All amendments proposed by the 226th General Assembly receive approval from a majority of presbyteries
All changes, which will be included in a revised Book of Order, go into effect on July 4
As of May 13, all amendments to the PC(USA) Book of Order proposed by last summer’s 226th General Assembly have been approved by the requisite number of presbyteries in order to pass and go into effect. There are 166 presbyteries in the PC(USA) and amendments are required to be approved by a majority of presbyteries — at least 84 out of 166 total — in order to pass.
There were 12 amendments to the Book or Order and one ecumenical ministry-sharing agreement with the Episcopal Church approved by the 226th General Assembly in Salt Lake City last summer. Most of these proposed changes were met with overwhelming approval by presbyteries.
Amendment 24-C — and to a lesser degree the closely related Amendment 24-A — were matters of significant discussion at the General Assembly and have been the subject of some heavy debate at the presbytery level as well. The amendments propose changes to two different sections of the Book of Order concerning LGBTQ inclusion.
Amendment 24-A adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of categories protected from discrimination within the church in F-1.0403.
Amendment 24-C concerns G-2.0104b and recommends examination on these principles of diversity as a component of ordination and installation. The two recommendations were separated into different amendments during the General Assembly before being approved and sent on to presbyteries.
24-A achieved majority presbytery approval in March and has continued to receive approval from nearly all presbyteries. 24-C has been more controversial, but on May 13, it also received approval from a majority of presbyteries.
The other 10 proposed amendments concerned a range of topics, including the extension of temporary pastoral relationships from 12 months to 36 months (24-D), a standard format for representation of teaching and ruling elders at future general assembles (24-J), and the expansion or clarification of policies and procedures around anti-racism, sexual misconduct, and protection of adults and youth (24-H, 24-K, and 24-L).
Amendment 24-B provides language in G-1.0104 to provide “minimal, flexible, and adaptable” Reformed polity for nontraditional and new worshiping communities that wish to identify with the larger church. 24-F allows for greater flexibility within presbyteries in allowing for exceptions to ordination requirements. 24-G stipulates that nondisclosure agreements are not allowed as part of the dissolution of pastoral relationships.
The ecumenical ministry-sharing agreement between the PC(USA) and the Episcopal Church will allow Presbyterian teaching elders to serve in certain Episcopal appointments and Episcopal priests to similarly fill roles in certain Presbyterian contexts.
Approved changes to the Book of Order and the ecumenical agreement will go into effect on July 4. Laurie Griffith, Associate Director for Constitutional Interpretation in the Interim Unified Agency, said that with all proposed amendments having achieved the necessary majority of presbytery votes, a new version of the Book of Order reflecting the approved changes will be printed and available when the changes go into effect.
You may freely reuse and distribute this article in its entirety for non-commercial purposes in any medium. Please include author attribution, photography credits, and a link to the original article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDeratives 4.0 International License.
