wfn.org | Proposals on status of Christian educators fail to advance

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

Note #6000 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

26-June-2000
GA00053

	Proposals on status of Christian educators fail to advance

	Committee turns down report, overture pertaining to ordination

	by Emily Enders Odom

LONG BEACH, June 26 -- Following a strenuous debate, which occupied nearly
the entire afternoon, the Assembly Committee on Church Orders and Ministry
voted 41-12, with 3 abstentions, to refer to the General Assembly Council
(GAC) a proposal giving church educators a chance to be ordained as
ministers with a specialization in Christian education.

	The proposal came from the Workgroup on the Role and Status of Christian
Educators.

	"[Our] differences demonstrate that we are not ready to make this move
ahead," commented one commissioner.  A related overture, 00-57, from the
Presbytery of Chicago, calling for the creation of a separate ordained
office of church educator, was disapproved by the committee.

	 The workgroup, which had been formed to conduct extensive study pertaining
to the role of Christian educators, had at one point considered but
ultimately rejected the ordination option outlined in 00-57.

	Missing for some commissioners was an adequate Biblical and Reformed
theological rationale for the ordination of educators.
	
	The committee defeated an earlier motion to refer only portions of the
report to the GAC, with consideration given to that rationale as well as to
the orders of ministry, the outline of fair labor practices and the role of
volunteer and part-time educators who do not desire certification.

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