The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has posted on it’s web site a PDF of the booklet with the proposed amendments to the Book of Order sent out to the presbyteries from the 218th General Assembly.  In a very nice touch, each write-up is followed by the URL to find the item on the PC-biz site.

To be a little bit more precise about the items that will be voted on, there are actually just ten amendments to the Book of Order, items A-J.  And, you guessed it, the ordination standards amendment to G-6.0106b and elsewhere is once again Amendment B.  At least it will be easy to remember.

The other four items are Ecumenical Statements with the Roman Catholic Church (08-K), Episcopal Church (08-L), Korean Presbyterian Church in America (08-M), and the Moravian Church (08-N).  These do not enter the PC(USA) constitution, but need to be adopted by a majority of the presbyteries for them to become guidance.  I have not been following these so I will just deal with the constitutional amendments in this post and return to those at a later date.

Amendment 08-A — Vows of Membership
This is what I refer to as a “Blood on Every Page” amendment since it derives from a specific controversy in a presbytery, in this case Mission Presbytery.  For some background on this you can check out my post back in September 2006 and coverage by Toby Brown (then a member of that presbytery) in June 2006 and September 2007.  This overture was covered by Daniel Berry a bit less than a year ago.

The causative incident was admission to membership in a PC(USA) church of an individual who did not acknowledge God, to say nothing of the lordship of Jesus Christ.  To clarify membership standards the overture asked for explicit vows of membership to join a particular church, these vows to follow the standards of declaring Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, renouncing sin, and participating in the church that are presently listed in the Book of Order.  The General Assembly took the advice of the Advisory Committee of the Constitution and is sending to the presbyteries a new section that does not specify language but says that new members “shall make a public profession of their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, as do confirmands (W-4.2003a, b, and c).”

It is interesting to note that the Presbyterian Church in America dealt with similar issues at their General Assembly this year as well.

Amendment 08-B — Ordained Officers
This is the amendment everyone is watching and that would replace the current G-6.0106b, “fidelity and chastity,” with a paragraph that includes that candidates for ordination will “pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church.”

Enough ink (and electrons and photons) have been spilled over this already so I will leave it at that.  There are also corresponding changes to G-14.0240 and G-14.0450.

Amendment 08-C — Replacing the Word “Sympathy” With the Word “Compassion”
This would change the description of the role of the office of deacon in G-6.0202b and G-6.0401 from a ministry including “sympathy” to one including “compassion.”  The original overture requested “empathy” but the GA chose “compassion” instead.

Amendment 08-D — General Assembly Mission Council Name Change
This would change the General Assembly Council’s name to the General Assembly Mission Council in four places in Chapter G-9, six places in G-13, and five places in G-14, as well as in seven places in the Discipline section.  This is in line with the new Organization for Mission adopted for the General Assembly (Mission) Council at GA.

Amendment 08-E — Non-geographic Presbyteries
No, not new non-geographic “affinity” presbyteries, but this amendment permits churches to join an existing non-geographic “language” presbytery in another synod as long as everybody involved (two presbyteries, two synods, and the GA) agree.  But remember, non-geographic presbyteries are temporary transitional structures and should not be considered permanent parts of our governing body structure.  (You may remember that this was complicated, or at least highlighted, at GA by an overture to extend the lifetime of the Hanmi non-geographic presbytery.)

Amendment 08-F — Presbytery Membership of Certified Christian Educators
This appears to be another “Blood on Every Page” amendment and simply clarifies that Certified Christian Educators have the privilege of the floor at presbytery “during the term of service in an educational ministry under the jurisdiction of the presbytery”  Read the rational for the request for clarification.

Amendment 08-G — Synod Membership on Permanent Committees
With reorganization of General Assembly Council, a desire for flexibility, and some unintended consequences from previous changes in the Book of Order, this amendment changes designated synod representation on “permanent” GA committees to synod representation on the Committee on Representation and the Council.  Rather than explicitly saying the synods put forth their representatives, committee members are now just selected through the nominating committee process.

Amendment 08-H — Five Ordination Examinations
No, this is not directly related to the controversy that has just arisen over the Biblical Exegesis Examination, but rather word-smiths some language in G-14.0431 to clarify the taking of the exams, not the exams themselves.  In particular, the group of four exams has changed from a “may” to a “shall be taken… after two full years of theological education,” and with the addition of “or its equivalent.”  In addition, not only must the CPM approve the candidate to take the exam, they “shall first attest that the inquirer or candidate has completed adequate
academic preparation in each examination area and adequate supervised experience in the practice of pastoral ministry.”  There is another change to make the Biblical Exegesis Exam explicitly open book.  The hope is that all of these changes will improve the pass rate on the exams.  (note that Biblical Exegesis has been open book, this just clarifies that)

Amendment 08-I — Certified Christian Educators
This is a “clean up” or “fix the problems” amendment arising from the complete rewrite of Chapter 14 from the 217th General Assembly.  It simply changes “certified Christian educator” to “Certified Christian Educator” since that reference is to a specific professional certification.  That’s it.  (Isn’t it amazing what we have to go through the amendment process for?)

Amendment 08-J — Alternative Forms of Resolution
As the Rational section of this amendment indicates, this is more word-smithing to clarify certain phrases in the Discipline section, specifically D-2.0103 and D-10.0202h.  Principally, it replaces “all parties” with appropriate references to the investigating committee and the accused.

And there you have the Book of Order changes.  If I had to handicap this assortment of changes, I’d say one controversial ( B ), three or four that will have some discussion (A, C, G and maybe E), four that will be pretty much formalities, and H (the ordination exams) that somebody on the floor of presbytery is going to want to rewrite in light of the recent changes.  But these can not be rewritten, only approved or disapproved.  For changes, write an overture to the 219th GA.  If you think I’ve missed a sleeper in here, or have gotten my description wrong, please let me know.  And I’ll try to tackle the four Ecumenical Statements shortly.