LETTERS FROM
BIRMINGHAM
Reports from the 217th
General Assembly
From Peter Nord, Executive Presbyter, Presbytery of
Baltimore
June 22, 2006
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The Lord be with you!
This morning began with a joint
meeting of the three denominations that have convened here in Birmingham. After exploring our shared history, we
returned to the plenary hall and resumed business sometime around 11 AM. The hall was far less crowded as many had
already headed for the airport.
Church Orders
We returned to the report of Church
Orders. Efforts were initially made to
strengthen G-6.0106b – but all such efforts were voted down in keeping with the
spirit of the PUP report. An effort to
affirm the ministries of gay and lesbian people was also not supported for the
same reason.
Mission Coordination
The Presbytery of Baltimore
submitted an overture which asked that administrative fees no longer be assessed
against certain mission giving. Today,
the General Assembly passed this overture as revised by the committee which
calls upon the Church to look for, but not mandate, alternative ways of funding
this. The motion that was approved reads
as follows:
1. Instruct the
General Assembly Council (GAC) to assist congregations in communicating to
their membership the reality of changed patterns in unrestricted giving and the
resulting cost implications of administering restricted funds, and
2. Implore the GAC and
the Mission Funding Task Force earnestly to seek alternative ways of budgeting
in order to deal with this changing reality.
Church Polity
The Assembly has created a Form of
Government Committee (FOG) for the purpose of revising and creating a far
leaner Chapter 14 in the Book of Order. The Assembly also rejected non-geographic
synods for Korean Americans and non-geographic presbyteries.
Peacemaking and International Issues
At around 4:30 we finally
arrived at the next issue that many have waited for. Again the press was in greater
attendance. Our overture on supporting
free elections in the Congo passed as part of the consent agenda. The next item was the Assembly’s voting in
support of our overture encouraging the Peacemaking Program to use our
non-violence training. This motion had
passed unanimously in committee and the Assembly voted by a show of hands in
support as well.
We then turned our attention to the
proposed resolution on Israel and Palestine.
This document was written by a sub-group of the Assembly Committee who
crafted a well-balanced statement. An attempt to express specific solidarity
with Palestinians was narrowly defeated.
We went on to vote on the resolution and it passed by a vote of 483 to
28. With this vote their report was
concluded and many in the Hall stood and applauded. The full text of this resolution may be found
on the Presbytery’s website.
General Assembly Procedures
Without any debate the Assembly voted
to disapprove the Baltimore Overture on per capita. The most debate was reserved for maintaining the
Montreat Historical Society. In the end,
the Assembly closed this facility and transferred most of the records to
Philadelphia. The Assembly voted to
affirm the transfer of the Glen Burnie Korean Presbyterian Church from the
Atlantic Korean-American Presbytery to the Presbytery of Baltimore.
Health Issues
The next report that came before the
Assembly was from the Health Issues Committee.
The Assembly spent a great deal of time discussing the church’s position
on late-term abortions. The proposal
encouraged people in such circumstances to deliver the fetus alive when such is
possible while still affirming women in their decision making. The Resource Person commented that this
overture, as compared to previous statements, diminished the role of women as
moral agents. The overture passed.
This left one last report – whose
results I will seek to share with you at a later time. It being late, I elected to join the vast
majority of other executives in seeking the refuge of a bed.
Blessings,
Peter
PS: The actual vote on approving the PUP Task
Report was 298-221, a 57% vote in favor.
The recommendations included in this action are found on our website.
I must also beg your indulgence with typographical
errors in these letters. My
proof-reading skills are already well documented and in writing these letters I
have chosen to value timeliness over perfection. For those who value perfection more, I am
pleased to report that these letters are also on the web, perfected by Janice
Kominski, Coordinator of Communication.
I am grateful for her “cleaning-up” these letters and posting them in a
timely way on the web.
Fax: 410.433.2066 | office@baltimorepresbytery.org
Letters will be sent daily during the Assembly