Florida presbytery refuses to validate ministry of Coalition executive director By John H. Adams The Layman Online Thursday, December 5, 2002 The Presbytery of Central Florida has refused to validate the ministry of the Rev. Carmen Fowler, who is the executive director of the Presbyterian Coalition and a member of the ministry staff of First Presbyterian Church in Orlando. Elders and ministers serving as commissioners to the presbytery's Dec. 3 meeting voted 112-86 to uphold the criteria by which the presbytery's Committee on Ministry refused to accept Fowler as a member of the presbytery. A number of ministers and elders in the presbytery filed a protest at the end of the meeting, seeking a review of the decision and contending that some actions taken by the Committee on Ministry exceeded that body's constitutional authority. Fowler said the issue boiled down to the Presbyterian Coalition, an independent renewal ministry. "Clearly, they did not want this ministry in this presbytery," she said. The Coalition describes itself as a "movement of Christ's people committed to life and transformation in the PCUSA, exalting Jesus Christ, energizing congregations and upholding historic Biblical leadership standards." The Rev. Dr. Douglas Pratt of Allison Park, Pa., co-moderator of the Coalition, expressed regret that the presbytery refused to validate Fowler's ministry and that the Coalition was viewed as unacceptable ministry for Fowler's work outside the bounds of the presbytery. "The Coalition, by its charter and its demonstrated track record through the years, is committed to the PCUSA and to its constitution," Pratt said. "We can't understand what could be objectionable about our work. Carmen is a stunningly gifted minister and leader who has, and will have, a positive impact in our denomination. It is central Florida's loss to not have her as a member." Pratt also expressed regret that the Committee on Ministry refused to accept repeated offers to meet with Coalition leaders so that they could explain the nature of the Coalition's ministry. The last two annual meetings -- called Gatherings -- of the Coalition have been held at First Presbyterian Church in Orlando. Fowler was seeking to have her membership transferred from the Presbytery of Northeast Georgia, where she was pastor of Rabun Gap Presbyterian Church before being called to serve on the staff in Orlando. The gist of the argument against her validation was that, as executive director of the Presbyterian Coalition, much of her work was outside the boundaries of the presbytery. The Committee on Ministry, in a document titled "Criteria for Validation of Ministry" that was introduced to the presbytery Dec. 4, said the determination of whether to validate a minister working outside the boundaries of the presbytery was an "intuitive judgment." It also proposed presbytery policy that would have prohibited validating the ministry of of any pastor who worked outside the bounds of a presbytery -- but the presbytery modified that language to say that ministries beyond the bounds would "not ordinarily" be validated. At a time when presbyteries throughout the denomination are ordaining and affirming ministers who are openly defying the PCUSA's constitutional standards, Fowler was rejected even though no one in the presbytery accused her of violating any part of the constitution. When she appeared before the Committee on Ministry, she was questioned about the Coalition's position affirming the right of local sessions to withhold or redirect per-capita apportionments that support the work of higher governing bodies. The Coalition has not endorsed sessions withholding per capita, but it has provided a detailed review of church court rulings, constitutional standards and General Assembly actions that state unequivocably that remittance of per-capita apportionments is voluntary. Nonetheless, Clifton Kirkpatrick, stated clerk of the PCUSA, declared in a letter to stated clerks of other governing bodies that any minister or elder who supported withholding per-capita payments can be charged with violating his oath of office. The Coalition, in a public letter, said Kirkpatrick was wrong. One of Kirkpatrick's deputies, Mark Tammen, weighed in on Fowler's case in support of the Committee on Ministry, saying it had the right to disapprove her request for validation and to not report its action to the presbytery. The Committee on Ministry originally rejected Fowler's request for validation privately and failed, as the Book of Order requires, to report its action to the full presbytery. The issue reached the floor of presbytery only after persistent requests from the staff at First Presbyterian Church. The protest against the presbytery's action cited a number of contentions, including: 1. The Committee on Ministry violated the constitution by ruling on Fowler's request, which is the responsibility only of the presbytery. 2. The committee failed to comply with the constitutional requirement that Fowler's request be presented to the full presbytery. The committee's rationale was that it had taken no action -- therefore not registering a vote to validate Fowler's ministry -- and that there was no requirement to report "no action." Tammen affirmed that reading. But the protest said the Committee on Ministry was required to report any kind of action, whether a vote for or a vote against. Furthermore, the presbytery also voted on Dec. 3 to require that, in the future, the Committee on Ministry fulfill its responsibility to report to the presbytery all requests to validate ministries together with its recommendations for presbytery action. In support of Fowler's request to have her ministry validated by the presbytery, a one-page information sheet was given to commissioners to presbytery. That document cited Book of Order requirements for ministers and Fowler's role in meeting those requirements. No one disputed that she had met those ministry requirements.

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