Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity
of the Church
Progress Report to the 216th General Assembly (2004)
The Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, was
created by the 213th General Assembly (2001) “to lead the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) in spiritual discernment of our Christian identity in and
for the 21st century …” (Minutes, 2001, Part I, p. 29). Meeting in
Dallas, Texas, on February 18-20,
2004, the task force adopted the following preliminary report to the 216th
General Assembly (2004) in anticipation of its final report to the 217th
General Assembly (2006).
A.
Introduction
The theological task force has now been at work for almost three years.
During this time, we have been engaged in a wide range of activities.
1.
Meetings
The full task force has met eight times,
for periods of two to four days. In addition, committees have met to plan
meeting agendas and presentations. The task force has been guided by a
detailed covenant that outlines the responsibilities of members to one
another and to the work at hand. (A copy of the covenant is appended to
this report.)
At these meetings, the task force has studied
a number of theological topics to help it engage in a process of
discerning the church’s Christian identity, as directed by the assembly,
and to provide a sound basis for subsequent consideration of controversial
issues. To begin our work, Milton J Coalter and Barbara Everitt Bryant
helped us consider our social and religious context. Subsequent topics
have included Christology, led by Mark Achtemeier; principles of biblical
interpretation, led by Frances Taylor Gench; biblical and theological
perspectives on human sexuality, led by Jack
Haberer; Reformed understandings of the church, led by Mark Achtemeier and
Barbara Wheeler; and the theology of ordination, led by Gary Demarest,
Sarah Grace Sanderson-Doughty, and John B. (Mike) Loudon.
We have also studied
Presbyterian history and Reformed traditions of church order, with
specific attention to Presbyterian confessionalism, the development of the
Constitution and principles of Presbyterian polity, and the current
North American social and religious context. Milton J Coalter shared with
the task force findings from the Presbyterian Presence series of studies
of the denomination’s recent history. He and fellow historian, John
Wilkinson, led studies of other historical periods. Lonnie Oliver, Martha
Sadongei, and José Luis Torres-Milán led a session on the diversity of
racial and ethnic decision-making traditions in the church.
Bible study has been part of
each meeting, as has experimentation with a variety of processes for
building community, discerning God’s will, and taking action. The task
force has worshiped regularly, beginning and ending each day with a
service of prayer, Scripture reading, reflection and hymn singing, and,
with the assembly’s permission, we, together with members of the press and
all others present, have celebrated the Lord’s Supper at every meeting.
Task force meetings have
been conducted in accordance with the General Assembly Open Meeting Policy
and have been extensively reported in the church press. The 215th General
Assembly (2003) voted to allow the task force “to go into closed session
solely for the purpose of exchanging views on sensitive theological
issues…by two-thirds vote of the members of the task force present in a
duly called and constituted meeting” (Minutes, 2003, Part I, p.
23). The task force is mindful of this provision but has not yet used it.
2.
Consultations
The task force has sought
the views of the church about the issues assigned to it. We have
participated in numerous events (focus groups, workshops, and
consultations) in conjunction with meetings of the General Assembly and
various Presbyterian organizations across the church. In addition, task
force members either alone or together with the Stated Clerk and the
Executive Director of the General Assembly Council, have visited at least
forty synods and presbyteries. Several phone interviews were also
conducted with Presbyterians who expressed an interest in sharing
effective experiences of building relationships across lines of division.
Many individual Presbyterians have written to the task force. Much of this
correspondence has been acknowledged and circulated to the whole task
force. In addition, Barbara Everitt Bryant, a professional statistician,
has analyzed Presbyterian opinion data gathered for other purposes and has
reported to the task force what they indicate about the range and
diversity of Presbyterians’ convictions about critical issues.
3.
Resources
The task force is charged
with producing “a process and instrument” to promote the peace, unity, and
purity of the church. To this end, and to share its own experiences and
learning with the wider church, the task force has produced a preliminary
series of resources for use by congregations, governing bodies, and other
groups in the church. Prominent among these is a video series that
currently includes one, three-part video. The first segment features Vicky
Curtiss describing and demonstrating the use of tools to build a community
of trust within the framework of worship, Bible study, and prayer. Frances
Taylor Gench discusses biblical authority and interpretation in the second
segment of the series, and, in the third, she leads viewers through a
Bible study of Matthew 5. In a second video, scheduled for release at the
216th General Assembly (2004), Mark Achtemeier will focus on Christology,
one of the themes assigned for the task force’s consideration. The videos
are available in English, Korean, and Spanish. In addition to the video
series, outlines and texts of various presentations to the task force are
available on the task force’s web page [http://www.pcusa.org/peaceunitypurity/index.htm].
Task force members (listed at the end of report) are also available for
consultation.
In the course of these
activities, the task force has grown into a strong Christian fellowship.
As we now move toward more sustained investigation of divisive issues, the
diversity of perspectives deliberately built into the make-up of the task
force is apparent. At the same time, however, we have discovered in our
work together the same compelling sense of being in Christ with other
Presbyterians that we have heard reported over and over in our
consultations. We cannot predict whether this sense—that we are all
Christians who stand on the same biblical and Reformed theological
foundations—will survive the discussions of difficult issues yet to come.
But our prayerful study to date has convinced us that, if, despite our
differences, we continue to recognize each other as sisters and brothers
who are seeking together a Reformed way of being Christian, then our final
report must incorporate and provide ways to act upon three, long-standing
Presbyterian affirmations.
B.
Preliminary Affirmations About the Peace,
Unity, and Purity of the Church
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) today longs for the spiritual blessings
named in the task force’s title. In the midst of strife and conflict, the
church longs for peace; afflicted by quarrelling and division, it
longs for unity; weighed down by sin and confusion over the nature
of the Gospel, it longs for purity in word and deed.
Through study, prayer, and
reflection, a conviction has grown among members of the task force that
these longings for peace, unity, and purity, far from being reasons for
frustration or despair, can actually be seen as Spirit-filled testimony to
God’s promise of redemption. “We …who have the first fruits of the
Spirit,” Paul tells us, “groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the
redemption of our bodies” (Rom 8:23-24).
These longings, painful though they may sometimes be, are also accompanied
by profound good news. They give evidence that the peace, unity, and
purity we desire so fervently are already at work within us. They have
already been given to us in Jesus Christ, and the task before the church
is to live into the fullness of that gift.
The themes of peace, unity, and purity are
addressed at many points in Scripture. Our study of these themes began,
but will by no means end, with the Epistle to the Ephesians. In one of our
sessions, the task force spent many hours drawing out the implications of
these words: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is
not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that
no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
This verse underscores that the destiny God has set before the church is a
gift from God. The goals of peace, unity, and purity stand as tasks to be
realized out in front of us only because in Christ’s life, death, and
resurrection they are gifts that already belong to us.
Since we began focusing on
this verse, a growing conviction has permeated our deliberations, namely,
that our job—and the church’s—is to appropriate what has already been done
for us by Jesus Christ. The only way forward, as the reformers long ago
insisted, is the way that leads through grace.
Although it is premature at
this stage of the task force’s work to present a comprehensive vision
about how the peace, unity, and purity of the church might take form in
our day, the task force does feel led to make three preliminary
affirmations that we believe must guide our work over the next two
years—affirmations rooted in our convictions about the church’s perennial
need for grace. These three affirmations are a prologue to the hard work
ahead of us. We members of the task force make these affirmations
together, and we urge the whole church to make them with us.
1. Jesus Christ Himself Is
the Church’s Peace
Scripture assures us, and we
believe, that Jesus Christ is our peace (Eph. 2:14). Indeed, Ephesians can
summarize what God has done in Jesus Christ as the “gospel of peace” (Eph.
6:15). This is so, because those “who once were far off have been brought
near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13). Ephesians is speaking of
Gentiles who have been brought into the covenant of grace, a covenant
given first to the Jews. In his very flesh, Ephesians declares, Jesus
Christ has “made both groups [Jews and Gentiles] into one and has broken
down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us,” (Eph. 2:14) in
order to “reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross”
(Eph. 2:16). Thus, for those who are in Christ, divisions and enmities are
not the last word. To be sure, divisions and enmities are real, as the
ongoing and often tortured history of the church attests; yet far more
real is the bond of faith forged by Christ’s atoning action on behalf of
all people.
The church’s peace flows from the work of
Jesus Christ. The peace made real in Jesus Christ offers us more than a
temporary halt to conflict; it is an enduring peace based on
reconciliation achieved for us at great cost. Accordingly, the church must
draw the strength it needs for peacemaking from beyond itself, from the
one who invites us to a common witness and worship.
In short, the church has
already been given the resources it needs for peacemaking. It has only to
look to the Spirit of Christ, who empowers us to live out this new
reality. Because faithful, just, and peaceful life together is the work of
Jesus Christ, who kept company with sinners, this life draws strength from
a common discipline that builds up the body through confession of sin,
forgiveness, reconciliation, and self-giving service.
2.
Jesus Christ Himself Is the Church’s Unity
Scripture further assures us, and we believe,
that in Christ “the whole structure is joined together and grows into a
holy temple in the Lord…, built together spiritually into a dwelling place
for God” (Eph. 2:21-22). As God
draws persons by the Holy Spirit into communion with Christ, God also
unites them in baptismal and table fellowship with one another. The new
life that is ours in Christ is corporate in nature, meaning that there is
no unity with Christ that is not also a unity with other believers.
This is not, of course, a
simple or easy process. There is rich diversity in the Body of Christ and
there are deep disagreements among its members. The unity we seek cannot
be reduced to either uniformity or unanimity. In particular, unity cannot
be attained if the voices of some members of the body are ignored. It is
especially important, when the mind of the church is significantly divided
and its decisions are unlikely to be unanimous, that all voices be heard
and respected. Moreover, in Reformed tradition, the achievement of unity
is complicated by a long-standing tension between the call to exercise
mutual accountability and the affirmation that “God alone is Lord of the
conscience” [Book of Order, G-1.0301(1)(a)].
Notwithstanding this
tension, it has become clear to the task force in its own life together
that unity with one another is not
an optional feature of life in Christ. It is a
necessity: union with Christ means union with all the other members of
Christ’s body, including those with whom one would not ordinarily choose
to associate. This New Testament understanding of the unity of the church
undercuts attempts to pick and choose those to whom we are bound in
Christ. “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has
been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor.
3:11).
The implication of the
biblical teaching is clear: Christians cannot even entertain the notion of severing their ties with
sisters and brothers in Christ without also placing themselves in severe
jeopardy of being severed from Christ himself.
“Those who say ‘I love God,’ and hate their brothers or sisters, are
liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen,
cannot love God whom they have not seen” (1 Jn.
4:20). Hence, we have no
unity other than that which is given in Christ, the church’s one
foundation, who “gives to his Church its faith and life, its unity and
mission …” (Book of Order, G-1.0100c).
3.
Jesus Christ Himself Is the Church’s Purity
Scripture tells us, and we
believe, that God “has blessed us in Christ … to be holy and blameless
before him in love” (Eph. 1:3-4).
Christ “gave himself up for us”
(Eph. 5:2, 25) so that the “breadth and length and height and depth” (Eph.
3:18) of his righteousness might become ours through grace. This is a
blessing we celebrate as great, good news—Christ’s grace is sufficient to
make each one of us pure—sound in our beliefs, upright in our conduct,
just in our dealings. Thus, in our doctrine, devotion, and deeds, we are
all being made pure, until that day when together we, the church, are
presented to Christ “in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle … holy and
without blemish” (Eph. 5:27).
This purity
is not anything we bring to God on our own, for it comes to us through
Christ by the power of the Spirit “at work within us” (Eph. 3:20). The
Spirit’s power makes itself real for us in baptism “with the washing of
water by the word” (Eph. 5:26) and renews us continually until we attain
“the full stature of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
It is often difficult to see how this goal
of Christian purity can be squared with the equally important call to
unity and peace. Yet in Christ all three are tied together, with no one
elevated above the other two. Any effort to achieve peace and unity
at the expense of purity cannot succeed, nor can we live “a life worthy of
the calling to which [we] have been called” unless, “bearing with one
another in love,” we make “every effort to maintain the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:2-3).
Therefore,
the quest for purity is first and foremost a call to self-examination,
repentance, and mutual accountability in love. While those who fail to
seek purity in any of its forms—truth, goodness, and justice—imperil the
faithfulness of the church, purity must not become a pretext for division.
Those who break the body of Christ on the grounds that some members do not
meet a particular conception of righteousness risk putting fallible human
judgment in place of Christ. Living into our baptism, we must always
regard disputes over devotion, doctrine, or deeds as gracious invitations
to further work together, relying on Christ’s promise of the Spirit who
will guide us “into all truth” (Jn. 16:13) and enable us to “find out what
is pleasing to the Lord” (Eph. 5:10).
Christian striving here and
now for truth, justice, and holiness matters—it matters greatly. The task
force, which has a heavy assignment, feels keenly the pressure to teach
truly, act justly, and maintain respectful and loving relationships within
and beyond the church. We hope that our work will meet high standards of
purity and faithfulness, yet we know it cannot unless we acknowledge a
basic truth: the best the church can do is to live into what Jesus Christ
has already perfectly accomplished for us.
C.
Next Steps
During the
next year, we plan to continue extensive discussions of the issues the
General Assembly put before us. Our working assumption is that the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), shares “one faith, one baptism, one God and
Father of [us] all” (Eph. 4:5-6).
We are aware that some wonder whether the unity of this confession has
been jeopardized; whether, because of the theological differences in the
denomination, the church is now divided; whether the unity of confession
that exists in principle no longer exists in practice. We take this issue
seriously and will continue to study it carefully. If we do find that the
integrity of the church’s confession is intact, then we hope to commend to
the church ways of living together and moving into the future that are
rooted in the peace, unity, and purity of Christ and that are more
constructive and faithful than our current climate of hostile division.
We have heard many
expressions of concern about the final results of our work. In response,
we have committed ourselves to hold any “process” or “instrument” that we
discover or devise to the following criteria:
1.
Faithfulness
Some have warned against what they see as a
lukewarm “compromise.” The task force is not seeking any solution that
compromises the gospel of Jesus Christ, but rather faithful, truthful, and
just responses to the complex demands the gospel makes upon us.
2.
Theological Grounding
Some have
warned that resolutions of earlier conflicts in the church’s history,
based chiefly on polity or legal precedents, have often proved unstable.
We have spent a large portion of our time in theological study of these
past conflicts and intend that our report will not simply pose political
solutions but a way of living together that has clear theological and
scriptural integrity. The three affirmations grow out of our convictions
that no differences among Reformed Christians can be settled without a
firm theological basis.
3.
Clarity
About the Relationship of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.)
and the Larger Church of Jesus Christ
One of the basic issues
before the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is whether it is a church that is
called to reflect the full integrity of Christ’s body in a distinctive way
or, is, rather, merely a denominational subdivision of the church whose
peace, purity, and unity are immaterial and whose reason for being is more
pragmatic than essential. Any report or process that we set before the
church must address this question: does the well-being and witness of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) really matter?
4.
Continuity
with Presbyterian Tradition
Although polity alone cannot
confer the peace, unity, and purity that the church is seeking, we do
believe that the principles and practices of governance that Presbyterians
have been developing for centuries, limited though they may be, will
continue to serve us as we move into the future. Any proposals that we set
before the church must be the outgrowth of Presbyterian ways of ordering
church life and giving it direction.
A final word: The task force is both heartened and humbled by the many
expressions of hope that we have heard for our work. Grateful as we are
for the church’s trust, however, we are also keenly aware that no measures
the task force proposes will serve unless the whole church fervently wants
to find different and better ways to express its identity as Christ’s body
in and for the world in the twenty-first century. We commend the videos
and other resources the task force has provided. We strongly urge that,
during the next two years, congregations and governing bodies use such
resources to create occasions on which persons from all parts of the
church, including those who deeply disagree with each other, can meet to
discern God’s will for the church. In these and other gatherings,
Presbyterians must search their hearts during the critical next two years.
Are the church’s members prepared to work, pray, and sacrifice for a more
faithful way of life together? If so, we are confident that God will show
the way. Indeed, God has shown us the way, and the truth, and the life.
God has given us Jesus Christ.
D.
Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church
Membership Listing
The membership listing
includes: P. Mark Achtemeier; Scott D. Anderson; Barbara Everitt Bryant;
Milton J Coalter; Victoria G. Curtiss; Gary W. Demarest, co-chair; Frances
Taylor Gench; Jack Haberer;
William Stacy Johnson; Mary Ellen Lawson; Jong Hyeong Lee; John B. (Mike)
Loudon; Joan Kelley Merritt; Lonnie J. Oliver; Martha D. Sadongei; Sarah
Grace Sanderson-Doughty; Jean S. (Jenny) Stoner, co-chair; José Luis
Torres-Milán; Barbara G. Wheeler; John Wilkinson.
Covenant
We, the members of the
task force, covenant together that:
·
we will be in prayer for
each other and for our work that we may faithfully serve God, follow Jesus
Christ, the Head of the Church, and be guided by the Holy Spirit;
·
we will seek to be guided by
Scripture and will regularly study it together;
·
we
will worship whenever we gather, inviting all who are present at our
meetings to worship with us. With authorization, we will celebrate the
Lord's Supper at each meeting as a sign that the peace, unity and purity
we seek is God's gift to us in Christ;
·
we will speak the truth with
love, expressing ourselves with candor and humility;
·
we will listen, endeavoring
to understand each other, especially those whose views seem to differ from
our own, maintaining a spirit of openness and vulnerability;
·
we will carry out our work
among this community of believers, respecting confidences, showing
faithfulness in our relationships, and trusting each other's motivations
and dedication;
·
we will model a respectful,
loving process of discernment and dialogue, seeking to reach consensus
whenever possible, ever mindful of our responsibilities to all the members
of our beloved Church;
·
we will communicate
regularly and effectively with the whole church on the work of the task
force in order to include them in the process;
·
we
will work in good faith within the open‑meeting policy of the General
Assembly and welcome the press and other observers present at our
meetings, as we seek to discover new and challenging ways "to lead the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in spiritual discernment of our Christian
identity in and for the 21st century." We trust the press to perform its
part of this responsibility by reporting on our work in accordance with
the published ethical standards of the Associated Church Press and the
Evangelical Press Association.
We will each commit our best, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to the
task entrusted to us.
