GA Reports

from Presbytery of San Jose Commissioners and our YAAD

(Young Adult Volunteer)

All of the action taken, including the final votes are out and available on www.pcusa.org/ga219 and pc-biz.

A pdf of the GA review of the 219th General Assembly

Presbytery of San Jose

Minister Commissioners

Rev. Mark Inouye, Morgan Hill Church

Thank you for allowing me to serve as a commissioner this year.  I thought long and hard about how to best share my experiences, and while what I’ve come up with might not be what everyone wants to hear, I thought it best to share my real heart.  And so as I reflect back on my experience of General Assembly this year, I am filled with deeply mixed emotions. 

 

On the one had, it was a great joy to be together with our part of the larger body of Christ – to be reminded that the PC(USA) is bigger than Morgan Hill Presbyterian Church, or San Jose Presbytery, or the Synod of the Pacific, and that God is doing wonderful things through our denomination all throughout our country and world.  I was encouraged by many things – by missions-oriented lay people who were helping churches bring fresh, purified water to poor communities in developing nations, by renewal organizations who offered a faithful witness to Christ, by a seminary president’s reminder to the church of what real evangelism is all about.  I saw old friends and made many new ones.  In particular, I enjoyed working with my sister and fellow commissioners from San Jose Presbytery.  There were was much to celebrate at General Assembly. 

 

Yet at the same time, I was also filled with a very deep sadness – sadness which often left me on the verge of or in tears (and if you know me, you know this is not a common occurrence).  For it was clear to me that despite the cordial way we approached business together (our new moderator did a fine job of leading the meetings) and that despite the strong emphasis on “unity” we heard – that we are anything but unified.  In fact, my experience at GA was that the division that we all know exists in our denomination is not getting better, but rather worse.  While there were times when the process “worked” (I believe the Middle East report to be one of those times), what I saw most was sides being taken, strategies drawn up, rallies organized – all with the intent of “winning” – as if procedural maneuvering and winning a majority vote were the way to discern God’s voice.  And in the meantime what we see is membership continuing to decline, a steady stream of churches continuing to leave the denomination, others seriously considering it, and others staying only because they don’t want to deal with property issues.   One denominational official told me, “I see myself as a chaplain to a dying denomination.” 

 

That’s strong language, I know – language I pray is overstated.  But I think we need to hear it, for unless we begin to think differently about the PC(USA)’s part in Christ’s church, I fear it may instead be prophetic. 

Rev. Irene Pak, Daesung Church, Sunnyvale

I was honored to serve as a minister commissioner from the Presbytery of San Jose to the 219th General Assembly in Minneapolis this summer. If you ask me, I will deny that I am a "G.A. Junkie", even though this past assembly was the fifth assembly I have attended in a particular role. I have gone as a YAD (when they were still Youth Advisory Delegates--now YAAD's-Young Adult Advisory Delegates). I have been a YAD Advisor, a seminary assistant, and before I accepted the call to Daesung, I was also at the 218th Assembly in San Jose as a General Assembly Council Staff person working for the Advocacy Committee on Racial Ethnic Concerns and helping with the Anti-racism training prior to the assembly. I felt like I had a good idea of what General Assembly was like prior to going, but it was truly a unique experience going as a commissioner with the right to voice and vote in committee and on the floor of the assembly.

I had the privilege of being selected and serving as the vice-moderator of Committee 16: Theological Issues and Institutions--the big items being the recommendation of the Belhar Confession and additional study and translation of the Heidelberg Catechism. It was a unique position to serve in a capacity that hopefully allowed all voices and perspectives to be heard in committee while still voting on the issues myself. I believe how our committee functioned was somewhat representative of how I perceived the Assembly functioning--grounded in worship and prayer--allowing different perspectives to be heard--and struggling and learning how to be Christ's body together. Although at times tedious, this is the church in action. I wonder if the format will work for future generations because the process requires at times a lot of patience, but I know the Holy Spirit is still moving through it all.  The focus verse for this GA, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water" was present throughout the assembly in all that we did--and it was also clear that the living water that flows isn't always from the same well--and yet, life can come out of it.  I strongly believe that out of the many who are thirsting for God in their lives but don't know how to draw from the well could see that there is not only one way to drink deeply. Ultimately, it wasn't about us being "right" and our decisions, but hopefully it was to glorify God as faithfully as we could with the decisions we made.

Presbytery of San Jose

Elder Commissioners

Marjorie Bowles, St. Andrew Church, Aptos

       First, I would like to thank the Presbytery of San Jose for selecting me to serve as an Elder Commissioner from our Presbytery.  it is an honor and a responsibility that I would recommended for any Elders who serve in our local churches and the Presbytery to have the opportunity to participate. 

       While I have attended several previous Assemblies and worked on the 218th Assembly here in San Jose, the experience of being a Commissioner is quite different.  I served on the Committee on Middle Governing Bodies.  It was a large committee of 45  Elders and Ministers, including two of the GA Moderatorial Candidates. 

         Significant among our responsibilities were understanding and evaluating the concerns brought to us by reports from various synods throughout our church.  We heard about the issues of the Synod of Boriquen in Puerto Rico.  We had two commissioners on our committee from Puerto Rico and we heard from many individuals who spoke to their reports.  I learned a lot about the Presbyterian Church in Puerto Rico and about their love for PCUSA. There were reports from Korean churches that wanted to form a new Korean language synod.  We heard from a number of concerned Koreans.  But it wasn't until I talked to fellow minister commissioner, Irene Pak, that I understood the issue and was satisfied with the outcome determined on the floor of the General Assembly.

        As a result of our deliberations a Middle Governing Body Commission with the power to act as the General Assembly, upon request of presbyteries and synods has been recommended by our committee. The commission is to have the power "to organize new synods and to divide, unite, or otherwise combine synods or portions of synods previously existing"

        Because of the challenges facing our committee, I learned to appreciate the  diverse gifts and strengths that each of us brought to our common task.  Together we were able to accomplish our business  and to report out to the Assembly plenary in a timely and helpful manner.

         The experience of the plenary sessions was different.  While each one of us was familiar with the work of our own committees, we had to listen carefully to the reports of other committees and their recommendations for action so that we could deliberate and act in faithful manner.

       On the whole, Commissioners comported themselves with more respect and less harangue than I had seen in some previous Assemblies.  This was due in part to the excellent skills of both our Moderator, Cynthia Bolbach, the stated clerk, and the Vice-Moderator.

        Worship at the Assembly was powerful throughout the week and a necessary renewal in the midst of our work.  I enjoyed getting to know my fellow commissioners from our Presbytery as well as getting to know Presbyterians from throughout the church.  Bob teased me ahead of time and said that doing it once would make me decline from considering doing it again, but he was wrong. I  thoroughly enjoyed the experience and would do it again.  It is a service I would commend to any of you.  

Greg Prow, West Valley Church, Cupertino

It seems my name has gotten significantly longer over the past week. You see, each time you talk you must preference everything with your role and presbytery, so please forgive me if when we talk I start with Greg Prow Elder Commissioner San Jose Presbytery.

Let me state first of all that I was honored to be elected to attend from the San Jose Presbytery.

 

Here are the important decisions that were made:

 

Election of the Moderator

Elder Cynthia Bolbach, an elder from Arlington, Virginia, was elected moderator of the 219th General Assembly and will serve for the next two years. In a crowded field of six nominees she was the only elder standing for the position and was elected on the fourth ballot, with 51% of the votes.  The Rev. Landon Whitsitt will serve as vice-moderator.  In the briefs moments I was able to talk with her, I found her thoughtful engaging and fair.

 

Actions for Presbytery Vote

 

Form of Government Revision: At the last General Assembly (2008) the Form of Government Task Force presented their report, including their revised Form of Government section of the Book of Order and a proposed new section called Foundations of Presbyterian Polity which would move the first four chapters into their own section. The goal of the revision is to make the Form of Government more of a constitutional document and less of a procedural manual while structuring the PCUSA to be missional. That General Assembly (2008) discerned that more input from the wider church was needed and so after receiving input and revising the document the Task Force brought it back to this General Assembly. The Assembly made some additional changes to individual sections and approved the revision [468-204-6].  To take effect the revision must now be approved by a majority of the presbyteries.  Many of the problems with the document have been addressed, but its length and complexity will require much more study. While I believe the changes made significantly improved the document, I still believe it is probably not yet right for the Church. The Presbyteries will decide this definitively in the coming months. 

 

The Belhar Confession: The Belhar Confession, developed in response to the apartheid in South Africa, has been commended to the church by the GA.  In order to change the Book of Confessions, the presbyteries will have to approve the Confession by a two thirds margin. Again, in my opinion the topic of this Confession is covered in the Confession of 1967 and I am not sure about why we need to include it. The question that I would pose to each of you is how many of our Confessions have you ever read and do we need to add another one? Remember this is part of our Constitution and forms the foundation after Scripture of what we believe.

 

Ordination Standards : The Assembly received no less than 17 overtures related to the church's ordination standards described in G-6.0106b. After studying all of these the Assembly committee recommended, and the full Assembly agreed [373-324-4], to a proposed change that would strike the current specific standard:

 

“Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman (W‐4.9001), or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self‐acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament.”

 

…and replace it with one that would lift up standards for ordination in a more general sense:

 

“Standards for ordained service reflect the church’s desire to submit joyfully to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life (G‐1.0000). The governing body responsible for ordination and/or installation (G.14.0240; G‐14.0450) shall examine each candidate’s calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office. The examination shall include, but not be limited to, a determination of the candidate’s ability and commitment to fulfill all requirements as expressed in the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W‐4.4003). Governing bodies shall be guided by Scripture and the confessions in applying standards to individual candidates.”

 

Again, as a Book of Order amendment this will require the approval of a majority of the presbyteries. This is the fifth time an attempt has been made to delete or change this requirement; each of the previous 4 times it has failed to pass the presbyteries.

 

Actions for Congregational Study, Prayer, and Discernment--

 

Marriage : The 218th General Assembly created a Special Committee on Civil Unions and Christian Marriage which reported back to this Assembly with a Final Report and a Minority Report. The Assembly decided to commend both the Final and Minority reports to the church for study [439-208-12]. The Special Committee Report provides descriptive material on the historical and theological aspects of marriage, as well as a look at current laws on same‐gender partnerships and their children, and the place of same‐gender covenanted relationships in the Christian community. They commend to the church their covenant, “Those Whom God Has Joined, Let No One Separate” as a guide for Presbyterians to come together to discuss difficult issues when there is disagreement. The Minority Report, also approved for study by the Assembly, concludes that Scripture is clear that marriage is between a man and a woman only and does not support any kind of sexual behavior outside marriage. The minority report also contains a covenant for the wider church to use.

 

While the definition of marriage in the Book of Order was not part of the mandate of the Special

Committee several presbytery overtures were sent to the General Assembly asking to define marriage as being between “two people” instead of “one man and one woman.” There were also overtures asking for clarification and permission for local PCUSA congregations and clergy to be allowed to participate in and officiate for same-sex marriages.  The Assembly voted to take no action on these or any other items related to marriage, instead “answering” all other items with the action commending the reports from the Special Committee on Civil Unions and Christian Marriage [348-324-6].

 

Middle Governing Bodies Commission : With the continuing membership decline of the PCUSA (almost 3% in 2009) and financial strain at all levels of our governing bodies, there were multiple proposals to restructure the denomination ranging from the elimination of synods, to a committee to study and report on how to restructure presbyteries and synods, to a commission that would be empowered to take action on restructuring presbyteries and synods. By a wide margin the Assembly approved [566-104-4] the commission and granted it the power to reorganize presbyteries and synods with the approval of all affected presbyteries or all presbyteries in an affected synod. The commission will also consult with the presbyteries and synods and make recommendations to the next General Assembly.

 

Middle East Issues: Probably the issue before the General Assembly with the widest advance publicity outside the church was the report of the Middle East Task Force. Many groups viewed the report as being too critical of the state of Israel. The Assembly committee made significant changes to the report to emphasize Israel's right to exist and its right to security while retaining a concern for the human rights of all groups in the Middle East. The modified report was approved by a wide margin [558-119-7].  In a related action the Assembly voted [418-210-9] to not divest from Caterpillar Corp. but to remain engaged with the company over concerns for how its equipment is used in Israel and Palestine.

 

Presbytery of San Jose

YAAD (Young Adult Advisory Delegate)

Andrew Spencer

The 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A. in Minneapolis, Minnesota was a new, challenging, sometime frustrating, spiritual, and overall refreshing experience for me. It was a new experience because I was going state to which I had never traveled. Also, I arrived to this giant and overwhelimingly busy city at 11:30 p.m. and had to get to a hotel in massive Minneapolis. This was one of the challenging parts for me but I could feel God’s presence guiding me throughout the entire trip, not just during the long taxi ride from the airport to the hotel.

Another challenging part of General Assembly were the countless numbers of hours spent in meetings. As many of you know, Presbyterians love to talk and re-talk about topics until the initial purpose of the conversation has just about been forgotten. The frustrating parts were when we were discussing an overture in our committee meeting and we got stuck on amending an amendment and the constant confusion of parliamentary procedure. I personally followed each movement pretty easily but I think the real problem was that so many of our commissioners believed that they knew exactly what to do next but in reality, they were mistaken.  We sat in committee meetings for hours and hours, discussing and re-discussing two sentences and that was when I felt moved by the spirit to say something. I addressed my committee about the time that we were spending on this specific part and my quote made the General Assembly newspaper! Around that time was when our committee started really focusing and approving the overtures we were given to approve or disapprove.

Despite the frustration, I actually learned a lot about our church and its governing bodies and I have to admit, that even among the chattering and arguing, I am still confident that God is in the hearts of every commissioner.  

The spiritual part for me was amazing. I felt the spirit of God in every person as we joined for worship. Thousands of people filled this convention center to worship God. As you may know, music is very dear to me and that was phenomenal. The most moving part for me was when we sang  “As I Went Down to the River to Pray” as part of our worship during our Plenary meeting. The sound was great and I could see Jesus in everyone as I looked around and down the 30 isles in this hall.

I was refreshed by this experience because of the youth involvement in the church. The commissioners truly appreciated us and our opinions throughout the  entire assembly. The most memorable part for me was when our Moderator, who happens to love the YAADs,  allowed us to do an energizer (simple corepgraphy to a song done by young Presbyterians at church camp) in the middle of Plenary. It was so much fun jumping around and dancing and watching the commissioners attempt to learn the moves while the youth ran around.

This entire experience really meant a lot to me and I am thankful to our Presbytery for helping with the items I would need, our church for providing me with monetary and more importantly spiritual support, and God for letting me get there and back safely while enjoying myself. Thank You.

 

© 2010 The Presbytery of San José