The members of the special committee comprise a true cross-section of the Church – theologically, geographically, ethnically – serving in local church, seminary, judicatory, and other ministry settings.
Our two-day meeting was grounded in morning, mid-day and evening prayer, with a commissioning service led by General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons and coordinated by staff members of the Office of Theology, Worship and Education.
We acquainted ourselves with one another, reviewed the language of the overture approved by the 218th General Assembly (2008) and set about our work by first consulting with presbytery officials and the co-author of the overture/overture advocate as required by Chapter XVIII of the Book of Order. Two members of the special committee held a subsequent consultation with the other overture co-author to insure that all relevant presbytery officials were included in the consultative process as mandated by Chapter XVIII.
The consultation provided the special committee insight into the authorial intent underlying the overture, and the nature and substance of discussions as the overture made its way through Session, Presbytery, and General Assembly. Additionally, the consultation enabled us to compare the final language that was approved by the Assembly with the original language presented to the presbytery by the Session.
We benefited from the personal insights of two individuals who were members of the Assembly Committee on Theological Issues and Institutions that considered the overture. One is a member of the special committee and was an elder commissioner at the 218th General Assembly. Another commissioner happened to be in the building attending the GAC meeting. This provided an added lens for us to gain a clearer picture of the parliamentary history of this overture within the Assembly itself.
Seeing that it was critically important for us to locate the Heidelberg Catechism in its past and present contexts, the special committee heard two presentations: One from a committee member on the 16th century Continental Reformation context, and one by a staff member on the uses and implications of the Catechism in the contemporary church.
We were made aware of an ongoing translation project of the Heidelberg Catechism being conducted jointly by the Christian Reformed Church of North America (CRCNA) and the Reformed Church in America (RCA), and consulted with two key members of that translation work by teleconference. We sought their preliminary findings on the textual issues that we were confronted with in the Newark overture, and listened to their translations of other passages where the special committee had discerned problems in the PC(USA) version.
Where do things stand at this point?
Members of the committee are engaged in study of the Catechism as a whole with special attention to the passages named in the overture, as well as other translation issues. We are having internal committee discussions on the implications of the CRCNA/RCA joint project for the Newark overture that is before us, and are leaving the communication channels open with the CRCNA/RCA translation team as they and we move forward. We will make our final report to the 219th General Assembly (2010).
Neal D. Presa is chair of the General Assembly Special Committee for the Heidelberg Catechism. He serves as pastor of Middlesex Church in Middlesex, N.J.
