The largest presbytery in the U.S. is exploring governance options it hopes will help avoid future friction during a time of denominational contention concerning theology and direction.

The Presbytery of Greater Atlanta (PGA) recently launched the Flexible Governance Task Force (FGTF), a team that is expected to recommend a major shift in the 110-member church presbytery’s structure under the Presbyterian Church (USA) new Form of Government (nFOG).

“In the midst of deep divisions surrounding ordination standards and doctrinal issues, new models can allow congregations to live out their theological convictions from within the denomination without continuing the debates we have fought for so long,” said task-force member Camille Josey during the presbytery’s September meeting. Josey is also an elder at Peachtree Presbyterian Church.

Josey pointed out that, since so many churches were divided over the issues of ordination of gay and lesbian Presbyterians, governing bodies needed “adaptive models that will foster local creativity grassroots approach to Christ’s work” and that would move “beyond the fractured context in current governance.”

PGA is considering two new models: “presbytery within a presbytery” (Option 1) and “Covenant Communities” (Option 2).

Under Option 1, PGA would create a new presbytery within its current boundaries. Dubbed “PGA2,” the body would be a commission of the PGA. The new body would be granted all rights and privileges of a presbytery. A congregation could join PGA2 by a vote of the session but if a session doesn’t act, it would be assumed that it wished to remain in the PGA.

The PGA2 would have its own committee on ministry, committee on preparation for ministry and examinations committees, as well as the authority to ordain. Such a body would then decide upon its own ordination standards since recent changes in the PCUSA’s Book of Order allow presbyteries to set them.

The PGA2 would also send commissioners to the General Assembly as set by a proportion of membership.

The PGA and the new body would share staff, administration and share in mission. The PGA would review PGA2 minutes annually. In all other respects, the governing bodies would be treated as two separate presbyteries.

Option 2, dubbed “covenant communities,” would function much in the same way as PGA2 but would have smaller communities of 6-24 congregations, each having a mission statement “consonant with Reformed theology,” according to the task force.

Covenant communities would be granted rights and privileges in terms of ordination standards and committees but could continue to vote in the PGA plenary only in areas where commission authority had not been granted.

Read More [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced in this article is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

The pastors of these communities would meet monthly for prayer, Bible study, theological discussion and “mutual resourcing for mission.” The communities would also conduct a semi-annual gathering of elders for prayer, training and to plan strategies for mission.
Josey reminded presbytery members that the current proposals were written in broad strokes and that many details must be resolved before a final plan can be presented.
Amendment 10A fallout
The recent passage of Amendment 10A, which deleted ordination standards addressing explicit chastity and fidelity requirements from the PCUSA constitution, sparked discussion for the need of a more flexible way to govern the PGA, executive presbyter Thomas Evans said in a recent interview. The deleted standard required that ordained officers be faithful in marriage between a man and a woman, or chaste in singleness.
“When it became clear in our presbytery that 10A was going to pass nationally, we decided to gather churches who were deeply concerned about [it] and asked ‘What are your congregations going to do?’
The PGA has been and still is split on the issue of ordination standards. In 1997, the presbytery voted down a similar proposal before affirming 10A by a vote of 262-167.
“We have people in the presbytery celebrating its passing and we have people mourning it,” Evans said, adding that without flexible governance, the PGA will continue to see a “rehash” of the ordination debate.
According to a survey presented to the PGA by the task force, about 65 percent of member churches favor some form of flexible governance but some expressed concern that a new body may divide the PGA.
“Some comments said, ‘We need to do this because it will help us stay together,’” Evans said. “Another comment would say, ‘We shouldn’t do this because we need to stay together,’” he added.
Evans said members surveyed favored the “presbytery within a presbytery” option also known as an overlay presbytery.
The “presbytery within a presbytery” may sound familiar to those who are familiar with the recent meeting of the Fellowship of Presbyterians.
The group was formed to “call others of like mind to envision a new future for congregations that share our Presbyterian, Reformed, Evangelical heritage,” according to the group’s website.
The Fellowship drew approximately 1,900 people to a meeting in Minneapolis in August in which disaffected Presbyterians discussed ways to respond to recent polity and theological changes within the PCUSA.
The group has proposed a number “tiers” of governance that includes the idea of an overlay presbytery like PGA’s Option 1.
Specifically, Tier 3 calls for the creation of a presbytery within a presbytery which would include separate committees on ministry with their own ordination standards, much like PGA’s proposal.
“I would say [the Fellowship] has indirectly influenced [the PGA process] and the ideas emerged in parallel,” Evans said, adding that each group informed the ideas of the other.
Several members of the governance task force attended the Minneapolis gathering and a sizable number of pastors and elders are active within the Fellowship, Evans added.
The Fellowship will meet in Orlando, Fla. in January in what is expected to be a “constitutional congress” which may establish a new reformed body.
The PGA task force will present its final recommendation at the presbytery’s December meeting and may be voted on in February.