The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Mid-Council Commission voted tonight (Sept. 10) to recommend to next summer’s 221st General Assembly that the number of regional synods be reduced from 16 to “no more than eight” and that the existing synods and 173 presbyteries be assigned to determine “the most prudent boundary changes” to accomplish the reduction.
Maybe it should be the presbyteries rather than a commission of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that decides the future of synods. At least that’s the idea of many of those who took part in a mini-course July 23 at Synod School, a midsummer ministry of the Synod of Lakes and Prairies. More than 40 Presbyterians gathered in an amphitheater in Siebens Hall at Buena Vista University here to discuss the future of synods.
For as long as most Presbyterians can remember, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has discussed and debated the value and necessity of synods in the church’s governance system.
While much of the work of the second Mid-Council Commission (MCC-2) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is focused on streamlining the structures of the denomination ― particularly the role of synods ― one sub-group of the commission is turning its attention to the web of relationships that mark the PC(USA) as “connectional.”
How to structure the governance and funding of the PC(USA) to best meet the challenges of ministry in the 21st century is likely to be one of the most hotly debated issues when the 220th General Assembly (2012) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gathers here.
Other major issues are apt to be the Middle East, immigration, and human sexuality and the church ― same-gender marriage, the ordination of gays and lesbians, and same-gender partner benefits.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Mid-Council Commission is recommending to the upcoming 220th General Assembly that a National Racial Ethnic Ministries Task Force be created “to exclusively review, assess and explore the call to, responsibility in and vision for racial ethnic ministry within the PC(USA).”
The Mid-Council Commission will propose to the upcoming 220th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that congregations be allowed to create “provisional” non-geographic presbyteries “for particular mission purposes.”
In October, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Mid-Council Commission, recommended the elimination of synods as ecclesiastical units of the church’s governing structure by 2016.