Overture 04-60. On Amending Standing Rule A.2. to Remove Advisory Delegate Vote in Assembly Committees, and to Investigate the Possibility of Study Credit for YADs—From the Presbytery of the Peaks.

The Presbytery of the Peaks overtures the 216th General Assembly (2004) to do the following:

1. Amend A.2.b. of the Standing Rules of the General Assembly to read as follows: [Text to be deleted is shown with a strike-through; text to be added or inserted is shown as italics.]

“b. Advisory Delegates shall be assigned to assembly committees as voting members and shall have the privilege of the floor in committee and plenary session of the General Assembly without vote. Only voting members shall have the privilege of proposing or seconding a motion. When certain issues come before a committee or plenary session of the General Assembly, the advisory delegates may be polled prior to the vote of commissioners to determine their advice.”

2. Direct the Office of the General Assembly to investigate the possibility of an educational study credit for youth advisory delegates attending General Assemblies.

Rationale

The role of the advisory delegate, according to Standing Rule A.2.a., is “to attend the meeting of the General Assembly in an advisory role so that the assembly may be assured of hearing and taking cognizance of their special viewpoints.” Advisory delegate vote in committee oversteps the intended purpose of the advisory delegate by elevating these positions to that of regular, ordained commissioners while in committee.

Many advisory delegates are not ordained and yet participate at assemblies as if they were because of advisory delegate vote in committee. Reformed tradition tells us that the call of God to lead must first be recognized before an individual should help in making decisions affecting the entire church.

Presbyterian polity has always made it a point to maintain parity between ministers and laypeople when governing the church. The Book of the Order clearly states in G-13.0102 that “the General Assembly shall consist of equal numbers of elders and ministers from each presbytery.” Advisory delegate vote in committee disrupts this parity by outnumbering minister commissioners.

The role of the advisory delegate is to give advice to the assembly, but the experience does not end there for those delegates. This overall experience is hampered by the politics that become involved due to advisory delegate vote in committee. Without that vote, the advisory delegate opportunity would be enhanced as political pressure fades away replaced by pure education of how the PC(USA) works. For all advisory delegates (youth, theological student, missionary, ecumenical), this shift from politics to education would be beneficial. It might even provide more space for spiritual growth, which is of course, the most important reason for any advisory delegate to attend the assembly.