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CHICAGO — The Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) unveiled its long-awaited recommendations here Thursday, urging church members and officers not to continue trying to resolve the issues and disagreements that divide the church, but instead to “seek ways for the church to live the gospel joyfully and productively amid inevitable disagreement.”
During the Aug. 23-24 meeting, the task force conducted most of its business in closed session, as has been its normal practice in recent months. It devoted much of its time to putting the finishing touches on its report, which will be released on Sept. 15 and presented to next summer's 217th General Assembly in Birmingham, AL.
The task force’s first recommendation — and the one from which the others are derived — is that the currently polarized denomination “witness to the church’s visible oneness” and “avoid division into separate denominations that obscure our community in Christ.”
Task force member Jack Haberer of Houston said that recommendation reflects the 20-member task force’s discovery during its four years together “that what we hold in common in our beliefs and practices is far greater than what divides us.”
The task force was created by the 2001 General Assembly and charged “to lead the PC(USA) in spiritual discernment of our Christian identity in and for the 21st century." Specifically, it was asked to address issues of Christology, Biblical authority and interpretation, ordination standards and power.
The task force, which has insisted all along that it has no “silver bullet” that will solve all the church's problems, proposed a “season of discernment” in the PC(USA) and a temporary moratorium on efforts to change the PC(USA)’s constitutional ban on the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians to church office.
Several overtures calling for a repeal of the ban, section G-6.0106b of The Book of Order, already had been submitted to next year's Assembly.
The task force’s other recommendations:
- That the General Assembly urge governing bodies, congregations and other groups of Presbyterians “to follow the example of the task force and other groups that have engaged in processes of intensive discernment in the face of difficult issues through worship, study, community-building and collaborative effort.”
- That the Assembly commend for churchwide study the “Theological Reflection” portion of the task force’s report, released last month.
- That the Assembly direct church governing bodies “to explore the use of alternative forms of discernment and decision-making as a complement to parliamentary procedure, especially in dealing with potentially divisive issues.”
The task force adopted for itself a method of decision-making based on consensus rather than parliamentary procedure, Roberts Rules of Order and up-or-down votes.
Victoria Curtiss of Portland, OR, the principal champion of the “decision-by-consensus” model, characterized it as an effort “to avoid premature forcing into just binary choices.”
- That next year’s 217th General Assembly approve a new “authoritative interpretation” of section G-6.0108 of The Book of Order, which has to do with standards for ordination.
The proposed authoritative interpretation notes that “ordination standards are determined by the whole church” and interpreted by the General Assembly and Permanent Judicial Commissions, but “ordaining and installing bodies … have the responsibility to determine their membership by applying these standards.”
- That the 217th General Assembly be strongly urged “to adopt no additional authoritative interpretations, to remove no existing authoritative interpretations, and to send to the presbyteries no proposed constitutional amendments that would have the effect of changing denominational policy on any of the major issues in the task force’s report, including Christology, Biblical interpretation, essential tenets, and sexuality and ordination.”
It further urges all Presbyterians “to acknowledge their traditional Biblical obligation, as set forth in Matthew 18:15-17, Matthew 5:23-25, and in the “Rules of Discipline” of The Book of Order, to conciliate, mediate and adjust differences without strife … prayerfully and deliberately … and to institute administrative or judicial proceedings only when other efforts fail to preserve the purposes and purity of the church.”
The seventh and final recommendation merely recommends that the Assembly accept the task force’s report as the discharge of its mandate.
The proposed authoritative interpretation says ordaining bodies must decide whether a candidate for church office “has departed from scriptural and constitutional standards for fitness for office” and "whether any such departure constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of Reformed faith and polity under G-6.0108.”
The task force described the proposal for the new authoritative interpretation as an effort to “restore a greater degree of both rigor and flexibility” to the process of examining what the report calls “officer-elects.”
It goes on to say that “all parties should endeavor to outdo one another in honoring one another’s decisions, according the presumption of wisdom to ordaining/installing bodies in examining candidates.”
This is not, several members pointed out, a “local-option” proposal. The rationale presented for the recommendation notes: “Standards are aspirational in character. No one lives up to them perfectly (for this reason, G-6.0108 permits ‘departures’ from standards that are not deemed essential). Essentials, by the terms of G-6.0108 … are those matters of faith and polity that the officer-elect’s governing body discerns are indispensable for ordained service.”
The rationale notes: “Ordaining bodies may not dispense with the church’s standards or promulgate their own. G-6.0108 also requires the application of the standards with integrity. It insures freedom of conscience in interpretation of scripture within certain bounds," requiring ordaining/installing bodies to determine whether there is a "serious departure" from standards … and makes an important distinction between "standards" and "essentials.”
The rationale further notes: “Though current practice varies from session to session and presbytery to presbytery, it is often reported that examinations lack rigor by not fully investigating the scope of each candidate’s beliefs, practices, willingness to uphold Presbyterian polity, scruples and gifts.”
The Rev. John “Mike” Loudon of Lakeland, FL, a task force member, said the most probing question posed during many examinations is “Read any good books lately?”
Another member, tthe Rev. William Stacy Johnson of Princeton, NJ, said it is important to signal to the church that the group is presenting its report “not as a perfect or finished product, but as a starting point.”
Scott Anderson, of Milwaukee, WI, said he began his service on the task force “presuming that we lived on different theological planets,” but discovered during the four-year experience that “We really do live on the same theological planet.”
The Rev. Milton “Joe” Coalter of Richmond, VA, said he hopes the report won’t “begin crowding out the confessions” or be regarded as “a quasi-confessional starting point for where the church is going”
The report notes that the proposed new interpretation of G-6.0108 contains no entirely new elements and proposes no changes in church policy, but affirms the “essentials of the Reformed faith and polity.” It notes that a church officer “chooses to exercise freedom of conscience within certain bounds” and says candidates for office “shall have their attention drawn to the foundational documents of the church.”
The Rev. Mark Achtemeier of Dubuque, IA, said, “As Presbyterians who don’t have a pope to fall back on… all we have is effort to work toward a place where we’re not in intractable disagreement anymore.”
The full text of the report, including its recommendations, is posted on the Peace Unity Purity Web site.
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