Looking at The Big Picture

by Jane Hines

After discussing details of synod and presbytery business for two days, members of the Synod of Living Waters Executive Forum drifted into a discussion of the larger picture of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Synod executive David Snellgrove got the conversation started as he reflected on the group's interaction with John Detterick, General Assembly Council director. "We seriously need a confession of faith," he said. "Essentially we don't have one now. We need something like the old P.C.U.S. Declaration of Faith. And we don't have ordination vows anymore, just constitutional questions. The Book of Confessions is mostly unknown to people in the pew; and they no longer learn the catechisms."

"But," he acknowledged, "we may not be in a place today where we can write a confession any more than we were at reunion. It would take five years to get a new confession adopted even if we could get it written. The Westminster Confession took thirty years. Our denominational divisions are not about sex. It's all about beliefs in God and in Christ."

Phil Leftwich, Middle Tennessee presbytery executive, said, "Overtures to the General Assembly create conflict by trying to solve theological and relational issues legislatively."

Terry Newland, Sheppards and Lapsley executive, responded, "The New Testament Church became irrelevant because it was cranking out laws and we still try to legalize the faith."

Snellgrove said, "Trying to make people conform is what the Book of Order is used for now."

Leftwich said, "We don't leave anything unsaid anymore."

Snellgrove answered, "Formerly if the Book was silent, you could do it; today the Book has to say you are allowed to do it before you can do it."

John Rickard, North Alabama executive, asked, "What if cultural and intellectual freedom to explore leads to something in conflict with our belief system?"

Snellgrove said, "The church has the right to set standards by which its officers are expected to function."

The discussion continued around the use of the terms inclusive and exclusive. Leftwich said, "Maybe we should get rid of the terms inclusive and exclusive and use words like caring and compassion and justice and love. We don't have to give up those good words just to use some current cultural terms."

That conversation did not end when the meeting was over. Looking at the big picture is one of the items the Living Waters synod and presbytery executives always have on their agenda. They will gather again in the fall to consider what has changed and what has not, what should be changed and what can be changed.