07656
October 15, 2007

Finding the time to talk

COGA discusses, models ‘discernment’ decision-making

by Sharon K. Youngs
OGA communications coordinator
and Jerry L. Van Marter
Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE — The Committee on the Office of the General Assembly (COGA) was directed — and planners and moderators of other governing bodies were urged — by the 217th General Assembly (2006) to “explore the use of alternate forms of discernment.”

The Assembly’s near-unanimous action, in response to a recommendation of its Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church (PUP) was designed to move the often-contentious Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) from parliamentary wrangling to studied consensus building as it continues to grapple with potentially divisive issues.

At its recent meeting, members of COGA not only discussed the assembly’s directive and its implications for future Assemblies, they sought to live it out in their own decision-making.

They learned that the discernment model is a prayerful approach to decision-making that takes focus and good listening skills.

And time.

When they found themselves behind schedule at a couple of points during the meeting, they appeared to take to heart the advice of the Rev. Gradye Parsons, director of operations for the Office of the General Assembly (OGA): “If it’s not fire, flood, or blood, there’s time to talk about it.”

Parsons said planners of the 218th General Assembly (2008) next summer in San Jose, CA, are weighing a number of options to give commissioners more time to talk and reflect in the midst of debating and voting.

Though the final plans are not set, the Assembly may start several hours earlier on opening day to give commissioners more time to settle in before the crunch of business begins.

Utilizing emerging technologies, the Assembly may also include “speak-ins,” which Parsons described as “live interviews with folks out in the church” to elicit perspectives from Presbyterians not present in San Jose and to “liven things up a little bit.”

Parsons said COGA and OGA “want to respond to the (discernment/alternative decision-making) referral but want to do it deliberately.” So, rather than moving the entire Assembly to the discernment model, Parsons said one or two of the Assembly committees will use the alternative rubric.

A resource booklet — cheekily titled “Ms. Discernment meets Mr. Robert’s”(Rules of Order) is in development, he added, to help acquaint commissioners with discernment decision-making.

Noting that 70 percent of all committee votes at the 2006 Assembly were unanimous, Parsons said planners are also considering a recommendation that would allow unanimous committee votes to be the final action of the Assembly, thus freeing up plenary time for more discernment and more extensive debate on weightier matters. “We want to be able to focus on what’s important,” Parsons explained.

In response to a question from GA Moderator Joan Gray, Parsons said that commissioners would still have the right to bring any item of business up to the plenary floor for further discussion and vote.

COGA member Kent Grimes, noting the current extensive use of “consent” agendas to dispose of non-controversial business items, wondered whether allowing committee votes to be final would save any time.

“There’s also something to be said for the Assembly taking formal action on all business, even if it’s through an expanded consent agenda,” Grimes added.

Acknowledging that formal process and transparency are important, COGA Chair Catherine Ulrich nevertheless said “there’s a problem when there’s complete, open discussion in committee and then committee members repeat their same arguments on the floor. How can we move the business along without such redundancy?”

COGA will revisit the proposal at its next meeting in February 2008.

The committee talked at length about the 2006 Assembly’s referral to COGA to “conduct a feasibility study for creating a non-geographic Korean-American synod,” an approach similar to the current non-geographic Korean-language presbyteries.

The proposal seeks to balance the desires of Korean Presbyterian congregations, some of which want to be part of conventional PC(USA) presbyteries and those congregations that want to remain part of Korean-language presbyteries.

According to the Rev. Cliff Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, who attended a gathering of Korean church leaders, “There is a deep desire to expand and grow Korean congregations and to support the PC(USA) at the same time.”

Sun Bai Kim, associate for Korean congregational enhancement for the PC(USA), echoed Kirkpatrick’s comment. “Koreans are the most loyal part of the PC(USA),” he said.

While expressing appreciation for the long tradition and significant contributions of Koreans to the denomination, several COGA members expressed reservations about about forming a non-geographic synod.

COGA member the Rev. Barbara Campbell-Davis, executive presbyter and stated clerk of New Hope Presbytery said, “When we move to non-geographic ethnic presbyteries, we lose a lot of culture and learning that happen when we are together. Will this mean we begin non-geographic presbyteries of various languages and cultures? We need to be careful — meeting one group’s needs may not work for another.”

Kirkpatrick added, “What makes this so important is the sense that, rightly or wrongly, we have a huge opportunity to grow the church, but it needs to be culturally appropriate.”

The committee will revisit the proposal in February.

COGA members, as did members of the General Assembly Council at their recent meeting, spent considerable time discussing the work of the Form of Government Task Force and their draft of the new proposed Form of Government.

In her comments to COGA, Cindy Bolbach, a Presbyterian elder from Washington, DC, and co-moderator of the task force, lifted up and provided rationales for a number of items in the proposed draft that are receiving the most attention by the church:

• The creation of the document, “Foundations of Presbyterian Polity” — containing the material in the first four chapters of the current Book of Order, the task force has, according to Bolbach, pulled out this material, “to set it apart as a foundational structure on which our church operates,” so that it is seen as a part of the entire PC(USA) Constitution, not just the Form of Government;
• Elimination of the category “inactive member” — Bolbach, a clerk of session, advocated the elimination, calling it an “oxymoronic term.” She added, “People ask me how many inactive members we have. How do I know how many? They’re not around.”;
• Allowing an interim pastor to become the installed pastor of a congregation — the step would require a three-fourths vote of presbytery. Acknowledging the magnitude of this proposal, which has drawn considerable fire, Bolbach noted that the task force is including the provision that presbyteries will have the option to impose a further limit on that ability;
• Replacing the term “governing body” with “council” — a move to a “historic term that has been used for when Christians come together to discern and make decisions,” said Bolbach;
• Replacing the term “office” with “ordered ministry” — “because those who are ordained are not holding office over all the other members of the congregation, and the move emphasizes function instead of power or status,” Bolbach explained;
• Returning to the terms “ruling elder” for elders and “teaching elder” for “ministers of the Word and Sacrament” — a move that Bolbach said “re-emphasizes one of the great strengths of the Presbyterian tradition, namely, a sharing of the responsibility for the health and welfare of the congregation.”

In summary, Bolbach said that the task force is “mandating functions, not structures.

“We have worked to return the Form of Government to what it used to be,” she said, “a constitutional document that presents the overarching structure, but recognizes that what you do in Alaska, for example, is not the same as in New York.”
 
She added, “Some have asked why we’re doing this. Aren’t there more important things in the life of the church? Isn’t our effort simply rearranging chairs on the Titanic? What I think we’re doing is giving the church a better way to figure out where the icebergs are out there.”

“We’re in a different place as Christians now than even thirty years ago. We’re a minority now in what some call a post-Christian or even anti-Christian era. We need to come up with a polity that allows us to proclaim the Word as effectively as possible. We think we’ve done that.”

The task force will study and consider all of the feedback they receive from across the church between now and its next meeting next month and make revisions to their work.
The final draft of the proposed Form of Government will be ready by the 120-day deadline for business to be submitted to the 218th General Assembly, which is Feb 22, 2008.

In other business, COGA:

• learned that this year’s per capita budget income and expenditures are on target, and that per capita payment across the church is around 96 percent. The committee approved writing off $485,000 of unpaid per capita in 2006.
• heard a preliminary report on COGA’s response to a 2006 GA referral about the PC(USA) open-meeting policy. The report is focusing on 1) clarifying the availability of documents at open meetings to create uniformity where there is not at present; 2) clarifying procedures for a meeting to be closed, noting especially  that church litigation is included in the civil and criminal litigation exception to the policy (the only other subjects for which meetings may be closed are property negotiation, personnel matters and security concerns); and 3) examining the way notice of meetings is made under the policy. The final report and recommendations to the 2008 Assembly will be discussed at COGA’s February meeting.