218th General Assembly (2008)
Comment: The referral to the Office of the General Assembly is for a period of consultation and study with churches and presbyteries through a system or systems designed and implemented by the Form of Government Task Force and members of the 218th General Assembly Committee on Form of Government Revisions. The participation of every presbytery in the period of consultation and study will be strongly urged. New members of this expanded task force are to be chosen from the 218th General Assembly (2008) Assembly Committee on Form of Government Revisions by the Moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008), in consultation with the moderator and vice moderator of the 218th General Assembly (2008) Assembly Committee on Form of Government Revisions. The new task force will revise the Form of Government Task Force Report, taking into account the concerns and suggestions gleaned from the consultation and study process. The guidance of the Advisory Committee on the Constitution, the overtures, and the testimony received by the 218th General Assembly (2008) Assembly Committee on Form of Government Revisions and the committee’s comments are referred to the task force for serious and studied consideration. The revised report of the Form of Government task force is to be submitted to the Stated Clerk of the General Assembly no later than October 15, 2009, for distribution to the church at large no later than January 15, 2010, for consideration by the 219th General Assembly (2010).
217th General Assembly (2006)
The Assembly voted to amend this section by adding new section 1.a.(6) as below [Text added is shown in brackets and underlined] and then approved the item.
1. That, in consultation with the General Assembly Nominating Committee, the Moderators of the 215th, the 216th, and the 217th General Assemblies (2003, 2004, 2006) appoint a Form of Government Task Force (hereafter FOG Task Force) composed of nine members including at least one clerk of session, one session moderator, one new immigrant pastor, one executive/general presbyter, one stated clerk, one committee on preparation for ministry member/staff, one committee on ministry member/staff, and one member of the Advisory Committee on the Constitution.
a. That the 217th General Assembly (2006) instruct the FOG Task Force to undertake a revision of the Form of Government in light of the foci and priorities described in (1)–(5) below and bring it back to the 218th General Assembly (2008).
(1) The new Form of Government shall preserve our foundational polity (perhaps most concisely laid out in the first four chapters of the current Form of Government).
(2) The focus of the Form of Government shall be on providing leadership for local congregations as missional communities.
(3) The presbytery shall continue as the central governmental unit, as it has been throughout most of our history. The Form of Government shall provide sufficient authority and flexibility to allow the presbytery to assist congregations in addressing the changing cultural, economic, and societal challenges in our new millennial world. The FOG Task Force shall take notice of and address the institutional and structural impediments that currently cripple so very many of our presbyteries.
(4) The new Form of Government shall provide flexibility at all levels, granting authority while permitting governing bodies to develop the structures to carry out their respective missions.
(5) The FOG Task Force shall be guided by the principles proposed by Recommendations 1-4 from the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity of the Church, using those principles as a guide for its own processes and deliberations. They shall incorporate this new Presbyterian ethos into the Form of Government so that it truly functions as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s.
[(6) The FOG Task Force will release the proposed revision of the Form of Government including advisory handbooks by September 1, 2007.]
b. As the FOG Task Force considers its proposals of the Form of Government, G-6.0106b and G-8.0201 shall be excluded from this process. The 217th General Assembly (2006) has overtures proposing changes in both provisions; such proposals should be considered on their own merits outside of this constitutional renewal project. Both provisions have the capacity to obfuscate the constitutional renewal efforts.
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