Overture 69

On Amending the Guidelines for Organizations to Display an Exhibit at Meetings of the General Assembly—From the Presbytery of Carlisle.

The Presbytery of Carlisle overtures the 217th General Assembly (2006) to amend Item 4. of “THE GUIDELINES AND POLICIES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY EXHIBIT HALL,” administered by the Stated Clerk of 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 italic.]

“4. Not-for-profit organizations of Presbyterians (PCUSA) which have officers and a board accountable for their activities whose membership is not confined to a single synod, and which are organized to conduct special tasks of witness, service or nurture and who have the endorsement of a presbytery of the PC(USA) and have submitted the following information:

“a The legal title, legal and tax status, date of founding, location of offices, number of paid staff, number of members if a membership organization, list of annual publications and their circulation within and outside the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); and

“b. Total annual budget with all donors or organizations giving aggregate amounts of more than $1,000 to be listed by amount (as in public campaign finance), with the donor data to be kept on file with a copy of each organization’s bylaws and/or charter at the Office of the General Assembly; and

“c. A 300-word statement of the organization’s goals and methods, including its operations at the General Assembly, in boards and agencies of the denomination, and in the denomination’s seminaries and colleges; and

“d. A 300-word summary of the organization’s theological emphasis and vision of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Since 1991, when the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) amended its Constitution to remove references to “Affinity Groups,” there have been repeated attempts to clarify the appropriateness of granting groups the use of exhibit hall space at meetings of General Assembly. The permission granted by the 207th General Assembly (1995) for groups to use exhibit hall space at General Assembly meetings to those whose membership is made up “entirely of those who are members of the PC(USA)” seems difficult to enforce. The 212th General Assembly (2000) saw the wisdom to request background information (including e.g. tax status, goals, and theological emphasis) from organizations affiliated with the PC(USA), but, their limitation was that this request only applied to “special interest organizations that use the name Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in their names,” leaving out many organizations for scrutiny. The 213th General Assembly (2001) “referred consideration of the impact of the affinity groups, their funds and their strategies, to any proposed special commission/task force designated to investigate the causes of division in our church” and also confirmed the need to request background information from “affinity groups” as a regular practice.

Many special interest organizations that have not met all the criteria requested from the 212th and 213th General Assemblies (2000) and (2001), are still able to use the exhibit halls and meeting spaces of General Assembly. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is a connectional church that affirms the place of accountability and its own democratic and representative character are called into question by the lack of accountability by the large number of special interest organizations. It is the presbytery that examines motives and theological emphases and therefore is the appropriate body to endorse special interest organizations requiring their accountability to our Constitution.