27th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church Transitional presbytery called attempt at 'greater responsiveness for bringing about the Great Commission' By Craig M. Kibler Staff Writer The Layman Online Friday, June 22, 2007 HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. – A proposal to create non-geographic, transitional presbyteries in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church was described Thursday afternoon as an attempt at "greater responsiveness for bringing about the Great Commission in our society." Commissioners to the 27th General Assembly this week will consider a proposal that would create two administrative commissions – one for churches and pastors desiring transitional membership in established geographic EPC presbyteries and another for those seeking to join a transitional, non-geographic New Wineskins Association of Churches-Evangelical Presbyterian Church Presbytery. Bill Meyer, chairman of the committee on administration, told the nearly 1,000 commissioners in the worship center at Cherry Hills Community Church for the June 20-23 General Assembly that the proposal is a responsive action. It is a response, he said, "from our perspective to two initiatives. One is from our sovereign Lord, the head of the Church, stirring our own awareness and awakening at this particular time among Christians in the United States of America. Our sovereign Lord is stirring us, not just the EPC, but His Body for greater responsiveness for bringing about the Great Commission in our society." Meyer said it will require "greater steps of faith, greater risk opportunities, so that we may be able to see Him act in and through us to be more effective agents of transformation." Responding to inquiring churches The second response, he told commissioners, "is responding to inquiring churches. We have expressed sadness and grief to God that there are conditions that exist in Christianity that have resulted in people coming to us and inquiring about affiliation with you. We have not solicited this, have not gone out, but have simply been there to respond." "We responded to members of churches and groups of churches," Meyer said. "Part of this proposal is in answer to their inquiries. We also have responded to inquiries from the New Wineskins Association of Churches. In February, they officially voted to request us to respond to them as a unit, as a transitional unit, so as to respond to them as to how we can work together down the road." Everything in the proposal, he said, "is designed to assist our EPC presbyteries. Nothing is designed to take over their responsibilities. It is designed to be an assistance, not to undermine or circumvent the work of the presbyteries. This is a way to assist in those cases where presbyteries may be overwhelmed by numbers. That's a possibility." Meyer explained that the transitional proposal has a fixed time frame of five years, "from the close of the 27th General Assembly to the close of the 32nd General Assembly. That period will give us the time to respond to how the Lord is working through us to determine a way to assimilate a group of churches that are coming to us, to determine a way to unify down the road." He said that, as the proposal was developed, there was "from our perspective, a question of theological integrity as we have considered those churches that are inquiring of us and from what situation they are coming. We, admittedly, come with some theological uneasiness, concerns, questions. When we use the same terms, do we have the same definitions?" Those inquiring churches, Meyer said, "have come readily admitting what has caused them to leave and seek somewhere else, saying that their current home has lost its theological grounding. They say they are looking for theological truth. That is what we have, it's part of our attractiveness, and we are pledged to make sure that stays there." He said many of the inquiring churches may not have time for the normal process in which to become part of the EPC, and that "their current situation may require them to act. They may need to be able to act today in order to protect who they are. We need to find a way to respond to them so we can receive them without the six-months time of 'getting to know you.'" The proposal before the assembly, Meyer said, "takes care of both perspectives – theological integrity and the ability to move quickly." Not to overwhelm structure The transitional presbyteries, he said, provide a way for the EPC "to receive those churches and bring them in in such a way so that our structure is not completely overwhelmed and do it decently and in order from both their perspective and our perspective." The New Wineskins Association of Churches, Meyer said, "began the missional talk before we began the missional talk. This focuses much more on cooperative ministry than on governance and control. We wanted to design a way of being connected that focused on mission and ministry, but had the necessary mechanism and structure in place to support that mission and ministry." "Our long-range planning committee, as it received input from you, found that you desire the same kind of thing," he said. "Our connectedness needs to be more of cooperative ministry and mission. As we began to respond to the initiative of New Wineskins, we saw that we were on the same page at this time in our lives." Meyer said there are five distinct challenges facing the EPC, and he urged commissioners, if they approve the proposal, to implement it "with as much honesty, openness and humility as the Lord can give us." The challenges he outlined are as follows: 1. "The consequences of numerical growth. One of the toughest. EPC churches will be like a church of modest size suddenly growing much larger. There will be growing pains." 2. "There will be a burden on our presbyteries. The weight of these proposals fall squarely on our eight presbyteries. Committees will be very busy. Many of you will be asked to sacrifice time and energy for this plan to work. It may be a struggle to listen, love and care for them." 3. "Women as teaching elders. This has been the major sticking point for churches wanting to enter the EPC. There is considerable anxiety on both sides of causing offense and violating consciences. Two of our presbyteries have ordained women as teaching elders. Some of the churches approaching the EPC already have ordained women. We have a challenge here. Constitutionally, a particular church's rights include the right to elect its own officers, but the power to ordain ministers is the presbytery's. This issue at the present time is one that simply has to be faced by the presbyteries. … My plea to you is to enter into the transitional period of five years of studying Scripture, talking together and discerning what the Lord wants. This is a huge step of faith." 4. "Creating new presbyteries. Presbyteries will be much larger and will need to subdivide. Presbyteries will have to plan and prepare for smooth transition." 5. "The New Wineskins Presbytery will be an adventure and risky. Each of us has never tried something quite like this. We are looking at inviting an already organized group of churches to enter the EPC as a group, and over five years, to merge. The most striking feature is how similar we are. We should be able to blend. Still, there are many unknowns as we enter this process. New Wineskins had the option of starting a new denomination, but its leadership wants to make common cause with us to further the Great Commission. Last February, New Wineskins reached out to us; now it's our turn to reach out to them." Craig M. Kibler is the Director of Publications for the Presbyterian Lay Committee and Executive Editor of The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at cmkibler@layman.org.

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