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Historic Principles, Conscience and Church Government

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Historic Principles, Conscience and Church Government Adopted by 195th General Assembly (1983) Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Published by The Office of the General Assembly Louisville, KY 40202 Additional copies available at $1.00 each from PresbyterianDistribution ManagementServices (OMS), 100 WitherspoonStreet, Room lA 1425, Louisville, KY 40202-1396,or by calling 1-800-524-2612 outside of Louisville; 502-569-5618in Louisville. Pleasespecify OMS order OGA-88-O59. REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON actions and forbade others on the part of church offi- HISTORIC PRINCIPLES, cers and governing bodies. Both the Presbyterian CONSCIENCE, AND CHURCH GOVERNMENT Church in the United States and The United Presbyte- rian Church in the United States of America anteced- ent denominations from which our church wasformed The 194th General Assembly (1982) of The United made many affirmations and took positions on many Presbyterian Church in the United States of America matters with which some members and officers in concurred with O~rture 78 (1982) from the Presbytery of Chicago, which requested "a solemn interpretation good conscience could not agree. It is perhaps fair to say that no knowledgeable member or officer of the ...of the Preliminary Principles. ..Form of church can agree with every requirement or prohibi- Government, Chapter 1, Sections 1-8 (31.01-.08), and of [the Radical Principles, Form of Government,] tion of the "Form of Government" and with every po- sition which the church takes on every issue. This has, Chapter V, Section 1 (35.01), and of their relationship not surprisingly, led to tension in the church; yet it has to each other, and of their relationship to the process also contributed to a healthy diversity of opinion, to of amending our Constitution." (Minutes, 1982, Part I, growth and change in many areas, and to the search for p.518.) creative solutions to areas of conflict. The Assembly instructed its Moderator to appoint a The committee would call attention to the report of special committee to recommend the interpretation which the presbytery requested. The Moderator subse- the Committee on Pluralism which was received by the 190th General Assembly, UnitedPresbyterian quently appointed this special committee composed of the following persons: Howard L. Rice, San Anselmo, Church in the U.S.A., in 1978 and the report of the Task Force on Polity and Reconciliation appointed as a California, Chairperson, John T. Ames, Anchorage, result of the action and received by the 19 I st General Kentucky, Alfred T. Goodwin, Portland, Oregon, James McClure, Oak Park, Illinois, Patricia McClurg, Assembly, United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., in 1979. Here the General Assembly affirmed both the Atlanta, Georgia, Leroy Patrick, Pittsburgh, existence and the desirability of diversity in the Pennsylvania, Annette L. Phinazee, Durham, North Carolina, John J. Spangler, Atlanta, Georgia, and church; recognizing that controversy, and the tension Marianne L. Wolfe, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. inevitably produced by diversity, may be the arena where-in the struggle and grappling with ideas-the The committee has met on three occasionsand sub- Spirit is most likely to speakto the church. mits the following report. The polity of Presbyterianism-with its strong insis- tence on the rule of the majority and the rights of the Introduction minority-is indeed the way in which Presbyterians affirm their unity amid their diversity. This polity not only organizes dissent and diversity, it is itself a prod- The Synod of New York and Philadelphia at its last uct of dissent, diversity, compromise, and the creative meeting in 1788 adopted a "Form of Government and resolution of bitter conflict. Discipline" which, with many changes, has governed We are very inclined to the fallacy that trouble in the American Presbyterianism since that time. The church is unique to a particular time and to a particular famous "Introduction" to this new constitution situation. This can lead to the erroneous conviction quoted the Westminster Confession of Faith, that that if we only were faithful enough or smart enough "God alone is lord of the conscience, and hath left it or tried hard enough, we could solve the church's free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are in any thing contrary to his Word. ..." problems. The experiences of the apostle Paul in his own ministry are clear testimony that the questions ad- (6.109.) dressed by this committee are not uniquely Presbyteri- These "Preliminary Principles" (Form of an nor are they twentieth century. Paul lists "party Government, United Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., spirit" as among the "desires of the flesh" (Gal. 5:20) Chapter 1,31.00 -31.08) now in the Reunited Church contrasting the existence of "party spirit" in the called "The Historic Principles of Church Order" (G. church with the presence of "the Spirit" in an interest- 1.0300 -1.0308) affirm in the strongest terms both the ing play on words. To the Corinthians and others he right and the responsibility of individuals to formulate emphasized the necessity of unity in the church with their own faith as they feel led by the Word and Spirit an affirmation of the inevitability and desirability of of God; and also the freedom of the church to order its diversity; yet to all he said, "You are the body of life and proclaim its faith according to its understand- Christ." (I Cor. 12:27.) ing of God's will. The Presbyterian Church in the United States also affirmed "freedom of conscience" One of the earliest controversies in the apostolic in its Book of Church Order (14-3). church was the occasion for the convocation of the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). Peter recounts a Yet the church has in many ways mandated cer~ain vision of the diversity of God's people (Acts 11) ,anda divine admonition to the young church to allow di- * Directions for the Future I, "channeling the church's energies in versity in its fellowship, and Peter and Paul had already witness in the whole life and into the whole world," the first of five agreed on this very sensitive matter (Gal. 2: 1-10). At "Directions for the Future to Strengthen the Life and Work of the United Presbyterian Church," adopted by the General Assembly the council Peter rose to Paul's defense, and the coun- Mission Council at its regular meeting, November 11-13, 1982. cil made the decision to permit Paul to carry out his 1 ministry among the gentiles. There is the impression, sembly adopted and recommended "A Practical Direc- based on Paul's letter to the Galatians, that he would tory for Church Government" which avoided as much have done so in any case, causing a destructive and as possible all questions of principle. It was a much perhaps fatal division in the young church. modified Presbyterian system with presbyteries and The subsequent history of the church-in all its synods but no general assembly, no lay elders, and a branches-is a story of conflict and compromise. church clearly dominated, even in purely ecclesiastical Sometimes the conflict has been destructive. Chris- matters, by the civil authorities. It was approved by tians must continually live in the tension that occasion- Parliament, but never by the Church of Scotland. This ally exists between the truth, unity and purity of the directory governed the Puritan dominated Church of church. We pray for guidance, recognizing that England during the Interregnum and the nonconform- "synods and councils may err"; but recognizing the as- ist churches in England after 1688. sumption of our polity that governing bodies which American Presbyterians from the beginning thus in- conduct their business in accordance with the proce- herited two quite different traditions of church govern- dures of our form of government-guaranteeing the ment from Great Britain. These were augmented by rights of every member-are more likely to reflect adherents of continental Reformed Churches, espe- God's will for the church than individuals acting in cially Dutch and German along with some French their private capacity or as members of ad hoc, self- Huguenots. Throughout the colonial period when appointed groups. there was no written form of government, the dif- ferences between these various traditions were never resolved. Subscription to the Westminster theological stan- I. The Historical Context dards itself had been bitterly controversial. In 1729 Jonathan Dickinson of New York proposed a solution which made a distinction between essential and non- A. Background essential articles in the theological standards. Candi- dates for ordination were to be required to subscribe For the first eighty-two years of its existence, Ameri- only to the "essential articles" and the presbytery was can Presbyterianism got along with no explicit, written given the responsibility of judging as to whether an in- form of government. The Adopting Act of 1729 had dividual's "scruple" was on an essential article or not. made the Westminster Confession of Faith "in all the The Adopting Act of 1729 further pledged that the essential and necessaryArticles" the creedal basis of members of Synod "solemnly agree, that none of us the church, but the "Directory of Worship and Form will traduce or use any opprobrious terms of those that of Government" adopted by the Westminster divines differ from us in these extra-essential and not neces- was simply declared to be "agreeable in substance to sary points of doctrine. .."2 Dickinson's solution to the Word of God" and was "earnestly recommended" this problem was not what would today be called a to the congregations and ministers of the synod ''as compromise, but was rather an entirely new construct. near as Circumstances will allow and Christian pru- The tension between the differing points of view was dence direct."] Thus there was no objective authority retained, and the extremists of neither side were to which parties in controversy could appeal, and no satisfied, but the unity of the church was maintained.
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