wfn.org | Rhee, Detterick, Kirkpatrick support formation of commission

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Note #6592 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

11-June-2001
GA01034

Rhee, Detterick, Kirkpatrick support formation of commission

Leaders advance idea of writing a new confession 

by Bill Lancaster

LOUISVILLE, June 11-Three top leaders of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
addressed the Peace, Purity and Unity of the Church Committee of the 213th
General Assembly Monday morning.  They voiced their support of a commission
to take a "more foundational approach" to resolving the conflicts faced by
the denomination.  They also discussed probing deeply into our confessions
of faith and possibly writing a new confession.

The Rev. Syngman Rhee, moderator of the 212th General Assembly (2000), Elder
John Detterick, executive director of the General Assembly Council, and the
Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the Assembly, each supported the
idea being formally brought to the Assembly through Overture 01-33 from the
Presbytery of John Calvin in Missouri. This overture calls for a commission,
that would report back to the Assembly four years hence, in 2005. Such a
commission was last employed in 1925 to help resolve the 
fundamentalist/modernist controversy.

"As we struggled with divisive issues in the past, we've often tried to find
narrowly-defined solutions," Detterick told the committee. "Perhaps it's
time to step back and look at the larger issue and say, 'Is there a more
foundational approach to understanding who we are and what we are arguing
about and what our beliefs really are?'"

He outlined four principles to illustrate the vision he and Kirkpatrick have
for this Assembly:
* Being rooted and grounded in love;

* Acknowledging our differences and seeking mutual understanding of them;

* Probing deeply our beliefs about the lordship of Jesus Christ; and

* Encouraging an openness to the Holy Spirit.
Detterick said with regard to both a commission and a possible new
confession, "We'd like to encourage you to think about doing it . . .
churchwide.

"If you choose to go the commission route," he said, "it might be
interesting to pose the question, then ask every presbytery to answer as a
way of involving the church in the discussion of the issues and what our
beliefs are."

Writing a new confession,  Detterick said, might take five-to-eight years or
more and involve presbyteries in doing much of the work to help people
understand what it means to be "a Presbyterian part of the body of Christ."

Rhee, who prior to the Assembly recommended formation of a 1925-type
commission, spoke warmly in favor of the idea.  "As I traveled around this
year," he said, "I found a lot of people who have become disillusioned [and]
discouraged, because the central stage of our church has become a
battleground.

"The people are longing to have a way to deal with these difficult issues in
a constructive and graceful way.  That's why I was grateful to see some of
the overtures from different presbyteries to create a commission."

Rhee referred to the divisions among the Presbyterians in Korea, where one
denomination was called Jesus Presbyterian Church and another Christ
Presbyterian Church.  "Don't you think the time has come for us to put Jesus
and Christ together?  If we persist and people talk about splitting the
church, for their convictions, I don't think they know what they are talking
about," he said.

Kirkpatrick referred to the church at Corinth and especially to the "more
excellent way" referred to by Paul in writing 1Corinthians chapter 13.  He
said, "I think we need some kind of group in the church of elders and
ministers to come together to create a Presbyterian ethos, not to come up
with great wisdom, but to get out into the church and listen to
presbyteries."

He said he hoped such a group would address at least four things:

* The causes of our unrest;

* Our spiritual and missionary renewal;

* Our confessions, to reclaim those and perhaps to write a new confession of
faith; and

* Our polity.

Mark Tammen, the new director of constitutional services in the Office of
the General Assembly, explained what a commission could do.  He said the
type of commission being considered is one that would "visit…inquire into,
settle" as defined in paragraph G-9.0503a(3) of the Book of Order, part of
the denomination's constitution.

On a handout, Tammen said such a commission:

* Can, but need not, act on behalf of the appointing body;

* Possesses powers delegated to it;

* Is appointed  when the project requires a small, focused group of people;

* Is appointed when the body wants to get someone's attention;

* Can be appointed with longer term of life;

* Can be utilized for long term tasks.

Tammen told the committee the success of such a group is "absolutely
determined by the care with which the task, powers and scope are defined."

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