Some people who’ve been around the block a few times have a sense the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — which lost 48,400 members in 2005, it was just announced — may be in a time of transition.
There will be new leadership, perhaps a new approach for sorting out the disagreements over ordaining gays and lesbians. There are questions of how a mainline Protestant denomination, declining in influence, older and less diverse than the surrounding culture, can continue to be a voice worth listening to on issues ranging from immigration to Iraq.
There’s a lot at stake in Birmingham, according to some Presbyterians. They were coming to Alabama full of both pent-up anxiety and hope — and with a sense that this assembly could be critical in shaping the future direction of the PC(USA.)
To them, things feel a little different this time around.
But different how?
Build-up of issues
First, with the assembly meeting just every other year, there’s been a long build-up time — lots of time to stir the pot.
Presbyterians have waited four years for the report from the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the PC(USA). The assembly in 2004 put off some things, holding off picking a direction until the church knew what the task force would say.
Likewise, for two years, Presbyterians have dealt with the backlash of the assembly’s decision in 2004 to recommend phased, selective divestment in some companies doing business in Israel. The Birmingham assembly won’t be asked to divest in any particular companies — conversations with firms being considered are continuing, so the denomination’s not ready to take action yet.
But the presbyteries are finally getting their chance to speak up. Some want this assembly to rescind the 2004 divestment action; some support it; some want to explore creative ways to encourage “positive” investment that will reinforce efforts to work for peace in the Middle East.
Bottom line: There’s a lot of pent-up energy in the PC(USA). Birmingham could be the place for some of it to blow.
Or, on the other hand, maybe not.
Conciliation?
Some also sense there may be momentum towards conciliation. The General Assembly Council, led by Rick Ufford-Chase, moderator of the 216th General Assembly, has recommended that all the overtures on divestment be answered by referring them to the Mission Responsibility Through Investment Committee and by setting up a working group to monitor events in the Middle East.
That seven-member working group would represent a range of views on divestment and would be responsible for listening carefully to Christians, Jews, and Muslims concerned about the difficulties in Israel, and for developing “guidance that honors each of their concerns” to present to the assembly in 2008.
Some also see the theological task force recommendations — which have drawn support from seminary presidents and former General Assembly moderators — as potentially leading the PC(USA) into a season of listening and “mutual forbearance,” as the task force has encouraged.
“Those who seem right now the most outspoken, the most invested, are committed to non-confrontation,” said Jerry Andrews, a pastor from Glen Ellyn, Ill., who’s co-moderator of the Presbyterian Coalition, an evangelical group. “They don’t seem to have a ‘This is so wrong, it has to be fixed now’ kind of mentality.”
Second, this assembly was planned differently. The PC(USA) and Cumberland Presbyterians were meeting concurrently, so both groups needed to learn a few new dance steps. Worship was set for the evenings, not first thing in the morning, as is traditional for the PC(USA). The assembly was to kick off on a Thursday, not a Saturday, and “pre-assembly events” on divestment and the theological task force report were scheduled before the opening bell.
Some old-timers need to take deep, cleansing breaths and repeat to themselves: Change is good.
Major issues
Third, some of what the assembly is to consider has the potential to change the PC(USA) landscape considerably — at least, that’s what some people think. At the center of this discussion is the controversial Recommendation 5 from the theological task force, which would allow local governing bodies to determine whether candidates for ordination have departed from the PC(USA)’s ordination standards — and whether a departure in a particular case “constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of Reformed faith and polity.”
This proposal has led to a fierce — and complicated — debate about what’s mandated and what’s optional, what’s essential and what’s not, whether the presbyteries should get to vote on what the task force is recommending, and what might happen if the task force report were to pass.
There have been intense conversations in recent weeks about what will happen after the assembly closes up shop — and what people might do if the assembly takes a position they find untenable.
Some evangelicals say they could not in conscience go along with a change that could, at least potentially, result in sexually-active gays and lesbians being ordained with the denomination’s blessing. So across the church people who oppose the ordination of gays and lesbians are asking, “If the task force report passes, what will I do?”
Some say they would leave. Some will go to the New Wineskins meeting July 19-22 in Tulsa and see what that group has to offer. And others are brainstorming about other possibilities — including the new Presbyterian Global Fellowship, which will meet in Atlanta Aug. 17-19 — that could claim more control for congregations and to some extent bypass the PC(USA) structure.
The Episcopal Church’s General Convention also will be held June 13-21 in Columbus, which means the debates of American Protestants over gay ordination will inevitably be in the national spotlight.
“I have never encountered as much concern about the possibility for a negative outcome,” Terry Schlossberg, executive director for the Presbyterian Coalition, said in an interview. “There are people meeting all over the place. I’m getting phone calls.”
Some pastors are talking to their sessions or congregations, trying to prepare them for what may lie ahead. And while evangelicals will come to the assembly determined to make a strong pitch against Recommendation 5, “a lot of people are expecting the worst,” Schlossberg said.
They’re also asking, if Recommendation 5 passes, “then what do we do? — that question is all over the place.”
While some are anxious and concerned, others see the weeks following the assembly as perhaps an opportunity — a chance for Presbyterians who disagree with the denomination to consider new ways of relating to the national church, Schlossberg said.
“They feel for years we have been a denomination kind of cogitating our navels, … doing poorly at evangelism and mission,” and this may be a time to try new things, she said.
Among evangelicals, “the negative thing is it’s fragmented,” Andrews said. “The positive thing is it’s very creative.”
Sleeper possibilities
Finally, there’s no one, single, overwhelming issue in the spotlight at this assembly and beyond — there’s more like a big bucket of bottle rockets to pass out, any one of which could fizzle out or really take off.
Both progressives and evangelicals have set up Web sites to help their supporters track the action — among them, www.justpresbys.org and www.ga2006.org — and to offer their own takes on what would be good for the PC(USA) and what would not.
Also worth watching, the handicappers say, are smaller but potentially potent issues, including a theological report on the Trinity; a pile of overtures concerning the closing of the Presbyterian Historical Society office in Montreat, N.C.; an overture regarding the mandatory payment of per capita; and a proposal to consider rewriting Chapter 14 of the Book of Order, which has to do with the form of government.
According to James Cogswell, a retired missionary from Black Mountain, N.C., 21 presbyteries have sent overtures asking the assembly to overturn a decision the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly made in Sept. 2005 to recommend closing the historical society office in Montreat.
Those presbyteries come from 10 states and 4 synods, mostly in the Southeast, Cogswell said in an interview. The overtures they’ve sent “vary in their presentation,” he said, “but the basic idea is that the historical society (in Montreat) have its own board and be responsible for its own support.”
Supporters of the Montreat office have launched a conditional fundraising campaign (conditional upon the assembly keeping the office alive) that so far has pledges of $525,000, Cogswell said. “We hope that will give evidence to the General Assembly that there is the potential for the Historical Foundation being able to stand on its own feet.”
What are some other hot possibilities?
The assembly will be asked to confirm the appointment of Linda Bryant Valentine as executive director of the General Assembly Council for the next four years and to sign off on a $9.1 million downsizing and restructuring of the denomination’s national staff.
While the assembly may approve exactly what the General Assembly Council has recommended, it’s also possible that some commissioners may suggest changes — for example, keeping a separate division for international mission.
Evangelicals are watching both the Trinity report and an overture from Newton presbytery on affirming a “common Abrahamic heritage” among Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. That overture asks the assembly to “accept and proclaim that Muslims, Jews, and Christians worship the same God” and to support efforts for followers of the three religions to work together for peace, justice and righteousness.
“The No. 1 concern regarding the Trinity paper is that it implies that the language of ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit’ is merely metaphorical,” said Michael Walker, executive director of Presbyterians for Renewal. “Our identity as Christians and salvation itself is caught up in our understanding of God as eternally Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”
And he’s watching to see what the debate on the overture regarding the Abrahamic heritage has to say about what Christianity, Judaism and Islam have in common — in other words, as Walker put it, “We’re pretty much the same and we worship the same God” — and in what ways the religions are different and distinct.
Progressives in the church have their own lists of issues they’re tracking — among them, abortion, immigration, and overtures asking the PC(USA) to change its ordination standards.
So much business, so little time.
So much that could happen.
