BIRMINGHAM — Now the question is: What happens next?
A closely divided General Assembly has voted to try something new — to try an approach of balancing freedom of conscience while applying national ordination standards that some say has the chance to bring healing to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and others say could help break the denomination apart.
The assembly voted 298 to 221 on June 20 to approve the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the PC(USA) — one of the most closely-watched and controversial items to come before the assembly in years.
That means the assembly has just created a new authoritative interpretation — an interpretation which would permit a candidate who disagrees with part of the church’s ordination standards, such as those involving the ordination of gays and lesbians, to declare an objection or a “scruple.” The local governing body would then decide whether that departure from the denomination’s constitutional standards “constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of Reformed faith and polity,” or can be tolerated.
“We have not in any way fundamentally changed our standards relative to ordination and human sexuality,” said PC(USA) stated clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick during a news conference. But he said he hopes there will now be “a more pastoral spirit as we uphold those standards.”
Evangelicals in the church, however, contend that the assembly’s vote does effectively change the constitution.
“The consequences of the decision of this General Assembly throw our denomination into crisis,” said Terry Schlossberg, executive director of the Presbyterian Coalition. Some will conclude that the PC(USA) has “abandoned the historic faith,” she said — and some in the worldwide church will see the decision as “profoundly offensive.”
The Covenant Network of Presbyterians, on the other hand, said that in approving the report “the General Assembly has called the church to a higher standard of life together.”
The task force worked on the report for four years and was unanimous in its recommendations — an accomplishment that, given the committee’s diversity, some have called a miracle.
And the assembly gave strong support, by a 459-41 vote, or more than 91 percent in favor, to the task force’s first four recommendations — including the recommendation that the task force has said is its most significant: that PC(USA) should not split into separate denominations.
The task force also has asked — and the assembly strongly affirmed — that congregations, presbyteries and other groups should “follow the example of the task force” and use processes of discernment and community building to work through difficult issues.
And that section of the report includes theological statements about Jesus Christ and the Bible that have been praised across the spectrum — indeed, task force members have said over and over that, despite their differences about the church’s political issues, they found common ground on areas such as Christology and Biblical authority and interpretation.
But the votes of the assembly commissioners also reflected how conflicted the denomination continues to be about the authoritative interpretation. During an afternoon of discussion, the assembly cast a series of votes regarding the report that reflect a split of about 55 percent to 45 percent. A move to reject the authoritative interpretation lost by a vote of 287 to 234.
Following the vote, at the request of moderator Joan Gray, the commissioners stood and joined hands in silent prayer. Almost immediately after that, a commissioner rose to ask how he could do something he had hoped he’d never have to do — to put into the record his official dissent with the vote the assembly had just taken.
Kirkpatrick described the task force’s success as “for some extremely good news, for others extremely painful news,” and said a letter would be sent that could be read in every Presbyterian congregation on Sunday, “so that people could at least hear from us” about what the denomination has done.
The task force has said its report can give the church a “season of discernment” in which the PC(USA)’s ordination standards won’t change —- but congregations and presbyteries can decide when applying those standards when it’s appropriate to grant exceptions. Regarding sexual behavior, the ordination standards restrict ordination to those who practice fidelity if they’re married or chastity if they’re single.
Through more than two hours of debate on the task force report, commissioners came to the microphones in a steady stream — on this one, seemingly everyone had an opinion.
Zoe VanDyke, a youth advisory delegate from Scioto Valley presbytery, said she sees “an epidemic of conflict in the church,” and wants it to stop.
But David Miller, a pastor from Florida, called the new authoritative interpretation a “license to overlook” the ordination standards. And Robert Gagnon, an elder from Pittsburgh, said the assembly’s action “will not bring unity but will actually take the conflict that exists at the national level and extend it to every single congregation and every single presbytery.”
Gray was asked whether she thinks the assembly acted in accordance with Scripture.
“We’re struggling with that as a denomination,” she said. “We have not yet come to one mind totally on this. We’re still working on it.”
