20 Feb GS 1977 art 71

GS 1977 ARTICLE 71 – Revision Church Order

Committee III presents:

Material

– Agenda 8, F, 1

–   Report of the Committee on the Revision of the Church Order.

F, 2

–   Letter Church at Barrhead, re: the draft revision submitted by the Committee.

Observations

• 1.   The mandate of the Committee for the Revision of the Church Order was formu­lated by Synod 1971, Article 82 (and continued by Synod 1974, Article 66, 2b) as fol­lows:
  • “a. to undertake a general revision of the presently adopted Church Order, as much as the profit of the Churches demand it (Article 86, Church Order) with the preservation of the Reformed character of this Church Order, pay­ing special attention to suggestions, submitted in the past by churches and major assemblies concerning change, correction, updating and/or deletion of Articles, as well as profitable additions.
  • b. to keep the Churches informed from time to time of provisional results, so that constructive criticism from the Churches may be expected and di­gested.”
• 2. The Committee has submitted a draft of 33 Articles of the Church Order, stating that considerable work has been done on the remainder, and that criticism brought in against a previous draft was taken into account, and that according to the mandate given good note was taken of the report on the revision of the Church Order which served at the General Synod of Kampen 1975 of our sister Churches in The Netherlands. It is not the intention of the Committee to delete the present Ar­ticle 21, Church Order; a re-worded version is to be proposed in the part yet to be submitted.
• 3. Language and formulation are not final and the Committee proposes that the Churches express themselves on the proposed draft.
• 4. The Committee provides no commentary for the proposed changes or deletions.
• 5. Synod 1968, Article 179, provisionally adopted the draft translation presently in use.
• 6. The Church at Barrhead proposes certain deletions from Articles 3, 6 and 27 of the proposed draft.
• 7. Synod 1977 Article 60, Consideration A 1, deems it advisable that Synod 1980 can make a final decision on a complete Book of Praise, which will also include the Church Order.

Considerations

• 1. Since the proposed draft covers only 33 Articles, no final decision of Synod should be made.
• 2. The general direction of the proposed draft is in accordance with the mandate as stated in Observation 1.
• 3. The proposed timetable as set out in Observation 7 results in great urgency.
• 4. It would be beneficial if the Committee on the Revision of the Church Order would provide a brief explanation of the changes proposed.
• 5. It is desirable with a view to reference to existing commentaries that the cor­responding Articles of the present Church Order are mentioned at the foot of each Article.

Recommendations

• 1. Gratefully to acknowledge the work done thus far by the Committee on the Revi­sion of the Church Order.
• 2. To continue the Committee on the Revision of the Church Order to complete its mandate.
• 3. To charge the Committee:
  • a. to forward a complete draft along with brief explanations to the Churches with­ in one year and to invite comments on it.
  • b. to submit a final draft for the General Synod and to the Churches by January 31, 1980.
  • c. to mention al the foot of each Article the corresponding Articles of the present Church Order.
• 4. To forward to the Committee the material received, including the comments of the Advisory Committee of this Synod.

ADOPTED