They had already presented this past June to the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) a revised set of polity standards intended to streamline the governance section of the Book of Order. Now they were responding to the GA-assigned task of revisiting, revising, and promoting their earlier work in anticipation of the next GA to be held in June 2010.
The 2008 GA directed Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow to appoint three new members to the Task Force (TF) to be chosen from the Assembly Committee on Form of Government Revisions, with input from the moderator and vice-moderator of that committee. Reyes-Chow also attended the Arlington meeting, serving as its facilitator.
The three new FOG task force members are: Grace Bowen from New York City Presbytery, Carol Hunley from Pittsburgh Presbytery, and Dan Williams from Shenandoah Presbytery.
The task force elected two co-moderators: Cynthia Bolbach, (elder, National Capital Presbytery), who had served as a co-moderator for the previous two years, and Dan Williams, (Shenandoah Presbytery). He is pastor of Second Church in Staunton, Va.
Whereas their 2006 assignment had focused upon the formulation of a replacement section for the Book of Order, now they were considering an array of suggested edits, while struggling with the challenge of how to generate “buy-in” from the larger church.
Through the previous year, committee members had tried to spread the word of their work, but many Presbyterians did not tune into this as something that really matters. Indeed, new member Grace Bowen (member-at-large of New York City Presbytery) expressed that hard reality: “Were it not for the assignment, I never would have heard about FOG.”
Doska Ross, manager of polity guidance and training for the Office of the General Assembly, sat in on this meeting of the task force. She reminded those present that presbyteries have only so much time to discuss topics assigned to them from the national church. She reflected, “You need to realize that when we asked presbyteries to study it the last time, many of them told us that they are not going to study it until the assembly sends out an amendment to vote on.”
Then again, it’s not enough just to engage the presbyteries. “We’ve got to get this out to sessions,” she said. “They need to be engaged in this.”
“And the networks of pastors,” injected Reyes-Chow. “They need to be a part of this, too.”
But what should the sessions, presbyteries, and pastors be studying? The document already proposed to the previous GA? Or should they make revisions and then send them on? “In other words,” Steve Smith (minister from Pacific Presbytery) asked, “do we want to send out the report we prepared for 218 and then do revising, or do we want to do revising in advance?”
Proposed revisions came to the task force from several sources. The GA’s committee on FOG Revisions collected and referred without further comment ideas that arose in their deliberations plus suggestions offered by several other entities. That feedback came from the Advisory Committee on the Constitution (ACC), the Committee on the General Assembly (COGA), the Advisory Committee on Racial-Ethnic Concerns (ACREC), and the General Assembly Committee on Representation (GACOR). Two presbyteries offered extensive feedback that also was referred: New Covenant Presbytery in southeast Texas and Foothills Presbytery in western South Carolina.
The reconstituted task force was now feeling pressed by deadlines. Paige McRight, presbytery executive from Central Florida, noted that the annual polity conference beginning September 24 outside Salt Lake City will be attended by middle governing body (MGB) executives and stated clerks from all around the denomination. That group, she told them, provides an ideal opportunity to test their work among colleagues most interested in it. Also those MGB leaders can help promote study of their proposals throughout the presbyteries and sessions all around the denomination.
The task force opted to form three sub-committees. One sub-committee would begin assimilating all the feedback to prepare suggested edits to the work. They intend to prepare revisions in real time by using online technology in preparation of a draft they can take to the polity conference. Further revising will continue through the next several months.
A second sub-committee will develop a communications strategy. The third group will prepare study materials for use throughout the church.
Members agreed to hold their next face-to-face meeting in April, 2009.
Other members continued from the previous TF include Diana Barber (Synod of Lakes and Prairies), Gemechisa Guja (Donegal Presbytery), Paul Hooker (St. Augustine Presbytery), James Kim (Grace Presbytery), and Neal Lloyd (Twin Cities Area Presbytery).
