LOUISVILLE – A proposed revision of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Directory for Worship – 10 years in the making – will go to the 2014 General Assembly as a study document, not a proposed constitutional amendment.
The Presbyterian Mission Agency Board made that change Feb. 7 after some board members expressed concern that Presbyterians hadn’t had enough time to study and comment on the proposed changes.
David Gambrell, of the PC(USA)’s Office of Theology and Worship, outlined the proposed revisions – explaining that the revision is intended to streamline the Directory for Worship (cutting it from 27,000 to 16,000 words); eliminate redundancies; making it more concise, direct and engaging, more compelling for congregations to use.
Some board members raised concerns, however, that the process was moving too fast – that Presbyterians hadn’t had enough time to study and comment on the proposal. Wendy Tajima, a board member from California, said a quick reading made her think “there are significant theological shifts in the rewrite.” Others raised concerns about whether advocacy committees have had an opportunity to review the proposal.
As a result of those concerns, the board decided not to send the revision to the 2014 General Assembly, which was what originally had been proposed. Instead, the board approved a substitute motion – to ask the 2014 assembly to approve the revisions as a study document, seeking comments, with the revisions then to come before the 2016 General Assembly as a proposed amendment to the PC(USA) constitution.
The history of the process goes back a decade. The 2004 General Assembly called for an analysis of the Directory for Worship’s effectiveness. The 2006 assembly approved a recommendation for revision, but the response to that was delayed from 2007 to 2011 while the denomination considered a new Form of Government. In 2011, work on the revision document that’s now being considered resumed.
Tajima said she likes some of the changes she’s seen, and the denomination will “invite ownership by allowing people to comment on it.”
