About the Task Force

Called into being by the 217th General Assembly (2006), its charge is to propose to the church a revised Form of Government. In fulfillment of this charge, the task force seeks to create a briefer, leaner polity that equips the church for mission and ministry.

• Members
• Answers to frequently asked questions
• Meeting Schedule
• Bibliography of polity and ecclesiological resources

Member list

Elder Diana J. Barber
Committee on Preparation for Ministry
Synod of Lakes and Prairies
What it’s meant to me to serve on this task force…

Elder Cynthia J. Bolbach: co-Moderator
Clerk of Session
Presbytery of National Capital
What it’s meant to me to serve on this task force…

Elder Sharon M. Davison: co-Moderator
Committee on Ministry
Presbytery of New York City 
What it’s meant to me to serve on this task force…

The Reverend Gemechisa Guja
Immigrant Pastor
Presbytery of Donegal 
What it’s meant to me to serve on this task force…

The Reverend Paul K. Hooker
Advisory Committee on the Constitution
Presbytery of St. Augustine
What it’s meant to me to serve on this task force…

The Reverend James H. Y. Kim
At-Large
Presbytery of Grace
What it’s meant to me to serve on this task force…

The Reverend Neal E. Lloyd 
Pastor
Presbytery of Twin Cities Area
What it’s meant to me to serve on this task force…

The Reverend Paige M. McRight
Executive Presbyter
Presbytery of Central Florida
What it’s meant to me to serve on this task force…

The Reverend Stephen W. Smith
Stated Clerk
Presbytery of Pacific
What it’s meant to me to serve on this task force…

Answers to frequently asked questions

The Form of Government Task Force members answer frequently asked questions in the following video clips:

How long has the PC(USA) been considering a revised Form of Government?

How was the task force membership determined? What has been your process?

What is missional polity?

What changes to the first four chapters of the Form of Government is the task force proposing?

What is the advisory handbook that will accompany the proposed revision of the Form of Government?

What are the differences between the current and the proposed Form of Government?

What is the difference between local option and what the task force is proposing?

How does the presence of immigrant churches in the PC(USA) inform this project?

What is your greatest hope for this endeavor?

Aren’t there more important issues facing the PC(USA) than revising the Form of Government?

Some of the terms used in the proposed revision of the Form of Government seem lengthy and difficult. Why not use easier words?

Meeting schedule

Bibliography

A Generous Orthodoxy by Brian McLaren.  © 2004 by Brian D. McLaren.  Published by Zondervan.

Bearing the Marks of the Church by Charles Wiley, Kevin Park and Darrell L. Guder.  © 2006, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), A Corporation, on behalf of the Office of Theology and Worship.  Available from Presbyterian Distribution Service, PDS# 70424-06-001.

The Continuing Conversion of the Church by Darrell L. Guder.  © 2000 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Distinctively Presbyterian by Bill Chapman.  © 2006 Witherspoon Press, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Louisville, Ky.

Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV:  Of the Holy Catholic Church by John Calvin.

The Missional Church: A Vision for the Sending of the Church in North America by Darrell L. Guder.  © 1998 Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church by Diana Butler Bass.  © 2004 by the Alban Institute.

Presbyterian Polity for Church Officers by Joan S. Gray and Joyce C. Tucker.  © 1986 John Knox Press and 1999 Joan S. Gray and Joyce C. Tucker.  Published by Westminster John Knox Press.

Rethinking the Church by James Emery White.  © 1997, 2003 by James Emery White.  Published by Baker Books.