Port Royal and Mexico

Port Royal and Mexico Presbyterian Churches
Pastor Carol Davis

I was delighted to be part of the Presbytery’s Installation Commission created for the purpose of installing the Rev. Carol Davis as the pastor of the Port Royal and Mexico Churches. North on Route 322 along the Juniata River is now one of my favorite drives, and I know it well. Exit at Route 75; go west only a bit, cross one of those old, narrow, steel frame bridges across the Juniata and you arrive in Port Royal. The action of our Installation Commission was a unique and specialized expression of our church’s polity. Nothing Carol was doing and nothing about her service to these two yoked congregations in Juniata County is changing. Carol has been serving there for years. She has settled into a very effective and comfortable pastoral relationship. There is, I perceive, a wonderful sprit in these churches. The reason for the Installation Service was to celebrate the good news that Carol’s official status was changing from designated pastor to pastor. After our full process had worked itself out including recommendations of both sessions, the affirmative votes of both congregations and the concurrence of the Committee on Ministry, and by her request, Carol’s status was changed and she is now Installed as Pastor. Good news, great ministry, a caring and effective pastoral relationship, small but strong congregations: Thanks be God! Congratulations Carol! Congratulations Port Royal and Mexico Churches!
As we worked through our process for changing from designated pastor to pastor, I have come to an interesting insight. I believe the concept of the designated pastor reflects some real institutional flexibility and creativity by our Church. I know very well that anything typically associated with the requirements of our Book of Order is not usually used in the same sentence with words like ‘flexible’ and ‘creative’. But I am now convinced that this category of designated pastor reflects our deep, spiritual and intellectual desire to create a theology of professional ministry responsive to the needs of the Church today.

The concept of designated pastor is a new thing. The 196th General Assembly (1984) took action adding this category into the Book of Order, a constitutional action which was affirmed by a majority of the Presbyteries. There was a lot of work that went into this proposal including research and study papers by the Vocation Agency and the General Assembly Mission Board. The focus of this effort was to create a pastoral position which has a defined term. This new category of designated pastor created a very flexible and experimental pastoral relationship. With a term of only two to four years, it is possible to create a designated pastor relationship in situations where we may not be certain the relationship is viable. Initially the designated pastor relationship was presented as a tool to be used for redevelopment and transformation projects, i.e. experimental ministry. By definition the designated pastor is intended to be a risky and bold new expression of ministry.

The real kicker came in 1991. The Presbytery of New Jersey brought an overture recommending that a designated pastor "may not be called to be the next installed pastor or associate pastor of the church..." Importantly, this overture was defeated. Indeed, as we have done in Port Royal and Mexico, a designated pastor may become the next installed pastor. This sets the designated category in a very different place than our concept of interim pastor which is expressly forbidden from becoming the next installed pastor. We have created a new expression of the office of pastor. With that we have introduced into our theology and practice of ministry a concept we have never had before. The designated pastor is an installed position for a term of two to four years which may be considered as the next installed pastor. We affirmed the possibility of a gradual discernment of call. We may establish the pastoral relationship, but only for term, to allow ourselves time to test the call, and continue the discernment. We constitutionally affirmed the reality that discernment may be flawed.

Once it was decided that a designated pastor could be the next installed pastor there was a lot of work done to refine the actual procedure for doing so. In 1992 the General Assembly took action revising and combining overtures from the presbyteries of Wyoming, New Castle and Detroit in order to define the procedure by which a designated pastor may become the next installed pastor. This was a difficult piece of work since it was necessary to guard one of the true sanctities of Presbyterian polity: the open search process. Thus the very difficult and dense language we currently have in the Book of Order, 14.0501, was added.

And there we have it. A sparkling new office of pastor in our Presbyterian Church: the designated pastor. I propose we put this innovative concept to work in our Presbytery. We may use this office, with its defined term, to create positions in new church development. One of our congregations, with support from the new church development committee, may call a designated pastor on staff for the expressed purpose of creating new ministry. With its two to four year defined term, we will give that new pastor permission to go at it. At the end of the defined term we can evaluate the new ministry, and the future viability of planting a new church. If it thrives and is blessed the designated pastor may become the installed pastor of the new church. If it does not blossom, we can reevaluate. By the mysterious providence of God, maybe our Book of Order can be used to create flexible and innovative ministry in our midst. Thanks be to God.


Book of Order g-14.0501g is quoted here: "g. A designated pastor is a minister of the Word and Sacrament approved by the committee on ministry to be elected for a term of not less than two nor more than four years by the vote of the congregation. The relationship shall be established by the presbytery. Such a pastor shall be nominated by the congregation's pastor nominating committee only from among those designated by the committee on ministry of the presbytery. The congregation and the minister both must volunteer to be considered for a designated term relationship. Such a call may be established only with the prior concurrence of the committee on ministry of the presbytery. The terms of the call shall be approved by the presbytery. The minister shall be installed by the presbytery and shall be moderator of the session. The sections on calling and installing a pastor shall apply. (G-14.0502-.0507) If there has been an open search process conducted by the committee on ministry and after three years of the designated pastor relationship, upon the concurrence of the committee on ministry, the designated pastor , and the session, acting in place of the pastor nominating committee for the single purpose of calling the designated pastor as pastor, a congregational meeting may be held to call the designated pastor as pastor: The session, with the concurrence of the committee on ministry, may call a congregational meeting to elect a pastor nominating committee to conduct a full pastoral search or to prosecute the call to the designated pastor to become pastor. The action of the congregation shall be reported to the presbytery. If the congregational action is affirmative, the presbytery, after voting to approve the new pastoral relationship, shall install the designated pastor as pastor"