Clerk, Coalition leader disagree on constitution By John H. Adams The Layman Volume 35, Number 3 Posted June 3, 2002 DECATUR, Ga. – Clifton Kirkpatrick, the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA), has called for an abbreviated Book of Order that would reduce the regulatory and disciplinary roles of governing bodies. “We are heading toward a ‘train wreck’ if we can’t find a way to a new track as we seek to uphold the constitution of the church,” Kirkpatrick said, referring to constitutional fights and numerous national referendums on proposed amendments. For his abridged version of the Book of Order, Kirkpatrick suggested that a number of current rules be taken out of the constitution. But the church “may” include some key polity issues such as “things like the meaning of membership, our understanding of the offices of ministry, the call to holy living for church officers, the presbytery as the governing body of original jurisdiction, the ordination questions and the like.” Convictions and rules He called the current Book of Order “an odd mixture of cherished and deeply held Reformed convictions that gives far too many specific rules for matters that can and should best be decided by a session or presbytery.” Kirkpatrick’s speech was made at a conference on “The Role of the Constitution in the Life of the Church” on April 26 at Columbia Theological Seminary. The seminary and Kirkpatrick’s office jointly sponsored the conference, which attracted about 200 people. To illustrate his train-wreck metaphor, Kirkpatrick told a story about a train trip he took to Mexico City – only to have his interpretation of the story later challenged by the Rev. Jerry Andrews of Glen Ellyn, Ill., the only person who spoke against Kirkpatrick’s call for an abbreviated constitution. The train-wreck story The train was headed toward Mexico City when the engineer discovered that another train was approaching on the same track. Both trains stopped, and their engineers got out and met between the two trains to argue about which one had the right-of-way. That didn’t settle the matter, so they retrieved their operation manuals to continue the argument. Nothing was settled then, either, and the engineers resorted to a fist fight. Finally, railroad officers arrived and settled the issue – ordering one train to back up while the other proceeded toward its destination. Kirkpatrick’s interpretation of the story was that the operation manuals failed to resolve the stalemate – just as, he contended, the Book of Order has failed to bring peace and unity to the denomination. “We have a Book of Order almost as long as the manual those two engineers were using against one another and with every bit as many rules and regulations. We have transformed our Book of Order, which through most of our history was a very slim document of essential principles … into a detailed manual made for a regulatory agency model of church life.” Leaders ended the stalemate But Andrews, one of six panelists at the conference, later said, “I love the end of the story. It is the railroad officer who comes out of the office and offers a resolution.” He looked at Kirkpatrick when he made that statement, challenging the clerk by his gesture to exercise the duty of his office to “preserve and defend the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA).” Andrews is a former co-moderator of the Presbyterian Coalition, an evangelical group that has called on Kirkpatrick to enforce the denomination’s constitution. Representatives of the Coalition wanted to meet with Kirkpatrick in Louisville to discuss their disagreements over his interpretation and enforcement of the constitution, but he declined when the Coalition insisted that the meeting be open to the public. The Atlanta conference was Kirkpatrick’s answer to the Coalition request for a candid discussion about the constitution. It was open to the public – but it was a decidedly pro-Kirkpatrick crowd. Five of the six panelists, whom Kirkpatrick and Columbia Theological Seminary invited, and audience members who spoke generally supported the stated clerk’s assessment. Trust and trustworthiness Kirkpatrick and several of the panelists harkened back to the days when the Book of Order would fit in a shirt pocket. But Andrews said Presbyterians did not need a detailed Book of Order in times past because they shared theological consensus. “There was a time when our consensus of faith was wrapped around the Westminster standards. Our trust permitted a broadness of behavior based on that coherence in doctrine,” he said. The size of today’s “Book of Order is a function of trust,” Andrews said. “Regulation is a function of trustworthiness. Both are to be called for. Was there not a time when our consensus of faith was greater, the coherence of the body was tighter, the trust in our membership was deeper, so the rules of our common life were fewer?” Why trust is an issue The trust factor is an issue for many evangelicals because Kirkpatrick has expressed sympathy toward pastors and elders who have declared that they will defy the ordination standard. But he has threatened pastors and elders who discuss possible separation from the denomination or withholding per-capita apportionments. Kirkpatrick has said those officers are, in effect, violating their ordination vows. Kirkpatrick called for a Book of Order that would place a priority on the first four chapters, which do not include regulatory or disciplinary requirements. He suggested – without explaining how – that those chapters be elevated in importance over the rest of the Book of Order. “In my experience, these four chapters have a broad resonance in all quarters of the church and are a wonderful statement of the vision of church life that is the unique gift of the Presbyterian Church to the Church ecumenical,” he said. He said he had no “magic formula” for major overhaul of the Book of Order. The denomination’s presbyteries recently rejected one proposal, Amendment 01-H, which called for simplification of the Book of Order. That proposal came from Kirkpatrick’s office.

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