 Task force to assess spiritual condition By Paula R. Kincaid The Presbyterian Layman Volume 34, Number 5 Posted July 6, 2001 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to appoint a theological task force to lead the denomination in a four-year “spiritual discernment of our Christian identity.” The discernment is to include the issues of Christology, Biblical authority and interpretation, ordination standards and power. The 17-member task force will be appointed by current General Assembly Moderator Jack Rogers and his two immediate predecessors, Syngman Rhee and Freda Gardner. The approved task force also is to develop a process and instrument by which congregations and governing bodies may reflect on and discuss the matters that unite and divide the church. It is to make annual progress reports to General Assemblies until the 217th assembly in 2005, at which it will make its final report. Rogers’ comments During a press conference concerning the assembly’s action, Rogers said the changes the assembly made to the original theological commission idea “have made it much more a gathering of information from the church as a whole and a reporting back to the church as a whole than it might have been otherwise.” “Instead of a group of wise people closeting themselves for four years and producing a report saying, ‘This is what we ought to do,’ the assembly has mandated that these people consult very widely in the church and that their results be reported back, not just to the General Assembly but to the church at large. I welcome those modifications to the original task force idea,” he said. The theological commission, which the overture called for, was changed to a task force by the committee after a presentation by Mark Tammen of the Department of Constitutional Services. After Tammen explained the differences between task forces, committees and commissions, the Rev. Kim Rodrigue spoke against creating a commission. Commissions, she said, have to be made up of ministers and elders, “which would exclude having any gay or lesbian people on it.” That “already makes it untrustworthy,” she said. There are no constitutional standards dealing with the composition of a task force. Asked what sort of criteria he will employ to pick the task force members, Rogers said, “I have no idea. We’ll just have to think and consult with others and figure out criteria. My own secret hope is that we can sort of surprise people and find some people nobody expects to be on that task force, but who everybody says later ‘That’s a good idea.’ I don’t have those people in mind.” Commission to task force The recommendation came from the Assembly Committee on Peace, Purity and Unity of the Church and was in response to Overture 01-33 from John Calvin Presbytery, which called for a theological commission to study the spiritual condition of the church and the causes for its unrest. In making the recommendation to the assembly, committee moderator Jenny Stoner said the committee “spent many hours revising this overture” and that 27 motions were considered during the deliberations. “I request you affirm this work.” The assembly did approve two amendments to the recommendation, one that called for the task force to confer with synods and presbyteries and congregations. The original recommendation called for conferring only with presbyteries and congregations. The other amendment asked the task force not only to make annual progress reports to General Assemblies, but also to presbyteries and sessions. The General Assembly also approved using the actions taken on the task force to answer several other overtures, including:
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