The General Assembly that had been busy changing any number of things for more than a week was not prepared to change itself.

During the report of the Committee on General Assembly Procedures Friday afternoon, item after item of genuine grassroots concern met a swift and almost reflexive death at the hands of the Assembly.

Certainly the General Assembly does undergo changes, such as the end of commissioner mailboxes, the introduction of wireless electronic voting and the devising of various ways to constrict business items coming from presbyteries or commissioners.

Upon inspection, however, these changes are top down, introduced by the Committee on the Office of the General Assembly or by staff decisions. Such changes generally happen to commissioners without their say

Changes suggested by rank-and-file Presbyterians, however, received no such gilded path. For example:

· Rules for the periodic election of the stated clerk were thought to constrict the candidates’ ability to become known, so the Presbytery of Detroit offered amendments to the Standing Rules to open up the process. Plenary consideration lasted all of 5 seconds. The committee moderator announced the item and recommended that it be disapproved. The moderator asked if there were any objections, and then, a heartbeat later, and without a syllable of discussion, the moderator declared the item disapproved. No change there.

· San Diego Presbytery thought the number of commissioners at General Assemblies is too large and proposed a significant reduction. The commissioner committee considering this item split 3:2 in its vote to disapprove the overture, indicating some controversy on the matter. Nevertheless, floor consideration again moved ahead with not a moment of discussion, and the change was disapproved.

· Santa Barbara Presbytery had noticed how much GA time is spent on extraneous activities, often pushing sensitive consideration of significant items into the hours beyond exhaustion. The overture sought to give docket priority to the hot topics. The idea was dispatched immediately, just like the others.

· The Presbytery of Central Washington suggested dialing back the Young Adult Advisory Delegate (YAAD) role a notch or two. With a slight pause only for some vocal displeasure from the gallery, the overture was disapproved.

Grassroots change in GA procedures was zero for four at this point. The system seemed unable to accept changes proposed by those frustrated by its procedures. It was a bad day for user-generated change.

Let me guess your theology
A commissioners’ resolution brought by minister commissioners Julia Leeth of Santa Barbara Presbytery and Jeff Ogden of Stockton Presbytery sought to redress a diversity issue. “Our present system of nominations lacks a ready means to populate permanent committees and elected positions in our denomination with persons whose theological positions accurately reflect the spectrum of beliefs within the denomination as a whole,” they wrote.

The resolution proposed a method for potential nominees to self-identify theological leanings along the lines already used by the Presbyterian Panel in its demographic polling. But the idea seemed to touch a sore spot.

Katie Grandle, a YAAD from Sierra Blanca Presbytery, spoke against “placing labels on people.” Further, she related, “the resolution is not very detailed, and I’ve heard from staff that that makes implementation hard.”

“I don’t think we need to be afraid of labeling,” countered Mark Inouye, a pastor from San Jose Presbytery. “I’m glad to self-identify as evangelical. It would be helpful for any nominating committee to know these things. When we approved the new Form of Government, we said we wanted theological diversity, but now we don’t even ask the question?”

David Koehler, a minister commissioner from Prospect Hill Presbytery, was not reticent about his identity either. “I’m a self-labeled liberal!” he declared. “The [proposed application] question can help us continue to have fair and balanced representation, including those voices of theological diversity.”

“We need to extend grace to take extra steps to build communications and relationships,” argued Leeth, who had stood for moderator and came in second to Elder Cynthia Bolbach. “We were told that there is not a pool of self-identified evangelicals to draw from. I don’t feel their voice is being heard. This is a simple method, a great way to clearly fulfill the intent that all voices are heard.”

So here was a small change in an application form that persons submit to be considered for nomination to a national leadership role. It could provide the GA Nominating Committee handy information to correct alleged committee imbalance.

The resolution was defeated with a 76 percent majority vote. The more some things change, the more General Assembly stays the same.