General Assembly Update

June 27, 2008 by
Filed under: Religion 

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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Comments

3 Comments on General Assembly Update

  1. Alan on Fri, 27th Jun 2008 10:54 am

    2. I find the complaining about the changes to the Catechism pretty hilarious. “No! We want a less accurate translation!” LOL Funny thing is, I’ve never seen the HC used in any church other than my own, ever. So I wonder how many of these so-called conservatives have ever used it in worship and/or instruction themselves. (Actually I don’t wonder very much, I suspect I already know the answer.) And as you note, not only is the “new” version already used by other Reformed denominations, many of those denominations are *far* more conservative than the PCUSA. The CRC for example, has used this “new” version for years.

    Once again, as they did with the wording of Amendment B (“obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church”) some folks are confusing the Confessions with Scripture. The Confessions aren’t infallible, inerrant, nor inspired. They’re just useful.

    It’s bad enough to have such a deep split in the denomination between conservatives and liberals. But at least it’s over something important like ideology. But when conservatives can’t even be counted on to act like real conservatives and the split becomes about their personal biases, then the whole thing just becomes silly.

  2. Christine Kooi on Fri, 27th Jun 2008 12:00 pm

    3. Mark–Thanks for the latest update. Hooray for the HC retranslation–that was simply a matter of honest, accurate scholarship.
    And as a member of church in a presbytery that has been sued for property by four congregations, I welcome any help the denomination can provide to defray legal expenses.

  3. Greg on Fri, 27th Jun 2008 7:12 pm

    4. Mark I would disagree with your “equal representation” statement for the Presbyterian Men on GAC. PW is a group that raises more money and does more with that money than any other group. The Presbyterian Men seem to be much less involved in mission and in diversity but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

    Blessings,
    Greg

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