In order for the church to be renewed, theology and polity must be restored to their proper relationship in the church. There are three areas that need to be addressed:
- Presbyterian government is self-government. That means there is an implied requirement that our leaders demonstrate fitness for the exercise of their offices before they are ordained and installed.
- Our form of government is designed to give lower governing bodies free and open access to higher governing bodies to hold them accountable to redress wrongs and to facilitate changes to advance the mission of the Gospel.
- Our form of government requires that higher governing bodies hold lower governing bodies accountable to the Gospel which is given expression in our Confessions.
The first requirement for a renewed church is that leaders must demonstrate their fitness for the exercise of their office. Therefore, we must be attentive to the process by which leaders are nominated and elected to national office. The way in which we choose those who serve on the national bodies of the church needs to be reformed to shift the nominating and electing power down toward the lower governing bodies to the greatest extent possible. Currently a sixteen member appointed committee follows a process that essentially appoints the membership of General Assembly entities.
General Assembly Nominating Committee (GANC)
The GANC nominates people for more than 500 national level positions including the GA Permanent Judicial Commission (the church’s highest court) and the General Assembly Council. GA commissioners elect the people nominated by the GANC—usually about 180 per year.
Each GA moderator appoints one-fifth of the sixteen member GANC—one from each synod. The GA moderator may make these appointments in consultation with synod representatives; however no governing body has veto power over the moderator’s choice of appointee. Members are appointed to the GANC for one 5 year term.
How the GANC functions
The appointed sixteen member GANC then makes nominations for the more than 500 national church positions. To make these nominations, members of the GANC receive endorsements from individuals, presbyteries or synods. In addition, each GANC member relates to one or more of the entities that the GANC will make nominations for and requests suggested nominees from those entities. This process of soliciting suggested nominees from the entities themselves establishes a closer relationship with GA level entities than with the concerns and recommendations of the lower governing bodies. And, this process risks perpetuating the same perspective as current committee members.
The GANC then presents their nominees to the GA commissioners for their vote. Until a few years ago, the GANC usually submitted their report to the commissioners with those 180 names after the Assembly convened and with no information regarding the nominee’s qualifications for office. That process has changed in the past two years. Overture 00-63 in 2000 proposed changing the GA Standing Rules to require the GANC to submit its report 120 days before GA, thus meeting the same report deadline as all other GA entities. Without changing the standing rules, the GANC volunteered to submit their report 45 days before the opening of the GA. The GANC agreed to furnish some biographical data on nominees on an internet site only. Commissioners who do not have access to the internet must request a paper copy from the Office of General Assembly.
This voluntary change in the process that was prompted by an overture is a step in the right direction. However, the biographical information remains difficult to obtain unless a commissioner knows it is available and looks for it on the internet or requests a paper copy. And the information remains inadequate by providing only the race/age/synod/presbytery of the nominees and their service to the church. Commissioners do not receive information regarding the nominee’s knowledge, understanding and support of Scripture and the Constitution. This is especially crucial when commissioners vote on nominees to the GA Permanent Judicial Commission—the highest court in the church.
GA Floor Process for Nominations
If a GA commissioner chooses to offer an alternative nominee for an office or committee, the commissioner must submit paperwork to the Office of General Assembly 24 hours before the GANC report comes to the floor of plenary. When the GANC report is presented in plenary, the commissioner then may make his/her nomination and give a 3 minute nominating speech. A GANC member then gives a 3 minute nominating speech for their nominee. GA commissioners are not allowed to ask either candidate any questions. They may not seek further information from the candidate or the GANC regarding a candidate’s leadership qualifications, knowledge of Scripture, or knowledge and support of the Constitution.
In the case of nominees to the GA PJC, alternative nominees must be the same gender and clergy or lay as the GANC nominee. Since the GANC does not present their slate until 45 days before the GA, that gives commissioners only 45 days to search out the nominee’s leadership qualifications by contacting colleagues and the nominee himself and then if they are found to be inadequate, to find a “matching” alternative nominee.
Amendment Being Sent to the Presbyteries
The GANC is an appointed body. Nominating committees are perhaps the most powerful groups in any organization. They decide who participates in leadership and who does not. The GANC should not be an appointed body. The GANC should be an elected body. When there is an election process, there is also the possibility of alternative floor nominations from commissioners. The recent 214th GA, in response to an overture from Western Colorado presbytery, voted to send to the presbyteries for their vote an amendment to the Constitution that would require the GA moderator to nominate members of the GANC, and the GA commissioners to vote on the nominations. If this amendment passes the presbyteries, it will begin to open up the nominating process for selecting qualified leaders.
Additional Weaknesses in the GANC Process
1) Although GA commissioners have more information than before on nominees to the more than 500 church positions, the information remains inadequate. Commissioners are not given sufficient information to assess the qualifications and leadership abilities of nominees. Most candidates are strangers to commissioners; therefore, in most cases the commissioners can only rubber stamp nominees sent to it by the GANC.
We must work toward a body of commissioners who are better informed regarding the leaders they elect. That might be done minimally by asking candidates to respond in writing to a list of questions. It would be even better to provide opportunity for commissioners to raise pertinent questions of the candidates or the GANC.
2) The slate of nominees should be available to commissioners 120 days before the GA convenes. Most vacancies are known years ahead. With a few exceptions for late changes in status by nominees, vacancies and nominees should not be withheld until 45 days before the Assembly begins.
The reporting deadline of 120 days should be added to the Standing Rules of the GA so that is not left to the discretion of GANC members. GANC members change each year. The deadline set by one committee may not be the deadline followed by a new committee. The GA should stipulate the time-frame it requires in order to conduct its business responsibly.
This article first appeared in Theology Matters, Vol. 8, No. 3 (May/Jun 2002).
.jpg){kind=link}