COLUMBUS — John Buchanan is pastor of Fourth Church in Chicago and editor of The Christian Century magazine, also is a co-founder of the Covenant Network of Presbyterians, which for the past decade has tried to convince the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to ordain gays and lesbians.
He was moderator of the General Assembly in Albuquerque in 1996 — the assembly that passed the rule limiting ordination in the denomination to those who practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single.
And on the opening day of the Covenant Network’s 2006 conference, Buchanan said the denomination is now in a new place — a place where the report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the PC(USA) provides “a precious opportunity to try to live together as if the gospel makes a difference,” as the Covenant Network’s executive director, Pamela Byers, has said.
Buchanan said the Covenant Network is also in a new place. He hopes it will set aside its legislative agenda and that “we will reach across the aisle” to bear with one another in love.
Asked in an interview what he means by that, Buchanan said: “My hope is that we won’t be working on overtures. We won’t work to try to get G-60106b out of there” — meaning that, at least for now, the Covenant Network would stop its efforts to remove the “fidelity and chastity” section from the PC(USA)’s constitution.
Buchanan told the gathering that, as important as the network’s work is — and “our voice needs to be heard now more than ever,” he said — the prime affinity group for Presbyterians who want to change the constitution is the PC(USA) itself. The denomination is buffeted by declining membership and influence and infighting, with some congregations that want to withhold funds or leave altogether.
And the PC(USA) is trying to figure out what the theological task force report will mean in practice, with some Presbyterians furious, others hopeful. At the heart of the discussion is what might happen if candidates for ordination or installation begin to declare scruples, to say that there is something in the ordination standards they cannot in conscience agree with, but to ask that they be considered for ordination or installation anyway.
A presbytery or session could do that, but only if it determined the departure from the ordination standards did not involve an “essential” of Reformed faith and polity.
Buchanan told the Covenant Network, which is meeting Nov. 9-11 at Broad Street Church in Columbus, Ohio, that he is convinced someday the denomination will change its ordination standards.
But for now, he’s advocating a shift away from that particular fight and towards some living out of the task force reality. The Covenant Network could provide resources to support the faithful examination of candidates and legal help for those involved in the process, Buchanan said.
And he quoted the poet and novelist Wendell Berry, saying that sometimes, “it is possible for our sense of wrong to become an affliction.”
There also has been a change in the Covenant Network’s leadership. Jon Walton of New York will continue as co-moderator, but Kimberly Richter has taken a new job and is stepping down. The Covenant Network’s executive committee has chosen Deborah Block, a pastor from Milwaukee who was a candidate for General Assembly moderator last summer and is a former Covenant Network co-moderator, to serve again in that role with Walton.
