Think of it as that moment when the toboggan is perched at the top of the hill. One quick shove, and things in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) could quickly pick up speed — maybe hitting some big bumps along the way. The big tree at the bottom: the General Assembly, due to meet in California for a week in June.
Between now and then, though, there’s a lot of snow to navigate. Here’s a quick look at the terrain.
Judicial cases
The last General Assembly, meeting in Birmingham in 2006, approved the controversial report of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the PC(USA). But there’s a lot of shaking out still to happen, some of it involving what kinds of “scruples,” or objections based on conscience, presbyteries and congregations will allow candidates for ordination to declare.
It’s taking time for those situations to emerge. There has not, so far, been a rush of cases in the church courts involving scrupling. But in the months following the Birmingham assembly, a number of presbyteries moved quickly to set rules for what would and would not be acceptable in their regions — in some cases, declaring that no departures of conscience from denominational standards will be granted on particular issues.
Some presbyteries want to say they will not allow candidates for ordination or installation to declare departures from the national standards — to announce a “scruple” — on what the presbytery has declared “essentials” of faith. But others say the decisions of whether to grant departures of conscience from the standards must be granted on a case-by-case basis, in the examination of individual candidates.
Some of those cases have been hammered out in judicial cases at the synod level. But on Feb. 8, the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission, the highest court in the PC(USA) system, is scheduled to consider appeals of remedial cases involving the presbyteries of Olympia and Pittsburgh.
Folks who pay attention to denominational politics will be watching those cases closely as the first test of how the task force’s recommendations will be interpreted at the top level of the church courts. Also, cases involving individual candidates are beginning to work their way through the system. Scott Anderson, a task force member and gay man who gave up his ordination in California, has been approved as an inquirer in John Knox Presbytery.
And the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area is considering the case of Paul Capetz, a gay theology professor who set aside his ordination in 2000 and who is now asking to be reinstated.
Capetz wants to declare a scruple to the language in the PC(USA)’s ordination standards that limit ordination to those who practice fidelity if they’re married or chastity if they are single. Capetz says he’s not currently in a relationship, but cannot for theological reasons pledge to be celibate. How the presbytery handles his request will be closely watched. It is the kind of case that could say a lot about how the task force recommendations will play out in real life.
Overtures
Overtures to the General Assembly are one measure of what’s on the minds of Presbyterians, and in the windup to this next assembly, they’ll be pouring in, some on local matters, some on national and international concerns.
Already, Greater Atlanta Presbytery is asking that Presbyterians “raise their voices for peace in the nation of Iraq and an end to the United States military presence there,” and Lake Huron Presbytery wants the U.S. government to move more quickly to assist Iraqi refugees and displaced persons.
Heartland Presbytery wants to restore an Office of Environmental Justice in the PC(USA) structure.
Mississippi Presbytery wants the recommendations of the Form of Government task force to go to the church for study for two years, echoing a concern that some have felt that such significant recommendations are too complex for the church to consider implementing quickly. But the 2006 assembly instructed the FOG task force to present recommendations for change in 2008. The task force has been working hard to come up with a polity it says is simpler to use and more focused on mission, posting its work on the Internet and asking for feedback before the assembly gets underway.
And some presbyteries are presenting overtures in response to the theological task force’s recommendations. Cherokee Presbytery, for example, is asking the assembly to approve an authoritative interpretation to say that a governing body could not install or ordain a candidate for minister of Word and Sacrament, deacon or elder if that person has departed from the standards for ordination in the Book of Order.
St. Andrew Presbytery is proposing a constitutional amendment to say that candidates could not be ordained or installed who would not comply with all mandatory requirements of the Book of Order, along with another amendment to try to clarify language in the section of the Book of Order restricting ordination to those who practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they are single. The second amendment would say that “persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin that does not conform to this standard” should not be ordained or installed as ministers, elders, or deacons.
And South Louisiana Presbytery has sent an overture asking that Recommendation 5 of the theological task force be rescinded, which would remove altogether the authoritative interpretation involving scrupling.
Mission focus
More and more, conversations in the PC(USA) revolve around what it means to be more missional and less bureaucratic as a church.
Hunter Farrell, director of world mission for the denomination, convened a roundtable discussion in January of major players in international mission work to discuss more comprehensively what it means to do mission in partnership around the globe. Farrell told a group of mission pastors in November that, since taking the job in August 2007, he’s had more than 225 conversations with people from around the church about “how to move into a new mode of doing mission.” Farrell, an experienced overseas missionary, said of the PC(USA): “I sense remarkable winds of change that I didn’t feel 10 and 15 years ago.”
The denominational leadership is trying new ways to communicate with and support local congregations. Linda Valentine, executive director of the General Assembly Council, blogs about what she sees happening in the denomination. Mission Initiative: Joining Hearts & Hands campaign sends out regular updates on its work and its efforts to hit by next summer its goal of raising $40 million for international mission work and church development and redevelopment in the United States.
And the weeks to come will bring a better sense of how things are shaping up.
The General Assembly Council will meet in Louisville Feb. 13-15; more information on the denomination’s financial outlook may be forthcoming there.
The Stated Clerk Nomination Committee, which is considering applicants to succeed Clifton Kirkpatrick as the PC(USA)’s top ecclesiastical officer, will be interviewing candidates in March and making its recommendation no later than April 22.
Susan Ryan has been replaced as director of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance; the interim coordinator will be Simon Park, formerly a PC(USA) missionary.
Hold on tight. More bumps and excitement ahead.
