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Overture 8

About Doctrinal Standards

At St Peters Presbyterian Church Ellerslie, on 11 June 2002, the Presbytery of Auckland met and was constituted.

Among other things the Presbytery of Auckland agreed to adopt and transmit the following overture to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand appointed to meet in Silverstream on 22 September 2002.

"Whereas the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand is founded on the Word of God contained in the Old and New Testaments and the Subordinate Standards, and any change to that basis is fraught with major constitutional difficulties,

And whereas the Westminster Confession and Larger and Shorter Catechisms embody the essence of the reformed Christian faith, and have been treasured by Presbyterian Churches world-wide, and are still honoured by many New Zealand Presbyterians,

And whereas many feel the need to update the language, style, emphases and content of the church's confessional standards,

And whereas it would be inappropriate for this church to try to replace its doctrinal standards with an affirmation of only a few words

And whereas it is important that the church has doctrinal standards that declare with confidence and clarity what the church believes

And whereas it would be helpful to have a doctrinal standard that could be used for instructional purposes in the church,

It is hereby overtured:

That no attempt be made to alter the present relationship of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand to its confession of faith and other subordinate standards until such time as:

(1) The Constitutional issues have been faced and resolved.

(2) Assembly has approved a substitute confession of faith that is (a) genuinely consistent with the historic apostolic and reformed faith, (b) fairly comprehensive, rather than just a brief affirmation, (c) more contemporary in language, (d) appropriate for New Zealand, yet consistent with Christian orthodoxy world-wide,

And that this matter be referred back to the Task Group.

The Presbytery appointed the Rev Stuart Lange and the Rev Colin Marshall to support the overture before the Assembly.

Extracted form the records of the Presbytery by

Trevor Mosley

Presbytery Clerk

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