Background
The John Knox Overture, passed by the recent General Assembly, clarified the scope of Recommendation 5 of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church. This recommendation came in the form of an Authoritative Interpretation highlighting a section of the Book of Order (G-6.0108), which allows ordaining bodies the option to approve conscientious departures from standards by candidates for ordination. Such departures are considered on a case-by-case basis and, in situations where an ordaining body determines that a particular departure does not involve essentials of Reformed faith and polity, the candidate in question may be approved for ordination. In passing the John Knox Overture, the 218th General Assembly reaffirmed the original intention of the Theological Task Force, establishing that candidates have the freedom to declare conscientious departures from any of the church’s standards, though ordaining bodies are under no obligation to accept any such departure.
John Wilkinson:
Theological Task Force Recommendation 5 is part of a larger theological vision of how our church can give faithful witness to Jesus Christ in times of deep division. It is the product of four years of collaborative work by a group of twenty Presbyterians chosen for their diversity in many areas: elders and clergy, old and young, liberal and conservative, Anglo and racial ethnic, male and female — this was not the kind of group that would ever self-select! Yet we unanimously commended Recommendation 5 to the church, not as compromise, but because we believed it was faithful to Christ’s calling.
Recommendation 5 reflects the deep conviction we developed through prayer and study together: that the people on different sides of church debates are not heretics, but committed Christians striving to be faithful to Christ and his Word.
Recommendation 5 is nothing new. It fleshes out an existing section of the Book of Order and has deep roots in Presbyterian tradition. It does not stand alone — it is one of a series of recommendations that together frame a vision of faithful discipleship in the midst of struggles and disagreements. The Task Force’s first and most important recommendation was that we stay together as a church despite our differences because we are already together in one Body, Christ’s very own. The reconciliation Christ has secured for us on the cross is far more powerful than the disagreements we struggle with. Every one of the Task Force’s recommendations was designed to help our church to live into that Gospel vision.
The Task Force also recommended that we accept the grace to reach out to one another across divisions and to repair the damage caused by our disconnections with and caricatures of one another. We urged Presbyterians of all stripes to engage in theological study of the Reformed faith and heritage we share. And we encouraged the church to explore new techniques of decision-making, taking time together for discernment rather than simply fighting to triumph in winner-take-all votes.
Recommendation 5 is an important part of this vision for how we live out the Gospel of our oneness in Christ. It has to do with how we treat fellow Christians whom we believe to be mistaken. It bears stating up front that Recommendation 5 will be hard to understand if viewed from the limited perspective of a single partisan interest group. If my view of the church is defined simply by my agenda, then the only faithfulness I am able to recognize is that I should win! But Christ died for the whole church, not just one portion of it. As a leader of a group that has been trying for years to win a vote to delete G-6.0106b from the Book of Order, it was challenging for me to shift my focus to the wider church. But finally I was privileged to be led by the Spirit, along with both my allies and opponents represented on the task force, to believe that whatever decision the church makes, deeply divisive issues should be faced after a period of discernment that enables a large part of the church to act together. Our common call is to stand together as a diverse group of disciples and to show the world what it looks like to be faithful amid and despite our divisions.
Mark Achtemeier:
Recommendation 5 focuses on how the majority side in any church controversy can lift up Christ by the way it treats those in the minority. Focusing on examinations for ordination, which have been at the center of the most divisive conflicts in the history of our denomination, Recommendation 5 reminds the church that section G-6.0108 permits a candidate coming before a presbytery or session to state honestly if there are any teachings or standards of the church to which that person can neither agree nor conform. Suppose this happens. How then does the church deal faithfully with biblically-grounded, conscientious dissent from majority positions?
Recommendation 5 makes clear that the ordaining body acts faithfully by entering into a conversation about the dissent, asking how serious it is, and considering whether it is possible to make room for this person’s conscience without undermining essentials of Reformed faith and practice. If, in the solemn judgment of the ordaining body, a departure does not undermine essentials, the person may be considered further for ordination.
Now why is that procedure faithful? Why not just apply all the standards checklist-fashion in every case? Let me give you two reasons, both deeply grounded in our Reformed theological heritage.
The first reason starts with our Reformed confession that Jesus Christ is Head of the church (G-1.0100a). Neither the ministers nor the elders, neither the General Assembly nor the Permanent Judicial Commission rules the church. Jesus Christ rules the church. How does Jesus do that? Christ is present through his Word and Spirit (G-1.0100b). Hearing and obeying the Word of God in Scripture is the foundation of the church’s life.
This means we are in a very tricky position if a candidate comes to us and says, “I have studied the Bible carefully, I have prayed over it, and I think Scripture goes against this particular article of church teaching.” That happens all the time in controversy, and being a church of the Word, the last thing we want to do is tell that person, “Well, stop listening to the Bible and get with the program!” We are a church of the Word! And we remember how many times God has spoken his Word not through rulers and councils and majority opinions, but through the lone voices of prophets and reformers as they encountered God’s Word and Spirit. That is why our Reformed tradition has taken such great pains to protect biblically-formed conscience. That is why making room for minority interpretations wherever we can is a faithful expression of our conviction that Christ is our head.
The second reason why allowing room for dissent in accordance with Recommendation 5 is faithful: The Bible and our Constitution (G-1.0305) both call us to exercise forbearance toward brothers and sisters with whom we disagree. This is not a matter of good manners. It goes to the heart of our calling as followers of Jesus.
In Philippians 2, Paul addresses a conflicted congregation, telling them to have the mind among themselves that was in Christ Jesus. What kind of mind is that? It’s the kind of mind that, though he was in the form of God, led Christ to empty himself and give up everything, becoming obedient even to death on the cross — all for the sake of lost sinners who were wrong about all kinds of things! If that is the Lord we follow, if that is the mind of Christ we share in, does that not lead us to a similar kind of generosity and compassion toward those fellow sinners we believe are wrong? Christ did not abandon sinners. We exercise forbearance toward brothers and sister we think are mistaken, not because truth isn’t important, but for the sake of entering into conversation and seeking God’s truth together with them in the fellowship of the one Body of Christ!
Recommendation 5 gives us a way to live out Christ’s rule over the church by his Word, and to share in his redeeming love for our fellow sinners. This is why the Task Force and the 2006 General Assembly believed it was faithful.
Let me close with a personal word. I, like John, had a bit of a spiritual shake-up in the course of my work on the Task Force. I was a leader of groups that worked hard to put G-6.0106b in the Book of Order. I understand that those groups want their victory to count for as much as possible — that is only human. But I, too, was led to realize that the one victory that matters most is Jesus’ death on the cross for our sins and his rising again to heal our divisions and give us new life. Recommendation 5 is faithful because it is an echo and proclamation of Christ’s faithfulness to us, and I came to embrace it with gratitude and hope.
May all of us find that same gratitude and hope in the work we do on behalf of Christ’s church!
John Wilkinson is pastor of Third Church in Rochester, N.Y. Mark Achtemeier teaches theology and ethics at Dubuque (Iowa) Theological Seminary. Both were members of the Theological Task Force on the Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church.
