Task Force members begin to look to their final report
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, August 5, 2002
CHICAGO – Meeting for the third time since they were selected last year, members of the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity have begun to express individually what they believe the Presbyterian Church (USA) expects of them.
They did so in an exercise that was intended to ensure that everyone had a say, one of a number of times that the commission had used processes to promote harmony and good will before it began to consider the controversies it was assigned to assess.
Several members of the task force seemed so impressed with their processes that they recommended that their own relationship-building exercises be part of their final report to the church.
Some sticking points
But there were some sticking points in the Aug. 1 opening session of the task force’s three-day meeting in Chicago when members were asked to envision what their final report to the 2007 General Assembly might say about Christology, Biblical authority and ordination standards.
Barbara Wheeler, president of Auburn Theological Seminary and an influential advocate of liberal causes in the PCUSA, made it clear that she strongly disapproves of the denomination’s constitutional prohibition against ordaining men or women who are sexually active outside the bonds of marriage.
“I became a member of this task force thinking I did not want to be part of a denomination that does not include gay and lesbian in places of leadership,” Wheeler said. But she added that there are even bigger issues, including the denomination’s theological richness that “some of us have discovered – and we don’t even know we have it.” She expressed concern that young people who have not been immersed in the Reformed tradition “turn to Eastern religions and spirituality.”
Wheeler said she would be disappointed if the task force failed “to produce a luminous portrayal of what we have.”
Others mention ordination issue
A few other members of the task force also mentioned the ordination issue. John A. “Mike” Louden, pastor of First Presbyterian Church – a Confessing Church – in Lakeland, Fla., said he believes the final report must include a clear statement about ordination.
Louden, who favors the ordination standard, said the issue was part of the agenda for the task force and that it has been before the church for more than 20 years. He believes the task force must also provide some clarity and understanding of Biblical interpretation and Biblical authority.
Joan Kelley Merritt, a former teacher who is the moderator of the Presbytery of Seattle, made a pitch for educational materials and possibly a video featuring some members of the task force. “I think, too, that if we avoid issues of sexuality, then we have avoided the issue the church wants some guidance on.”
Frances Taylor Gench, a professor of New Testament at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., added her support for including sexuality in the final report, with, “perhaps, a recommendation on the ordination standard.”
Authority and interpretation
Milton J. “Joe” Coalter, professor of bibliography and research and director of library and information technology services at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, emphasized that he believes that any recommendation on the ordination standard should undergirded by commentary on Biblical authority and Biblical interpretation.
“I think the church, like the world, has very little sense of what it holds together,” he added. “If we don’t include conversation about what we hold in common about revelation, I think we will have failed.”
“I, too, would like to have some help with the sexuality issue,” said Scott Anderson, former co-moderator of Presbyterian Lesbian and Gay Concerns (which became More Light Presbyterians) and currently executive director of the California Council of Churches. But Anderson wants the final report to be broader and address “one of our enduring themes – what does it mean to be a Presbyterian?”
Focus on the positives
Jack Haberer, pastor of Grace Presbyterian Church in Houston, who led a Presbyterian Coalition campaign 1997 against ordination of self-affirming, practicing homosexuals, said he wants the final report to focus on the positives.
He said it should “articulate that 90 percent of the faith that is held by 90 percent of us” and noted that the 214th General Assembly voted 97 percent in June to endorse a theological statement titled “Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.” Also, Haberer said, the report should help people understand what it means to be Presbyterian and “reframe the notion of what it means to be connectional. Unless we can help give a reason for connectionalism that works now, I think we will have failed.”
Barbara Everitt Bryant, a research scientist who formerly served as director of the U.S. Bureau of Census, proposed that the final document focus on “areas of agreement and disagreement, with Scriptural references, and a curriculum guide on what it means to be a Presbyterian.” She would also include case studies on how to deal with controversial issues.
John Wilkinson, pastor of Third Presbyterian Church of Rochester, N.Y., a More Light congregation, said the final report needed to include what he called “the thrill and revival of theology. If we can’t transmit to the broader church what a joy and privilege this is, however we solve our disputes won’t matter much.”
Deal with membership losses
Jong Hyeong Lee, pastor of Hanmee Presbyterian Church in Itasca, Ill., and former professor of church history at Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea, said the report should deal with the problem of the mass exodus from the PCUSA, which has lost 1.72 million members since 1965. He called for a final report that focuses on the “essentials of our life together.”
Mary Ellen Lawson, stated clerk of the Presbytery of Redstone in Southwestern Pennsylvania, said the task force will have succeeded “if we can model to the rest of the church what we have done … to be in unity doesn’t mean to be unanimously agreed on every issue.”
Victoria G. Curtiss, co-pastor of Collegiate Presbyterian Church in Ames, Iowa, one of the promoters of the task force’s relationship-building processes, wants that work to spill over into the denomination. “I hope to have parallel congregations building relationships of trust,” she said.
Lonnie J. Oliver, pastor of New Life Presbyterian Church and adjunct professor of evangelism and missiology at Johnson C. Smith Seminary/Interdenomational Theological Center in Atlanta, said he wants the task force will develop a clear picture of “what it means to be Christian and what it means to be Presbyterian. I hope we will include a process that will lead to self-discovery.”
Empowering people
Jean S. “Jenny” Stoner, a former staff member in Louisville who served as chair of the 213th General Assembly committee that recommended the creation of the task force, said the final report should reflect efforts to “involve and engage other parts of the church in what we are doing … We need to help people feel empowered.”
Stoner’s co-moderator of the task force, Gary Demarest of California, said two words came to mind as he thought about the final report – vision and leadership. The soon-to-retire interim pastor of Glenkirk Presbyterian Church – a Confessing Church – in Glendora, Demarest said the vision and leadership should be “really rooted in our ordination vows. … What does a disciple of Jesus Christ really look like and then what does the community of the disciples of Jesus Christ really look like.”
Demarest has gently chided the task force, which spent most of its first two sessions focusing on relationship-building, to get on with its task. He repeated that urging by quoting “my favorite philosopher – Yogi Berra: ‘When you come to a fork in the road, take it.'”
Sarah Grace Sanderson, a graduate of McCormick Theological Seminary who recently accepted a call to serve a congregation in New York, said she is “very unclear about what the end product will look like. I trust that will be revealed in time. I do have a lot of hope about the process. What I’m hearing here is the value of trusting in what we’ve got … the value of theology.”
Gradye Parsons, associated stated clerk for the PCUSA and the staff resource person for the task force, was asked what he thought about the final report.
He suggested that the task force take a look at the struggles of the Reformed church around the world. “We need to get in touch with those stories, not just remain stuck in 1980 and 1990 problems. We need to talk about the church in 2010.”