Wednesday, July 07, 2010

GA 219: nFOG Goes to Presbyteries, gives QG homework


The revised Form of Government (hereinafter referred to as the nFOG) was approved by the General Assembly by a vote of roughly 70% for and 30% against. Hence it will go to the presbyteries where it must be approved in order to go into effect.

I'm of two minds on this issue. On the one hand, I think the government section of the BOO badly needs revision and cleaning up. It's a mess. The index is terrible so it is difficult to be sure that you have found all the sections that apply to an issue that you are trying to clarify.

On the other hand, I'm not sure the nFOG, which is much more than a revision and cleaning up, is the answer. Some valid concerns about its effect were voiced on the floor of the GA this evening.

It dawned on me this afternoon that since my duty on session this fall is to coordinate and lead our new elder training classes, we are going to need to be prepared to include information about how the nFOG will change the BOO if it passes the presbyteries.

You see my dilemma. Maybe I'll open the class on polity by passing around cups of PresbyPolity Alphabet soup. That's soup with mostly B's and O's in it.

1 comment:

Reformed Catholic said...

I've been reviewing the changes that were added in committee, but that still does not beef up the Foundations portion of the nFOG.

I do like the fact that they did remove the requirement that Sessions must pay per capita, along with some other changes that removed the hierarchical bent that the nFOG originally had.

Still, as I've said elsewhere, after this GA, I'm not sure there will be enough trust in this connectional denomination to pass this at the presbytery level.