Significant revision of Chapter 14 of the Book of Order proposed to presbyteries: On ordination and commissioning

This year presbyteries will be voting on a complete overhaul of Chapter 14 of the “Form of Government” portion of the Book of Order. The chapter is titled “Ordination, Certification, and Commissioning.” In addition, several related amendments to other parts of the Book of Order are proposed that parallel the changes in the rewrite of Chapter 14. We recommend defeat of these proposed changes.

The rewrite of Chapter 14 and the associated amendments are identified in the List of Proposed Amendments as 06-A and 06-B1; 06-B2; and 06-B3. The wording in the material is “If Amendment A.1. is approved, the following amendments [A sections] shall also be approved (page 27 of the List of Proposed Amendments).

Substantive changes buried in a long document

The rationale provided for the proposed replacement for the entire G-14 chapter (“Ordination, Certification and Commissioning”) states the intent to make Chapter 14 “shorter and more flexible in favor of presbyteries.”

This objective was not achieved, since numerous significant changes were incorporated into the proposed wording. Substantive changes remain buried in this long document, making it difficult to see what the changes are and judge what effect they will have. The proposed changes ought to be considered as separate amendments that can be fully evaluated and judged on their individual merits. But presbyteries are receiving this wholesale for an up or down vote.

Some of the significant changes incorporated into the rewrite of Chapter 14

(1) Blurring of the distinctions between officers and elevating of specialized church workers. The significance of "ordination" to our offices of Deacon, Elder, and Minister of the Word and Sacrament is emphasized in the current Chapter 14. The proposed revision completely reorganizes the material, beginning with paragraphs describing “ordained ministry,” “certified ministry,” and “commissioned ministry” as though they are of parallel significance in our polity (compare the three paragraphs in the current G-14.0100 with the four paragraphs in the proposed G-14.0100). The revision then intersperses Certified Christian Educator information and Commissioned Lay Pastor information in with the Deacon, Elder, and Minister of the Word and Sacrament information. This blurs the distinction between officers (Deacons, Elders, and Ministers of the Word and Sacrament) and specialized church workers.

(2) Changes status of Christian Educators to give it a status parallel to Minister of Word and Sacrament. The proposed revision gives Certified Christian Educators a status parallel to Minister of the Word and Sacrament by adding the "constitutional questions" for Certified Christian Educators and constructing the final question to match most of the wording used in the final question for Minister of the Word and Sacrament (see proposed G-14.0330). In past votes on this matter, presbyteries have rejected conferring this parallel status on Christian Educators.

(3) Allows presbytery pre-emptive authority in dissolving pastoral relationships. Although the current Chapter 14 of the Book of Order specifies that either the pastor or the congregation must initiate a request for dissolution of a pastoral relationship (current G-14.0501b), the proposed Chapter 14 revision allows the presbytery to dissolve a pastoral relationship without a request from the pastor or from the congregation. The wording in the proposed rewrite as G-14.0511 is:

Although the current Form of Government does specify in G-11.0103 that the presbytery has power “to establish the pastoral relationship and to dissolve it at the request of one or both of the parties, or when it finds that the church's mission under the Word imperatively demands it,” that concept is not found in the current chapter G-14 where dissolution of pastoral relationships is discussed.

Apparently the authors of the Chapter 14 rewrite found it extremely important to clearly establish this third path to dissolution because they also added as the proposed G-14.0613:

What congregation does not have “difficulties”? These provisions would certainly be seen as a threat to congregations and pastors that if they are out of step with the presbytery, their pastoral relationship could be in danger.

(4) Creation of “advisory handbooks” removes critical ordination content from the Book of Order. The proposed revision creates “advisory handbooks” to be developed by General Assembly agencies in consultation with the Office of the General Assembly. It removes most of the Inquiry process, Candidacy process, and oversight of the work of ministry from the Book of Order, placing them in “advisory handbooks.” Although the “advisory handbooks” are not binding on the presbyteries, the problem is that once material has been removed from the Book of Order and placed in the advisory handbooks, approval by the General Assembly and a majority of presbyteries would no longer be needed to change the requirements.

Presbyteries would be authorized to develop their own requirements and national unity would be lost, because we would end up with conflicting policies across the judicatories. A Form of Government with minimal content would leave a vacuum that would be filled, but the majority of the GA and the majority of the presbyteries would not be able to determine how it is filled, as they do now, since critical content would no longer be a part of the constitution.

(5) Pastoral relationships changed. The proposed revision changes the categories of pastoral relationships, allows new categories to be created to fit individual circumstances (proposed G-14.0550), and changes the wording describing procedures by which these relationships are established. For Associate Pastor, the revision removes the sentence, “The call to an associate pastor shall specify the particular functions to be fulfilled,” but retains the sentence, “An associate pastor shall be directed in his or her work by the pastor in consultation with the session” (see proposed G-14.0513).

The “A.2” group of amendments add changes to other chapters of the Form of Government that parallel the changes in the proposed rewrite of Chapter G-14. The three “A2a” amendments deal with “advisory handbooks.” Amendment A.2.a(1) adds a definition of “advisory handbooks” to the Preface of the Book of Order. Amendment A.2.a(2) adds a paragraph about “advisory handbooks” to G-9. Amendment A.2.a(3) adds a paragraph on "advisory handbooks" to G-11.

Amendment A.2.b moves the section dealing with dissolution of relationship and renunciation of jurisdiction for deacons, elders, and Ministers of the Word and Sacrament from G-14 to G-6, but retains the current wording. Amendment A.2.c moves release from exercise of ordained office and restoration from G-11 and G-14 to G-6. The wording is less specific than the current Form of Government and makes restoration to ordained office much easier (dropping the requirement to reaffirm ordination vows and resume a ministry that qualifies for membership in the presbytery). Amendment A.2.d moves the section on employing ministers of other churches from G-14 to G-11, but retains the current wording. Amendment A.2.e removes information on validated ministry from G-14 and places reworded information in G-11.

All of these amendments are automatic with the acceptance of A.1, the rewrite of Chapter 14.

Problems with the other amendments

Amendment B.1. moves the vows of office from Form of Government
to Directory for Worship

Amendment B.1 would move all of the ordination and installation service information and the constitutional questions for officers out of the Form of Government section of the Book of Order and place them in the Directory for Worship. This was defeated previously and should be defeated again. Moving the constitutional questions to the Directory for Worship makes the questions appear to only be part of the liturgy to be used in a service of ordination and installation. The questions belong in the Form of Government to emphasize their importance as containing defining beliefs with which all officers must agree.

Amendment B.2. adds license to preach and
limited license to administer the sacraments

Amendment B.2 would insert a section into G-14 which would allow a presbytery to grant to a candidate who had completed all requirements for ordination except the exams, a “license to preach” and a “limited license to administer the sacraments.” It is not appropriate for the sacraments to be administered by persons who are not ordained. Since a Minister of the Word and Sacrament would be assigned to the licensed person as a mentor and supervisor, that Minister of the Word and Sacrament would be the appropriate person to administer the sacraments for that congregation.

Commissioned Lay Pastors (who are required to be elders and therefore are ordained officers) can already be authorized to administer the sacraments and could provide another option for administering the sacraments in a small church without a pastor. Permitting presbyteries to grant such licenses would allow the functions of Minister of the Word and Sacrament to be performed by persons who may not meet the standards for ordination as a church officer, and could be abused as a way to circumvent those requirements.

Amendment B.3. removes synod approval for extraordinary exam process

Amendment B.3 would remove the need for synod approval from the alternative process created by a presbytery for a candidate who had failed one or more ordination exams twice. Although initially this seems innocuous, it is another example of presbyteries being granted expanded powers. The justification that “Synods often simply approve such processes without careful scrutiny” is a poor justification. Our polity wisely provides for higher governing body review and approval to ensure that standards are upheld and that requirements are similar between presbyteries.

Conclusion and Recommendation

While there are some portions of the Book of Order that could be more carefully crafted, no document is perfect. The Form of Government in its present state is very usable. Expanded powers of the presbytery, woven throughout the proposed changes and paired with the proposed amendments to G-14, strengthen the power of a presbytery. Giving presbyteries power to “pre-emptively” dissolve a pastoral relationship when neither the pastor nor the congregation had requested it raises the possibility for chilling scenarios.

For example, if a session does not pay per capita, would that congregation receive “assistance” in the form of re-education from the presbytery with "authority" over its mission? If the session chooses to support primarily non-Presbyterian Church (USA) missionaries, would that congregation need “assistance” in the form of re-education from the presbytery? If the presbytery did not succeed in re-educating the session to conform to the presbytery's perspective, would those actions result in the presbytery determining that the relationship between the pastor and that congregation needs to be dissolved?

No one can know what the effect of the changes would be, and that is precisely the problem. To authorize such radical changes would only serve to upset the peace and unity of the church and would be a significant and needless distraction from the work of ministry so desperately needed in our congregations and our culture. All of the proposed items of business related to amending Chapter 14 should be disapproved.

Research for this article was provided by Carol Shanholtzer, an elder at Faith Presbyterian Church in Minnetonka, Minnesota

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