wfn.org | Theological task force adopts "roadmap"

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Note #7369 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05-August-2002
02883

Theological task force adopts "roadmap"

Group OKs plan for addressing theological rifts in PC(USA)

by John Filiatreau

LISLE, IL - The Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has drafted a "roadmap" to guide its work in the coming months and years, and settled upon four broad goals it will keep in mind as it takes on a task that one member has termed "Herculean."

Sixteen of the 20 members of the group, meeting July 31-Aug. 3 in suburban Chicago, broadly set the agendas of its next several meetings, resolving to devote each gathering to a discussion of one "basic theological topic" and one "basic theme" of Presbyterian polity, governance and history.

The topics chosen for future meetings of the Theological Task Force (TTF):

October 2002: The person of Jesus Christ and the identity of his followers; the current social and cultural context of Presbyterian life and mission. 

February 2003: The Bible, creeds and confessions in faith and life; how Presbyterians and other Reformed Christians proclaim the faith. 

August 2003: The nature and purpose of the church in the Reformed tradition; how the Presbyterian Church orders its common life and makes decisions. 

October 2003: Basic principles of Reformed faith as reflected in worship and mission; how Presbyterians order their leadership.

February 2004: Basic principles of Reformed faith and principles and patterns of Presbyterian life to be lifted up and affirmed for our day. 

August 2004 and November 2004: How to address and work toward resolution of theological controversies; how to address and work toward resolution of ordination disputes (including questions about whether gay and lesbian Presbyterians should be admitted to ordained leadership).

As it wrestles with these matters, Task Force members agreed to keep in mind four broad goals: 

* to "reintroduce" Presbyterians to important parts of church heritage; 

* to bring to the church "a range of compelling visions that all fall under a Reformed banner"; 

* to make its process accessible to the PC(USA) and to empower Presbyterians to reproduce it locally; and 

* to "bring people closer together across the lines that divide us."

Surveying the work ahead, Barbara Wheeler, the president of Auburn Seminary in New York City, told her fellow Task Force members, "It's Herculean in its demands."

In addition to the tasks outlined above, the Task Force also plans to make interim reports to the 2003 and 2004 General Assemblies; to produce and test a yet-to-be-defined "curriculum" or "toolbox of resources" for congregations and presbyteries to use in grappling with thorny theological issues at the local level; and to present its final report to the 217th GA in 2006. (The TTF gained a year of working time when this year's GA voted to hold Assemblies only every other year; its original target date for the final report was 2005.)

The task force was authorized by the 213th GA (2001) and appointed by the then-current moderator, the Rev. Jack Rogers, and his two immediate predecessors, the Rev. Syngman Rhee (2000) and Freda Gardner (1999). It was asked "to lead the Presbyterian Church (USA) in spiritual discernment of our Christian identity in and for the 21st century ... seeking the peace, unity and purity of the church." The GA said its task "shall include but not be limited to issues of Christology, Biblical authority and interpretation, ordination standards and power."

The group has decided to hire at least one outside consultant, a specialist in educational-resource development, to help in the conceptualization of the "resource package" it intends to create for the church. It also said that it may need other outside help, despite members' concerns about the financial implications. 

Asked about TTF expenses, Gradye Parsons, director of strategic operations in the Office of the General Assembly, commented that, "The money this conflict has cost us is much greater than the money you're talking about."

The TTF budget for this year is $51,730, and the tentative budget for next year is $47,830.

One theme that emerged during the meeting was that Presbyterians agree on many more things than they quarrel about. The Rev. Jack Haberer, a pastor from Houston, TX, noted that 97 percent of commissioners to this year's General Assembly endorsed "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ," a statement of the Reformed view of salvation. He said that was an indication of the broad unity of Presbyterians.

Haberer said the TTF needs to find "some way for us and the church itself to articulate that 90 percent of the faith is held by 90 percent of us" and to "dispel the impression that we are just ... two churches under one roof." He said it must also present "a reason for connectionalism that works now."

Wheeler agreed. "We have huge richness and depth and strength," she said of the PC(USA), "and we don't even know we have it." She urged the group to try to produce "a luminous portrayal of the good of what we've got." That good, she said, was reflected in this year's GA, which featured "more cordial, respectful and cooperative conversation ... between what are supposed to be the sides and factions of this church" than any of the previous 22 Assemblies she has witnessed. "And it wasn't for want of engagement, either," she added.

The Rev. Lonnie J. Oliver, a pastor from College Park, GA, said he hopes the TTF can find "a mode or model for operating as the people of God together as a denomination" and help people understand "what it means to be a Christian and a Presbyterian." He said the group can help "congregations, presbyteries, the whole denomination and the world, really ... to discover what God is doing," concluding, "I see the end result as being obedience to God's will."

The Rev. John Wilkinson, a pastor from Rochester, NY, said the task force must try to discover "how to be in relationship with people with whom we disagree," and pointed out, "To be in unity does not mean to be unanimously agreeable."

The Rev. John B. "Mike" Loudon, a pastor from Lakeland, FL, said he will feel that the task force has failed if it doesn't provide "definitive guidance on the ordination questions and issues" and on "Biblical interpretation and Biblical authority."

The Rev. Gary Demarest, a co-moderator of the TTF, said: "Two words resonate through all of this: vision and leadership." He said Presbyterians are hoping "that we will really lead the church, and lead the church through vision," and answer two important questions: "What does a disciple of Christ look like in 21st-century America?" and "What does the community of disciples of Jesus Christ look like?"

Two sessions of Bible study seemed particularly relevant to the work of the TTF.

One, led by Haberer, concerned the first two chapters of Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, in which the apostle is writing about conflict in the early church between Jewish and Gentile Christians, the circumcised and uncircumcised. "Now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ," Paul writes. "For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us."

Haberer said the passage demonstrates that disagreements and disunity are not new in the church. The Jewish early Christians, he said, "were Calvinists through and through, who understood election and predestination ... and understood what it means to be elect, to be chosen." He said there is comfort in the knowledge that Jesus has the power, in Paul's words, to "reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility."

Haberer pointed out that God has the power to "create one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace."

"It's a wonderful idea to contemplate," he concluded, "and an ethical imperative."

Another session, led by Frances Taylor Gench, a professor at Union Theological Seminary, had to do with the story of Jesus' walking on the water, as recounted in Matthew and Mark. The apostles in the storm-tossed boat are terrified, victimized by "the primal fears that cripple us," Gench pointed out, but Jesus comes to their rescue "immediately," with a "challenge to greater faith," directed (in Matthew) to Peter: "O man of little faith, why did you doubt?" And when they "have the Lord back in the boat," she noted, the wind subsides.

Gench pointed out that Jesus' reassuring cry, "Take heart, it is I," would have been, to the early Christians, a clear echo of the Old Testament name of God, "I am who I am," and would have been recognized as "language only God could speak."

She compared the PC(USA) to the apostles' boat, "beaten" by the wind and waves, noting that the church in Matthew's day also was full of conflict. And she pointed out that Matthew's Gospel concludes with Jesus' promise, "I am with you always."

Much of the meeting was devoted to a discussion of what the task force should produce as a vehicle for sharing its reflections and discoveries with the whole church - whether it is termed "curriculum" or "resources" or something else.

The members agreed that it wouldn't be enough to merely turn out a printed document, but were unsure how best to proceed. The Rev. Sarah Grace Sanderson, a pastor from Lowville, NY, said her "biggest caution" was "not to let this task swamp our basic task." Another member noted, "We could spend the rest of our shelf life" talking about the materials to be conveyed to congregations and governing bodies.

"Making things happen at the local level is the hardest leadership challenge in the world," Wheeler said, adding: "People don't just automatically buy things you put on paper for them."

"This is the problem with task forces," said the Rev. Joe Coalter, a professor of library and information services at Louisville Seminary. "It's like going to a revival and you have a wonderful experience - but how do you convey it to someone else?"

"We need more help on this than we have around the table," said Scott D. Anderson, director of the Sacramento-based California Council of Churches.

Some members of the task force reiterated frustration and discomfort expressed at previous TTF meetings to have to do the group's work in the presence of the denominational press, which they said discourages candor and raises fears about coverage of what Anderson said "is going to be a messy, risky process."

In its foundational "covenant," the task force members vowed to "work in good faith within the open-meeting policy of the General Assembly and welcome the press and other observers present at our meetings." They add that they "trust the press to perform its part of this responsibility by reporting on our work in accordance with the published ethical standards of the Associated Church Press and the Evangelical Press Association."

The task force's next meeting, in October, will be held at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
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