The Western Reserve Overture (06-09)

The Assembly committee on Church Orders and Ministry will report to the Assembly Thursday afternoon.  The committee addresses all overtures having to do with ordination standards, which have divided the church over the last 30-plus years.  The committee received eighteen different overtures (and numerous concurrences) regarding the "fidelity and chastity" provision of the PCUSA Constitution -- G-6.0106b -- and the related section on the freedom and limits of the conscience of church officers (G-6.0108).  The history of G-6.0106b has been fraught with controversy from its inception in 1996 as a minority report adopted by the Assembly following a two year season of study and dialogue over the gay-ordination issue in the church.  G-6.0106b currently says,

"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 of 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 provision, written on short notice and crafted to gain maximum support, is poorly worded from a constitutional point of view.  In particular, the third sentence creates an impossible standard for any candidate or minister to meet.  In practice, however, it is usually applied only to sexual sins (rather than other sins in the confessions such as Sabbath-breaking, "wasteful gaming," or making depictions of Jesus), and then, almost exclusively to the practice of homosexuality.  In its short history, it has become one of the most contested and interpreted provisions of the Book of Order, and, I would add, misinterpreted as well.  It has spawned a virtual cottage industry of "loophole overtures" trying to generate ways to sidestep its draconian terms.  That is why recent attempts to interpret G-6.0108, on the freedom of conscience, have generated such attention. 

The authoritative interpretations of G-6.0108 in the last two assemblies have compounded the constitutional problems.  G-6.0106b requires a literal and absolute interpretation of the Book of Confessions -- which the confessions themselves say is contrary to their intent.  This created the need to resurrect the archaic practice of  "scrupling" (i.e., declaring departures) from the confessions.  The recent authoritative interpretations have sought to apply the provisions regarding freedom of conscience in the examination process to the practice of scrupling both departures of belief AND behavior.  There is an ongoing debate between majorities on the ACC and the GAPJC, who differ on whether it is constitutional to permit scrupling of mandatory provisions of the Book of Order.

The Western Reserve overture (item 06-09) is important for the life and health of the church because it stops this abuse of the Constitution by returning the church to the historic compromise on ordination standards known as the Adopting Act of 1729.  The overture proposes replacing the current G-6.0106b with the following language:

"Standards for ordained service reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life (G-1.0000). The governing body responsible for ordination and/or installation (G.14.0240; G-14.0450) shall examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office. The examination shall include, but not be limited to, a determination of the candidate’s ability and commitment to fulfill all requirements as expressed in the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003). Governing bodies shall be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying standards to individual candidates.”

The overture stikes a balance between objective standards for office (scripture, confessions, constitutional questions) and subjective judgments of individual candidates (calling, gifts, preparation, suitability).  Whenever the church has fought over ordination, it has been between those two poles of confessional subscription (adherence to objective standards) and the candidate's experience of God's call (subjective standards).  These two different kinds of standards go back to the two different streams of Presbyterianism brought to America from the Old World.  Historically, when these two traditions have clashed, they have been resolved only by returning to the balance first set forth by the Adopting Act and reaffirmed again and again, most recently in the Swearingen Commission reports of 1926 and 1927.

If we are ever to move beyond the sex wars of the last 33 years, it will be, as before, by returning to the Adopting Act compromise.  The Western Reserve overture stands alone among the solutions before this assembly in claiming that middle ground.  One well-known conservative journalist is reported to have said of this overture that it would have passed two years ago, were it the amendment sent to the presbyteries, and that it should pass this year as well.  While many in the church who have been wounded on both sides of the issue may find such an outcome untenable, it is the only outcome that makes sense given our denomination's history and polity.

I will let you know what the Assembly says tomorrow.