wfn.org | Covenant Network Meets to Strategize

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

18-September-1997 
97367 
 
    Covenant Network Meets to Strategize 
    Support of Amendment A 
 
    by Alexa Smith 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Claiming to represent "the broad middle of the church," 
backers of a proposed constitutional amendment that would again change 
ordination standards for officers in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are 
gathering this week in Chicago to develop strategies to pass it. 
 
    The newly formed Covenant Network of Presbyterians (CNP) is moderated 
by former General Assembly moderators the Rev. John Buchanan of Chicago and 
the Rev. Robert Bohl of Prairie Village, Kan. 
 
     The CNP was formed after the June General Assembly to support adding 
Amendment A to the denomination's "Book of Order," the governance section 
of the church's constitution. General Assembly commissioners voted by a 60 
percent margin to send Amendment A to the denomination's 173 presbyteries 
for a vote,  even though those same presbyteries just ratified Amendment B, 
a highly controversial and widely publicized amendment altering ordination 
standards. 
 
    Amendment A would replace Amendment B -- G-6.0106b -- if it is approved 
by a majority vote of the presbyteries. 
 
    The CNP gathering will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 19, 
at Fourth Presbyterian Church, 126 E. Chestnut St.  The Rev. Joanna Adams 
of Decatur, Ga., and the Rev. Eugene Bay of Bryn Mawr, Pa., are slated to 
speak on "The Case for A: Pastoral Implications" and theologian Jane 
Dempsey Douglass of Princeton Theological Seminary will address "Amendment 
A and the Reformed Tradition." 
 
    Afternoon workshops will be geographically organized, focusing on 
networking and strategizing to pass Amendment A in presbyteries. 
 
    "We're attempting to bring together a broad coalition of Presbyterians 
who want desperately to hold on to the unity of the church and who believe 
this new Amendment A -- as painful as it is for us to go back into the 
conflict -- is the way to do that for the future," said Buchanan, who 
argues that the "broad middle" is often too intimidated to speak up because 
heated debate on issues like the ordination of gays and lesbians quickly 
becomes "ideological combat. ... 
 
    "If you're committed to the unity of the church equally with its peace 
and purity," said Buchanan, referring to a threefold promise to preserve 
the church's peace, unity and purity within the denomination's ordination 
vows, "you're inclined not to get into the fray." 
 
    That's why the CNP is hoping to organize what its supporters call "the 
middle." 
 
    "We're trying to get people's enthusiasm going.  And we hope they leave 
with a strong sense of commitment, a practical sense of what they can do, 
what they've promised to do in their areas," said elder Pamela Byers of San 
Francisco, who was recently hired as the network's executive director. 
"We're planning very practical workshops, organized geographically -- 
asking what people think it will take to encourage their presbyteries to 
pass A, how to organize, identifying people who might be helpful and 
strategies that have worked in the past." 
 
    But the CNP's organizers are basing their case for the amendment's 
passage on the argument that the A debate has much less to do with the 
denomination's past squabbles about the ordination of gays and lesbians 
than it has to do with what is responsible church law and what is true to 
the church's historic Reformed tradition. 
 
    "There's no language in Amendment A that will make it easier for gays 
and lesbians to be ordained.  It's not tampering with the `authoritative 
interpretation' [a judicial decision that excludes sexually active gays and 
lesbians from church office]," said Bohl.  "It's better `Book of Order' 
language.  It's more biblical. 
 
    "There's not even a mention of Jesus in Amendment B." 
 
    Proponents say Amendment A's language affirming church officers' 
"obedience to Jesus Christ, under the authority of Scripture and instructed 
by the historic confessional standards of the church" duplicates 
constitutionally mandated language for ordination already used in the `Book 
of Order.' Amendment B calls church officers to "lead a life in obedience 
to Scripture and in conformity to the historic confessional standards of 
the church." 
 
    Buchanan told the Presbyterian News Service that B signficantly changes 
Presbyterian tradition, "whether it was intended or not."  He cited the 
shift from "obedience to Scripture" to  "obedience to Jesus Christ." He 
also noted B's requirement that ordained officers live lives in 
"conformity" to the historic confessional standards of the church rather 
than being "continually guided" by those standards. 
    "That," he said, "is changing the fundamental role of the confessions 
or creeds. ...  And that is quite apart from the presenting [gay/lesbian] 
issue." 
 
    Members of the CNP's Executive Committee include Adams and Bay; the 
Rev. Cynthia Campbell, president of McCormick Theological Seminary; the 
Rev. Sheila Gustafson of Santa Fe; the Rev. Laird Stuart of San Francisco; 
the Rev. Thomas Tewell of New York City; and Barbara Wheeler, president of 
Auburn Theological Seminary.  Though still being formed, the CNP's National 
Committee includes Gay Mothershed of Dallas, former PC(USA) vice moderator; 
the Rev. Cynthia Jarvis of Philadelphia; the Rev. Bruce Rigdon of Grosse 
Pointe, Mich.; the Rev. Terry Swicegood of Charlotte; the Rev. Theodore 
Wardlaw of Atlanta; and the Rev. Jack Stotts, president emeritus of Austin 
Theological Seminary. 
 
    When questioned about accusations by opponents that reconsidering 
ordination standards disregards the will of presbyteries who last year 
thought the matter was settled, Buchanan said that is an "unfair 
accusation."  He explained, "Every Assembly has not only the right but is 
called to speak its own mind, its own ethos, to listen for the voice of the 
Spirit.   And 60 percent of the people who came to Syracuse thought this 
was the faithful thing to do. 
 
    "The Assembly did what it did," he said.  "Part of the reason we're 
Presbyterian is that we believe somehow that when the Assembly gathers, it 
has a better chance of knowing the mind and will of God than we do on our 
own.  Part of the reason that we're Presbyterian is that we trust that 
process." 
 
    For more information on the CNP, telephone its offices at (415) 
351-2196. 

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