Polity Issues
Question 1: If the COCU amendments are approved, will participation in COCU by the GA, synods, presbyteries and sessions be mandatory?
Answer: Yes, participation will be mandatory. The 208th General Assembly approved the following statement: “The Special Committee on the Consultation on Church Union recommends that the 209th General Assembly (1997) approve the provisions of these amendments, pertaining to presbyteries or sessions, and that they shall be permissive as to each particular presbytery or session after the national service for the inauguration of covenanting until the formation of the regional or local covenanting council in the area embracing that particular presbytery or session, at which time, any mandatory language contained in those provisions shall become binding upon that presbytery or session.”(16.077) The proposed amendment to G-10.0102 of the Book of Order reads, “The session . . . has the responsibility and power [items a. through s. remain the same.] t. to participate in the establishment and maintenance of the local covenanting council of the Church of Christ Uniting. (G-15.0401f).” Similarly the presbytery is to participate in regional covenanting councils. (underlines by editor)
Question 2: Is this another bureaucratic structure being established?
Answer: Yes. There will be local, regional and national bodies established with representatives of covenanting churches. These structures will participate in ordinations for all member covenanting churches, they will oversee mission, and insure that “common celebrations of the Eucharist be scheduled with regularity.” (proposed amendment to Book of Order G-15.0401). With regard to missions, proposed amendment G-15.0401 further states, “Congregations and regional governing bodies of the covenanting churches shall reach out in mission through shared ministries and resources. The covenanting councils will provide opportunity for shared decision making in the covenanting churches’ common engagement in Christ’s mission in the world.”
Question 3: Is there a process for amending the COCU defining documents?
Answer: No.
Question 4: Who will financially support this new structure?
Answer: There has been no statement of who will support the structure, but it can be assumed that covenanting churches will bear the cost.
Question 5: Will the Presbyterian Church (USA) be able to ordain ministers, elders and deacons without the participation of COCU regional covenanting councils?
Answer: No. The proposed amendment to G-15.0401 states, “From the date of such reconciliation at the regional level, ordinations shall be carried out with the participation of the regional covenanting councils for all candidates approved and put forward by the covenanting churches.”
Question 6: Can a COCU regional council block the ordination of a Presbyterian Church (USA) candidate because they object to the candidate’s theology–for example if the candidate is pro-life or believes homosexual practice is contrary to God’s will in Scripture?
Answer: This seems possible. The language in proposed amendment G-15.0401 is “ordinations shall be carried out with the participation of the regional covenanting councils…” Proposed amendment G-14.0401 states, “The ordination shall be carried out by the presbytery with the participation of as many covenanting churches as possible from the regional covenanting council…” The question is whether “as many as possible” can be zero. Notice this seems to mean not just representatives from member churches but individuals identified as sitting members of the COCU regional council.
Question 7: Is the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (USA) which includes the Book of Order and the Book of Confessions a higher authority than the COCU documents: The COCU Consensus: In Quest of a Church of Christ Uniting and Churches in Covenant Communion: The Church of Christ Uniting?
Answer: No. It is no where stated that the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church is a higher authority. And, in fact, the COCU documents and the Constitution disagree on many points including the issue of ordination of people who continue to practice homosexual behavior. The Confessions view homosexual practice as a sin, the COCU documents call it a gift.
Question 8: Are there any checks and balances in place to limit or review the decisions of these councils?
Answer: No.
Question 9: Sessions will send representatives to local covenanting councils; synods will establish a commission to represent Presbyterians on regional covenanting councils and the General Assembly will establish a commission to represent Presbyterians on the national covenanting councils. Normally, “commissions” are established for specific, limited tasks. How will a commission established by the synod be accountable to the presbyteries? What authority will they have to speak on behalf of the presbyteries and sessions in making commitments? Is this a workable plan when there has been discussion in the Presbyterian Church about the eventual elimination of synods?
Answer: In the proposed amendment to G-9.0503a, it says, “Commissions appointed by sessions, presbyteries, synods, or the General Assembly may be either administrative or judicial, except in the case of sessions, which may appoint only administrative commissions. The functions ordinarily entrusted to an administrative commission are: [sections 1-4 are the same] 5. to represent the presbytery in membership and participation in regional covenanting councils.”
The proposed amendment to G-12.0102 regarding the synod’s responsibility states, “Synod . . . has the responsibility and power [items a. though t remain the same] u. to participate in the establishment and maintenance of the regional covenanting council or councils of the Church of Christ Uniting….. v. to designate a commission and such other persons as may appropriately represent the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on any regional covenanting council.” (underlines by editor)
Question 10: COCU requires that the PCUSA mutually recognize the ordained ministers of partner denominations. Are the standards for ordination among partner denominations the same as PCUSA standards?
Answer: No. For example, the United Church of Christ ordains those who practice homosexuality. The General Synod of the UCC in 1995 stated, “the place of gay and lesbian Christians in the church is a gift that the United Church of Christ brings into the continuing dialogue within the Church of Christ Uniting.” It would be contradictory for the Presbyterian Church that refuses to ordain those who practice homosexuality to fully recognize ministers who are practicing homosexuality from other denominations. Other issues may also be raised about the use of inclusive God-language and the use of the Trinitarian formula of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” when baptizing.
Question 11: Can COCU go forward even if the Episcopal Church refuses to participate?
Answer: Yes. There is no stipulation that all nine denominations which were a part of the consultation must agree to participate before COCU can be implemented.
Question 12: Why is this vote on COCU different than other votes in the Presbyterian Church (USA) have been?
Answer: This vote changes our Constitution to provide for our participation in COCU. While other votes were preliminary, this vote is final. This is the last step required for full MANDATORY participation by the Presbyterian Church (USA) in COCU. All that remains is for covenanting councils to be established.
Question 13: According to Book of Order section G-15.0302 ecumenical statements “shall be submitted to the presbyteries for their affirmative or negative votes….” (underlines by editor) Was this done with the COCU documents?
Answer: No.
Theology Issues
Question 14: Is the content of Christian faith around which this visible unity is to take place defined in COCU documents?
Answer: No. Dr. Joseph D. Small, Coordinator for Theology and Worship in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in his booklet Essential Things: A Study of the COCU Consensus and Churches in Covenant Communion writes, “Detailed discussions of sacraments and, especially, ministry are not matched by explications of theological convictions regarding central elements of Christian faith.”
Question 15: How does COCU define sin?
Answer: COCU defines sin as disunity. “In covenanting, the churches will make an act of common repentance for the sin of disunity among them, and for the sins which inhibit community within the human family” (Churches in Covenant Communion, p. 10). The report from the Episcopal standing Commission to the Episcopal House of Bishops observed, “A deeper view of sin touching on our revolt from God’s holiness, is missing[from COCU].”
Question 16: Does COCU take a different view of Scripture than the view upheld in the Confessions of the Presbyterian Church (USA)?
Answer: Yes. The Confessions state that Scripture is the Word of God which is to be believed and obeyed. COCU views Scripture as one source among many that points to the revelation of God in Christ. COCU separates the written Scripture from the Word of God. In COCU the authority of Scripture becomes relative. Scripture is limited to a primary source document.
Question 17: Does COCU believe Scripture alone is the highest authority in the Church?
Answer: No. COCU says, “In the Church, Scripture and Tradition belong together, since each is a manifestation, by and for faith, of the reality of Christ”(p. 30). “By ‘Tradition’ (with a capital ‘T’) is meant the whole life of the Church insofar as, grounded in the life of Christ and nourished by the Holy Spirit, it manifests, confesses, and testifies to the truth of the gospel… This uniting Tradition comes to expression in teaching, worship, witness, sacraments, way of life, and order. Tradition is also the process of transmitting by which this living reality of Christ is handed on from one generation to another. And, since Tradition is this continually flexible and growing reality as it is reflected, known, and handed on in the teaching and practice of the Church, Tradition is also embodied and expressed more or less adequately in a variety of concrete historical traditions (lower case ‘t’)” (The COCU Consensus, p. 30, underlines by editor).
Question 18: What does COCU teach about “inclusiveness?”
Answer: COCU assigns doctrinal status to “inclusiveness,” replacing Scripture as the final arbiter of faith and truth. “This liturgical action will fulfill the intention to confess the faith together affirmed in Chapter V of The COCU Consensus, where the fundamental sources of the doctrine of the faith are described in detail: Scripture, Tradition, and the creeds and confessions of the church, together with worship, mission, and inclusiveness as forms of confession” (COCU, p. 20). “Inclusiveness is essential to Christian unity…And gay and lesbian persons in most churches seldom are included at all… there can be no unity for the church unless it is truly inclusive” (COCU, p.18).
Question 19: Does COCU view the Confessions of Christian faith such as the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, as well as the other confessions found in the Presbyterian Church (USA) Constitution, The Book of Confessions, as normative statements of Christian faith?
Answer: No. COCU says of the Confessions, “In the diversity of its life, the Church Uniting has room for those confessions which are cherished by any of the covenanting bodies. It will value such confessions as they serve the renewal and revitalization in a common scriptural faith. It will not permit any such confession to become an exclusive requirement for all its members, or to become a basis for divisions within its community” (The COCU Consensus, p. 31, underlines added).
Question 20: If Scripture and the Confessions are not authoritative in COCU, what becomes the authoritative standard?
Answer: Personal experience becomes the standard. COCU elevates, “contemporary interpretations” and “earnest thought concerning God’s will for the world and the Church…” (The COCU Consensus p. 25).
This article first appeared in Theology Matters, Vol. 2, No. 6 (Nov/Dec 1996).
