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Recommendation to 2024 General Assembly (This recommendation was approved and congregations and presbyteries were asked to study and report. The issue will be presented at the 2025 General Assembly.)
The 2024 General Assembly adopted the following action regarding Overture No. 9, 2023 submitted by First Presbyterian Church, Regina. Recommendation CLK-002 (A&P 2024, p. 79, 24) OVERTURE NO. 9, 2023 (A&P 2023, p. 268–69, 72, 14) To alleviate this demand on ministers, the overture proposes that the law of the church be amended so that ruling elders may be commissioned to serve as interim moderators. The Clerks of Assembly are aware of this reality in the church today. They understand the immense stress it can impose on some presbyteries and ministers who are looking after their own pastoral charge while serving as interim moderator for one or more vacant congregations. Ministers, their families and the congregations involved are struggling. While ruling elders can be elected to moderate presbytery or synod meetings and the General Assembly, being an interim moderator for a pastoral charge is not the same. The primary function of a presbytery, synod or General Assembly moderator is to conduct meetings of those courts. However, an interim moderator of a session is in every legal and pastoral sense, the minister of the pastoral charge they are appointed to serve. For example, in relation to congregational worship, Book of Forms 111 reminds us that it is the executive of the presbytery, that is, the minister serving as moderator or interim moderator of a session, who is responsible for the conduct and content of public worship and for the supply of the pulpit. Worship is fundamental to who we are as Christians and Christian communities. As stated in Living Faith “The church lives to praise God. We have no higher calling than to offer the worship that belongs to God, day by day, Sunday by Sunday.” This essential role has been entrusted by the church to ministers of Word and Sacraments who have been called and trained to provide this leadership and are directly responsible to presbyteries for this aspect of ministry. While ruling elders are encouraged to convene search committees in congregations seeking to call a minister, they do so under the supervision of an interim moderator who is the one responsible to the presbytery for the fair and orderly conduct of the call process. While ruling elders can be commissioned to administer the sacraments, our church has indicated that they do so within a limited set of circumstances: 1) no minister of Word and Sacraments is available, 2) the candidate demonstrates appropriate qualifications, 3) the commissioned elder is trained in the theology and practice of the sacraments, 4) the commission is for a specific pastoral charge, 5) the commission is limited to two years, though can be renewed and 6) the commissioned elder is accountable to the presbytery through an interim moderator. All this is to say that the theological and polity principles shaping our understanding of the role of the interim moderator should not be lightly dismissed. Nevertheless, the denominational context has changed significantly during the past few years and observed trends are expected to continue. Many congregations are not currently able to call a minister and may well be vacant for the foreseeable future. Ministers are exhausted by the additional demands placed on them. Everyone is suffering because the minister’s time, attention and creative energy is being stretched in too many directions. In consultation with Ministry and Church Vocations, the Clerks of Assembly propose for the consideration of the church, the following new legislation designed to possibly help reduce interim moderator workload. It is based on what the church adopted for the commissioning ruling elders and diaconal ministers to administer the sacraments. (see A&P 2012, p. 492, 46, A&P 2015, p. 532–33, 45 and Book of Forms 201.4) The consideration of this proposal offers the church an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of ordination to the ministry of Word and Sacraments and the pastoral needs of ministers and congregations at this time in the life of the denomination. 213.4.1 Where a presbytery discerns that there is no minister of Word and Sacraments available to carry out the full typical range of responsibilities of an interim moderator for a pastoral charge, it may commission a ruling elder or a member of the Order of Diaconal Ministries to do so on the following terms: Recommendations to 2022 General Assembly 2.41 Recommendation LMA-019 (A&P 2022, p. 202, as amended, p. 24)That the above survey and report, along with the previous survey and report on “The Nature and Impact of Long-term Pulpit Vacancies” be commended to presbyteries, sessions and congregations for study and reflection and that presbyteries, sessions and congregations, be encouraged to experiment and innovate in the models of ministry they use to address the challenges outlined in the report. 2.41 Recommendation LMA-019 (A&P 2022, p. 202, as amended, p. 24)That the above survey and report, along with the previous survey and report on “The Nature and Impact of Long-term Pulpit Vacancies” be commended to presbyteries, sessions and congregations for study and reflection and that presbyteries, sessions and congregations, be encouraged to experiment and innovate in the models of ministry they use to address the challenges outlined in the report. For reference, here are the reports from 2015 and 2021
The Presbytery of Northern Saskatchewan is in the process of exploring an innovative project that involves congregational support as well as Presbytery involvement. The Presbytery of Assiniboia has a committee working with a number of congregations on possibilities for the future. Consideration of these reports suggests that bold and innovative solutions need to be tried in presbyteries, including Multiple Churches in a Cluster Online/livestreaming Online ministry Interim Moderators – using resources we have, ordained or not General presbyter |
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