The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), namely the eleven statements in the Book of Confessions and the three documents in the Book of Order, is a constitution precisely in so far as it binds us to each other and gives form and standing to our life together. Christian churches may be ordered by other constitutions, but we have been called together in this order and under this Constitution. Our leaders have vowed to be guided by these confessions, to be governed by this polity, to participate in this worship, and to abide by this discipline. Today we reaffirm these vows.
The 217th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church has issued an Authoritative Interpretation that, rather than interpreting our Constitution, instead instructs governing bodies that wish to avoid compliance with certain of its provisions how they may do so.
This amounts to a basic change in our Constitution, more basic than when its text is changed by amendment. To amend the text of the Constitution requires the consent of a majority of the Presbyteries. Yet, by a vote of General Assembly, the terms shall, shall not, and may not in our ordination standards have been made to mean the same as may. According to this Authoritative Interpretation, our ordination standards are mere possibilities, to be applied or not applied to each ordinand at the option of each local ordaining body. This fundamental change has been made without the consent of the Presbyteries. It is an unmaking not only of the Constitution’s integrity, but of Presbyterian polity.
This is a crisis in the biblical sense: a moment of decision. Every session and presbytery will now decide whether to be loyal to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in its integrity, or to accept an interpretation of the Constitution that divides its words from their natural meanings.
In this crisis, we seek the unity of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) with itself and with the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, the Body of Christ. We intend to be Constitutional Presbyterians. We will not divide ourselves from the Church of Jesus Christ. Rather, even as we recognize other forms of loyalty, we intend, for our part, to remain loyal to the Great Church and its Lord by keeping our vow to be governed by the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
As we reaffirm this vow, we reject the 217th General Assembly’s Authoritative Interpretation as a “decision contrary to the Word of God” that “we must utterly deny” (Book of Confessions, 3.20). We will remain faithful to our vows of membership and ordination as if the 217th General Assembly had not made this arbitrary and destructive change to our Constitution. We commit ourselves to unity in all aspects of our ministries with all who make such a commitment to the Constitution.
As we re-commit ourselves to the Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), we also acknowledge that it is both a living and an imperfect document. It may be amended with the consent of the Presbyteries, and there are many amendments we would like to make. Similarly, there are amendments others would like to make that we would reject and deny as contrary to the Word of God. However, we have served under this Constitution as it is written, and sincerely commit ourselves to continue to do so, until and unless we find that God commands us through his Word to do otherwise.
The unity we seek is a unity of faith: its character is theological. At its best, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) can only be a fragmentary and provisional expression of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church. The Church of Jesus Christ is not one or more of these without all the others. It is at once and for all time fully what Christ has called and created the Church to be. To suggest that we must affirm some attributes of the Church, for example its oneness or catholicity, at the expense or neglect of others, for example its holiness or apostolicity, as though these were competing attributes, is to set a false choice. In this Declaration we reaffirm that we will not be content with, or accept as final, any form of the Church that fails to strive for a more perfect expression of all that the Church is: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic, without exception.
The issues that confront us go deeper than sexual behavior and ordination. The true division is over issues far more substantive: who God is, who Jesus Christ is, what salvation is and how we are saved, the authority of Holy Scripture, and others of similar magnitude. Our Confessions already address these questions, and had we been guided by them in the past we would not have come to this crisis. It is necessary therefore to consult once again the guidance our Confessions give, and see where that guidance applies to the present moment.
Because our crisis is theological and not merely moral, numerical, or financial, we now restate certain constitutional, theological convictions that are at risk in our church, confessing our faith and rejecting errors that threaten our identity as Presbyterians. We join with all who are striving to remain faithful to our Confessions by making this theological declaration of points most necessary to guide us in our present troubles.