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Form of Government Revision Committee meets early
Meetings offered committee a chance to ?learn and talk? about weighty  document
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> Posted at
> July 2, 2010 10:07 p.m.

> by Duane Sweep

> Synod of Lakes and Prairies

While most other committees of the 219th General Assembly (2010) are waiting to 
begin on Sunday, the Form of Government Revision Committee opened its meetings 
Friday, looking for a way to understand the substantial document and overtures 
it must consider during this year?s assembly.

The committee is taking a look at the latest revision of the document submitted 
by the Form of Government Task Force that was created by the 217th General 
Assembly. The first document created by the task force was submitted to the 
218th General Assembly two years ago, but that Assembly referred the document 
to an expanded task force and recommended a churchwide study of the proposed 
revision.

During the intervening two years, the present task force considered questions 
that arose during the 218th General Assembly, online feedback from the task 
force?s Web presence, questions and concerns that task force members heard in 
travels around the country, and critiques from others throughout the church.

When a committee member asked the Rev. Tim Beal, moderator of the committee, if 
Friday?s meetings were just an opportunity to learn and talk, Beal responded, 
?I think that?s an accurate description.?

Many members of the Assembly committee that considered the original revision of 
the Form of Government in 2008 indicated they didn?t have enough time to 
examine the document and complete other aspects of their committee work.

Moving this Assembly committee?s team-building and housekeeping work to Friday, 
along with presentations from PC(USA) Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons and the Form 
of Government Task Force and small group discussions, were designed to 
alleviate problems caused by time constraints.

Parsons used a variety of metaphors to speak of change in the church. For 
example, he described how families traveling along the Oregon Trail often 
packed more belongings than they could carry for the long journey and ended up 
leaving many of those belongings along the trail ? materials for a great 
rummage  sale.

?They didn?t leave Grandma out there on the trail,? he said, ?but they left a 
lot of other stuff behind.?

When the Form of Government Task Force made a presentation of its work to the 
committee, the Rev. Dan Williams, co-moderator of the task force, told the 
committee, ?We understand the challenge you face in trying to digest our work.?

He and Carol Hunley, an elder member of the task force, described the revision 
as a ?blueprint? for the church rather than a document that included a 
description of the ?arrangement of the furniture.?

The task force?s page on the PC(USA) website notes that its full report 
?includes recommendations to add Foundations of Presbyterian Polity as a new 
section to the Book of Order as well as a proposed revision of the Form of 
Government and an advisory handbook.?