The Mississippi nFOG overture will be among more than 100 overtures considered by the 219th General Assembly July 3-10 in Minneapolis, Minn. Even if the proposal doesn’t gain traction, Herrin said, he hopes it will put the Coalition’s critique of nFOG in the hands of GA commissioners.

Several presbyteries have offered ideas on how to deal with the new Form of Government Task Force’s (nFOG) recommendations to the 219th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

While another presbytery has called for a time of discernment before taking action on the proposal, the Presbytery of Mississippi has forwarded an overture to the GA that flatly rejects the recommendations. It suggests dismissing the task force with thanks and amending the current constitution with only two small parts of the nFOG report.

“The report and recommendations of the Form of Government Task Force, taken as a whole, are in no way an improvement over the current Form of Government,” the overture states. “Worst of all, it would allow a vastly expanded vision of inclusivity to threaten our current ordination standards. … It is impossible to summarize the many ways in which the form of government proposed by the Task Force would threaten the peace, unity and purity of the church.”

Among the concerns expressed by the presbytery is that it would: remove “important safeguards” from congregations and presbyteries; render many aspects of the denomination’s common life immune to judicial review; allow presbyteries to dissolve pastoral relationships without congregational meetings; prevent sessions from determining the distribution of congregations’ benevolences; and would weaken constitutional standards for ordination standards and emanations.

To read a short summary of problems with the nFOG written for the Presbyterian Coalition, click here:
bit.ly/cdooRm. [Editor’s note: The preceding link (URL) is unavailable and has been removed.]