Overture 04-40. On Amending G-7.0306 On Who May Moderate a Congregational Meeting—From the Presbytery of Heartland.

The Presbytery of Heartland overtures the 216th General Assembly (2004) to direct the Stated Clerk to send the following proposed amendment to the presbyteries for their affirmative or negative votes:

Shall G-7.0306 be amended as follows: [Text to be deleted in shown with a strike-through; text to be added or inserted is shown in italic.]

“The pastor shall be the moderator of all meetings of the congregation. In congregations where there are co-pastors, they shall, when present, alternately preside at meetings. When the church is without a pastor, the moderator of the session appointed by the presbytery shall preside at all congregational meetings. If it is impractical for the pastor or the moderator of session appointed by presbytery to preside, he or she shall invite, with the concurrence of the session, another minister of the presbytery to preside. A presbytery may appoint a lay pastor as moderator of session to the church to which she or he is commissioned. The person assigned to the commissioned lay pastor as mentor and supervisor shall also supervise his or her work as moderator. In addition, the moderator of the session of a church with a vacant pulpit may request an elder who is, or has been, a member of the that presbytery’s committee on ministry, the stated clerk, executive presbyter, or associate executive presbyter, to preside; such elder may not moderate the meeting of a congregation of which that elder is a member. When this is not expedient, and when both the pastor or the moderator of the session and the session concur, a member of the session may be invited to preside.”

Rationale

The experience of elders and ministers who have served on the committee on ministry is a valuable asset to presbyteries. With the limitations on length of service imposed by the Book of Order, this asset can be lost once an elder or minister completes his or her term of service. The importance to presbyteries of the skills developed by elders and ministers through service on the committee on ministry was underscored by the 2001 amendment to G-11.0501b, which enabled persons to serve on the committee for an aggregate of six years even if that involved using partial terms. The proposed amendment to G-7.0306 (above) would allow presbyteries and sessions to draw on the experience of elders who have served on the committee on ministry in the particular case of moderating congregational meetings.

It is sometimes the case, because of geography, past experience with a congregation while serving on the committee on ministry, or special skills suited to a particular situation, that it would be advantageous to call upon an elder who has served but is not currently serving on COM to moderate a congregational meeting. This amendment would allow for that and thereby widen the pool of persons available to moderate in unusual situations and allow presbytery to take advantage of their skills and experience.