill Crawford of Bayou Christian and his sources the overture failed in the Mississippi Presbytery meeting last night, but the news is circulating that other presbyteries may try to pass it.

Finally, the preparations are beginning for GA at the various affinity and special interest groups.  In particular, More Light Presbyterians and the Presbyterian Coalition have started building out their web sites with GA specific sections.  But at this point Presbyterians for Renewal has the most impressive preparations with a whole new site dedicated to GA at GA2008.com.

Well, we are approaching the February 22 Constitutional Business deadline so things will get busy in the next two weeks.  Stay tuned and let’s see what develops.

PCA Overture about Diaconal Ministry and the Participation of Women

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Teaching Elder D. Marion Clark, the Executive Minister at Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, has posted on his blog DMC News a summary of one business item at last weekend’s presbytery meeting.  At this meeting the Presbytery of Philadelphia approved an overture to the Presbyterian Church in America‘s upcoming June General Assembly that would ask for a study committee to clarify the office and practice of deacon and the participation of women in that ministry.

First, it is useful to look at the “official” status of the office of deacon in the PCA.  The PCA understands scripture to teach that the office of deacon, like the office of elder, is open only to men. [ Book of Church Order (BCO) 9-3 and elsewhere]  The deacons of a church, in addition to the ministry of “sympathy and service,” also have oversight of the church property although approval by the session may be required of certain actions. [BCO 9-2]  In addition to those called to the office of deacon “It is often expedient that the Session of a church should select and appoint godly men and women of the congregation to assist the deacons in caring for the sick, the widows, the orphans, the prisoners, and others who may be in any distress or need.” [BCO 9-7]

This overture revolves around that last phrase and how it is implemented and individuals recognized in a congregation.  For example, at Tenth Presbyterian Church their web site lists, in addition Deacons, a group of Deaconesses.  From my understanding of PCA polity, and from checking over the BCO, I am aware of nothing that prohibits this position, it is just not an ordained office of the church.

Turning to the text of the overture that TE Clark has posted, it asks for “an ad interim study committee whose members are representative of various positions within the PCA with respect to women’s involvement in Diaconal ministry, to study and report back to the 37th General Assembly.”  The first task of the study committee would be to study scripture concerning women’s eligibility for election and ordination to the office of deacon and recommend any changes to the BCO.

If no changes are recommended the overture then asks for clarification of a number of issues.  These include: Must there be male deacons?  Could deacons, male and female, be commissioned instead of being ordained?  If you commission, what questions may be used?  May ordained men and commissioned women serve together on the Board of Deacons?  And can Teaching Elders be licensed to serve if they believe women should be ordained as deacons, but agree to abide by the BCO?

Interesting overture, interesting questions for clarification.  This could be a significant discussion at the GA.  Or it might be quickly dispensed with one way or another since it only calls for the study committee and not an actual BCO change yet.  I have been reading a lot between the lines from this overture and the Tenth web site, but it pretty much amounts to speculation, so I’ll save any of that for another time.  In light of what else is happening in Presbyterian branches right now this could say a lot about the PCA.

Upcoming PC(USA) General Assembly — Late January Update

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Things are beginning to pick up as we approach the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in June.  Here is an update of new developments since my last post about this a couple of weeks ago:

The number of candidates for moderator have now increased to three.  Back in November National Capital Presbytery endorsed the Rev. Bill Teng as a moderator candidate. ( Presbyterian News Service Article) At the time of my last post San Francisco Presbytery had just endorsed the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow as a candidate on January 15.  Rev. Reyes-Chow quickly announced the news by starting his moderatorial campaign blog and the Presbyterian News Service (PNS) caught up with Web 2.0 with their news story last Thursday.  Rev. Reyes-Chow is the founding pastor of Mission Bay Community Church that the news story describes as a “multi-cultural, multi-generational New Church Development of San Francisco Presbytery that makes extensive use of cyberspace to communicate and conduct its ministry.”  The news story also describes Bruce as “a highly sought-after speaker.”  The fact that the news story makes significant use of his blog as a source is noteworthy.

On January 18, shortly after that endorsement, New Castle Presbytery endorsed the Rev. Carl Mazza as the third candidate for moderator.  According to Friday’s Presbyterian News Service article, Rev. Mazza is the founder and leader of the organization Meeting Ground, described in the article as “a community-based ministry with the homeless and other marginalized people.”  The extent of the organization’s ministry is impressive, running two shelters, a transitional house, and a residential facility, as well as a winter homeless shelter ministry that combined provided over 21,000 bednights and 30,000 meals in 2007 according to the news story that cited the groups annual report.  In the web page about his endorsement on the Meeting Ground web site Rev. Mazza describes his ministry with this opening sentence: “The call of my life, and my reason for entering the ministry, is with and among persons who are experiencing homelessness or otherwise struggling to survive at the margins of our society.”  And in a Web 2.0 touch, there is an page about him and his moderatorial campaign on the New Castle Presbytery wiki.  This appears to be the same content as is on the Meeting Ground site.

In looking over these PNS articles again, I would note an interesting style difference in the news story about the Rev. Reyes-Chow.  While the other two contain embedded links to at least the endorsing presbytery, Rev. Reyes-Chow’s contains no embedded links at all.  A simple omission I am sure since I know from my writing this blog it is difficult to chase every possible link.

I would also note that we now have three Ministers of Word and Sacrament but no Elders endorsed for Moderator.  I have to wonder if the new biannual format of General Assembly has made it more difficult for an elder to take the time to serve as Moderator, but that is a topic I will delve into more in an upcoming Commentary.  Stay tuned.

Turning our attention to the business before the GA, the Business page is now up to thirty overtures, counting Overture 3 which was withdrawn.  Three of the seven new overtures address social witness policy.  Overture 24 is from Heartland Presbytery and is titled “On Reinstating the Office of Environmental Justice as an Integral Part of the Mission of the Church.”  Unfortunately, the link from the official business page is broken and the minutes from the presbytery meeting where it was passed no longer seem to be posted, but there appears to be a copy in Word format on the web site of Presbyterians for Restoring Creation. (Isn’t Google wonderful.)  The title of the overture is pretty much the action item in the overture and the rest of the text is reference to past GA statements and actions.

Overture 25, from the Presbytery of Lake Huron, calls for the PC(USA) to encourage and advocate for assistance to, and resettlement of, Iraqi refugees, and particularly for action from the U.S. government towards those ends.  And the Presbytery of Chicago has overtured GA ( Overture 26) “On Pursuing a Culture of a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine.”  This overture calls for internationally recognized human rights in Israel and Palestine, denominational advocacy with the U.S. government to work towards that goal in the Middle East, and for PC(USA) groups to study the situation there.

Along other lines, Overture 27, from the Presbytery of Central Nebraska, would have the Board of Pensions of the PC(USA) “Expand the Definition of Medical Necessity to Include Habilitative Services for Children with Congenital Developmental Disabilities.”  This expanded definition would then have the Board of Pensions medical plan covering speech, physical and occupational therapy for children with conditions such as Downs Syndrome and Autism.  At the present time the medical plan only covers “restorative” therapy to recover from accident or illness and the overture rational cites studies to show that the additional cost would be very minimal.

Reading through Overture 30, this sounds like a “ Blood on Every Page” development where the overture was occasioned by specific financial irregularities in a church in the Presbytery of the Pacific, the originating presbytery.  The overture requests changes to the Form of Government and the Rules of Discipline to tighten up financial practices in churches.  These new rules include not having any pastors serve as a corporate officer, making sure the annual financial review is done by two unrelated persons, and making changes to accounts an act of the session and recorded in the minutes.  Reading through the proposed changes it is possible to put together a specific scenario that led to this overture.  F
inally, the Discipline change would make the three-year limit on disciplinary action for financial misconduct start at the time the misconduct was discovered.

And the “Reverse the PUP” overture in this batch is Overture 28 from the Presbytery of Central Washington which basically does what the title says: “On Requesting That All Actions of the 217th General Assembly (2006) Related to the Report of the Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity Be Fully Rescinded.”

I have saved Overture 29 for last because it hinges on a polity subtlety that a GA Junkie would appreciate.  This overture, titled “On Amending G-5.0200 to Add the Vows of Membership to the Book of Order,” from the Presbytery of Mission, is motivated by the fact that members of a congregation are received by the Session unlike elders and deacons who are elected by the congregation and ordained and installed in public worship.  At the present time the membership “vows,” actually statements from which worship books have provided specific vows, are contained in the Directory for Worship (W-4.2003) right along with the ordination vows (W-4.4003).  But this sets up an interesting paradox – the session receives the new members but they declare their faith, take their vows if you will, before the full congregation.  This overture would add the specific vow language to the Form of Government section of the Book of Order (G-5.0200) so that the vows are taken before the Session at the time of reception into membership.  There appears to be nothing in the overture to remove it from the Directory for Worship so it would seem that new members would declare their faith twice in the membership process.

Finally, I wanted to mention that there is at least one name floating around as an applicant for the position of Stated Clerk of the General Assembly.  Toby Brown on his blog Classical Presbyterian mentions in one of his posts that the Rev. Ed Koster, currently the Stated Clerk of Detroit Presbytery, has his name in the pot.  Toby gives no source so it may be personal contact, and I have found no other mention of his name, or any other names, elsewhere in connection with the Clerk job.

PC(USA) 218th General Assembly — Mid-January Update

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With the passing of the Christmas quiet period new items, news, and business related to the June General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will begin to get more plentiful.

First, while the Presbyterian News Service has released no news articles about additional moderator candidates, we know from the blogs that the Rev. Bruce Reyes-Chow was endorsed by his presbytery, San Francisco Presbytery, at their meeting yesterday.  This will be an interesting Moderator campaingn to watch since, in my memory, this appears to be the first Web 2.0 Moderator campaign.  If you need an introduction to Web 2.0, you can look at the November 12, 2007, issue of the Presbyterian Outlook (free registration required) but it is the new technologies of interactive blogs and dynamic web sites.  If you want to see what Bruce is doing with it you can check out his new Moderator campaign web site/blog launched within minutes of the presbytery’s formal endosement.  And you can still find out about the non-moderator side of Bruce at his regular blog.

For us good old “frozen chosen” “we’ve never done it this way before” traditionalists it will be interesting what impact the new technology has not just on the Moderator election but on GA as a whole.  As a point of personal privilage I am delighted to announce that my son has been elected the YAD from our presbytery. (OK, proud Dad moment)  But in the next year I am hoping to use him as a lens to view the PC(USA) through much younger eyes.  And I do recognize that he is not a typical high school student.  After all, he wants to spend a week in San Jose doing Presbyterian Government.  But he is typical enough that he had more pressing issues to worry about until he was elected and only then were GA items worth his time.  And he did jump at Bruce’s web site when I showed it to him last night.  Whether Bruce and other candidates who have a Web 2.0 presence win or lose the Moderator vote, I think they will have an impact through their connection to a younger generation in the PC(USA).

Moving on to business before GA there is not much new here.  No new overtures have been posted to the GA Business web page in a while.  And Overture 3, the transfer of a church from a traditional to a Korean language presbytery has been withdrawn.  The next deadline is February 22 for the 120 day deadline for constitutional business.  And things will be quiet for a while longer in the Stated Clerk search.

I should also note that a couple of weeks ago the old and significantly outdated Office of General Assembly GA page that I commented on in my first GA Preview Post has disappeared and that link is now broken.  In fact, the whole set of pages for the Office of the General Assembly has been redone including a new general General Assembly page with basic information and the dates of the future Assemblies.  The 218th GA page is now easier to find and the COLA (Committee on Local Arrangements) web site is developing nicely.  However, it does take some doing to drill down to the web page for General Assembly Meeting Services with the information on registration and hotel reservations for the meeting.

Finally, a mention that all of the groups associated with the PC(USA) are starting to look ahead to the Assembly, but so far web pages highlighting their issues are just beginning to appear.  A few more and I’ll start mentioning those.

That’s it for now, but stay tuned because a lot will be happening shortly.