Dissent and Discernment

On Sunday, we had our Congregational Meeting to choose our Ministry Focus.  With around 31 voting members present (quorum is 25 members), we elected to choose the LGBTQIA+ community as our Ministry Focus for the coming years.  This was not a unanimous vote: the unofficial paper vote was 21 LGBTQIA+ focus to 10 Young Adults focus and the official vote to affirm the LGBTQIA+ community as our Ministry Focus had 2 "nay" votes.

It might surprise some to hear but I am actually glad that this was not a unanimous vote.  Here is why:

1. Session worked hard to come up with good ideas for what our Ministry Focus should be. They were all good ideas. To me at least, a vote for one idea was not a vote against the other idea. The hope was that people would vote for what they saw as the BEST option for our community, not to condemn the other option as bad.
2. One of my worries going into this vote was that Northminster folks would be too agreeable and go with what they perceived as the majority opinion was.  One of the downsides to Robert’s Rules of Order is that motions must be made in the affirmative of one opinion/point of view.  It doesn’t really allow for an either/or vote.  This is why we did the unofficial paper vote first.  Furthermore, if it sounds like the majority of the room votes “yes” for a motion, it can be intimidating to be the only one to vote “no.”
   That said, if members really did think that the other option for a ministry focus was truly better for our community, I wanted to vote to show that.  Thank you to those who voted their conscience and made sure that the record accurately reflects the sentiment of our community.

What do you do when the community did not vote unanimously?

Especially when you get larger groups of Presbyterians together, votes are rarely unanimous.  But fear not! Our polity is rather explicit about how to proceed.

•        F-3.01 Principles of Order and Governance
•        F-3.0101 God is Lord of the Conscience
  •    b. “Therefore we consider the rights of private judgement, in all matters that respect religion, as universal and unalienable.”
  •    This means that every person has a right to their own opinion and that is between that person and God.
•        F-3.0105 Mutual Forbearance
  •    That, while under the conviction of the above principle […] we also believe that there are truths and forms with respect to which men of good characters principles may differ. And in all these, we think that it the duty both of private Christians and societies to exercise mutual forbearance toward each other.
•        F-3.02 Principles of Presbyterian Government
•        F-3.0205 Decision by Majority Vote
  •    Decisions shall be reached in councils by vote, following opportunity for discussion and discernment, and a majority shall govern.

Translation: every person has a right to their own opinion; good people will, at times, disagree; and the community will be governed by the majority opinion.  Discussion and discernment happen before the vote.  Once the vote is taken and the majority opinion is expressed, that motion is put into effect.  The voice of the minority is VITAL in this process because it is a key piece of discernment.  However, once the majority vote is taken, the minority opinion is expected to support and help carry out the plans of the majority until such time that it is up for debate again.

This is not a perfect system, but it is the best system the PCUSA has found to lift up voices to be heard but not to be hamstrung into inaction by the dissenting opinion of the few.

If you want to know what next steps look like, keep your eyes peeled for the November Newsletter where I will lay out in detail where we go from here.

Blessings,
Pastor Chris