Presbytery rejects Coalition executive
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online, September 10, 2002
ORLANDO, Fla. – The Rev. Carmen Fowler, executive director of the Presbyterian Coalition, has been denied membership in the Presbytery of Central Florida.
Acting through its committee on ministry at a meeting Sept. 5, the presbytery ruled that in leaving her pastorate at Rabun Gap Presbyterian Church in Georgia to become executive director of the Coalition, Fowler “intentionally abandoned the exercise of ministry” because the Coalition is not “a validated ministry” in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) defines a validated ministry as one that is “in demonstrable conformity with the mission of God’s people in the world as set forth in Holy Scripture, The Book of Confessions, and The Book of Order of this church.”
Letters to the Editor
Readers criticize action against Coalition executiveIronically, the Presbyterian Coalition was organized to work within the Presbyterian Church (USA) to uphold the denomination’s constitution, particularly its ordination standards. The organization’s mission statement declares:
“The Presbyterian Coalition is a movement – people committed to life and transformation in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) by exalting Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, energizing its congregations and upholding historic biblical leadership standards…”
Professionally homeless
Having left the jurisdiction of Northeast Georgia Presbytery where she served as a parish minister, now having been denied membership in Central Florida Presbytery, Fowler has been rendered professionally homeless. According to the Book of Order, a member of the clergy loses his or her credentials as an active minister if a presbytery does not validate their work.
“They may take away my label, but they cannot take away the authority of Jesus Christ in my life to carry out my ministry. They have a whole lot less power over me than they think they do,” she told The Layman. Fowler will appeal the decision.
Meeting of renewal leaders
Fowler was in Chicago attending a meeting of leaders of renewal organizations within the denomination when Central Florida’s Committee on Ministry informed her of her rejection. Leaders of Presbyterians for Renewal, Presbyterians Pro Life, Presbyterian Elders in Prayer, Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International, the Presbyterian Forum, Voices of Orthodox Women, Theology Matters and the Presbyterian Lay Committee were shocked by the announcement.
Robert L. Howard, chairman of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, stepped to Fowler’s side immediately and declared the action “a serious violation of Presbyterian polity. This case is far from over.”
Double standard
Particularly troublesome to many of the renewal leaders who were with Fowler in Chicago is evidence of an apparent double standard. They noted the fact that Redwoods Presbytery in Southern California ordained and validated Katherine Morrison’s employment with More Light Presbyterians, a gay/lesbian/bisexual rights organization. Morrison has openly declared that she does not and will not abide by the denomination’s ordination standards.
Baltimore Presbytery validated the employment of the Rev. Don Stroud with That All May Freely Serve, an organization with similar goals as More Light Presbyterians. Stroud declared in writing that he has not and will not obey the constitution.
The Rev. Robert Davis, executive director of the Presbyterian Forum, said, “It is no small matter that the church, acting as a whole, has validated the ministries of those who openly defy the constitution and now refuses to recognize the ministries of those who have dedicated their lives to upholding it.”
Per capita likened to loyalty test
Fowler told The Layman that Central Florida’s interim executive, the Rev. Ernest Flaniken, and Committee on Ministry chair, the Rev. Mary Sample, “grilled” her because she and the Presbyterian Coalition defend the right of local church sessions not to pay per-capita contributions to higher governing bodies. She said it appears that Flaniken and Sample have made one’s willingness to pay per capita a test of their loyalty to the denomination.
Flaniken told The Layman in a telephone interview Sept. 10 that, to his knowledge, per capita was not part of the Committee on Ministry’s discussion, but that it was “an issue” in the discussion that he and Sample had with Fowler.
Fowler says she made it clear to the presbytery leaders that neither she nor the Presbyterian Coalition has urged churches not to pay per capita. They only have informed them of their constitutional right not to do so.
The Presbyterian Coalition has published copies of general assembly minutes, documenting that local church contributions are entirely voluntary. It also has cited minutes of the denomination’s highest court, which ruled that no church may be punished for its decision not to make per-capita payments.
Stated Clerk contributes to confusion
Statements from the Office of the General Assembly apparently have exacerbated misunderstandings of these general assembly policies. Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick has written letters citing acts of defiance against the constitution’s ordination standards, and urging congregations to comply with the constitution.
He has included in the letters his personal opinion that sessions should not withhold or redirect their per-capita contributions, leaving the erroneous impression among some readers that the refusal to pay per capita is unconstitutional.
Adding requirements
Fowler says the presbytery officials asked her if she would support a presbytery plan calling on all churches to give 10 percent of their income to higher governing bodies of the denomination.
“Are you adding to the Book of Order’s requirements for a validated ministry, and is this a deal killer if I say no?” she asked. Fowler told The Layman that they did not answer her question.
Flaniken told The Layman that the presbytery has “a three-year goal of requiring all churches in the presbytery to give the 10 percent.” He said it is presbytery policy that all ministers seeking entrance into the presbytery be asked if they will support the goal.
Asked if this is a gatekeeper question, Flaniken said, “No, but a negative answer would not be well received by the committee.”
Sample, whose congregation claims 92 members on the rolls, 50 people in worship and 36 in church school, has been awarded two high-level presbytery responsibilities. In addition to her work as chair of the powerful Committee on Ministry, she is a member of the Permanent Judicial Commission that recently ordered the Sebastian church to rescind its confession of faith. That panel also ordered the Sebastian session not to add any requirements to persons seeking ordination that are not explicitly stated in the Book of Order. The Sebastian session has appealed to a higher court, which will hear the case Sept. 12.
No presbytery report
The Book of Order provides that a Committee on Ministry may act on behalf of the presbytery in validating the ministries of its ministers, but it specifies two qualifiers: (1) the presbytery must have enacted written criteria; and (2) the committee must report its action to the presbytery.
Neither stipulation was followed in the Central Florida Presbytery case. When the presbytery met Sept. 9-10, Sample reported on several actions that the committee took Sept. 5, but she omitted from her report any mention of her committee’s decision to reject Fowler.
Flaniken told The Layman that, in his opinion, the committee was not required to include in the report its decision that the Presbyterian Coalition is not a validated ministry or its exclusion of Fowler.
“It is the committee’s policy only to report our actions to do something. We are not required to report a decision not to do something,” he said.
Flaniken said the committee has 20 members, and that 18 were present for the Sept. 5 meeting. “The vote [to exclude Fowler] was large,” he said.
Orlando’s 5,400-member First Presbyterian Church (a Confessing Church whose statement of faith is identical to that of the Sebastian church) provides office space to the Presbyterian Coalition and makes use of Fowler’s services in teaching and worship.
First Church leaders told The Layman that they are watching both Fowler’s validated ministry case and the Sebastian case closely. One possible response, they said, is that First Church may decide to cut off all per-capita contributions to Central Florida Presbytery, an action that could cripple the presbytery’s budget.