Friday's events included and "meet the moderator candidates" and National Capital's Bill Teng spent the evening meeting and talking with plenty of folks, as did the other candidates. For all the negative things you occasionally here about the church, we are truly blessed that every General Assembly presents us with such a selection of gifted leaders.
The task force that has been working on the new Form of Government, a massive re-working of the first section of the Book of Order, presented its work and the rationale behind their work. Elder Cynthia Bolbach, a former moderator of our presbytery, has served co-chair of this group. The group offered their rationale for way the work was shaped and reminded everyone that a church moving into the future had to be flexible and accountable. The suggested Form of Government encourages us to trust each other enough to allow church councils at all levels to develop ways of doing their work that fit their own context. The committee argues that what our Book of Order should do is to mandate function, not structure --- require that requirements (e.g., for preparing candidates for ordination) be fulfilled, but allow flexibility is how presbyteries do this. What does it mean, they ask, to be Presbyterian in a postmodern, post-denominational, post-Christian world? It is the question for the future.
Melissa Kirkpatrick
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