wfn.org | [PCUSAnews] Shortened version of Chapter 14 in the constitution is headed for presbytery vot

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6695 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

Shortened version of Chapter 14 in the constitution is headed for presbytery
vote
14-June-2001

GA01135

Shortened version of Chapter 14 in the constitution is headed for presbytery
vote

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE, June 14 –  A shortened version of the section in the Book
of Order outlining procedures to ordain and commission church leaders was
approved by the 213th General Assembly Thursday afternoon.

	The document relegates what the Rev. Sharon Amstutz, moderator of the
Assembly Committee on Church Orders and Ministry calls “the nuts and
bolts” of those procedures into a series of handbooks for
commissioning lay pastors, certifying church educators and ordaining
candidates for ministry.

	“It creates more freedom for congregations and presbyteries,”
Amstutz said, describing the Office of the General Assembly’s (OGA)
rewrite of Chapter 14.

	The rewrite does not affect the denomination’s ordination standards,
which are found in Chapter Six.

	It does, however, create a loophole for presbyteries to give certified
Christian educators, who are elders, the vote on presbytery floors, in a
qualified way.

	To a question raised by Elder Dean Shupe of Cincinnati Presbytery about
whether the action grants a blanket vote to church educators, OGA associate
stated clerk, the Rev. Zane Buxton, said the privilege is limited to certain
circumstances:  elder/educators who might be enrolled to address an issue of
an imbalance in a presbytery between ministers and elders.

	The document also says that presbyteries shall establish minimum
requirements for compensation and benefits.

	A report from the Christian Educator Certification Council was referred by
commissioners to next year’s Assembly which calls presbyteries to set
salary minimums equivalent to that of ministers.  It also uses more broad
language in giving elder/certified educators the vote.

	In other business, the Assembly disapproved Overture 01-7 from the
Presbytery of Yellowstone asking that standardized exams be developed for
commissioned lay pastors, but instructed that the stated clerk explore other
approaches to assessment.  The OGA is currently developing curricula
resources for lay pastor training that are the needs of diverse
presbyteries.

The publication date is June, 2002.

	It also instructed the OGA to consult with National Capital Presbytery on
finding ways to allow Presbyterian elders from other churches to serve as
commissioned lay pastors, most particularly to address the specific needs of
immigrant communities.  The Assembly was responding to Overture 01-13 from
National Capital Presbytery.

	Finally, the Assembly approved Overture 01-24 from Sierra Blanca Presbytery
restoring theological language for the description of pastors and associates
in G-6.0202 by adding wording referring to bishops, servants, presbyters and
ambassadors.
	

_______________________________________________
pcusaNews mailing list
pcusaNews@pcusa.org

To unsubscribe, go to this web address:
http://pcusa01.pcusa.org/mailman/listinfo/pcusanews