Committees schedules run from 9:30 a.m until 9:30 p.m. on both Monday and Tuesday of the 220th General Assembly of the PCUSA meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa. Next plenary session is scheduled for Wednesday, July 4 at 2 p.m.

Everyone comes to the General Assembly with a sense of calling but some commissioners arrive with a particular point of passion that is not before the assembly as official business. Those commissioners are invited to file resolutions in the first 24 hours of the Assembly. That Commissioner’s Resolution (CR) is then routed by the Bills and Overtures committee to one of the Assembly committees for recommendation to the plenary. However, one such resolution, asking that every overture be required to include a preamble demonstrating its consistency with the Scriptures was declined based on the counsel of the Stated Clerk.

The CR was authored by a Theological Student Advisory Delegate (TSAD) from Gordon Conwell. Dr. Stephen Hiemstra is a member of Centreville Presbyterian Church (Va.) and a candidate under care of National Capital Presbytery. The resolution sought to address the reality that much of the business before the assembly is inconsistent with the plain reading of scripture. The burden is then placed on the assembly to identify and resist advancing the error.
The CR proposed that

“The 2012 Manual of the General Assembly should be amended to require that bills and overtures presented before the General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) include a preamble. This preamble will briefly address three points: (1) the scriptural authority for presenting the proposal, (2) an explanation as to why this authority is stronger than other scriptural texts standing in tension, and (3) an explanation as to why the proposal differs from any previous proposals. The purpose of the preamble is to make the prima facie argument for the proposal and to move the burden of proof of scriptural fidelity from the reviewer to the presenter.”

Although the CR was authored by a TSAD, it was duly signed and submitted by two commissioners. However, in the Bills and Overtures committee on Sunday evening, the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly recommended the CR be denied. Heimstra said that “without following their own rules, which say they are not to judge the merits of a CR but simply determine if the issue is already. But the committee just did what the Clerk told them to do.” And that was to deny the CR. When asked if that held true for action on all CR’s, Heimstra said that the B&O routing of CRs to committees was done without any deviance from the Clerk’s recommendations.

CR on Benefits Plan will be heard

Another CR submitted by commissioners David Dobi, from the Presbytery of Shenango, and Gary Davis, from the Presbytery of Great Rivers, was routed to committee 20, which is dealing with business related to the Presbyterian Board of Pensions (BoP). The CR, which has become item 20-12 proposes that the PCUSA in consultation with the BoP “initiate conversations with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (EC), and other possible partners for the purpose of sharing a benefits plan consistent with the values and principles of the present Board of Pensions Plan.”

The rationale acknowledges the economic realities of the day, the statistical decline of the PCUSA, the statistics related to the clergy bubble the PCUSA is approaching in both the medical and pension plans, and the challenges of “declining plan membership that threatens the future of the Plan viability” as identified by the BoP. The rationale also notes that “The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) finds itself in the context of significant changes in denominational relationships.”

While sharing concern for the “church’s economic witness and equity among ministers”, the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy raises concerns and counsels the General Assembly to consider alternative plan designs with equally progressive former-mainline denominations instead of a shared plan with Presbyterian denominations that may not be “in accord with some of the ‘values and principles’ of the PC(USA).”

ACSWP advice and counsel on 20-12 reads in part, “The broader question is whether this conversation is being proposed in order to open the door to detaching the Board of Pensions from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) at some future point.”

The ACSWP alternative is then offered. “A different approach would look at pension fund planning with communion partner denominations; the Reformed Church in America, the United Church of Christ, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) might also be considered.”
Harkening back to Reunion, ACSWP notes that “At the time of reunion, the pension plans of both the former UPCUSA and PCUS were joined. Lessons from this process are certainly still relevant for future planning and consideration of any merger with less financially strong pension plans.”
A total of eight GA committees will deal with deal with resolutions from their fellow commissioners:

• 03-14 On Establishing a Code of Ethics for Elected Commissioners and Elected/Appointed Advisory Delegates to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A).
• 03-15 on designating as an Honored Name, the Reverend Elijah Parish Lovejoy.
• 09-08 on requesting that the General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations explore and report back to the 221st General Assembly (2014) on the creation of a network of “Green Churches” seriously concerned with global climate change and its danger to future generations, building upon the Environmental Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. and denominational environmental programs, and building also on college and university campus ministries involving Christian students and faculty.
• 10-21 on directing the Stated Clerk to “Communicate electronically (or using the most cost-effective method) the opportunity of hosting Christmas International House to our 173 presbyteries by August 1, 2012, asking that at least one church in each presbytery be a host this year from December 18 to January 2, 2013” and “Ask each presbytery to communicate this vision of hospitality among each of their congregations for 2012 with a goal of 200 programs hosting at least two students each for this next Christmas.”
• 11-21 on appointing two seasons of prayer: on Saturday morning, July 7 2012, before the assembly adjourns, and the second on Sunday morning, November 4, 2012, in our churches across the nation. The purpose will be to seek the will of Almighty God in this year’s Presidential election, and to ask the Almighty God to lead the political parties of our nation to seek the peace, unity, and purity of our nation and world, not their own individual political ideologies.
• 11-22 on significantly limiting use and duration of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons.
• 11-23 on instructing “the Office of the Stated Clerk to provide e-mail notice to sessions, presbyteries, and synods, announcing that members of our PC(USA) congregations who belong to organized labor unions can claim employee choice with the “Beck Rule” (see below) to “unbind” and enable those members to authorize redirecting the union fees unrelated to representation issues, to charitable causes such as for our neighbors in need, our churches, or Presbyterian missions.”
• 12-10 on initiating a campaign to end the U.S. Homeland Security’s “Secure Communities” Program. The campaign would include, “the General Assembly Mission Council, through its Compassion, Peace, and Justice Ministries section, with the Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy and other appropriate offices” addressing “the civil liberties, racial profiling, security, and due process concerns related to the arrest and detention of immigrants through the Secure Communities program, drawing on the 2010 Human Rights Report section on immigrant detention prepared by the Presbyterian Immigration Issues office.” The CR also “directs the Stated Clerk and the Office of Public Witness in Washington, D.C., to communicate to President Obama, Director of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, Director of Immigration, Customs and Enforcement John Morton, and the United States Congress, calling for the termination of the S-Comm program, detailing the detrimental impact of S-Comm on the security of our families and our communities.” Further, Item 12-10 ” encourages the Stated Clerk, the Office on Immigration Issues, and the Advisory Committee on Litigation to consider participation in amicus curiae (friend of court) briefs in cases seeking to ameliorate or end S-Comm or other practices contrary to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) policies on immigration; and directs the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to inform our national ecumenical partners of this action and call upon them to join us in raising concern with our elected and appointed officials.”
• 12-11 on comprehensive immigration reform and churchwide activism benefitting people currently in the United States illegally.
• 15-12 on responding to the ongoing agony of a virtual civil war in Syria, by calling for prayer, witness, and action on behalf of the Syrian people.
• 16-08 on directing the GAMC to share the stories of Great Commission congregations and encourage all Presbyterian pastors and sessions to lead their congregations in ministry and mission shaped by the Great Commission.
• 16-09 on designating a national day to be recognized annually throughout the PCUSA to encourage Presbyterian church members to offer an invitation to acquaintances outside the church community to attend a Sunday church service. This national day would facilitate church growth and would open the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the community.
• 20-12 on developing a shared benefit plan with the EPC, ECO and other possible partners.
• 21-04 on the compassionate treatment of veterans suffering from PTSD, TBI, and/or other mental afflictions resulting from military service.
• 21-05 on funding for the Presbyterian AIDS network (PAN) and for AIDS competency training.
• 21-06 on calling the church to a new way forward on the issue of pregnancies and abortion. CR 21-06 reads: “recognizing the deep and long-standing division in the church concerning crisis pregnancies and abortion, longing for a way the church can better reflect the love of God and caring concern of the church for women and their unborn children, and believing there is a better way forward with great hope for the unity of the church, does the following:

1. Directs the General Assembly Mission Council, through Theology and Worship, to do the following:
a. Conduct a study of Scripture and The Book of Confessions.
b. Write a foundational paper that includes:
(1) the meaning and implications of being ‘created in God’s image’;
(2) implications of Christ’s sacrificial death for humankind for how we love one another;
(3) implications of the biblical prohibition against the taking of human life in our cultural context;
(4) how the church might live out an understanding of children as a blessing from God as part of our participation in the baptismal covenant;
(5) the role of the church’s ministry in caring for the vulnerable; and
(6) suggestions for congregational ministry that extends care for women and their unborn children.
c. Bring the foundational paper back to the 221st General Assembly (2014) for approval

2. Requests PC(USA) Research Services to conduct a new Presbyterian Panel survey on crisis pregnancies and abortion, in order to accurately reveal the current opinions of Presbyterians on these matters.
a. Questions shall be carefully crafted to avoid bias.
b. Since abortion is legal in the United States, questions should assume legality and focus instead on the morality of abortion.
c. Questions should also ask about the church’s role to counsel regarding abortion and to offer ministry and support for women who are pregnant in difficult circumstances.

3. Calls upon the Office of Public Witness, Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy, Advocacy Committee for Women’s Concerns, and Presbyterians Affirming Reproductive Options to adopt.
a. a framework for advocacy that includes empowering the voice of the church in areas of essential unity but leaves to individual advocacy areas of division;
b. a plan to empower our global mission partners to provide education, prenatal care and healthcare for women that seeks the well-being of both mother and child, born and unborn.

Committees schedules run from 9:30 a.m until 9:30 p.m. on both Monday and Tuesday of the 220th General Assembly of the PCUSA meeting in Pittsburgh, Pa. Next plenary session is scheduled for Wednesday, July 4 at 2 p.m.

Carmen Fowler LaBerge is president of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and executive editor of its publications. This article first appeared on The Layman website and is used with permission. [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]