A Quick and Dirty summary of the PUP report...

To help y'all out, I'm just going to go through it quickly for you.

Six years ago the Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity, and Purity (PUP) of the Church was formed of twenty people from across the spectrum of backgrounds and beleifs. The open ended question was basically "Is there something here in the church worth trying to keep together and how do we do it?" The task force met and did not at first debate or talk about differing beleifs. The group first built a strong community of respect as brothers and sisters of Christ, and much of the report revolves around this central idea of the task force.

There are seven recommendations of the task force. Recs. 1-4 go together and recs. 5-7 go together. I won't give you the full wording, but I will give a summary of each.

Rec. 1 -
- Encourages all to focus on the church's "visible onenes" and promotes harmony.
-that we may "with one voice together glorify God in Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit"
-that all sessions, congregations presbyteries, and synods strengthen their relationships with one another and with the General Assembly

Rec. 2-
-urges govoerning bodies to follow the example of the task force and other groups "that, in the face of difficult issues, have engaged in processes of intensive discernment through worship, community building, study, and collaborative work."

Rec. 3-
-that the 217th GA recommend for Study the Theological Reflection that heads the task force report.

Rec. 4-
-urges the OGA and other governing bodies and meeting moderators to explore alternative forms of discernment and decision-making as a complement to parliamentary procedure (especially with devisive issues)

Recs. 5-7 is where some people both on the "far left" and "far right" are unhappy...

Rec. 5-
-is an authoritative interpetation
-The Book of Confessions and Book of Order set the standards for ordination
-These standards are determined by the whole church, after scriptural study, by the process of approval by the GA w/ approval from the presbyteries - these may be interpreted by GA and Permanent Judicial Commission
-Ordaining and installing bodies have the responsibility to determine membership by applying the following standards:
1. Whether a candidate has departed from scriptural and constitutional standards for fitness of office
2. Whether any departure constitutes a failure to adhere to the essentials of Reformed faith and polity
-whether an ordaining/installing body has conducted its examination reasonably, responsibly, prayerfully, and deliberately is subject to review by higher governing bodies
-All parties should endeavor to outdo one another in honoring one another's decisions
Summary: This puts some power back in the hands of the presbyteries and local bodies and is nothing new this is the way the church was run before "b" and the standing authoritative interpretation (which this would replace). In other words, churches know their members and who is best fit to serve the church, so they should be able to decide. Example: If a man shaving his face is deemed sin by the GA, yet the church finds a shaven man called and well fit to serve, the church (presbytery, etc.) may decide to ordain/install him regardless. It goes to say a church may also refuse his call if they are unable to accept his shaven face.

Rec. 6-
-If GA accepts Rec. 5:
-that the GA 217 approve no additional authoritative interpretations (AIs), remove no existing AIs, and send no proposed constitutional ammendments to the presbyteries that would effect denominational policy or any major issues in the task force's report (inc. Christology, biblical interpretation, essential tenets, and sexuality and ordination)
-encrouages all church members to acknowledge their traditional biblical obligation (see Matthew 18:15-17 and Matthew 5:23-25) and in the Rules of Discipliane and Book of Order
-institute judicial of admiistrative hearings only when other efforts fail to preserve the purposes of peace, unity, and purity

Rec. 7-
-that this report answers certain overtures

Basically, and frankly, the conservatives don't like 5 and the liberals don't appreciate 6, but you can't have one without the other.
In my opinion this is a strong and positive step forward. It is a very good report, I even enjoyed reading it! (but maybe I'm just crazy) I think it finds a very strong middle ground and is very respectful and positive. It came as unanimous from the task force, which is a very strong thing because the task force included the extremes. The write up assures that all kept their convictions and yet gained respect and of course all support the report.


Ok...so that wasn't really quick, but it was dirty. Hope it still helped, sorry for the length, it's hard to summarize, but it's really not as complicated as some people are trying to say it is.

Peace of Christ and Prayers for the church,
Susan

Also: there is a group shot of all the YADS here