Here it is. The week-long assembly gathers more than 3,000 Presbyterians, including 752 voting commissioners in San Jose for the June 21-28 legislative and educational gathering of the 2.3 million-member PC(USA).
Reyes-Chow is pastor of Mission Bay Community Church, a church whose membership is predominantly under-40. In her nominating speech for him, Elder Vivian Guthrie of Greater Presbytery urged Reyes-Chow’s election “to keep our church relevant … or we aren’t going to be on the same page as younger people. Bruce has a profound understanding of the way the world is changing, so he can help us feel less anxious and less resistant to change.”
In both his speech and his responses to questions, Reyes-Chow reiterated over and over his belief that “nothing is too hard or too wondrous for God. If the church steps out in faith rather than clinging to survival, to be more intent on being faithful than on being right, to be together based on our common covenant in Jesus Christ rather than by property or pensions, then we will be able to live into a future in which we are a vital and vibrant presence in the world.”
Funny side note: They are giving away John Calvin Bobbleheads to participants! Why didn't the Methodists come up with the idea of giving away John Wesley Bobbleheads at their Conference?
The assembly will act on hundreds of items of business, which it receives through the reports and recommendations of various assembly entities, and through overtures from synods and presbyteries.
But more importantly, the issues that will be covered in the GA are what's worth looking into. Now, like the General Conference in the United Methodist Church, the GA is the highest governing body of the denomination will decide on these issues, among others:
Worship A Common God (Item 07-01) where GA to assert that "Jews, Christians and Muslims worship a common God, though each understands that God differently.” It goes on to ask the GA to encourage Presbyterians to set aside days to worship with Muslims, such as on religious holidays, and to "celebrate diversity." The thing is, the statement that we “worship a common God” but understand that God differently can be understood in several different ways is highly questionable to evangelicals.
Regarding God’s identity, is it saying the God of Muhammad is really the Father of Jesus? This intent would reflect a serious Christian imposition onto Muslim understanding. Or, very differently, is it saying that the Qur’an’s depiction of God and the New Testament’s teaching are both incomplete understandings of a God who is ultimately something different from the teachings of either? This second option reflects a view from outside of both faiths: it begins with an ambiguous monotheism (“there is only one God”) and then sees each monotheistic faith as various human attempts to understand and approach that God. Whether we were to understand the statement in the first or second manner, it would express a very different view of Christian-Muslim relations than either mainstream Islam or mainstream Christianity would find appropriate.
Redefining Marriage (Item 04-08) proposes to amend the PC(USA)’s Constitution to change the church’s understanding of marriage in order to include marriage between persons of the same gender. The Rationale for this overture concludes by saying, “For the good of loving, monogamous, same-gender couples in our church and for the community and for the greater ministry of our clergy, sessions, and churches we propose these changes to the Directory for Worship.”
Chastity and Fidelity of Ministers. Five overtures (05-06, 05-08, 05-09, 05-11, 05-13) seek to overturn our Book of Order requirement that ordained officers (deacons, elders and ministers) must “live either in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness.” (G-6.0106b). These overtures call for the “fidelity/chastity” standard to be deleted, and also for the 1993 Authoritative Interpretation (a.k.a. 1978 “Definitive Guidance”) on unrepentant homosexual practice to have no further force or effect.
Now, in response to the overtures in the last General Assembly, a number of PC USA congregations have decided to withdraw from the denomination, particularly those who are more evangelical/theologically conservative leaning and more missional thinking. I personally know a congregation that has recently voted to withdraw.
Sadly, the PC USA has been in steady decline for the last three decades. At the end of 2007, there were 2,209,546 active, confirmed members in the PC(USA), a net loss of 57,572 from the previous year. These members were found in 10,820 particular churches across 173 presbyteries and 16 synods. Twelve congregations were dismissed to other denominations, and 71 churches were dissolved. More churches are being dissolved than formed. The number of ministers of the Word and Sacrament increased only by eight to 21,368. There were 93,226 elders and 64,581 deacons. Gains in membership by profession of faith, reaffirmation, or restoration were just over 9,000 less than the previous year
Commenting on the numbers, Stated Clerk Cliff Kirkpatrick said, “Any decline in membership is a disappointment, to be sure, because those numbers represent members we know and love who are no longer part of our congregations... I hope these figures will underscore the importance of one of the items coming to this Assembly from the General Assembly Council — a call across the church at every level to ‘Grow God’s Church Deep and Wide.’"
“Indeed, it is a call that none of us can ignore.”
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