Last year's General Assembly received for action a study and policy document entitled "Families in Transition." After lengthy debate, a group of conservative committee members, working with the advice of Alan Wisdom, Presbyterian Action director of the Institute for Religion and Democracy, drafted a substitute motion which sent the paper back for revision.

Mr. Wisdom was invited to join the drafting committee, and took an active part in the revision process.

Now, as the revised document goes to the 216^th General Assembly, Mr. Wisdom's organization has presented a review of the paper, making clear that for all the changes they had a hand in making, they are still unhappy with the result.

Their review article, authored by IRD Research Associate Erik Nelson, criticizes the report on a number of fronts: its affirmation that people other than the biological parents of a child can provide parenting as good as that offered by biological parents; its affirmation that there can be healthy families that do not fit the "traditional" pattern of man, woman, and their biological children; its failure to condemn strongly enough cohabitation outside of marriage, and same-sex relationships; its assertion that the well-being of children should be given more weight that judgements of the family structures in which they are raised. And finally, the paper is condemned because it accepts too many current patterns of marriage and sexuality in our culture, without providing firm biblical condemnations. So it concludes:

The paper downplays the harmful effects of divorce and cohabitation, and it downplays the significance of the biological family. It temporizes with the cultural forces that seek to transform families in ways that are harmful and destructive, rather than transform families through the transforming love of Jesus Christ. The church cannot remain silent before these cultural trends. Our culture needs to hear from a church willing to speak the message of the Gospel to families, no matter how counter-cultural and uncomfortable that message may be.

It looks as if the "Transforming Families" paper, for all the efforts to make it more acceptable to the conservatives in the PC(USA), may be under attack yet again.

This concern is reflected in two or three overtures coming to the 216^th General Assembly: 04-3, 04-52, and possibly 04-61.

Gene TeSelle has written an essay examining this important issue, which has just been published in Network News, and is now posted here.

Earlier background papers include:

One of the first acts of the 216th General Assembly will be the election of a new Moderator. To help our readers weigh this important choice, the Witherspoon Society has asked each of the three candidates to respond briefly to five questions that reflect Witherspoon concerns — and, we believe, concerns of the wider church.

With thanks to the candidates for their cooperation in responding, we are happy to share their comments here -- listed in alphabetical order.

A comment by the Rev. Dr. Barbara Gaddis      [5-27-04]

This study and policy document will be an important item of business for the 216th General Assembly. An earlier draft was substantially rewritten in response to criticisms at last year's General Assembly, orchestrated by the conservative Institute on Religion and Democracy.

The Rev. Dr. Barbara Gaddis, a family therapist, served on the Task Force that drafted the original document, and we have asked her to comment on this revised version.

The New York Times, in a May 22 story, carried an extensive look at the growing power of the right in the Presbyterian Church, particularly through the work of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. The same group, with strong funding from conservative foundations and other donors, pushed the United Methodist annual convention toward the right a few weeks ago.

IRD's Presbyterian director, Alan Wisdom, told the Times that his representatives will "be there in force" at the Presbyterian General Assembly. According to the reporters, they will be "calling attention to any liberal positions coming out of the church, distributing position papers to delegates and lobbying them in a conservative direction."

Gene TeSelle, Witherspoon's Issues Analyst, examines many of the studies, overtures, and other items that will be considered during the 116th General Assembly in Richmond.

Witherspoon events planned for the 216^th General Assembly

[4-14-04]

Friday afternoon, June 25, 1:00 pm - 3:30 pm

The Semper Reformanda Pre-Assembly Conversation will look at the document, "Living Faithfully with Families in Transition," which will be coming to this Assembly.  A panel discussion will include invited guests: Barbara Gaddis (Chair of the GA Task Force which wrote the original study document), Gloria Albrecht (resource person to the Task Force), Charles Wiley (Staff from the Office of Theology and Worship), Jennifer Stone (Witherspoon board member and therapist).  [Second Presbyterian Church, 5 North 5th Street -- three blocks south of the Convention Center, $10.00]  [Note corrected site for the event.]

Friday evening, June 25, 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm

Witherspoon Society Commissioner Orientation, following Covenant Network dinner. This event will offer an overview of the assembly, an opportunity to learn about the issues and how to be an effective participant.  This program reflects a progressive point of view.  [Marriott, $10.00]

Sunday noon, June 27, 12:30 pm - 3:00 pm

Annual Witherspoon Awards Luncheon with featured speaker: Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, Annie Scales Rogers Professor of Christian Ethics at Union Seminary/PSCE, on "Power in the Church."  The annual Andrew Murray and Whole Gospel Congregation awards will be presented.

Witherspoon's annual business meeting will be held after the luncheon.  And it'll be brief, we promise!  [Marriott, $26.00]

Tuesday evening, June 29, 8:00 pm - 1:00 am.

Witherspoon Party and Dance!  A great time for a break - relax, enjoy great music, dancing and  conversation.  Meet old friends, find new ones.  [Marriott, $20.00]

To order tickets and all that:

It's too late to order from the Office of the General Assembly, but tickets will be available at the ticket desk in the registration area of the Convention Center.

Click here for a detailed schedule of the Assembly, including both official and other events. [This is in Adobe pdf format.]

The much-debated report on changing American families has been posted on the PC(USA) website as a 50-page document in pdf format.

ACSWP reaffirms and clarifies earlier statements on issues of private property vs. protection of limited water resources, that is, the issue of “takings.”

The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) is sending to the 216^th General Assembly (2004) a resolution on limited water resources and “takings.” This resolution clarifies existing policy found in Restoring Creation for Ecology and Justice, the environmental policy statement adopted by the 202^nd General Assembly (1990) and responds to an overture from the Presbytery of Baltimore to the 214^th General Assembly (2002).

WebWeaver's note:  Dr. Metherell gained some fame in the Presbyterian Church in the fall of 2002 when he demanded the convening of a special session on the 214th General Assembly to deal with to deal with what he called "a full-blown constitutional crisis" in the Presbyterian Church.  Click here for some reports and comments on that episode.

Click here for reports on the other three people seeking election as Stated Clerk.

Seeking a more dynamic view of the Trinity    [4-1-04]

A study paper entitled "The Trinity: God’s Love Overflowing" has grown out of three years of work by a Trinity Working Group established by the General Assembly, and working under the Office of Theology and Worship.  At this summer's General Assembly, the General Assembly Council will recommend that this paper serve as the basis for a series of consultations on the Trinity throughout the church. A final report will be made at the General Assembly in 2006.

The paper is available in PDF format on the PC(USA) website.

Responding to the paper, theologian Larry Goleman argues that while it is helpful, it could be much more helpful by taking current thinking more seriously, as it emphasizes God’s nature as social/relational, and as dynamic – God as becoming rather than static being.

Overture for population stabilization

The Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare Association (PHEWA), National Ministries Division, is seeking nominations for five General Assembly Ministry Awards, during the 216th General Assembly (2004) in Richmond, VA.

We have received the text of an overture from Bethany Collegiate Church, in Havertown, PA, which may be of interest as a counter-move to those who now call on the Presbyterian Church (USA) to allow some freedom in matters of ordaining LGBT people.

The Layman Online has reported on this, and the full text of the proposed overture is here, too.

By a vote of 26 in favor to 76 opposed, the Presbytery of Washington, in western Pennsylvania, rejected the proposal that has been put forward by a number of conservative groups in the PC(USA). [The vote count comes from the Washington County [PA] Observer-Reporter; the Layman Online reports a vote of 28 in favor.]

The Rev. L. Rus Howard, pastor of Peters Creek United Presbyterian Church, introduced the motion calling for an overture on gracious separation. The Rev. Mr. Hubbard gained national attention in October of 2002 when he, with four other Presbyterian ministers, taped a "Call to Confession and Repentance" on a wall of the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, charging that the PC(USA) is "decaying and dying in the belly of the beast" and is "irretrievably apostate under current management." The Peters Creek church is a member of the "Confessing Church" movement.

If you're wondering what issues might come to the 2004 General Assembly from our more conservative sisters and brothers, you might check out the list of recommended overtures provided by the Presbyterian Forum.

They fall into four groups:

Dr. Douglas Ottati writes a regular column of "Theological Musings" for Witherspoon's Network News. In his new column, in the current issue, he considers the reasons why "we shouldn't wait to ordain called and qualified gays and lesbians to all offices of the church, and to endorse same sex unions and / or gay marriages between persons committed to a loving relationship of mutual help and care."

Covenant Network will seek repeal of 1978 "Authoritative Interpretation"   [12-3-03]

At the 2004 General Assembly, the Covenant Network will seek repeal of the Authoritative Interpretation of 1978, the first action of the PC(USA) to ban the ordination of lesbian and gay people.

The Rev. Linn "Rus" Howard, the pastor of Peters Creek United Presbyterian Church in Venetia, PA, is expected to formally announce his candidacy after Thanksgiving.  He is supporting an overture to the 216th General Assembly, calling for a "gracious separation" in the PC(USA).

The Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy (ACSWP) has received updates of a number of proposed policy documents, including four papers it is scheduled to present to next year's General Assembly. They include discussions of a further revision of last year's paper on "Living Faithfully with Families in Transition," as well as terrorism, immigration, and limited water resources.

The Rev. K.C. Ptomey Jr., pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nashville, has been endorsed by the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee.