Overture proposes advisers for Theological Task Force
The Layman Online, December 18, 2002
When it meets in May of 2003, the 215th General Assembly will consider an overture that calls on the denomination to invite “other Presbyterian and Reformed bodies to observe and advise the Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church.”
The overture from the Presbytery of Mississippi proposes inviting two representatives from each of five other denominations – the Presbyterian Church in America, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the Reformed Church in America, the Christian Reformed Church and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. The representatives would sit in on task force meetings and offer advice.
Only the Reformed Church in America is considered a mainline denomination like the Presbyterian Church (USA) and all five are more conservative than the PCUSA.
The purpose of the task force, which was established by the 213th General Assembly, is to assist congregations and governing bodies in a process of discernment that “shall include, but not be limited to, issues of Christology, Biblical authority and interpretation, ordination standards and power.”
After four meetings, the task force has had virtually no discussion on how it might address those issues, which are at the heart of some of the denomination’s most strident controversies.
The Presbyterian Church in America (1972) and the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (1982) are fast-growing denominations that broke away from the mainstream Presbyterian bodies that became the PCUSA in 1983. Founded in 1628, the Reformed Church in America is the oldest Reformed denomination in the United States. The Christian Reformed Church has its roots in Dutch Calvinism. The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church is the offshoot of two Presbyterian bodies that were organized in America between 1770 and 1790.
The overture would not limit the invitations to the five denominations it mentions. There are numerous other denominations that call themselves Presbyterian or Reformed.
The overture cites the PCUSA’s constitutional commitment “to preserve and strengthen relations with other Presbyterian and Reformed bodies” in its rationale for extending invitations to other denominations.
“This obligation is especially incumbent upon the task force in light of the public attention drawn to the work of the Presbyterian Church (USA) as the largest Presbyterian and Reformed body in the United States,” the overture says.