We recently made available the PFR One-Pager, a one-page overview of the 218th GA and PFR's response, which is available for you to download here . The text of the one-pager is below.

The 218th General Assembly of the PC(USA) made some major decisions that require prayer and thoughtful response. The most significant decisions are contrary to the very foundation of Christian faith and life, our calling to witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in and for the world.

Potentially Positive Actions

While those troubling actions of the GA deserve our most focused attention, we note several actions of the General Assembly that have potential to promote biblical faithfulness:

“An Invitation to Expanding Partnership in God’s Mission”
This document, approved by the GA, presents a new collaborative spirit for Presbyterian participation in God’s mission.

“Grow God’s Church Deep and Wide”
This action declares “a churchwide commitment to participate in God’s activity through Jesus Christ in transforming the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)”

“A Call to Seek God for Spiritual Renewal of the Church”
The GA has encouraged congregations and presbyteries to hold special gatherings seeking spiritual renewal.

A new mission budget
It provides more funds for international mission workers.

Annual Report on “Relief of Conscience Plan” (re: abortion)
An annual report on the plan is now required.

“Response to Churches Seeking Dismissal from the PC(USA)”:
The GA encouraged presbyteries to be charitable in their treatment of congregations seeking dismissal.

Negative Actions of the GA: Inter-faith Relations, Ordination and Sexuality

Other actions are serious departures from Scripture and our missional calling:

Inter-faith Relations: Judaism, Christianity and Islam

The GA has encouraged common worship between members of the three faiths, and has asked them to “celebrate diversity.” A new theological statement was approved that implies Jesus is one of several viable ways to know and worship God, and considers all three faiths part of one larger family of God.

Ordination Standards and Sexuality:

Local License
The GA passed a a new “Authoritative Interpretation” (AI) of the Book of Order that intends to give sessions and presbyteries freedom to ordain persons in violation of the PC(USA)’s standards, including the requirement to live in fidelity in marriage or chastity in singleness. (AI’s are effective immediately, but learning the actual impact of this one will require court decisions.)

Removal of Authoritative Interpretations on Homosexual Practice
The GA removed the existing AI’s on this subject that supported biblical morality. (Learning the actual impact will require court decisions.)

Approved Deletion of the “Fidelity and Chastity” Standard
This is a proposed amendment to the Book of Order that requires approval by the presbyteries to be effective. The amendment intends to allow the ordination of persons with a variety of sexual lifestyles.
Approved amendments to the Heidelberg Catechism to Remove Reference to Homosexuality: these amendments would require the next GA to approve them and subsequent approval of the presbyteries to be effective. The intent is to change the church’s teaching and moral standards on the issue of homosexuality.

"What is PFR Doing Now?"

It is necessary to respond both to the particular actions taken by the GA and to the deeper condition of the PC(USA) revealed by these actions. We encourage you to read “Contending for the Faith: The Way Forward After GA 2008,” on our website, where we offer a more detailed assessment of the state of the PC(USA) and outline how you can partner with us, including the following initiatives:

Resources for Worship and Theology:

PFR will provide resources for the church to develop faithful understandings and practices regarding Christian worship, the relationship between Christianity and other faiths, and our calling as Christians to work together for peace with members of other faiths. We will also provide resources to help congregations and presbyteries answer the Assembly’s call to gather in “spiritual assemblies.”

Call to Biblical Faithfulness:

PFR will provide networking and resources to defeat the proposed amendments to the constitution and to send to the next GA opportunities to restore integrity to the interpretation of the PC(USA)’s constitution. We need your help. Please contribute to the “Fund for Biblical Faithfulness,” and watch our website for more information in the coming weeks.

Reshaping the PC(USA):

The unity and witness of the PC(USA) have been strained to an unprecedented level. For the sake of our witness to the Gospel, we believe it is necessary for the different visions of Christian faith and life in the PC(USA) to be expressed in formally distinct bodies without a formal split in the denomination. Such possibilities have been discussed hypothetically under the rubrics of non-geographical or “missional” presbyteries and synods.

We invite the contribution of ideas from the whole church (a means will be available online soon) about how best to reshape the PC(USA), and we are gathering a team of elders, pastors and governing body executives to develop the best possible proposal for re-structuring the PC(USA). Please contribute to the “Fund for Reshaping the PC(USA)” to make this effort possible.

For further information, visit
www.GA2008.com
and www.pfrenewal.org

Other resources available from PFR include:
“Reshaping the PC(USA): PFR Looks Beyond the 218th General Assembly”
“Contending for the Faith: The Way Forward After GA 2008”