The Assembly voted to amend this section by adding new section 1.a.(6) as below [Text added is shown in brackets and underlined] and then approved the item.
1. That, in consultation with the General Assembly Nominating Committee, the Moderators of the 215th, the 216th, and the 217th General Assemblies (2003, 2004, 2006) appoint a Form of Government Task Force (hereafter FOG Task Force) composed of nine members including at least one clerk of session, one session moderator, one new immigrant pastor, one executive/general presbyter, one stated clerk, one committee on preparation for ministry member/staff, one committee on ministry member/staff, and one member of the Advisory Committee on the Constitution.
a. That the 217th General Assembly (2006) instruct the FOG Task Force to undertake a revision of the Form of Government in light of the foci and priorities described in (1)–(5) below and bring it back to the 218th General Assembly (2008).
(1) The new Form of Government shall preserve our foundational polity (perhaps most concisely laid out in the first four chapters of the current Form of Government).
(2) The focus of the Form of Government shall be on providing leadership for local congregations as missional communities.
(3) The presbytery shall continue as the central governmental unit, as it has been throughout most of our history. The Form of Government shall provide sufficient authority and flexibility to allow the presbytery to assist congregations in addressing the changing cultural, economic, and societal challenges in our new millennial world. The FOG Task Force shall take notice of and address the institutional and structural impediments that currently cripple so very many of our presbyteries.
(4) The new Form of Government shall provide flexibility at all levels, granting authority while permitting governing bodies to develop the structures to carry out their respective missions.
(5) The FOG Task Force shall be guided by the principles proposed by Recommendations 1-4 from the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, using those principles as a guide for its own processes and deliberations. They shall incorporate this new Presbyterian ethos into the Form of Government so that it truly functions as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s.
[(6) The FOG Task Force will release the proposed revision of the Form of Government including advisory handbooks by September 1, 2007.]
b. As the FOG Task Force considers its proposals of the Form of Government, G-6.0106b and G-8.0201 shall be excluded from this process. The 217th General Assembly (2006) has overtures proposing changes in both provisions; such proposals should be considered on their own merits outside of this constitutional renewal project. Both provisions have the capacity to obfuscate the constitutional renewal efforts.
The rest of this document can be found on the Les Site.
|
