What Happened at the 2008 Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly?         Email a friend

As much as anything, the legacy of the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.SA.) will be determined by Presbyterians across the country—deciding close to home whether this is a time for changing the denomination’s ordination standards or not. In its biggest headline-making move, the assembly voted by a close margin—54 percent to 46 percent—to recommend that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) change its constitution to remove the requirement that those being ordained practice fidelity within marriage or chastity if they are single, which could open the door to ordaining sexually-active homosexual persons.

That recommendation will be sent to the PC(USA)’s 173 presbyteries for a vote over the next year. The close vote on the proposed constitutional change reflects how divided the PC(USA) remains on the question of the ordination of homosexuals; some commissioners left San Jose disheartened, others ecstatic. But the tenacity of this issue in grabbing attention—popping up over and over for the last thirty years—belies the breadth of this assembly’s concern for a troubled world. The war in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, global warming, immigration, homelessness, mental illness, gun violence—all of this, and much more, drew the commissioners’ attention. So did internal concerns of the church, particularly the election of new leadership, including a new Stated Clerk, and a proposal to revise the PC(USA)’s Form of Government to give congregations and presbyteries more flexibility in approaching mission.

There’s no way to discuss it all; even the commissioners hit the wall of exhaustion sometimes. This was a bigger gathering than ever—with a jump to 973 commissioners and advisory delegates, part of the shift to every-other-year General Assemblies. And from this assembly, the broader church was invited into the conversation through live streaming of the plenary proceedings and live blogging from the convention center. So let’s do the same—picking some pieces, some of the brighter colors in the General Assembly mosaic, and asking Presbyterians across the church to join the conversation.