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Advisory Opinions: Note 16
Criteria for Validating Ministry of Continuing
Members
Since reunion, G-11.0403 has provided guiding
criteria to presbyteries in determining “who shall be
its continuing members.” Every presbytery has been required
to have a process for regularly reviewing the work of ministers
not serving in parish or governing body
positions.
In 1997, the 207th General Assembly approved
the final proposals for implementation of the Task Force on
“A Proposal for Considering the Theology and Practice
of Ordination to Office in the PCUSA.”
The 207th General Assembly approved and the
presbyteries ratified two additional sentences to G-11.0403:
“In making this determination the
presbytery shall be guided by written criteria developed by
the presbytery for validation of ministries within its bounds.
These criteria shall be based upon the description of the
nature of ordained office found in G-6.0100 and G-6.0200 …”
(Minutes, 1997, Part I, p. 381 (31.0215-.0230))
Thereafter the presbyteries began to adopt
such written criteria. A wide range of written criteria has
been adopted.1
A number of presbyteries reviewed the language of G-11.0403
a-e and determined that language was adequate on its face to
enable it to determine who its members should be. It is now
clear that the latter approach is not constitutionally adequate.
A recent decision by the General Assembly
Permanent Judicial Commission gives the presbyteries much more
detailed advice on what is required by G-11.0403:2
1. Simply incorporating the language of G-11.0403
a-e as a presbytery’s “written criteria” does
not constitute compliance with the provisions of the 1997 amendment.
2. There is no constitutional requirement
to tailor such criteria to each applicant’s requested
ministry.
3. Such criteria should “provide applicants
with reasonable notice as to what is specifically required for
validation that so they have ample opportunity to comply prior
to their submission of applications.”3
4. When a Committee on Ministry recommends
against validating a particular ministry, the minister must
be provided “an opportunity to be heard and a consideration
of [his/her] positions without prejudice.”4
5. The criteria may include consideration
and review of “relevant materials from prior years for
the purposes of showing a pattern that has continuity with present
statements or actions”, even if that pattern occurred
during a period where a ministry had been validated for the
minister.5
6. “[T]he burden is on the minister
to demonstrate that the proposed ministry should be validated.”6
The General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission
did not provide specific direction as to what must be included
in such written criteria. Their decision suggests that criteria
that clarify the guidelines found in G-11.0403 a-e to reflect
the presbytery’s own vision of its mission would pass
constitutional muster. The presbytery’s criteria could
also be quite specific and include examples of the constitutional
material contained in G-6.0100 and G-6.0200. Illustrative, but
not limiting, a presbytery might well consider as criteria,
ministry which:
G-6.0101 shows the“….pattern of
the one who came "not to be served but to serve."
(Matt. 20:28)
G-6.0104 “may emphasize special tasks
and skills…”
G-6.0106a “Their manner of life should
be a demonstration of the Christian gospel in the church and
in the world.”
G-6.0108 “adhere to the essentials of
the Reformed faith and polity as expressed in The Book of Confessions
and the Form of Government.”
G-6.0201 “work as may be helpful to
the church in mission,”
G-6.0202a “duty to be grave and prudent,
and an example to the flock,”
G-6.0202b “commend the gospel to all
persons and that communicate its joy and its justice.”
G-6.0202b “equip[s] and enable[s] the
[people] for their tasks within the church and their mission
in the world;”
G-6.0202b “devoting special attention
to the poor, the sick, the troubled, and the dying;”
G-6.0202b “reaching out in concern and
service to the life of the human community as a whole.”
G-6.0202b “in ecumenical relationships.”
G-6.0203 “….as educators, chaplains,
pastoral counselors, campus ministers, missionaries, partners
in mission, evangelists, administrators, social workers, consultants,
or in other specific tasks appropriate to the ministry of the
church, they shall evidence a quality of life which helps to
share the ministry of the good news. They shall exercise pastoral
care of those for whom they are responsible and shall seek to
fulfill their ministry by serving Christ and their fellow men
and women, strengthening the church and equipping it for concern
and service to the life of the human community. In addition
to fulfilling the particular responsibilities to which they
are called, they shall participate in a congregation, in their
presbytery, and in ecumenical relationships, and shall be eligible
for election to the higher governing bodies of the church and
to the boards and agencies of those governing bodies.”
Clearly the Scriptures and The Book of Confessions
provide a wide range of examples of ministry that could be included
in written criteria. The Williamson decision provides no restrictions
on a presbytery’s historic responsibility and right to
determine who its members are and what they shall be doing,
but rather teaches us that presbyteries must lay out those criteria
for the public to see and understand.
Endnotes:
- http://www.pcusa.org/ministers/pdf/validatedministry.pdf
- Williamson
v. Presbytery of Western North Carolina Remedial Case
217-7, 2006
- Ibid.
- Lewis
v. Presbytery of New York (1995, 133) as cited in Williamson.
- Ibid
- Williamson
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