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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The new letter picks up where the first left off:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TAMFS Thanks GA

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

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

The news at More Light Presbyterians is

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

And at the Covenant Network says

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

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

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

And another laments

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

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

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

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

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