General Assembly – BREAKING NEWS
The General Assembly passed the following resolution just now:
Interpretive statements concerning ordained service of homosexual church members by the 190th General Assembly (1978) of the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, and the 119th General Assembly (1979) of the Presbyterian Church in the United States and all subsequent affirmations thereof, have no further force or
effect.And earlier they passed:
The Presbytery of Boston respectfully overtures the 218th General Assembly (2008) to do the following:
1. Direct the Stated Clerk to send the following proposed amendment to the presbyteries for their affirmative or negative votes:
a. Strike the current text of G-6.0106b and insert new text to read as follows: [Text to be deleted is shown with a strike-through; text to be added or inserted is shown as italic.]
“b.Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant ofThose who are called to ordained service in the church, by their assent to
marriage between a man and a woman (W-4.9001), or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament.
the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003), pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their
fidelity to the standards of the Church. Each governing body charged with examination for ordination and/or installation (G-14.0240 and G-14.0450) establishes the candidate’s sincere efforts to adhere to these standards.
b. Amend G-14.0240 as follows: [Text to be deleted is shown with a strike-through; text to be added or inserted is shown as italic.]
“Preparation and Examination for Office
“When persons have been elected to the office of elder or deacon, the session shall confer with them as to their willingness to undertake the office. The session shall provide for a period of study and preparation, after which the session shall examine the officers-elect
as to their personal faith; knowledge of the doctrine, government, and discipline contained in the Constitution of the church;andthe duties of the office; and readiness to assent to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation. If the examination is approved, the session shall appoint a day for the service of ordination and installation (see W-4.4000). If the examination is not approved for one or more elected officers, the session shall report its action to the congregation’s nominating committee, which shall bring nomination(s) to a meeting of the congregation for any office(s) not filled.”
c. Amend G-14.0450 by inserting a new paragraph “b.” and by re-lettering current paragraphs “b.” through “d.” as “c.” through “f.” The text shall read as follows: [Text to be deleted is shown with a strike-through; text to be added or inserted is shown as italic.]
“Final Assessment of Readiness to Begin Ordained Ministry
In other cases it can be cured levitra overnight delivery by some effective herbal remedies for heartburn and few preventions mention below. 1. There are multiple reasons that contribute to the problem in 2006, when over 1 million of Xbox consoles were stolen from a greyandgrey.com viagra prescription lorry near Hillards Cross. Before viagra generic discount going for all those enhancing pills and related products, you can try some natural process of curing impotence. viagra samples no prescription Saw palmetto and Maca are also popular herbs that provide relief to the problem of weak pelvic floor muscles. “In the final year of theological education or when a candidate has satisfied all of the requirements of this section, and before the candidate has received a call, the committee on preparation for ministry of the candidate’s presbytery shall conduct a final assessment of the candidate’s readiness to begin ordained ministry. A summary of this assessment shall be reported to the presbytery and shall be transmitted to a calling presbytery when requested. The committee on preparation for ministry shall report to the presbytery when it has certified a candidate ready for examination for ordination, pending a call. This consultation shall focus on the outcomes of inquiry and candidacy and shall include each of the following requirements of certification:
“a. demonstration of readiness to begin ministry of the Word and Sacrament as required to fulfill the candidacy phase of preparation;
“b. demonstration of readiness to assent to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation;
“b.c. presentation of a transcript showing satisfactory grades at a regionally accredited
college or university, together with a diploma;
“c.d. presentation of a transcript from a theological institution accredited by the Association of Theological Schools acceptable to the presbytery, the transcript showing satisfactory grades, and presentation of a plan to complete the theological degree including Hebrew and Greek and exegesis of the Old and New Testaments using Hebrew and Greek texts;
“d.e. presentation of satisfactory grades together with the examination papers in the five
areas covered by the Presbyteries’ Cooperative Committee on Examinations for Candidates.”
2. Provide the following authoritative interpretation:
That the 218th General Assembly (2008) to approve the following authoritative interpretation of G-6.0108 of the Book of Order:
“[The 218th General Assembly (2008) affirms the authoritative interpretation of G-6.0108 approved by the 217th General Assembly (2006). Further, the 218th General Assembly (2008), pursuant to G-13.0112, interprets]the requirements of G-6.0108 [to] apply equally to all ordination standards of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Section G-6.0108 requires examining bodies to give prayerful and careful consideration, on an individual, case-by-case basis, to any departure from an ordination standard in matters of belief or practice that a candidate may declare during examination. However, the examining body is not required to accept a departure from standards, and cannot excuse a candidate’s inability to perform the constitutional functions unique to his or her office (such as administration of the sacraments).”
Here’s my reading.
- Right this second, it is legal for a gay person who does not admit to sex to be ordained. This was true before, but it’s bolstered a bit now.
- If the Book of Order changes pass, gay ordination will be allowed, regardless of sexual practice. It will be up to the presbyteries to determine whether an individual’s practice is a sin.
- It is now more difficult to file a case against a body’s examination of an individual if you aren’t involved (“fly-over” judicial cases).
The real decision will happen between now and June 28, 2009 when the presbyteries are required to vote on these changes. I suspect we’ll have an answer next March.
I predict that the progressives will party (particularly MLP and the pro-gay folks), the conservatives will make a lot of noise about lack of faithfulness, and a few conservatives will leave. The news media will misinterpret this as allowing gay ordination today, and this will confuse many pew-sitters.
And we’ll all still be in worship someplace on Sunday.
General Assembly Update
Here’s what happened yesterday.
The Assembly passed the modifications to the Heidelberg Catechism. These are intended to render a more faithful translation of the original German to English, removing some changes made by the 1962 translators due to their personal biases. All other Reformed denomination have already made this change. The conservatives are as expected bleating loudly about what they call “revisionism” by removing “homosexual perversions” from the confession.
The process works this way. This vote creates a study committee to recommend changes to the next General Assembly in 2010. That GA must vote affirmatively, and then send the change to the presbyteries. 2/3 of the presbyteries must vote affirmatively, and then the following GA (2012) must vote again in favor of the change. Then it takes effect.
The GA also approved the same process for adding the Belhar Confession to the Book of Confessions. That was surprisingly on a voice vote with no discussion. When a few commissioners asked if people knew what they were voting on, the assembly made it clear that they did.
The Assembly sent the Form of Government revision to a new task force made up of the original task force plus nominees by the GA Moderator. That group is tasked with taking another look at the revision and bringing it back to the next GA. Most people acknowledged that there were some serious flaws that would doom the revision at presbyteries.
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The Assembly also added a Presbyterian Men representative to the GA Mission Council. I support this action – if we’re going to have a Presbyterian Women member we need equal representation.
The Assembly created a special account and increase in per capita of $0.92 per member, or $50,000 per presbytery or $2,000,000 in order to defend against lawsuits filed by congregations seeking to leave the denomination to join the New Wineskins presbytery of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. This was a commissioner resolution seeking $185,000 in reimbursement for Northern New England to cover HALF of its costs related to ONE church suing them as part of leaving. I support this action, and decry the churches that refuse to follow our polity and graceful settle their affairs with their presbytery when they choose to leave. I also decry presbyteries that do not act with grace when presented with congregations that want to leave. Last, I have to wonder how the EPC views congregations that choose not to follow our polity on the way out – what will they do in the EPC?
The Assembly made it easier to change the Standing Rules of the General Assembly – requiring a majority vote of all present and voting rather than 2/3 of all enrolled members. The Assembly did not make a similar change to Suspending the rules – suspending should be harder than amending.
That’s about it for the big stuff. Today is gonna be a fun one.
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