Session endorses special general assembly to tackle ‘current chaos’ fueled by defiance
The Layman Online, November 27, 2002
A session, decrying the “current chaos” brought on by “open defiance of the PC(USA) constitution,” has endorsed a specially called general assembly “to address this issue.”
The session of Cullowhee Presbyterian Church in Cullowhee, N.C., in a letter to Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, wrote that the defiance prevalent in some areas of the denomination “sets the church in turmoil and chaos with an anything-goes attitude. We are concerned about the integrity of our ordination vows, the call to loyalty to the Presbyterian system of operation, and the submission of the minority to the majority.”
“If the Book of Order is not followed,” it wrote, “then the church must take steps to bring corrective action, pastorally as much as possible. We call upon you to use the weight of your office and calling to make sure the appropriate bodies are responding.”
Despite all the reports of defiance to the contrary, Kirkpatrick claims there is no constitutional crisis. Kirkpatrick, whose job is “to preserve and defend the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA)” (G-11.0112e), repeatedly has said that it is not his job to enforce the constitution, but he also has said ministers and elders have no right to defy the requirements of G-6.0106b.
Many evangelicals are declaring that there is a “constitutional crisis” because local church sessions and presbyteries – the ordaining bodies in the PCUSA – are either ignoring the constitution or flagrantly violating its requirements.
The crisis refers to a growing number of individuals, churches and some presbyteries that publicly are defying the constitutional standards regarding ordination standards, same-sex marriages, open communion, including prayers and teachings from other religions in worship services and other issues.
Public declarations of defiance have increased since the 214th General Assembly met in June, with defiant Presbyterians saying they have a right to violate the denomination’s constitution. The language of defiance has become bolder, with unbending assertions that breaking church law is protected by one’s conscience and that the law – though anchored in Scripture and the church’s confessions – is immoral.
Some of the declarations of defiance have led to charges being filed in church courts. But, so far, none of the courts has issued a ruling that affirms the constitutional standard.
The constitutional crisis rose to greater intensity with the news that Baltimore Presbytery has proposed not enforcing the constitution if it is presented with either disciplinary or remedial cases involving the denomination’s ordination standards. In its proposal, the presbytery also would instruct its sessions not to entertain such cases.
The crisis has led to a petition campaign to secure enough signatures to call for an historic special meeting of the general assembly. That campaign is “breathtakingly close” to its goal, according to Dr. Alex Metherell, a commissioner to the 214th General Assembly.
In a letter to the commissioners, Metherell recently said 52 commissioners – 31 elders and 21 minister – have signed the petition. The list includes commissioners from 43 presbyteries and 15 of the denomination’s 16 synods – “far surpassing the 15 presbyteries and 5 synods that are required,” he said. The Book of Order requires the signatures of at least 25 elders and 25 ministers.
Metherell said he also has heard from institutional agencies and the special-interest groups that oppose the called meeting.
“Some have told us that we have no constitutional crisis,” he said. “While admitting that instances of blatant, public defiance are springing up in many places, they counsel us to do nothing, assuring us that the system will heal itself. But we know that there is a crisis, and we have painfully seen the evidence that our system is not healing itself.”
Hundreds of Presbyterians and dozens of church sessions have declared publicly that they will defy – or have been defying – the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) by violating the “fidelity/chastity” ordination standard, “marrying” same-sex couples, admitting non-Christians to membership and the communion table and allowing their ministers to teach that Jesus Christ is only one of many paths to God.
“We can no more walk away from this crisis than I as a physician can abandon a patient who is writhing in pain,” said Metherell, a physician and an engineer. “Our church pleads for healing. We must come together, turn away from those who counsel institutional intransigence and ecclesiastical politics, and offer ourselves as instruments of the Divine Physician.”
The crisis also has spurred 14 congregations in eight states to join a growing call for church leaders to uphold the denomination’s constitution and to exercise the Rules of Discipline against those who defy it.