the church geek

For three days I felt like a lab rat…

My experience as a commissioner to this year’s GA was a bit different than most. For my committee work, which is what the first part of a week at GA involves, I was assigned to the “Worship and Spiritual Renewal” Committee.

My experience was different because two different committees were given the commission to run their business in a different manner. Following the suggestion of an overture passed by the previous General Assembly to practice some different models of decision making, the GA offices decided to have two committees employ a consensus building, discernment model.

Committee work at GA is hard enough already. When you mix 50 to 60 people together in a room who don’t each other and then you consider the different theological commitments combined with personal agendas that exist in a group that size, you are waiting for a disaster to happen.

Which is why Parliamentary Procedure works so well. People get to make motions, they can put their ideas on the table and see what the rest of the group thinks, and while the minority might not get its way in the end at least they had their say.

When the idea of working with a model for discernment and consensus building was introduced to our group, people freaked. They were uncomfortable, either because they didn’t know or simply didn’t like the rules. As time went on, some felt like their voice was not being heard. Others were hurt by the process, expressed their pain, and left it all together. It took us a full two days to work through our paltry list of two items of business.

I am a pastor in a small church. To me that seems like an appropriate place to operate using models of discernment and consensus building. In fact we hardly use parliamentary procedure at all to run our session meetings. It works because people already have a relationship with one another. They know that when they speak they will be heard. No one is trying to figure out each others agendas or theological leanings.

However, based on my experience as a GA lab rat, I’m not so sure that it’s such a good idea at General Assembly.

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The following post, as is with all posts on this blog, is solely my own personal opinion and is not meant to be the position of my church. They are also preliminary thoughts.

Well, it has been fascinating to watch the shake-out today across the blogosphere following the actions of the General Assembly last week. Drew offers a post that points to various pro and con posts that have appeared today around the web, and our own denominational leadership offers this pastoral letter to its churches.

What is somewhat surprising is that at least in terms of national media the actions of last week were nowhere near as news-worthy as the ones that happened at the previous General Assembly in Birmingham AL. That year, the national media picked up on the news that the PC(USA) had received a “Trinity Paper” and erroneously reported that the PC(USA) had completely abandoned traditional language for the Trinity. In terms of media attention, there was a lot more damage control to do following that assembly than there will be following this one.

Of course, based on the actions of last week, the denomination is in for another long battle over the standards for ordination surrounding the ordination of GLBT officers (deacons, elders, and ministers) as replacement wording for what is known as ‘amendment b’ has been sent for approval to our local presbyteries. Churches that thought about but did not initiate proceedings to leave following the last GA, will surely be much more serious about doing so this time around, especially since all previous denominational statements about homosexuality were declared moot by this assembly.

Now as to the meat of the argument on the amendment in question, in case you’re not up on these things, our current ‘amendment b’ (G-6.0106b) states:

Those who are called to office in the church are to lead a life in obedience to Scripture and in conformity to the historic and confessional standards of the church. Among these standards is the requirement to life either in fidelity withing the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness. Persons refusing to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin shall not be ordained and/or installed as deacons, elders, or ministers of the Word and Sacrament.

Some have argued that ‘amendment b’ as it currently stands is about much more than homosexuality, that it really is about all ministers holding to a standard of sexual faithfulness. Now, in theory as one reads the amendment that may very well be the case, but in practice it’s simply not true. In my own experience, I was single, dating, engaged, and then married at various stages during my ordination process and no one dared or bothered to ask me about either my fidelity or chastity during any stage of that process. Surely if this was of concern and someone cared enough, they would have asked me?

Anyway, the new proposed ‘amendment b’ states:

Those who are called to ordained service in the church, by their assent to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation (W-4.4003), pledge themselves to live lives obedient to Jesus Christ the Head of the Church, striving to follow where he leads through the witness of the Scriptures, and to understand the Scriptures through the instruction of the Confessions. In so doing, they declare their fidelity to the standards of the Church. Each governing body charged with examination for ordination and/or installation (G-14.0240 and G-14.0450) establishes the candidate’s sincere efforts to adhere to these standards.

What I find interesting in this proposed replacement of ‘amendment b,’ which has to be voted in the affirmative by the majority of presbyteries in order to take affect, is that in effect it puts those who argue against it in a rather difficult place. In fact, to do so could very well be interpreted to say that one places a higher value on a certain sexual ethic than on the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And that seems to be a place where very few people will really want to be.

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Want to know what happened at GA? The GA junkie offers a very good one page analysis here.

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Here I offer a few glimpses into my experience at GA:

1.) I’ve mentioned this already, but it bears repeating again. For me one of the great joys of going to GA was meeting up with, as we called them, the “imaginary friends” I only knew by way of the blogosphere. Some of my spare moments at GA were spent in conversation with these folks at the Presbymergent booth, at the Tuesday evening party, during a bloggers dinner, by way of twitter, and in brushes with folks in the hallways of the assembly center.

2.) It was moving to have people extend words of concern, sympathy and support when they discovered that I was a commissioner from East Iowa. Once people found out I was from Cedar Rapids, they inquired as to the state of my home, my church, and our city. Many offered to send resources as well as mission work teams. It was such a blessing to know that the wider church will be there and available to help us in our recovery.

3.) Once I broke the ice speaking at the microphone, a few other opportunities presented themselves for me to speak on the floor of the assembly. One particular moment was when I offered an amendment to a resolution that offered thanks for the Presbyterians and PDA for their work in Katrina, Rita, and Wilma recovery efforts. The approved amendment offered a word of thanks to those whose help was extended, not just through PDA, but though local congregations in hurricane affected areas.

4.) One extremely frustrating moment was on the floor of the assembly when one item of business was tied up in parliamentary procedure and motion after motion for what was close to two hours only to find out that in the end what was being argued was not going to have any significant or practical affect. The argument was merely symbolic, in the end a complete waste of time, and the primary reason our Friday evening session went until 11:30 p.m. In this and many other cases (the debate on ‘amendment b’) it became quite clear that those who know the rubrics of Parliamentary procedure are able to wield power over those who do not and that the stated clerk’s advice can significantly set the course of the assembly’s action.

5.) Turns out that the election of Bruce Reyes-Chow as moderator was a harbinger of things that were to come later in the week for the assembly. The election of the candidate of ‘change’ foreshadowed other significant votes - changing the church’s official stance on homosexuality and sending a replacement “amendment b” to vote in the Presbyteries. Thankfully the second nuclear bomb that would have totally blown apart our denomination by changing the language of marriage in our constitution was not dropped by this assembly.

6.) At the same time there were moves to ‘center’ the church on issues such as developing resources that better reflect the diversity of the churches teaching and opinion on abortion and sex education, on balancing what the denomination has to say about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, and the acceptance of a “commissioners resolution” which encourages extending a means for gracious separation to churches who wish to leave the denomination.

7.) There is more to say, but for now, one final highlight was the honoring of Rev. Cliff Kirkpatrick who served our church as its Stated Clerk for the last twelve years; which is longer than I’ve been Presbyterian! During his service to the church, Cliff was often a lighting rod for those pained by the various problems of our church. However, I have only experienced him as a capable, affable, and faithful servant not only of the church but of Jesus Christ.

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Well, today I broke the ice and got up and spoke on the floor of General Assembly. I suppose for some that’s not such a big deal, but if anyone knows me well, they know I’m quite an introvert. In fact, I was a TSAD at Richmond a few years ago and didn’t bother to speak on the floor at all; for me its way too intimidating.

I stood up to speak in favor of an amendment to an overture on the dialog between Islam and Christianity that sought to strike the language the assembly was grappling with on what we could or could not say about our different or common understanding of God.

What I hope came across in what I said was that making ‘no statement was a whole lot better than making some sort of inarticulate statement.’ (Which is unfortunately what passed in the final overture.)

The funny thing is that the particular amendment that I spoke for was one that I myself had been preparing to propose in the first place…the dude that spoke before me stole my amendment!

As to speaking at the microphone…not only is it intimidating to stand and speak before thousands of commissioners and observers, when you are 6 feet 5 inches tall, the microphone stand is far too short to make it feel like a comfortable place to speak from! Regardless, I’m glad that’s over…but I’m sure I’ll find another spot to speak again.

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One of the joys of being in San Jose at GA is meeting up with folks I’ve only known virtually.

So far at this Assembly, I’ve met up with Shawn, Steve, Mark, and Brian (Mr. Tribal Church.) It’s been fun to have these virtual friends materialize right before my very eyes.

Another virtual friend, whom I can now add to that list is Bruce Reyes-Chow. Not only did he materialize before my very eyes, my hopes and dreams for him to become moderator also materialized before us last night.

In her usually insightful and thoughtful way, Jan offers some great thoughts on what this perhaps means for our denomination; a ray of hope and perhaps a new day dawning.

Congrats BRC and let us all hope and pray for a new church for a new day.

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Wednesday’s Roundup will come tomorrow…I was quite busy this morning straightening up around the house after most of the contents of our basement ended upstairs last Thursday following our little basement flood. Then this afternoon I decided to re-install Windows Vista on my laptop, prior to going to GA. Lori comes home soon after three days away, so the Roundup will just have to wait until tomorrow.

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It is with great sadness that I write a post in memory of one of “the church geek’s” most faithful readers, Richard Johnston, who died on June 6th from severe head trauma sustained from an accident in his home.

Richard was an elder extraordinare at the church where my wife is a pastor, First Presbyterian Church in Cedar Rapids. I got to know Richard personally when Lori and I asked him to help us sell Lori’s condo and to buy our first home together. I so much appreciated his patience, wisdom, sense of humor, and character as he carefully listened to us and helped us work through all the difficult decisions that come with buying and selling a home.

It was a time of great transition in our lives as I was preparing to settle in to start my first call at Knox Presbyterian Church and as Lori was serving her congregation in the midst of a transition in pastoral leadership. Richard always went beyond the call of duty, spending time with us beyond the business that needed to get done, listening to us, and helping us think through these changes in our life.

Whenever I ran into Richard, he always took the time to ask how things were going in my ministry at Knox and to encourage me in my work as a pastor. He often would comment about a post he had read or a picture I had posted on my blog. I always enjoyed my time and conversations spent with him.

Richard served the Presbytery of East Iowa in many different capacities, most recently as Moderator of the Presbytery. He and I were appointed to be two of East Iowa’s four commissioners to serve at this year’s General Assembly, and so it is with a heavy heart that I prepare to leave for that duty on Friday knowing that Richard will not be there to serve alongside us.

I thank God for the gift that Richard Johnston was to me and to so many others. He will be sorely missed by those who loved and cared for him.

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1.) The PC(USA)’s General Assembly is just over a week away. There are many things I’m looking forward to and one of them is the Church Basement Roadshow which happens to be passing through town on the first Friday of GA. Check out a preview of CBR here.

2.) While I wait patiently for my economic stimulus check to arrive in the mail, this post on God’s Politics makes me wonder if there aren’t better things that both the government and I could do with the money.

3.) Jan, as always, has another good post. She looks at the difference between two coffee houses in the exact same location, one successful and the other one not, and asks what the church can learn from this.

4.) A while ago, I asked some questions about doing youth ministry. The internet monk has some great suggestions that I think are spot on.

5.) Today’s photo creatively and humorously depicts the current reality of major river flooding in northern and eastern iowa.

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Bruce Reyes-Chow has graciously responded to the five questions I posed to him. Bruce is standing for moderator of this year’s PC(USA) General Assembly.

Aside from being a fellow church geek, Bruce is a blogger and he plays a pretty mean game of Scramble (a boggle-esque game) on facebook.

BRUCE’S DISCLAIMER: These responses are done in a free-flow manner as if we were sitting at a cafe sharing a cup of coffee and are not edited or vetted in the same manner as with official publications.

1.) You are a busy man, with a young family, and a pastor of an active, vibrant church. What on earth has motivated you to run for moderator?

As I have answered in at least one other “interview” that the real reason I am doing this is because of the nation-wide potluck sampling that I will get to partake of should I be elected. “Mr. Moderator, would you like a side of starch with that helping of starch?”

The short answer is that I believe that the church has helped me to grow into who God is hoping me to become and that we as a church should now be doing the same thing for the next generation of Presbyterians. At one point, the focus was rightly on my generation. The church was for my development hoping that my generation of servants would move into leadership someday. I firmly believe at all levels of the church, that day is now. And while we are all in a continual journey of faith, I sense that my role in the church is changing. Rather than the focus being on what I need the church to be, i must now shift into helping to prepare the church for what is to come. I hope to now be about the work of ensuring that there is a meaningful place for my three daughters that draws them to God not just because of obligation but because the church understands their culture and their needs in a way to be able to both comfort and challenge them in their faith.

I am also motivated by the obvious movement within the church of folks who are ready to move beyond traditional areas of conflict and get on with doing the ministry of Jesus Christ in the world. I think there is a whole community of people who no longer abide by age-old polemics and ideological loyalty, but rather engage in values based ministry that is much more freeing and compelling. These are the folks that are missing from most of the conversations about the future of the church and I believe that, because of my experience within the structure of the church, I stand in a unique place where I might be able to create some space for those missing voices to be heard.

2.) What do you think the PC(USA) is going to look like in 20-30 years?

I really have absolutely no idea or guesses at this point . . . and I am okay with that. What I HOPE the PC(USA) looks like is more about its approach to ministry rather than it’s size and or structure. I hope that we will be a gathering of people that hold common values about the presence of Christ in the world. I hope we are not just fiscally sound, but financially generous. I hope we value a breadth of clergy roles and the many different ways we NEED clergy to be in ministry. i hope that we are a church that my children have been drawn to and through that experience are not preparing the church for their own childcare and what the church is to become next.

3.) Name 2 or 3 of your favorite religious writers (theology, spirituality, church development, fiction, you name it…) and briefly, why?

Sorry . . . here are 4, call me wild and rebellious
B.A. Garrish helped me frame my understanding of Communion in his book, Grace and Gratitude.
Brian McLaren has given words to my growing understanding of what it means to be a postmodern Christian in A Generous Orthodoxy
Molly Fumia helped me understand transformation of person and community in Honor thy Children
Carlos Bulsan reminded me what it means to honor the past while moving into the future in America is in the Heart

4.) Who has been your most important and influential mentor in the faith?

Jesus.

and . . . the Rev. Dr. Virstan Choy who has been a friend, colleague and mentor from my days a wee teenager to more recent experiences as one of our General Presbyters. Virstan has been a model of grace and humility that is flavored with a dry wit and a prophetic mind that gets to the heart of the complexities of living the Gospel in a world that often seems overwhelming.

5.) I see you’re an A’s fan, when is the AL ever going to give up on the DH? (Real pitchers bat…)

No comment as you are so clearly on the wrong side of the fence on this one
Go A’s!

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Per his invitation, these questions are directed to Bruce Reyes-Chow one of our candidates standing for Moderator of this year’s PC(USA) General Assembly.

I’ve not yet met Bruce personally, but we’ve gotten acquainted via the blogosphere. Bruce has promised to respond in 5 days or less, so look for his answers here soon.

1.) You are a busy man, with a young family, and a pastor of an active, vibrant church. What on earth has motivated you to run for moderator?

2.) What do you think the PC(USA) is going to look like in 20-30 years?

3.) Name 2 or 3 of your favorite religious writers (theology, spirituality, church development, fiction, you name it…) and briefly, why?

4.) Who has been your most important and influential mentor in the faith?

5.) I see you’re an A’s fan, when is the AL ever going to give up on the DH? (Real pitchers bat…)

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If you could care less about denomination shop talk then feel free to skip this post!

This year, I am a commissioner to GA, which is our denomination’s bi-annual gathering and the largest governing body of the church. It is a big responsibility, especially with the volumes and volumes of overtures that are being considered this year.

One thing that’s been fun to watch is how the GA moderator election is unfolding this year. The GA moderator is elected to run the meeting for the week and then he or she spends the next two years serving as kind of ‘talking head’ for the church.

There is always a lot of public attention given to this role and to this election, especially in this year when so much information is getting out ahead of the actual meetings. Thanks to the blogosphere, I bet I know more about these four candidates than anyone has ever been able to known about the various candidates in previous elections. Personally I think this a great thing.

At the same time there is another arguably more important election that will happen during the week of GA; that election is for the role of Stated Clerk. The stated clerk is the highest office or position within the GA. It is a very important position/post, certainly more so than the Moderator. Cliff Kirkpatrick has served in that important post for twelve years (which is longer than I’ve actually been a Presbyterian!)

This year there is one ‘official’ candidate nominated by the nominating committee who is an insider within the GA offices, having served there for many years. There are three other candidates, who were interviewed through the nomination process but were not nominated as the ‘official’ candidate of the committee.

Considering the importance of this position in the life of our denomination, I must admit I know next to nothing about the four candidates who are running, beyond the name recognition of the ‘official’ candidate. In my assessment, the level of information, dialog, and interest, about this particular election is nothing compared to what is happening for the role of moderator.

Maybe I’m just looking in the wrong place for that information, but really shouldn’t we be paying just as much if not more attention to this election?

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I’m really looking forward to General Assembly this year as I’m going to be a commissioner. I was a TSAD (theological student advisory delegate) in 2004, so I’ve sort of been there and done that. But one of the primary reasons I’m really looking forward to this experience will be for the chance to meet up with folks I’ve only come to “know” through the blogosphere: folks like Shawn, Bruce, and Mark.

Speaking of Shawn, if you’re going to GA and if you are a blogger, check out his post on GA Web 2.018.

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