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GAMC not mentioned
in proposed nFOG

By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman, Posted Monday, March 1, 2010

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The new Form of Government (nFOG) recommendation coming before the 219th General Assembly “does not mention the General Assembly Mission Council (GAMC) anywhere,” said Mark Tammen during his presentation to the council on nFOG last week.
 

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“So it provides all of the authority but none of the particular structures,” said Tammen, director of the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s Constitutional Services.
 
He began his presentation by comparing the present Form of Government (FOG) and the proposed nFOG, to a rotary phone and a cell phone. The present FOG was adopted in 1983 and was “perfectly designed for the church in 1983,” Tammen said. “It is not 1983 anymore, so it no longer meets the needs of this church.”
 
In the same way, the rotary phone no longer meets needs in 2010, he said.
 
The proposed nFOG is less than half the size of the current one, he said, and that “no structures are dictated” by nFOG, “but none prohibited either.”
 
He did mention one exception – the Advisory Committee on the Constitution. “The task force kept one committee. … we can’t have a constitution without having a way to interpret the constitution,” he said.
 
“The councils of the church – from sessions to the GAMC – face a different and changing world,” Tammen said. “The idea is to provide all the authority but none of the structure that will allow this church to be the church God wants it to be in the new millennium.”
 
If the presbyteries approve nFOG, he said, then “everyone will have the ability to organize to maximize their outreach, to do the mission they need to do.”

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