Only eight proposed amendments to the Constitution have been sent to the presbyteries for ratification, but one of them, called Amendments A, is a revision of the entire Chapter XIV of the Book of Order. The amendments booklet has been mailed to presbyteries and is available online at www.pcusa.org/generalassembly/amend.htm
Chapter XIV has been rearranged, reworded and shortened for the proposed new version. The purpose is to simplify the language and provide presbyteries more flexibility in calling pastors, according to the rationale. Three separate handbooks for Committees on Ministry, Committees on Preparation for Ministry, and for certification processes for Certified Christian Educators already exist and presumably will be updated if these amendments pass.
Recently I visited New Orleans for the first time. I had traveled to Gulfport, Mississippi for a church mission trip to help the Presbytery of Mississippi in Katrina rebuilding.
I arrived a day ahead of the team and decided to take the opportunity to visit the Big Easy. Not knowing where to go, I looked for familiar street names. I found my way to Canal Street, and then onto Bourbon Street, and into the French Quarter. As I drove through the French Quarter, looking at the homes and the architecture, I had the distinct feeling that I had been there before. Something about the place just seemed very familiar. I couldn't quite place what it was.
What an exciting, uplifting, heartbreaking, feisty year it has been! Is it appropriate to diagnose the PC(USA)-in-2006 as the year of denominational-manic-depressive disorder? I can certainly assess it to have been--for this editor--the year of unsmooth sailing.
Just one year ago, this pastor stepped outside the pulpit to enter the world of writing and editing. He felt overwhelmed by the trust placed in him by the board of directors that knew that their Presbyterian Outlook had long provided the denomination a ballast for stability, a rudder for setting direction, and a set of sails to promote forward movement. He also felt terribly perplexed--and admitted so--that his writer-editor duties were overlapping his tenure as member of a controversial task force.
Editor's Note: This is the second article in a three-part series presented at the New Wilmington Missionary Conference in July 2006.
Last issue we started to look at how Thomas Friendman's "flat world" might have implications for our new patterns of missional involvement. Let me describe four of the ten "flatteners" that have changed our world and should change our missiology.
1. 11/9/89: "The New Age of Creativity: When the walls came down and the windows went up." The Berlin wall fell on 11/9. Friedman says, "I realized that the ordinary men and women of East Germany peacefully and persistently had taken matters into their own hands. This was 'their revolution'" (p. 51). "It tipped the balance of power across the world toward those advocating democratic, consensual, free-market-oriented governance, and away from those advocating authoritarian rule with centrally planned economies." This meant greater freedom, more contact across borders, and it paved the way for common standards. It must be repeated because as Americans we seldom appreciate the transformation that 11/9 began. Openness, freedom and more democratic possibilities were created first in eastern Europe and then in all of the former Soviet countries, then in China and now in Vietnam, Laos and other countries.
Ephesians 4:22, 23- Throw away your former way of living ... and put on the new person.
I read that in a certain Italian village on New Year's Eve that they don't dress up or go to festive parties. Rather as midnight nears, the street traffic disappears, the pedestrians go home, and the police take cover because they know what is about to happen. At the stroke of midnight, the windows of every village house open and with reckless abandon the citizens begin throwing away worn-out furniture, chipped glasses, cracked dishes, old clothes, old pots and pans, old shoes, and pictures of old boyfriends and girlfriends. All of those things that the people do not want to haul with them into the New Year go thrown out their windows onto the street below. There are times in our lives when we need to throw away some things. As New Year's Day approaches, I plan to throw away two things in hopes of a 'God-blessed year.'
And out of the ground Yahweh God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:9.)
As in all lands of the world, God made every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food to grow in Afghanistan. Among these trees God also planted the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Many streams of religious spirituality have flowed into this land, yet the fruit of the tree of life has generally been denied to its people. The policies and actions of its kings, warlords, and tribal chieftains who manipulated the power of the knowledge of good and evil for their own advantage reduced the quality and quantity of the life of the people they governed.
Looking at the birth stories in Matthew and Luke, Ken Bailey finds three startling revelations in the brief accounts of Joseph.
Ken Bailey shares how the original, intended audience of Jesus' birth story would have interpreted the text. This reading changes the traditional, Western nativity story.
In the darkness of Christmas morn I stand under the back porch roof, listening to the rain falling gently on the almost..
Last year, some megachurches got tongues flapping fast when they decided to cancel worship services on Christmas Day -- which happened to be Sunday morning.
This year, churches face another Christmas "what to do" decision, because Dec. 24 lands on a Sunday. So congregations big and small must decide whether to offer both Sunday morning worship and a full lineup of Christmas Eve services -- or whether that's just too much.
Some people want a traditional late-night Christmas Eve service, with a choir and communion and candlelight.
The answer to this question will vary in Presbyterian churches, and the way in which we respond reflects our most fundamental attitude toward outreach and evangelism. Almost every congregation desires church growth and sets it as a primary long-range goal, but sometimes our behavior prevents the very thing we say we seek.
I have a vivid memory from a Christmas Eve service when I was a boy in my home church. The pastor welcomed the congregation with words something like, "I want to wish many of you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, a joyous Easter, a pleasant Fourth of July, and a Happy Thanksgiving because I know that I will not be seeing most of you for another year!" Maybe, in Daniel Powter's words, he "had a bad day." However, even as a child I knew this attitude was unfeeling and insensitive, and as a pastor I have never even thought, much less said, such a thing during any service I have led.
Wahoo-oo! Barreling through the streets of Pasadena, lights flashing, sirens blaring, the cop driving the patrol car at full alert, radio crackling. Oh, it's go-o-ood! Hey, that's police chaplaincy.
We-e-ell, sometimes. Every now and then. Maybe. Kinda.
Police chaplaincy can be exciting, true. It can also be boring, dirty, disgusting, sometimes even dangerous.
History is not the story of those who "sense" there is a problem. We all sense that there are problems in governments, societies, and churches. Everyone knows it and everyone complains about it. History is marked by those who have the clarity to see when it is time to act, those who understand why we must act, and those who can then communicate how to act.
Very few Presbyterians are pleased with our denomination's involvement in global mission at present. Very few people are pleased to know that at one time we had more than 2,000 full-time missionaries serving in the world (1959) and now we have fewer than 240. This is not a matter of theology or ideology. This is a general frustration with the present missional and cultural context in which we find our churches and ourselves. The world's needs and the Gospel imperative both point to the obligation to move forward with greater innovation, participation, and creativity. This is not the time for a single prophetic leader to come forward and say, "This is the way." This is the time when all men and women of goodwill, committed to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, hold hands and say, "Come, let's all move forward together. Step in the river and let's go to the promised land of mission."
We say that the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of giving. That's all well and good--noble, to be sure! But the children know otherwise. It's about receiving. Christmas is all about making your list, checking it twice, and looking to see if Santa is naughty or nice.
The Christian story of Christmas is all about receiving. The holiday proclaims the good news that God has given the gift of Immanuel, the incarnate Son of God, who has come to be our Savior. What's more, in his teaching ministry, that Savior kept offering us additional gifts. He even pleaded with his followers to ask, to seek, and to knock, promising that they would receive, find, and discover doors open to them.
Editor's note: As Presbyterians continue their quest to promote peace and justice in Israel-Palestine, we offer for our Outlook readers' reflections both this letter prepared by the Advisory Committee on Racial-Ethnic Concerns and the essay by John Wimberly that follows. The letter was sent to leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in mid-August when the Lebanon-Israel conflict of last summer was front-page news.
The Rev. Joan Gray, Moderator of the 217th General Assembly
The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk
The Rev. Allison Seed, Chairperson, General Assembly Council
Ms. Linda Valentine, Executive Director, General Assembly Council
Dear Friends and Colleagues in the Mission and Ministries of Christ's Church;
Sadly and painfully we are all very aware of the seemingly endless cycles of vengeance, violence, destruction and death among the peoples in the Middle East. Time and time again we have called ourselves in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) family to pray and work for the peace and justice of God-in-Christ among all peoples. We write to call for a stronger witness now for justice for all peoples in the Middle East, in the interest of long-term peace and the restoration of fairness and balance to U.S. foreign policy. We urge you as leaders of the Church to share the following letter with the full Council and the church as a whole as a contribution to that witness.
The 2006 General Assembly has, hopefully, put the divestment argument to rest. It replaced the controversial divestment instructions passed by the 2004 General Assembly with instructions to our committees and staff to pursue a strategy of investing in those who work for peace in the Middle East. The GA affirmed the Mission Responsibility Through Investment (MRTI) process, which has been so successful for decades, as one appropriate means to this end. Given that the Middle East has witnessed a new round of death and destruction in Lebanon, Israel, and Palestine, the GA resolution seems even more prophetic today than it did at the end of June.
I think the GA was able to reach a consensus resolution on divestment for a variety of reasons. First, both pro- and anti- divestment advocates have spent the past two years discussing/debating/dialoguing about the best strategy for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the Middle East. As a result, we were a much more informed denomination in 2006 than we were in 2004. Second, the GA acted with remarkable independence. Anyone who thinks that lobbyists for one party or another prevailed in Birmingham wasn't there. Third, the table for a balanced outcome in Birmingham was set by an excellent forum held on Israel/Palestine the day prior to the GA convening. The speakers were reasoned and reasonable. Denominational staff and committee members who created the forum deserve praise.
Editor's Note: As Presbyterians discuss and study church policies and the TTFPUP report, we offer for our Outlook readers' reflections both this article by Ted A. Smith, and the following article by Michael D. Bush and Christopher A. Yim.
Our Presbyterian system places great demands on the governing bodies of the church. We believe that presbyteries and sessions should examine officers in light of essential tenets of the Reformed faith. We also believe that governing bodies should apply all the standards set by the whole church, rather than requiring subscription to partial and local lists of essentials. And so we ask elders and ministers to know the Reformed tradition well enough to discern the movement of the Holy Spirit in individual cases. A range of groups -- most notably the Presbyteries of Santa Barbara and San Diego -- have put forward guidelines to help sessions and presbyteries in this demanding work. But while the texts of these guidelines profess fidelity to Scripture and confessions, the practice of using them promises to displace the very authorities they celebrate.
(Editor's Note: This article is written in response to "When departures relate to practice," a commentary by Douglas Nave in the Oct. 16 issue of The Presbyterian Outlook.)
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) may appropriately permit officers freedom of conscience while requiring compliance with the ordination standards in the Form of Government. The historical and judicial examples Douglas Nave offers to support his claim that such would be unchristian or unpresbyterian are either mistaken or irrelevant.
Consider Jesus. We read that Jesus did not "reject the sanctity of the Lord's Day."
While Lord's Day observance developed to honor his resurrection, after the fact, Jesus did honor the Sabbath, even as he transformed it in light of his own presence in the world. He worked this transformation, in part, by healing on the Sabbath. These healings were not ethical expressions of faith, as Mr. Nave suggests, but rather were acts through which Jesus taught. This is a different matter, unrelated to Mr. Nave's point.
When one of our pastors, speaking at a denomination-sponsored peacemaking conference, asked the rhetorical question, "What's the big deal about Jesus?" shock waves vibrated around the church.
Dirk Ficca, the executive director of the Parliament of the World's Religions, wasn't intending to sound dismissive when he asked that question on July 29, 2000. He was pressing folks to see Jesus as a revelation of God's will for the world--downplaying the claim that Jesus is the only instrument of salvation--in the hope of building better interfaith relationships.
Ficca's proposal generated wide outcry. For good reason. Presbyterians cry foul when anyone minimizes Jesus' work of redemption. The next two meetings of the General Assembly Council wrestled over it. The following GA struggled clumsily with it. The one thing that GA did get right was to direct the Louisville Office of Theology and Worship to prepare a response for a subsequent GA to consider.
We voted. Congress changed hands. Some of us crowed over the victory. Some of us grieved the loss. Let's think twice about that.
It wasn't too long ago that mainline Protestants dominated American politics. Our churches were expanding with the baby boom. A nation recovering from war was finding our message reassuring. Our children's Sunday school classes were informing. Our fellowship was welcoming. What's more, the Hitler-Stalin legacy reinforced our determination to be a church-transforming-culture, or as Jesus put it, the salt of the earth.
It wasn't too long ago that the Anabaptist vision of church--a city set apart--shaped the culture of the non-mainline Protestant churches. Worshiping mostly in tiny sanctuaries on the edge of town, they followed a pietistic approach to ministry, aimed at saving souls, not cultures.
Recently, a church in Appomattox, Virginia, advanced an overture to the Presbytery of the Peaks with the intent of ensuring uniformity as to the interpretation of ordination standards, particularly as they relate to Amendment B. Amendment B is the only (for now) specification of what it means that those ordained are to live "a life in obedience to scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the Church." Among all the things that biblical and theological obedience could mean, Amendment B and the Appomattox church want it clear that it means "fidelity within the covenant of marriage of a man and a woman or chastity in singleness."
The overture will not be considered until the March 2007 presbytery meeting. Still, that a church in Appomattox, Va., would champion such an overture is a symbolic indication that the north truly has won the ideological debate in the Presbyterian Church. I offer as explanation the following story of democracy in America and in the American Presbyterian Church.
c. 2006 Religion News Service
RICHMOND, Va. -- 'Your generation will have to die before we can move on,' a 20-something told a 60-something at a national church convention last summer.
'He could be right,' the 60-something said last week, but maybe not.
Veterans of religious wars are highly invested in seeking control of the Titanic, rather than rethinking the Christian enterprise for challenging, post-modern times.
While the same old warriors fight the same old battles over sexuality, church property, denominational leadership, control of seminaries, doctrine, and who's to blame for shrinking membership, more and more believers gravitate to the margins.
The editor's rhythm meanders at a different pace than that of the preacher. Publishing cycles being as they are, I get to write a Thanksgiving meditation on Reformation Day. There's a connection there.
Thank you, God, for the Reformation of the church.
Sola Scriptura. Thanks spring from the seeds of renewal that predated the Reformation. Those sacrificial pioneers, Jan Hus and John Wyclif, were convinced that God's living Word is best understood through the written words of the Apostles. In her dark days, the church cordoned off those words, so the people could hear only what was mediated to them through the clergy. Hus, Wyclif, and their Reforming successors released into the people's hands those dangerous words for all to read and hear. Their gift opened not only eyes, but voices of praise and thanks.
It's noon on Wednesday. In fifteen minutes you are meeting a colleague for lunch to discuss a conflicted situation in the presbytery. The phone rings, and you discover that your daughter has a fever and you need to take her home from school. You wonder if she will be able to go to school tomorrow. Tomorrow morning at ten o'clock there is a memorial service. Your spouse is out of town on business for two more days. Should you call the pediatrician? What if your son gets sick, too? Whose turn is it to drive school carpool? The session meeting went late last night and with several interruptions this morning, you are behind on final sermon preparation for Sunday. The bulletin has to be completed before day's end, and the hymns you chose weeks ago just don't seem to fit now. You didn't sleep well after the session meeting last night, as you mulled over how to respond to budget issues. You're pulled in three directions by three very influential elders, all of whom are pressuring you to advocate their proposal, and two of whom think of themselves as special friends of yours. As you hurry out of the office, the administrative assistant hands you a note. Oh no, the dentist appointment at three o'clock!
Grieving families, worship preparation, presbytery obligations, meetings, colleagues, your own family's needs, session responsibilities, disagreements, self care--a day in the life of a congregational pastor.
Editor's Note: These tributes to pastors arrived at the OUTLOOK too
late to be included in the recent Pastor's Appreciation issue (October
23).
Delaware
Lewes Presbyterian Church honors pastor Buz Hughes for his loving
leadership in believing, growing, and sharing the love of Christ.
© Copyright 2026 The Presbyterian Outlook. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Statement. Website by Web Publisher PRO
