10-A: How It Differs

"Here we go again!"

Having voted on a proposed amendment to G-6.0106b just two years ago, some may be thinking that there's nothing more to consider in Amendment 10-A.

Presbyterians, however, have a commitment to openness to the new things God may be doing, and to listening carefully to one another as we seek to discern the will of Christ.  We have an obligation to consider Amendment 10-A on its own merits.

The Covenant Network supported the passage of Amendment 08-B, the proposal to change the wording of G-6.0106b from the 218th General Assembly (2008).   Amendment 10-A, however, was drafted with attention to correcting both the well-known deficiencies of G-6.0106b and the perceived weaknesses that were criticized in Amendment 08-B.   For a side-by-side comparison, click here.

10-A relies heavily on the historic Presbyterian polity of the Adopting Act of 1729, carefully balancing universal and local, objective and subjective, the need for common standards to be applied to individual candidates.

In comparison to the current G-6.0106b, Amendment 10-A:

• Lifts up the Lordship of Jesus Christ as the foundation of all standards for ordination.
• Returns Scripture and the confessions to their proper authority in relationship to the Lordship of Christ.
• Corrects the theological error of singling out one aspect of ethical living for particular scrutiny.
• Renews attention to the constitutional questions for ordination and installation.
• Removes the hypocrisy of pretending to exclude all who "refus[e] to repent of any self-acknowledged practice which the confessions call sin," which if honored would exclude 100% of candidates.
• Ceases to impose one interpretation of Scripture on everyone in violation of the "Historic Principles of Church Order" that "there are truths and forms with respect to which men of good characters and principles may differ. And in all these we think it the duty both of private Christians and societies to exercise mutual forbearance toward each other."

In comparison to Amendment 08-B, Amendment 10-A:

• Clarifies that the constitutional questions are not the only area of inquiry in examinations of candidates for ordained office, specifically listing "calling, gifts, preparation, and suitability for the responsibilities of office" along with Scripture and the confessions, in an insistence on rigorous examinations.
• Substitutes the more definite "determination of the candidate's ability and commitment to fulfill all requirements" for "establishes the candidate's sincere efforts to adhere to these standards," a phrase that some thought to be too subjective and watered-down.

There are, nevertheless, ways in which Amendment 10-A does not differ from the current Constitution or the previously proposed amendment.  In particular, it is basic to Presbyterian polity that “no person can be placed in any permanent office in a congregation or governing body of the church except by election of that body.” (G-6.0107)   As is currently true, it will continue to be the case under the wording of 10-A that no presbytery, Session, or congregation can be forced to accept an ordained officer whom that body determines to be unfit for service.