Clerk wants to recruit task force to help revise ‘Book of Order’
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, October 28, 2002
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Clifton Kirkpatrick, the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA), is trying to recruit the Theological Task Force on Peace, Purity and Unity in his effort to make sweeping changes in the way Presbyterians relate to each other in a connectional denomination.
He made his pitch Friday night (Oct. 26) at a task force dinner, but the response did not seem enthusiastic. There were a few questions tinged by skepticism and a rejoinder that he should focus on the person and work of Christ rather than try to unite Presbyterians by retooling the Book of Order.
Kirkpatrick wants to lift the first four chapters out of the Book of Order and give them a higher authority. He would describe them as the “covenant of the church.”
In Reformed theology, a covenant describes the conditions under which the members of the church are bound together. By inference, other parts of the Book of Order – including polity, discipline and worship – would not be obligatory if the first four chapters alone constituted the convenant.
De-emphasizing areas of disagreement
Previously, Kirkpatrick has described his proposal as abbreviating the Book of Order to eliminate or de-emphasize those sections that have been at the heart of disagreements in the denomination. He has not specifically called for the elimination of G-6.0106b, the fidelity/chastity ordination standard, but, by inference, it would not be a mandate for the whole church under his plan.
The first four chapters of the Book of Order begin with the declaration that Jesus Christ is the head of the church (Chapter 1), highlight some of the doctrines in The Book of Confessions (Chapter 2), describe the mission of the church (Chapter 3) and commend ecumenical relationships, diversity and unity (Chapter 4).
Kirkpatrick did not describe exactly what role he would have the first four chapters play in the life of the church, other that they would have higher authority than the rest of the Book of Order.
Politely, and using words to reflect his basic agreement with Kirkpatrick’s proposal, Mark Achtemeier nonetheless issued a caveat. “I don’t think we’re going to inspire the church to reclaim the gospel by an appeal to the first four chapters.”
Clerk urged to lift up Jesus
He challenged Kirkpatrick to “work on lifting up Jesus Christ with passion and conviction in such a way that you can present those first four chapters as a means to that end. My sense is that Jesus is the only one who’s going to get us out of our mess.”
Kirkpatrick responded hurriedly that the Book of Order begins with the assertion that Jesus is the head of the church.
Achtemeier was newly appointed to the task force to replace his ailing mother, Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier. A retired professor at Union Theological Seminary, she died a few hours before the task force met with Kirkpatrick.
Task force member Barbara Wheeler, president of Auburn Theological Seminary, expressed concern that if Kirkpatrick wanted to add another category [covenant] to the Book of Order, “That’s where we ought to dovetail very closely. We wouldn’t want to create another layer.”
The task force’s discussion with Kirkpatrick produced the only reference to the current proposal by some of the commissioners to the 214th General Assembly to ask for a called meeting of the assembly to deal with constitutional issues in response to growing defiance of the constitution’s ordination standard.
Clerk opposes special assembly
John B. “Mike” Loudon, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Lakeland, Fla., asked Kirkpatrick to give his opinion of a commentary written by fellow task force member, the Rev. Jack Haberer of Clear Lake, Texas, for The Presbyterian Outlook.
Haberer’s column, titled “Crisis or Conumdrum?”, asserted that the defiance movement was miniscule and didn’t merit a special session of the General Assembly. Furthermore, Haberer said a statement of intent to defy the constitution did not constitute a violation of the constitution – although the denomination’s highest court says it does.
“I basically agree with Jack,” said Kirkpatrick, who did not mention areas outside that “basic” agreement. But he did lament the fact that “we’ve got cases of clear defiance.”
Acknowledging that he was under pressure to do something about the defiant church leaders, Kirkpatrick, who is the denomination’s chief constitutional officer, charged with preserving and defending the constitution, said, “I’d hate to set up an unconstitutional means of dealing with constitutional problems. I think our system is slow and our system has a weakness. But I think we have a system which, while it won’t be perfect, will uphold the constitution. Our problem is less in the system than in that we need a culture of respect for the constitution.”
Prefers ‘respect’ over rules
Kirkpatrick is pushing higher status for the first four chapters of the Book of Order because, he says, they are are not controversial but are more likely to help develop the “culture of respect” than, say, the rules of discipline or the elaborate details of how the church governs itself.
The clerk’s proposal to revise the authority levels of the Book of Order is essentially a top-down movement into which he seeks to graft a variety of church bureaucracies and governing groups – but little input from outside the bureaucracy.
He passed out a paper that listed 19 of those groups, and only two – the Covenant Network and Presbyterians For Renewal – were outside the denomination’s bureaucratic structure. He did not list, for instance, the Confessing Church Movement within the Presbyterian Church (USA), which includes more than 1,282 congregations and represents the largest renewal effort in the denomination.
Target date for new Book of Order
He even sets a target date of 2006 for presenting to the 218th General Assembly a proposed new Book of Order with massive revisions.
During his presentation to the task force, Kirkpatrick noted that he played a role in seeking a “third way” when the denomination was in the throes of another heated debate on the “fidelity/chastity” standard and the scope of Christ’s salvation.
The 213th General Assembly, which elected Jack B. Rogers as its moderator and called for the 2001-02 referendum on the ordination standard, also authorized the task force and defined its job: to make recommendations on ordination, Christology, power and other controversial issues.
But Kirkpatrick urged the task force to downplay the issues of ordination and Christology because they “have been taken off the table.” By a 3-1 margin, presbyteries affirmed G-6.0106b in a denominationwide referendum and the 214th General Assembly, with a 97-percent vote, approved a Christological statement – “Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ” – that was intended to end a two-year controversy over previous statements by the General Assembly Council and the General Assembly that failed to acknowledge Christ as savior for the entire world and Lord over all.
Controversial issues remain in mandate
Although Kirkpatrick said the ordination issue and Christ’s saving work are no longer issues, they remain in the General Assembly mandate to the task force, which, after four meetings, has shown no indication of abandoning that mandate.
In fact, the meeting Oct. 24-26 focused almost entirely in Christology and a later meeting is scheduled to focus on the ordination debate.
Kirkpatrick’s call for an overhauled and abbreviated Book of Order is based on his view that the Presbyterian Church (USA) will become increasingly diverse and include people who find the current polity and rules difficult to follow.
Elevating the status of the first four chapters of the Book of Order, he said, would provide “a new theological common core” of the “essential things we have in common” and free different groups to minister in different ways. “We would be very clear about the fundamentals and then allow some diversity.”
“I can go to almost any group about those first four chapters… and folks say amen,” he added. “I think we need somehow to find a way for the church to own that.”
In his stump speech about his proposal – which he now distributes with a blue jacket – Kirkpatrick never mentions opposition to his plan. But when he first outlined it at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., earlier this year, the idea was criticized by the Rev. Jerry Andrews, a leader in the Presbyterian Coalition.
Andrews said specific language dealing with disciplinary and polity issues in the denomination had been included in the constitution because of declining trust levels caused by Presbyterians who were abandoning a shared commitment to the Christ of Scripture and were determined to do what was right in their own eyes.