Moderator candidates
The Presbyterian Layman, May 30, 2001
Sandra Hawley:
‘Unity and love’ should be used in debate of standards
Sandra Hawley, an elder at Oak Grove Presbyterian Church in Bloomington, Minn., hopes the General Assembly “can model our unity and love in Christ Jesus as we deal with disagreements” over the numerous overtures to repeal or modify the denomination’s “fidelity/chastity” ordination standard.
“If the Assembly listens and responds to the Holy Spirit, we will be led in loving and creative ways to work through the difficulties we face,” she told The Presbyterian Layman.
Hawley, who is chair of the Committee on Ministry for the Presbytery of the Twin Cities, said she applauds the theological discussions that are likely because of the Confessing Church Movement.
“However, there are risks to be avoided,” she said. “Historically, we hold our confessions in high regard, but ‘subordinate’ … to the authority of Jesus Christ and the Word of God, as the Scriptures bear witness to him.”
“If we are now being called to a new confessional standard, it is a matter of extreme importance for the whole church,” she said.
“Fortunately, as a confessional church, we have processes for defining new confessions. Such a new standard, however, should have as its focus a broad perspective of how the church remains faithful in our increasingly secular society.”
Hawley is a member of the council of advisers for the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in Iowa.
She previously served as a member of the General Assembly Council and as chair of the council’s National Ministries Division.
She is an electrical engineer, mathematician and statistician.
Nancy Maffett:
Debate over G-6.0106b ‘is destroying church’
Nancy Maffett, an elder who directs the outreach ministry for the 5,000-member First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., says the debate over the denomination’s ordination standards “is destroying the church. It is distracting it from the true calling of the church. It is dominating the headlines. It will not be solved by vote.”
Saying she wants to be a “gracious moderator,” Maffett adds, “There is a Biblical understanding of grace. Grace is more than inclusiveness, more than affirmation and love. It is a totally unmerited gift of redemption itself in the face of our sinfulness. We cannot succeed in our dialogue without including words that have gone very much out of favor – like fallenness.”
Maffett wants the Presbyterian Church (USA) to focus on a higher calling.
“The message of Christ is not self-fulfillment. It is self-sacrifice and self-denial, with fulfillment coming paradoxically through our surrender to Christ himself.”
She says the Confessing Church Movement within the denomination “is legitimate. It’s in our heritage. In 1994, the General Assembly said theology matters. Now we’re trying to find out what that theology is.”
“The facts are that we are confused about our message. The churches that are flourishing are ones that have a clear and a loving message.”
She obtained her master’s degree in European history from the University of Colorado and did her undergraduate work in history at the College of William and Mary.
She has taught both high school and college-level history.
She is a former moderator of her presbytery.
Jack B. Rogers:
Rogers proposes ‘moral equivalent’ of marriage
Jack B. Rogers, a retired seminary professor and administrator, takes an unequivocal stand on some of the controversial issues in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
“We, in the church and state, need to provide a ‘moral equivalent’ to marriage for homosexuals,” Rogers says in a commentary posted on the Web site he is using to promote his candidacy.
Rogers did not respond to an e-mail request from The Presbyterian Layman to answer questions about how he, as moderator, would lead the General Assembly in its response to the Confessing Church Movement and overtures to dismantle or eliminate G-6.0106b, the PCUSA’s “fidelity/chastity” standard.
But Rogers’ “Marriage and Morality” statement on his Web site indirectly addresses the ordination issue, as well as same-sex unions, one of the issues raised by Confessing Church resolutions.
“The gay and lesbian people that I know are deeply committed to Christ,” he said. “Their attraction to those of the same sex is as given an aspect of their nature as my attraction to the opposite sex is.”
Roger said he believes there is nothing innately sinful about homosexual activity within the context of a monogamous relationship.
“I believe, on Biblical and theological grounds, that the church, and the state, should do everything possible to support such faithful unions of responsible church members and citizens. We, in the church, should develop a moral equivalent to marriage that would enable us wholeheartedly to bless and support Christian persons striving to live faithful, long-term, committed relationships.”
Rogers recently retired as vice president of San Francisco Theological Seminary’s Southern California Program.
M. Anderson “Andy” Sale:
Candidate prefers study of ordaining homosexuals
M. Anderson “Andy” Sale, general presbyter of the Presbytery of the Peaks, would prefer that the 2001 General Assembly call for a study of ordaining homosexuals rather than consider a constitutional change.
“We have prayed, debated, legislated and adjudicated the matters surrounded G-6.0106b. The result has been spiritually exhausting, theologically ambiguous and threateningly divisive to our denominational consensus,” he said.
Sale commends the Confessing Church Movement for stimulating “a theological discussion across our denomination on the borders and integrity of our Reformed faith and practice.”
But he stops short of endorsing the Confessing Church Movement.
“I am concerned that in the passion to define or defend our Reformed theology, the Confessing Church Movement may be unwittingly endangering our Presbyterian system of governance and discipline through which we constitutionally define and defend our reformed theology,” he told The Presbyterian Layman.
Sale said he agrees with the three tenets of the Confessing Church – the exclusive Lordship of Christ, the authority of Scripture and God’s timeless standards for holy living.
“The caution which I would like to raise for the Confessing Church Movement is the matter of due process within our Presbyterian system of governance,” he said. “Our theological consensus is constitutionally determined and tested within our Presbyterian polity and discipline.”
Sale graduated from Davidson College in 1964 and from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., in 1968.