DALLAS — The controversies that some think may split the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) apart now aren’t unprecedented — they follow a similar path carved by Presbyterian battles over the years. The pattern typically is this: the church feels pressure to make decisions on matters on which there are a range of views, often involving eligibility for church office; people feel locked into just two positions; they struggle for control of the church.
And “the result is a church both preoccupied with and weary of conflict,” according to a draft report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) presented during meetings this week.
Searching through history, hoping to provide guidance for the current troubles, the task force looked for ways of dealing with conflict in Presbyterian history that could provide some relief.
These are matters the task force has discussed before since it began meeting in December 2001 — with Milton “Joe” Coalter, who is librarian and professor of bibliography at Union Theological Seminary and Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, presenting the idea of four “points of balance” woven through the American Presbyterian experience.
The draft report revisits that concept — describing for example, the balance between honoring communal discernment of God’s will and the Spirit’s leading on the one hand with the recognition that God alone is Lord of the conscience under the authority of Scripture. It is these attempts at balance, the task force contends, that often have held the church together in difficult times.
In the current struggles, the task force reported that it’s “convinced” that all sides are attempting to be faithful to God’s Word. It recommends the “disciplines of patience, forbearance and communal discernment” and has this to say about what it calls “constructive engagement” for the church:
-
Regarding unity, “Christ is not divided.”
-
Regarding purity, “ultimately the church cannot simply agree to disagree on important matters of faith and practice … But resolution by merely technical or legal means will not endure because it does not address the conflict of convictions that gave rise to the disagreements in the first place. Only a resolution with theological integrity can be sustained.”
-
Regarding peace, pursuing truth requires involving differing voices in the community in the conversation and honoring them “as full partners in our common pursuit of God’s will for the church.”
The draft report says later that including Christians from different cultural backgrounds can “open new vistas of faithfulness” for the Presbyterian church.
In some situations, the report states, parliamentary procedure, with up-or-down voting “in which the winning majority takes all,” may not work well when “there is a sizeable minority or a persistent, substantial division” on important matters. The task force is suggesting that the church, from congregations to the General Assembly, use some of the techniques it has tried — including studying the Bible together, forming diverse theological discussion groups, and using non-parliamentary methods of discernment and consensus building.
