Stated clerk warns of 'train wreck' unless changes are made By John H. Adams The Layman Online Sunday, May 16, 2002 214th General Assembly Columbus, Ohio June 15-22, 2002 COLUMBUS, Ohio -- "I do feel we have a train wreck in the making," Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick told commissioners to the 214th General Assembly during the opening plenary June 15. "We have a group of churches in defiance of our constitution … sessions are withholding per capita," he said. "Each year, we're spending millions of dollars advocating for one agenda or another." Kirkpatrick plugged his plan to downsize the Book of Order, a proposal he introduced at a conference in May sponsored by his Office of the General Assembly and Columbia Theological Seminary. The conference grew out of criticism that Kirkpatrick was not enforcing the constitution. Kirkpatrick wants to eliminate many of the standards and rules in the Book of Order and give presbyteries leeway in matters that now are defined by the constitution. "We're heading toward a train wreck if we don't find a new track," Kirkpatrick said. "I cannot imagine a better time for heading out on this new track than this 214th General Assembly." as he had done earlier in the week at the meeting of the General Assembly Council, Kirkpatrick urged commissioners to follow the admonition of the 1862 General Assembly that also met in Columbus -- "avoid all needless controversies and competitions." "There could not be a better covenant for the 214th General Assembly," Kirkpatrick said. "There is a hunger for such a spirit across our church." Acrimony in the denomination intensified after the 213th General Assembly elected as moderator Jack B. Rogers, who advocates ordaining homosexuals and lesbians and marriages of same-sex couples; called for yet another presbytery vote on the constitutional "fidelity/chastity" ordination standard (upheld this time by more than 73 percent of the presbyteries); and sessions began issuing public statements declaring their intent to defy the constitution. Meanwhile, Kirkpatrick, whose duties include "preserving and defending the constitution," has resisted evangelical urgings to enforce the constitution -- and has turned on those evangelicals who have exercised their constitutional right to withhold per-capita support that pays the $14-million annual operating costs of the denomination. He has declared that they are violating their ordination vows by using a withholding strategy that is clearly supported in the constitution and has been upheld by the Permanent Judicial Commission of the General Assembly -- the highest court in the denomination.

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