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The Subordinate Standards Task Group

Terms of Reference

Our Task Group was set up by the Council of Assembly following a decision of the Special General Assembly of 1999 in accord with a recommendation of the Commission on Diversity in order to " review the subordinate standards of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand with emphasis on their relevance as confessional documents for a Reformed Church in Aotearoa New Zealand in the 21st century." The Task Group was to be accountable to the Council of Assembly and report to the Assembly of 2002.

Recommendations

(1) That the Book of Order Re-write Task Group be instructed by this Assembly to re-write regulation 1 in the Book of Order in the terms outlined in this report and report their suggested wording to the next Assembly for adoption..[See Sections 7 and 8]

(2) That the Council of Assembly appoint a Task Group to develop a focal identity statement such as that suggested in Appendix 3 for use in worship as a confession of faith, including by those joining the church and those taking up leadership roles; the Task Group to include those who have a feeling for the use of language appropriate in worship; and that the results of their deliberations be reported through the Doctrine Reference Group to the next Assembly for adoption [See section 5.11, 7., and 9.3 plus Appendix 3]

(4) That the Book of Order and Judicial Reference Group together with the Book of Order Re-write Task Group be instructed by the Assembly to draw up a statement of the relationship between members and office bearers and our theological and historical statements in sympathy with the direction set out above and that this statement, and a formula to be signed by those holding office in this church, be reported to the next Assembly for adoption. [See section 9]

(5) That the Task Group be thanked and discharged. [See section 9.5]

3. Process

3.1 The task group commissioned several of its members to prepare papers which were then circulated for comment to a number of representative people in the church. We submitted our refined ideas .to the Tutahi Tatou regional conferences arranged by the Council. In November 2001 we held a consultation in Christchurch which we sought to make widely representative although not all we invited were able to attend. We have reflected on the feedback we have been given at each stage and now report to the Assembly what we believe will be a helpful direction into the future.

4. Values and Assumptions

4.1 It would be helpful to the Assembly if we identified some of the things important to us as we worked through these issues which have often been frustrating and divisive in the history of the church. Some of these things were clear to us from the beginning but others are more apparent now as we look back over the way we have travelled. They are:

• We saw our task as concerned with theological integrity. We were not interested in finding forms of words that would keep the most people happy or formulae which depend on ambiguity for assent.
• We wanted to make a contribution to the well-being of congregations in the sense that a healthy congregation has a clear sense of its Christian identity and its mission.
• We have done our work with a strong sense of our reformed heritage and of being part of the church catholic.
• We were committed to the pre-eminent place of Scripture as witnessing to the grace of God calling forth the human response of faith.
• We believed our church should know and should be able to say who it is in whom it believes. We wanted to continue to be a confessing church.
• We were aware of our particular time and place. We are a multi-cultural church which acknowledges itself set in a "society founded on the Treaty of Waitangi which established the principle of partnership between Maori and settlers." In many places we exist as people within and committed to union and co-operative parishes. Those sharing our journey in faith include people and church traditions from the Pacific and Asia.
• We have a strong sense of 'church', of belonging together. However difficult it sometimes is to live with, we see diversity as a gift.
• Confessing the faith is about worship and action as well as words
• In order to be faithful there is a continuing responsibility in every new day and every new context to discern and to respond to the purpose of God afresh. Statements of faith should be accessible, and able to be used in worship, education, and the mission of the church.

5. The Subordinate Standards

5.1 The subordinate standards of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand are set out in the Book of Order, Chapter 1, Section A- Standards. [This section is reproduced in an appendix to this report.]

The Westminster Confession and the Catechisms were agreed upon in 1646 by an Assembly summoned to Westminster by the English Parliament in 1643 in order to prepare a basis for the uniformity of religion in the recently united kingdom of England and Scotland. They were approved by parliament in 1648 but in the meantime had been adopted by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 1647.

5.2 We acknowledge and need to continue to acknowledge the place of the Confession in our history. However we define our relationship to it in the future it remains true that it has helped shape who we are.

5.3 In our study of the theology of the Westminster Confession we have found many good things. For example, the emphasis on "the inward illumination of the Spirit of God for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word" (I.6); the, perhaps surprisingly, sympathetic appreciation of the frailty of the believer who does not have assurance of grace and salvation (XVIII.4); and the succinct and clear statement on the sacrament of baptism (XXVIII), These good things can still challenge and focus the understanding of the church.

5.4 However, we cannot ignore difficulties, both practical and theological. The current Subordinate Standards are not serving our church well in some areas. Their greatest influence was in the English-speaking reformed churches and so although they remain part of the reformed heritage of many of us, they are not part of the heritage of us all and they do not link us to the church catholic or to our contemporary context. . They are, at most, an indirect part of the heritage of reformed churches of the Pacific or Asia. In affirming their connection with the historic Christian faith those churches regarded the Confession as part of the particular story of sending churches rather than part of the universal identity of the Christian church. Members of those churches are an increasingly significant part of who we are today. It is not surprising that documents of faith written to deal with a particular set of theological and political issues in a context which is no longer ours do not address some of the issues which are pressing for us. Rather a lot of their language and concepts are not the language and concepts of our current church. They are not easy to use as part of our worship or as a tool in education.

5.5 The challenge for us has been to try and find a way in which the were intended to serve can still be served, to find a way in which the Confession functions the subordinate standards and Catechisms may be appropriately retained and honoured, and to find a way in which we can confess the faith of the church today with integrity.

5.6 We have been surprised by how much the concerns we have identified have been acknowledged by so many of the people we have consulted, including many of those who highly value the Confession. Some who deeply regret the neglect of the Confession do not deny that as things stand our church requires assent to a statement (as interpreted by the Declaratory Act) about which there is little appreciation, if not widespread ignorance. Some have attempted to address the neglect of the Confession by rewriting it in today's language. This is probably a worthwhile exercise but underlines the problem of how accessible the meaning of the present documents is.. We note that in 1903 the version of the Westminster Confession used by the American Church added material of the Holy Spirit (Chapter 34) and on the "Gospel of the Love of God and Missions" (Chapter 35)

5.7 The difficulties with the Confession, however, are not just these practical difficulties. Theologically, we do not believe the Westminster Confession does justice to the good news of the grace of God which is offered to the world in Jesus Christ. It confines this grace to the elect (V.6) and makes an unwarranted split between nature and grace (XXIII and XXIV). The theology of the dual covenants (the covenant of works [VII.2] and the covenant of grace [VII.3]) reinforces a separation between church and world and emphasizes the priority of law over grace (IV.2). The logical rigour of the Westminster Confession is reflected in the teaching on double predestination (III) and the implication that non-elect children who die in infancy are lost (X.3). The freedom of the love of the Triune God is subsumed under an unremitting logical determinism.

5.8 We believe that statements on the immortality of the soul (IV.2, XXXIII.1) are inconsistent with our understanding of creation and the statement that God "will by no means clear the guilty (II.1) seems not to make room for the possibility of forgiveness.

5.9 We believe the Declaratory Act attempts to defend the Westminster Confession by saying it does not teach what we believe it does teach. The Confession says "By the decree of God... some men are...foreordained to everlasting death. (III.3) However the Declaratory Act maintains, :That this church... does not regard the Confession as teaching the for-ordination of men to death irrespective of their own sin." The element of human responsibility is not present in the Westminster Confession (III.2). It has been imported into the Declaratory Act, thereby compromising the absolute character of the decree of God which the Confession upholds. There is some elasticity in language but the statement of the Declaratory Act in relation to the double predestination set out in III.3 is implausible.

5.10 The difficulties with the Westminster Confession lie also in its structure. The first question the Confession addresses is not who we know but how we know. That approach which exercises a control over everything that follows emphasises epistemology and authority (issues no doubt important) ahead of grace.

5.11 The difficulties summarised here are not new discoveries, though perhaps some of them are more keenly felt in our own era. They have prompted some churches, such as some American Presbyterian churches to make changes to the text of the Confession, and other churches, including our own, to redefine their relationship to the Confession as subordinate standard. Although falling from some specific statements in the Confession , (such as those on the Pope as Antichrist) as a mechanism for distancing the church from beliefs no longer considered acceptable is one possibility, the Task Group believes it would do greater justice to the historic place of the Confession in its original form to have a more satisfactory relationship to it (and to other similar documents); and for other instruments to be used to fulfil the function of providing a confession of faith we are prepared, warmly and freely, to affirm, and the function of guarding the integrity of our beliefs as a Christian Church. It remains for us to explore not only what sort of documents fulfil these functions but also to set out a way of relating to those documents which strengthens our relationship to core beliefs, yet makes legitimate allowance for the cultural and theological diversity that is part of our life.

6. Our Relationship to the Subordinate Standards

6.1 The Formula (Book of Order, Appendix H-9) is signed by elders, licentiates and ministers at their ordination, and again by ministers and licentiates at their induction to a pastoral charge or other responsibility. By signing the Formula office bearers indicate that they "believe the fundamental doctrines of the Christian Faith contained in the Westminster Confession of Faith and other subordinate standards of this church." However neither the induction service nor the formula, defines what 'fundamental doctrines' are, mentions the Declaratory Act, or makes explicit the church's teaching that such subscription, though it is being expressed in words can never be wholly defined by words. Office bearers are binding themselves to "the faith expressed in the statement rather than by the precise words themselves." (Appendix C-4)

6.2 The Task Group believes that the seriousness and formality of ordinations and induction is not well served by the uncertainty surrounding exactly what is being affirmed by this process. The church is using deliberately impressive language for a standard that is little known or understood by our members, and a standard at least some of us feel is inadequate as a statement of the gospel of Jesus Christ. This brings into question our integrity as a church and is further reason to address not only what we are saying when we confess our faith but also how we express our relationship to such statements.

7. Towards the Future

7.1 We have noted that the task group believes that we want to continue to be a confessing church and that as a church we should be able to say who it is in whom we believe. This might be achieved by what we called a focal identity statement. (The word 'focal' is used to indicate that such a statement would not attempt to say everything that could be said but would focus on what was central. The word 'identity' indicates that such a statement would identify those who used it as Christian (and perhaps also as Christians standing in the Reformed tradition.) When this thinking was, shared with the church through the Council's regional conferences in 2001 two questions were asked of those attending:

• Would you be willing to replace the present Subordinate Standards with a focal identity statement?What would need to be included in such a statement to maintain the integrity of the church?

The responses we received indicated that while people generally saw the point of what we were trying to do, some preferred to reserve judgment on the adequacy of the idea until they saw what was in the focal identity statement. There was some pessimism, at that time, about the church being able to find a formula that would please everyone. That seemed to us a responsible caution.

7.2 Our next step was to hold a consultation where we could gather together people representing the breadth of the church, to discuss our concerns and options for ways forward, including the idea of the focal identity statement. Not everyone was able to be invited and not everyone invited was able to attend (See both attendees and invitees in Appendix 2) but we were pleased both with the spirit and with the quality of the consultation. With the help of Andrew Dunn of Spiritual Growth Ministries the consultation was undertaken in prayer and was an important step in the task group process. Again, some at the Consultation were expressing caution (particularly on the grounds that something worthwhile and acceptable should be in place before we replaced, or changed the status of, the Westminster Confession as the church's subordinate standard.) We were encouraged with work the consultation did on a focal identity statement based on the widely used blessing from II Corinthians 13:14.) See appendix 3 to this report. We now believe that an acceptable and sufficient form of words should prove possible.

7.3 Since the consultation one of the participants, Peter Cheyne, has suggested the possibility of what he called "current position statements" for statements on doctrinal, ethical and practical issues to replace our subordinate standards. The idea is that the church could say (after a sufficiently careful process such as the Barrier Act procedure) that such and such is its teaching, its response to a particular situation, or its position on a debated issue. We see the value of this possibility in relation to a range of issues It is rather like what the church did in accepting the statements in Appendix C-2 of the Book of Order In these statements the church made explicit what it believed about certain doctrines being debated It did not amend an historic document which ought to be left intact to represent the faithfulness of its own time. The 'current position statements' of that period also did not have to update or emphasise teaching that was not in dispute.

7.4 At the same time as drawing attention to this suggestion, we still wish to commend the idea of a focal identity statement dealing with a common confession of our Christian faith.

8. Recommendations and Rationale

8.1 The section of the Book of Order involved in setting out our church's standards is Chapter 1, Section A - Standards, (see Appendix 1 of this report) which section gives the church the right, in dependence on the promised guidance of the Holy Spirit to "formulate, interpret or modify its subordinate standards" We sought and obtained legal opinion that on this basis it is possible for the church to determine its standards and the way in which it relates to them.

8.2 We recommend to the Book of Order re-write task group that regulation 1(a), affirming the Scriptures as our supreme rule of faith and duty should include a clear Christological reference, such as clause 11 of the Theological Declaration of Barmen: "Jesus Christ, as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which we have to trust and obey in life and in death."

8.3 As part of our deliberations we were drawn to the phrase used in I Corinthians 15:3f "according to the Scriptures." as being similar to Barmen's "attested for us in Holy Scripture." It seems to us that such statements have always been implicit in accepted confessional documents. To confess Jesus as Lord according to the Scriptures means that we cannot understand the word "Lord" in an oppressive sense. According to the Scriptures, he is the Lord who washes his disciples' feet, who enters Jerusalem on a donkey, who is among us as one who serves. Similarly to confess Jesus as Messiah according to the Scriptures means we have to take account of the explicit scriptural record of Jesus' caution about some of the expectations aroused by the word. Messiah'. To confess Jesus as Son of God or as raised on the third day according to the Scriptures guards us against some interpretations of these words.

8.4 Want to be a church formed by and accountable to the Scriptures. We also want to be a church that recognises that God is still addressing us in Scripture. We listen to Scripture as those who value what our ancestors discovered from their listening and their study but also as those expecting God to be speaking afresh to us in our time and in our particular need and responsibility. And so we recommend next that the Book of Order re-write task group offer a form of words similar in intent to present regulation 1(e). Such a regulation should make clear, both that we never get beyond attending to Scripture, and that we are a reformed church ever in need of reformation.

8.5 We note that although not a matter of regulation the church has previously offered resources for the discernment of God's will such as the Ten Principles for Communal Discernment, part of the Heartwood Programme developed by the Mission Resource Team. Such resources imply an acknowledgment that discernment is a particular responsibility of Sessions and those called to a teaching and preaching ministry in the church and that any statement, even scriptural statements, needs to be interpreted and applied anew.

8.6 Such a regulation (the re-written 1e) will allow and encourage the Church daily as new and difficult issues come to hand, to commit itself to silent listening and contemplative prayer as it seeks God's way of sharing God's love in Jesus Christ in our world and in our communities. It involves listening to the Word of God spoken through the Scriptures and through the circumstances surrounding the matter at hand, and also being obedient to the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the process.

8.7 We believe that in spite of its historic particularity and its imperfections the Westminster Confession should continue to offer useful guidance to us as we seek to be a reformed church in Aotearoa New Zealand in the 21st century. This does not require the term 'subordinate standard' for describing it. The Westminster Confession needs to be retained as an historical resource important for our self-understanding, which may be used along side other resources such as some of the appendices in Section C of the Book of Order; the Directory of Worship, and the Book of Order itself. Together with a focal identity statement these safeguard both our identity and our process of working to "make Jesus Christ known". We recommend that the Doctrine Committee be asked to list the historic documents we formally acknowledge in the PCANZ in explaining our past and informing our present theological work and the Book of Order re-write task group include reference to them as resources valued among us in a replacement to regulation 1(b).

8.8 Documents we suggest for consideration include:

Scots Confession

Belgic Confession

Fundamental Principle of the London Missionary Society

Lausanne Covenant

The Faith we Affirm Together (Book of Order Appendix C-6)

Statement of Fundamental Doctrines (Book of Order Appendix C-2)

Declaratory Act (Book of Order Appendix C-1)

A simple contemporary Statement of Faith (Book of Order Appendix C-5)

9. How We Should Relate To Our Subordinate Standards

9.1 Finally, there is need for a statement of the relationship of church members and leaders to all of the above. The existing formula and declaratory act should be replaced by a contemporary statement which allows a person accepting responsibility for leadership in the church to confess their faith in Jesus Christ, to indicate their willingness to be responsible to the church, and their preparedness to work within it.

9.2 Such a statement need not start again from the beginning but could draw on the Declaratory Act which disclaims 'intolerant or persecuting principles', explicitly recognises 'diversity of opinion', and (within limits) 'liberty of conscience'; Book of Order Appendix C4 which deals with what it means to subscribe to a statement of faith; and perhaps the preliminary principles set out in the Book of order of the PCUSA which emphasise the centrality and authority of Christ rather than the legal authority of some form of words.

9.3 Following on the wells and fences imagery used by various groups, including the Commission on Diversity, it seemed to us that the Church can and should state the Church's faith as clearly and robustly as possible. Those who are members or leaders of the Church are members or leaders because they are drawn to the water from that well rather than that they are contained within fences the Church has built. Members and leaders would be willing to affirm (See Book of Order Appendix C-4 "What it means to subscribe to a Statement of Faith") their faith using a 'focal' or 'position' statement that would be used at baptism, confirmation and ordination. The formula signed by leaders should be an affirmation of one's faith and also a commitment to work within the processes of the church and work with loyalty and respect with other members of the Church who have made the same commitment.

9.4 We recognise that there will remain the need from time to time for the church to exercise discipline with respect to theological integrity in relation to the theological positions of those who, deliberately or inadvertently, come to represent something other than the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe this will have to be done on a case by case basis with reference both to Scripture and to the acknowledged theological and historical resources recognised among us as these are suggested by the doctrine committee. Both the gospel itself and some chapters in the church's record of trying to do this in the past, suggest that this needs to be done with humility and grace.

9.5 The Task Group believes it has done what the Council asked it to do and commends the outcome to the Assembly. We believe it is appropriate we should now be discharged but recognise that our recommendations pass much of the hard work still to be done on to others.

9.6 Members of the group are willing to be available to those who will carry our suggestions forward, if that is the mind of the Assembly, and if that is an offer that those who inherit our work wish to take up.

Alister Rae

Convener

APPENDICES

Appendix 1

Present position according to the Book of Order: Section A Standards

The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa is founded on the following basis:

(a) That the Word of God, contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, is the supreme rule of faith and duty, and is the supreme standard of this church

(b) That the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms are the subordinate standards of this Church.

(c) That the Declaratory Act of the General Assembly of the said Church sets forth, ion regard to certain doctrines, what is required from those entering upon office. (See Appendix C-1)

(d) That the Directory for Worship (1995) and the Westminster Form of Church Government set forth generally the order of worship, discipline and government in this Church

(e) That the Church has the right, in dependence on the promised guidance of the Holy Spirit, to formulate, interpret or modify its subordinate standards; always in agreement with the Word of God and the fundamental doctrines of the Reformed Faith contained in the said Confession and other subordinate standards, of which agreement the Church itself shall be sole judge. (See Appendices B-3, C-2).

Appendix 2

Our consultation with the Church

People approached by the task group for input into the process:

Rev Peter Cheyne,

Rev Gaye Churchill,

Rev Wynford Davies,

Rev Dr Kerry Enright

Very Rev John Evans

Rev Don Ikeotelagi

Rev Arthur Palmer

Mr Colin Pidgeon QC

Rev Chris Nichol

Rev Dr Graham Redding

Rev Dr Simon Rae

Rev Pamela Tankersley

Rev Manatoa Tavelia

Mr Royden Somerville QC

Rev Stuart Vogel,

Rev Warren Wilson

Comments were also invited on the handout distributed at each of the Tutahi Tatou meetings.

Participants(*) and invited, but unable to attend, people for the consultation at Bishop Julius Hostel, Christchurch November 23-24

Abera Abera

Martin Baker

Marion Brash

*Peter Cheyne

Kath Croy

William Cuthers

Chris Elliott

Kerry Enright

*Carol Grant

*Robert Jones

Mark Johnston

Rachel Judge

Phil King

*Stuart Lange

*Margaret Anne Low

*Alistair McBride

Robyn McPhail

*Margaret Mayman

Task Group members:

*Geoff New

*Karima Fai'ai

Chris Nichol

*Bruce Hamill

Tom Phillips

Susan Jones

*Ralph Penno

*Alan Kerr

Dennis Povey

*Peter Marshall

Simon Rae

*Alister Rae

Graham Redding

*John Roxborough

Mona Riini

Sa Si'itia-Asi

*Pamela Tankersley

*Janet Sim-Elder

Millie Te Kaawa

Diane Thornton

*Michael Thawley

Anne Thomson

*Ikipa Tongatule

Stuart Vogel

Chaplain:

Margaret Waight

*Andrew Dunn

Jim Wallace

Ian Wood

*Selwyn Yeoman

Rob Yule

Appendix 3

Suggested Focal Identity Statement

We believe and belong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit

All other claims on our lives are grounded in this.

Here we find forgiveness, healing, and resurrection hope for living and dying.

According to the Scriptures we confess:

God is our Creator, the beginning and end, who orders and sustains all things

We are made in the image of God

We share responsibility for the care of God's creation

We acknowledge our sinfulness and brokenness

We seek restoration and justice

Jesus Christ is our Saviour and Lord

In him we see God and God's reconciling grace

He shares our human life

We are heirs of his good news

We witness to it in word and action

The Holy Spirit transforms our common life

In the companionship of the Spirit we celebrate diversity as we are drawn into the unity of love

In the power of the Spirit we are working and waiting for the Kingdom of God

In the discernment of the Spirit we open our consciences to the needs of our time

In the presence of the Spirit we live to glorify and enjoy God for ever.

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