Presbytery leadership declares that
GAPJC decision ‘has no practical effect’
The Layman, November 7, 2012
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GAPJC pronounces presbytery resolution ‘unconstitutional, and therefore, void’
Los Ranchos Presbytery’s Executive Presbyter Steven Toshio Yamaguchi has sent a pastoral letter to the presbytery in response to the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission’s (GAPJC) decision that its resolution was unconstitutional, and therefore void.
The Oct. 31 letter also included an analysis of the commission’s decision by the presbytery’s stated clerk, Dr. W. Keith Geckeler.
Yamaguchi said the resolution which the presbytery adopted in Sept. 2011, “explicitly stated our expectations regarding ‘fidelity within … marriage’ and ‘chastity in singleness’ for any who would seek to join our presbytery as a minister member.”
While it affirmed the right and obligation of an “ordaining, installing, and enrolling council, in obedience to Jesus Christ, under the authority of Scripture, and guided by the confessions, to prayerfully and pastorally examine each candidate’s calling,” the GAPJC on Oct. 29 declared that the presbytery’s resolution “unconstitutional.”
Because the Los Ranchos resolution directed the notification to those wishing to seek admission into the presbytery, read the decision, “it would have the practical effect of discouraging those seeking ordination or membership prior to the required case by case evaluation or examination.”
In his analysis of the practical implications of the decision, Geckeler said that the GAPJ’s decision “has no practical effect on how Los Ranchos will proceed in examining candidates nor does it change the right of commissioners and members to vote their conscience in such examinations.”
The resolution read:
That the Presbytery of Los Ranchos adopt the following statement interpreting this presbytery’s understanding of certain behavioral expectations of members.
Affirming that ‘The gospel leads members to extend the fellowship of Christ to all persons.’ (G-1.0302) The Presbytery of Los Ranchos, meeting on September 15, 2011, affirms that the Bible, The Book of Confessions and the Book of Order (including G-2.0104b and G-2.0105 1 & 2) set forth the scriptural and constitutional standards for ordination and installation. Los Ranchos Presbytery believes the manner of life of ordained Ministers should be a demonstration of the Christian gospel in the church and in the world, including living either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness and will so notify candidates for ordination/installation and/or membership in the presbytery. In obedience to Jesus Christ, under the authority of Scripture and guided by our confessions, this presbytery will prayerfully and pastorally examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office, including a commitment to fulfill all requirements as expressed in the constitutional questions of ordination and installation.
“This PJC action in no way restricts our responsibility and prerogative to conduct a thorough examination of every candidate and minister (teaching elder) we examine for ministry and membership in our presbytery,” said Yamaguchi. “Any issue that might have been flagged for candidates in our previous statement is still the right and responsibility of the presbytery to explore in our examination for membership.”
Geckeler wrote that at the beginning of the presbytery’s conversation about the resolution in 2011, he had said, “that passing such a resolution would not permit the presbytery to do anything it was not already permitted to do — and would not prevent it from doing anything it was not already prevented from doing.”
So now the 2012 GAPJC decision “does not prohibit the presbytery from doing anything it was not already prohibited from doing nor does it permit it to do anything it was not already permitted to do. And it does not prohibit the presbytery from doing what it has always been permitted to do,” he said.
Before the presbytery’s resolution was approved and the GAPJC’s decision was made public, Geckeler said that the presbytery had the task of “examining candidates for ordination and membership according to the provisions of G-2.0202b, holding the Scriptures and the constitution to contain the standards by which candidates for ordination/membership are to be evaluated by commissioners to, and members of, the Presbytery of Los Ranchos,” Geckeler said.
“The resolution clearly affirmed the presbytery’s commitment to do so,” he said. “The presbytery has never held that any specific behavior or belief would be grounds for excluding a person from this process — nor has it practiced such behavior.”
Geckeler’s advice to the presbytery: “because nothing is changed by the decision — and nothing would be changed by adopting a new resolution — the presbytery would do well to consider whether energy would be better spent crafting a new statement — or directed toward creating healthy congregations within this presbytery.”
Calling the GAPJC decision “not happy news” for some, but “welcome news” for others, Yamaguchi reminded the presbytery that “We are not all of one mind on this issue. What we are all of one mind on is that Jesus Christ is our one Lord, and we all share the same work of proclaiming His good news in word and deed in a world in desperate need of its Savior.”