Amendment H is not faring well in presbytery voting, for good reason. The amendment is the result of an effort by the Office of the General Assembly to simplify the Book of Order. The effect, however, is to add so much substantive change that the amendment has aroused opposition from many quarters of the church. The opposition includes those on both sides of the ordination debate as well as acknowledgement by the Association of Stated Clerks that the rewrite of Chapter XIV incorporates numerous substantive changes.

Amendment H changes Chapter 14 of the Book of Order
The 2001 G.A. approved a proposal which consists of a rewrite of an entire chapter of the Form of Government, Chapter 14 on Ordination, Certification, and Commissioning.

In an article on the Coalition's web site (www.presbycoalition.org), elder and PPL board member Carol Shanholtzer notes that the amendment goes beyond simplification to including a number of substantive changes. She notes two problems in particular:

Ordination vows degraded
Ordination vows would be degraded. They would be moved from the section on Government in the Book of Order to the Directory for Worship, thereby minimizing the vows by making them appear required only as liturgy for a special worship service. Also, under the amendment, the vows would be required of all Certified Christian Educators, even if they are not elders. This is the first time those constitutional questions would be required by the Book of Order for someone who is not an officer.

Certified Christian Educators a new specialized voting category
Certified Christian Educators who are elders would be given vote in presbytery as part of a redress of imbalance. That means they would not have to be designated as representatives of a session and would displace an elder who would have been chosen to represent a church in the redress of imbalance. The proposal does not even require that the Certified Christian Educator be employed in the presbytery to have a vote. We currently have a category of specialized clergy who are not accountable to sessions but have vote in presbytery. This would add a category of specialized elder who are not accountable to sessions but have vote in presbytery.

Interims allowed to become permanent pastors
The Association of Stated Clerks, in their analysis of Amendment H, also notes that the amendment would change the current Book of Order limitation on interim pastors and allow them to become permanent pastors of the church they serve as interim. To open up the possibility of an interim pastor becoming the next permanent pastor of a congregation could significantly limit both the effectiveness of that interim ministry and make it more difficult for a full search process to take place.

Shanholtzer advises that such substantive changes to the constitution deserve consideration separately. She also advises that because ordination standards are being challenged (Amendment A), it is not a good time to introduce still more changes to the Book of Order's ordination chapter.

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