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Thursday, May 25, 2006
The Challenge of our Time
Presented to the Presbytery of San Joaquin
as a First Reading on May 18, 2006
from the Presbytery’s Denominational Cabinet
The Presbytery of San Joaquin is a mission agency, comprised of a network of about forty churches and ministries in California’s central valley. We believe that we are called to follow the Lordship of Jesus Christ in obedience to His word, discovering what Christ is already doing in our world and participating in it. As elders, deacons and ministers of the Word and Sacrament, we hold this calling in high regard.
One of the standards of ordained leadership in our denomination is the “requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness.” We believe that this standard is consistent with God’s Word, our historical Reformed traditions, our confessional heritage, and the historic consensus of the worldwide Body of Christ.
We reject any attempt to remove this standard from our Book of Order or to render its clear intent meaningless. We believe that doing so would break the bonds that have held us together. If G- 6.0106b (the fidelity/chastity clause) is removed from our constitution by our presbyteries, and/or if the Authoritative Interpretation is removed by the General Assembly, we believe this would signal a repudiation of our Church’s standards, and that fragmentation would accelerate. If recommendation #5 of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity (PUP) is approved by the 2006 General Assembly, we believe our fragile unity would collapse. We believe these decisions would signal a seismic shift in the Church’s historic position, altering thousands of years of a global, Biblical, confessional witness. The Presbytery of San Joaquin could not affirm this action, and such action would give us grave concerns about what this implies for our future.
Scripture and church history convince us that any division in the Body of Christ is a most serious matter that none of us approaches lightly. Any decision to withdraw from or seriously alter our relationship with the PCUSA would grieve us all. We understand that the spirit in which we respond to this potential crisis will sow seeds for our future life together in ways we cannot now comprehend. Our deepest hope is for the restoration and renewal of the PCUSA.
We understand also, however, that should our denomination not repent of or retract any flawed decision to radically alter its ordination standards, numerous evangelical congregations will enter into a period of trial separation that, in all likelihood, will lead to a permanent split from the PCUSA. Thus our time is limited to discern a corporate solution.
If actions such as those outlined above are taken by the 2006 General Assembly, we are prepared to make the following short-term and long-term responses:
1) Short-term: The moderator will announce at the June presbytery meeting that a task group has been formed to meet over the summer to help the presbytery begin addressing questions that may arise, including the following, at our September 21, 2006 presbytery meeting:
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Do these changes create a state of Biblical and confessional defection? |
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What are the implications/consequences of these decisions for our presbytery? |
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Will we recognize all ordinations from other presbyteries? |
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How will this impact our congregations? |
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How will this impact our relationships with other presbyteries? With our Synod? With our General Assembly(GA)? With the global church? |
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Is it time to begin building new connectional relationships? |
2) Long-term: We will enter into a two-year discernment process, to determine our presbytery’s response to these GA actions. During this time, we will:
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Network with other presbyteries, congregations, pastors, leaders, and renewal groups of similar conviction across the country, forming new coalitions, and discerning God’s leading together, |
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Continue to focus on our own missional transformation, as well as stimulating others who wish to join us on our journey, |
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Be watchful regarding our Permanent Judicial Commission's (PJC's) ability to correct biblical and confessional defections from our historic positions, |
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Focus on a season of prayer, and not run ahead of the Holy Spirit, |
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Make sure we do not abandon other congregations who don’t have leadership prepared to deal with the situation, and |
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Investigate issues such as pastors’ health insurance, pensions, church property, and foundation assets, to ensure good stewardship of the resources God has entrusted to us. |
During this two-year period, we call each of our congregations:
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To resist the temptation to disengage and flee the PCUSA prematurely, but rather work toward a new future with us in our historic connectional system, |
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To engage with the presbytery more deeply than ever before, and develop closer relationships with other people/churches in the presbytery, and |
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To deepen our sense of community with one another to help us discern the mind of Christ together. |
As we move through this period of discernment, we jointly affirm the following values:
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Peace, but not peace at any price, |
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Unity, but not a false unity, |
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Living within the ongoing tension of combining grace and truth – in our own lives, our churches, our Presbytery, and our denomination, |
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A humility that looks for seeds of truth in positions different than our own, |
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Holding on to strong convictions without rancor, and |
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Not allowing our fears, anger, and frustration to dictate our future. |
This is the challenge of our time. In the midst of our present discomfort, we believe God is giving us a great opportunity to participate in the missional transformation of the Church. We hope and pray that our General Assembly will make decisions that are consistent with our biblical, reformed, and confessional heritage. |
