For What Purpose?

In reading the proposed “New Book of Order” for my church (Presbyterian Church (USA)) I have come across one of those nominal changes. I mean nominal in a literal sense, which regards a name of something.

Our church is organized in four levels from the “lowest to the highest.” Each level gradually assumes larger numbers of constituents. A session can be in small membership congregations as few as three and in larger congregations as many as twenty-four or more elders. The session is responsible for the affairs of a single congregation. The presbytery is responsible for the affairs of several congregations (through their sessions), synods for several presbyteries and the General Assembly for the entire denomination. Each and all have the same pastoral function.

At one point in the history of the Presbyterianism these four subgroups were called “the courts of the church” and thereby they were called “judicatories.” The role of these courts was pastoral care. By that they meant “guarding the sheep”. But guarding them from what? They protected the people from error in theological doctrine and from moral corruption. They did this partly by declarations in the form of warnings, but mostly by creating a reasonably organized set off church courts or judicatories. As in all good organizational structure the form followed the function. The structure was designed to serve a specific purpose. The quality of a structure is tested by how efficiently and effectively it serves to the declared goals of that organization.

Beginning in the 1960’s the defining philosophy was pragmatism and hedonism, whatever worked to maximize happiness and minimize sadness was pursued over all other considerations. It began the “do your own thing” set of generations. The Church has always been both a critic of its contemporary generation, while partially living in conformity to the spirit of the age. Since authority is suspect, judicatories are out and “governing bodies” are in.

As one writer put it a few years back, when considering the way the mainline churches have sanctioned homosexuality – (I loosely paraphrase from memory) “we decided to conform our rules to accommodate our behavior rather than govern our behavior to conform to some enduring set of rules.” So, the term “governing bodies” was better than “judicatories” to serve this end. The word better served the spirit of the age – it was a kinder and gentler, “more loving” word.

Since the spirit of our age has moved our trajectory even farther from ecclesiastical authority toward individual autonomy we have changed the name again. The latest name is “councils.” The pastoral role is not to protect us from ourselves by moving us away from what God calls sin toward what God calls “right living” but to council us on how to become “my best version of me” whatever form that may take.