Sessions asked to propose overtures to presbyteries to replace Book of Order with New Wineskins constitution
By Craig M. Kibler, The Layman Online, November 2, 2005
Leaders of the New Wineskins Initiative, which seeks to radically restructure and re-energize the Presbyterian Church (USA), are asking sessions to consider proposing to their presbyteries an overture to the 217th General Assembly to replace the present Book of Order with the New Wineskins constitution.
The assembly will be held in Birmingham on June 15-22, 2006. The leaders of the New Wineskins Initiative have announced that they will hold the group’s second convocation one month later, July 19-22, at Kirk of the Hills Presbyterian Church in Tulsa, Okla.
The New Wineskins Initiative is an effort to call the PCUSA back to a more faithful orthodoxy – “for her to return to her first love,” as Scripture and a Christian leader from the Middle East put it during the first convocation in Edina, Minn., in June. By returning to her first love, leaders of the group said it is the prayer of those working on the New Wineskins Initiative that God may yet revive one of America’s oldest mainline denominations.
During its well-attended convocation in Edina, delegates approved in principle a draft constitution that affirms the voice and vote of local church sessions. It recognizes that congregations – and not its higher governing bodies – are the lifeblood of the Presbyterian Church (USA) because they provide the people, the money, and the vision for the church. Since then, leaders of the New Wineskins Initiative called on Presbyterians to “begin to live out our vision right where God has us today.”
The co-moderators of the group, Rev. Dave Henderson and Rev. Dean Weaver, said Presbyterians can live out this vision “by joining with other New Wineskins congregations in upholding the faith essentials and ethical imperatives, in entering into covenant relationships of mutual encouragement and accountability, and in engaging with one another in collaborative ministry and mission.”
In a letter to Presbyterians accompanied by sample overtures, Henderson and Weaver said that, “We recognize that commitment to the New Wineskins vision is potentially costly. While we might wish for a quicker embrace of our work, and while we sense an increased urgency for this vision to become reality, we are encouraged by the ways in which we see the Lord working. We greatly appreciate those who are taking the time to learn about, pray and weigh the merits of this vision. We are heartened to see the positive, hopeful responses of elders and pastors across the country. God is leading, and it is time to take the next important step.”
In regard to possible overtures, they say that, from the beginning, New Wineskins “has sought to work through existing mechanisms for change available within our denomination. We want to be true to our word, and faithful to pursue change from within in this season. This means overtures.”
“Even if the overture doesn’t pass,” Henderson and Weaver said, “the effort will bear fruit as it will serve to familiarize a broader portion of our denomination with our work and (at least potentially) lead to fruitful discussion about the health and future of our denomination.”
They recognize, however, that there are hurdles to a presbytery approving such an overture. “We appreciate that for those of you in conservative presbyteries, where an overture like this might have a chance of passing, there is little incentive to introduce sweeping change. For those of you in liberal presbyteries, where the overture will certainly be rejected and you are likely to be trounced for such an effort, there would seem to be little to gain and more to lose. We must not give up. God is at work, too.”
Henderson and Weaver also reminded sessions that overtures requesting a change to the Book of Order must be dealt submitted at least 120 days before the General Assembly, which would be Feb. 15. “Most presbyteries will require that time be given to become acquainted with the overture before it is voted on, so that means overtures need to be sent to presbyteries now,” they said, adding:
“In the midst of seminary endorsements of the PUP task force report, and others calling for new authoritative interpretations, the clarion call of the New Wineskins Initiative to radically rethink how we do church and serve Jesus Christ is all the more real. We are convinced that new window dressings will not fix our present structure.”
For more information, contact Randy Jenkins, executive coordinator Tom Edwards, visit the Web site of the New Wineskins Initiative or call 1-888-754-9693.
The full text of the sample overtures are as follows:
Overture: Replace the Book of Order with the New Wineskins Constitution
Recommendation
In response to the request from the Office of the Stated Clerk seeking recommendations for changes to the present structure of the Presbyterian Church (USA) denomination, the Presbytery of Wabash Valley overtures the 217th General Assembly (2006) to direct the Stated Clerk to send to the presbyteries for their affirmative or negative vote the following constitutional proposal:
- Replace the current Book of Order (Constitution, Part II) with the New Wineskins for Presbyterians Constitution as provisionally adopted and subsequently modified at the New Wineskins Convocation during June 15 -18th 2005.
A copy of the proposed New Wineskins Initiative draft constitution is attached.
Rationale
“Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel….” Philippians 1:27
In an effort to maintain peace, unity, and purity we believe that God is calling the Presbyterian Church (USA) to:
- greater theological unity and integrity, by upholding together a fresh articulation of orthodox and reformed biblical beliefs and ethics
- greater missional faithfulness, by calling us to re-embrace our primary calling to reach the lost with the life-giving hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ
- greater structural effectiveness, through a leaner, more relational, and more flexible network that centers on and supports the life and ministry of the local congregation
Concerns about the Present Institution
Theology and Ethics: While we as Presbyterians confess together the authority of the Bible and the lordship of Jesus Christ, we differ markedly in our approach to the interpretation and authority of the Scriptures, and we are similarly divided in our understanding of the person and saving work of Jesus Christ. Because of our lack of theological unity, we have lost our ability to speak, with one voice, a word of hope to this world, and sometimes find ourselves preaching two different versions of the gospel. We also stand at odds in our understanding of how biblical ethical standards apply to life in contemporary culture, and sometimes find ourselves supporting exactly opposite positions on such crucial ethical issues as the sanctity of human life or boundaries for legitimate sexual expression. The peace, unity, and purity to which Jesus calls the Church are not a matter of a shared name or structure, but of bedrock faith convictions and ethical practices which are held in common. Our denomination requires significant theological and ethical reform.
Mission: The Church is a kingdom instrument, a people called and sent. The body of Christ exists for mission, in word and in deed, to carry the good news of Jesus Christ to a dying world. Our denomination, which houses and organizes a portion of the broader Church, has fallen away from the central biblical imperatives of reaching the lost and of equipping and sending the faithful. Losing sight of this central kingdom mission, we have been content to redefine our mission in terms of denominational maintenance and survival on the one hand, or of mere societal improvement on the other. We need to reform our understanding of our shared evangelistic mission and reclaim its urgency.
Structure: We find ourselves today with a form for organizing our shared life and ministry that little resembles our original connectional structure. The structural changes to which we believe God is calling us are at one and the same time a call back to a simpler relational structure that returns the ministry and mission of the local congregation to the fore, and a call forward to innovative and responsive ministry collaboration for an altogether new ministry context. It is a call to reformation and to reinvention at the same time. The local congregation must be restored to the center of our life together, and that whatever connectional structure we share should exist to support and serve the local church in its kingdom ministry. What many of us experience today is the inversion of this: a structure that is served and supported by the local congregation, rather than the other way around. The most effective way for shared ministry and mission to take place will be in networks of close, covenantal relationships between churches and church leaders who share a common proximity and ministry context. We will be strengthened when we move from formal meetings and structures that maintain the organization to relational networks and gatherings that support ministry and provide loving encouragement and just discipline. As with our theology and our mission, our structure is in need of reform.
Proposed Constitutional Design
The constitution of the New Wineskins of Presbyterians is characterized by the following foundational design elements:
Theological and Ethical Unity: We are bound together in our shared commitment to Jesus Christ and to his truth, as historically understood in orthodox biblical theology, and as informed by the Reformed confessions. Participating churches and their leaders will make a mutual confessional commitment to biblically-derived statements of faith and ethics, which we call the Essential Tenets of Our Faith and the Declaration of Ethical Imperatives.
Mutual Encouragement and Accountability: We build our shared life upon covenant relationships of mutual encouragement and support. Particular congregations and their leaders are joined together with others for shared worship, prayer, and Scripture study, as well as equipping, planning, and sharing resources for collaborative ministry. Within these covenant relationships are exercised loving accountability and just discipline that uphold the Essential Tenets, the Ethical Imperatives and all certification/ordination standards.
Missional Structure and Flexibility: We are part of a missional ecclesiology that combines constitutional order with permission-giving freedom for the sake of effective ministry and mission. To ensure ministry faithfulness, congregations within the connectional structure agree to nonnegotiable commitments in such areas as: theology and ethics, ministry and mission, covenantal relationships, discipline and accountability, the roles of pastor, elder, and deacon, and certification/ordination standards for pastoral leaders. At the same time, to ensure ministry and mission effectiveness, they are provided with flexibility in such areas as leadership structure, worship style, and ministry strategy and approach.
The Primacy of Local Ministry and Mission: We share a common understanding of the purpose of the Church that centers on the primacy of the local congregation and its ministry of equipping and sending its members in mission to all the world. Local congregations are called to join with other Christian disciples to build up the body of Christ to spiritual maturity and to reach the world for Christ.
Networks of Support for Ministry and Mission: Each part of our connectional structure supports and serves the local congregations of which it consists:
- 1) The Congregation is the primary agent and focal point of kingdom mission and ministry. Together its members are called to worship God, to love one another, to make disciples, to serve the world, to reach the lost, and to equip and send out its members into mission and ministry. Towards these ends, the congregation calls leaders, holds and maintains property, and hires staff.
- 2) The Ministry Network gathers leaders of particular congregations into covenant relationships for mutual edification and support, for shared worship and study, for collaborative ministry and mission, and for loving accountability and discipline.
- 3) The Support Network exists to support and guide the Ministry Networks of which it consists, including planning for regional ministry, meeting for mutual growth and encouragement, providing counsel in the event of congregational difficulties, and upholding the Essential Tenets, the Ethical Imperatives, and the standards for ordination.
- 4) The National Network exists to support the various congregations and networks of which it consists through shared worship, prayer, study, mission, resource sharing, and strategic planning for ministry, as well as seeing to the provision of pension and health care services for pastors and other employees of the connectional structure.
Conclusion
For a number of years the future of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has been a topic of growing concern across the denomination. Continuing numerical and financial decline, ongoing structural inadaptability, and growing theological and ethical division, together with mounting internal struggles, have led many to the conclusion that the way we are doing things now isn’t working and that we need to find new ways to be the Church.
We see in our struggles opportunity. Rather than simply accepting the status quo, or passively waiting for changes that may befall us, New Wineskins is attempting to think in positive and proactive ways about what we desire our denomination to become and where God may be leading us. We believe that God is beginning to unfold before us an exciting, new picture of how we can join together for collaborative kingdom ministry that will be relevant and effective in a changing cultural context.
An Overture to Replace the Book of Order of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
with the Constitution of the New Wineskins Initiative
The Presbytery of __________________ respectfully overtures the 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), to send the following question to the Presbyteries for their affirmative or negative vote:
Shall the Book of Order: the Constitution of the Presb