WHEREAS The Presbyterian Church in Canada was formed in 1875 as a union of several branches of the reformed and presbyterian Church, all of which held the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the only rule of faith and life and subscribed to the Westminster Confession of Faith as the principal subordinate standard; and

WHEREAS the peace of The Presbyterian Church in Canada was threatened within the first decade of its union by a dispute over marriage — specifically, a dispute over who one was permitted or not permitted to marry; and

WHEREAS the resolution of that dispute entailed an amendment to the basis of subscription to the Westminster Confession, permitting liberty of conscience on one of the clauses concerning marriage; and

WHEREAS the peace of The Presbyterian Church in Canada is at present threatened once again by a dispute over marriage — specifically, a dispute over who one should be permitted or not permitted to marry; and

WHEREAS the unity of The Presbyterian Church in Canada is also at present threatened by a dispute over ordination — specifically, a dispute over who a session is permitted to ordain and admit as an elder and who a presbytery is permitted to ordain and induct or install; and

WHEREAS this dispute over ordination affects the very nature of a session or a presbytery as a mutually submissive and collegial body of presbuteroi at the heart of the presbyterian understanding and practice of authority within the Church; and

WHEREAS the preservation of the peace and unity of Christ throughout the Church is part of the solemn obligation undertaken by all ministers and elders as a vow at ordination; and

WHEREAS the 145th General Assembly sent to presbyteries under the Barrier Act a remit (styled Remit B) asserting that “The Presbyterian Church in Canada holds two parallel definitions of marriage” without offering any basis in either the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the principal standard or in the Westminster Confession of Faith or in Living Faith as subordinate standards for such an assertion; and

WHEREAS the 145th General Assembly sent to presbyteries under the Barrier Act a remit (styled Remit C) affirming among other things that certain individuals may be ordained as ministers and elders provided that “liberty of conscience and action regarding participation” in such ordinations be granted to ministers and elders, without offering any basis in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the principal standard or in the Westminster Confession of Faith or in Living Faith as subordinate standards for such provision, nor providing any basis on which to reconcile such a provision with the recognized principles and practice of Presbyterian Churches as laid down generally in “The Form of Presbyterial Church Government”; and

WHEREAS the 146th General Assembly on the basis of returns from presbyteries may find itself to be in a position to consider and adopt the changes inherent in Remit B and C, 2019, without having offered to the presbyteries or received from the presbyteries their concurrent opinions or judgements on the real and likely effect and impact of such changes on the peace and unity of Christ throughout the Church resulting from such a change of doctrine not rooted in the confessional standards of the church and such a change in polity not rooted in the principles of presbyterial church government; and

WHEREAS considered and substantive available legal opinion suggests that the continuing freedom for ministers and churches to hold and practice marriage on a different basis than that embraced by civil society may best be preserved by ensuring that the doctrine confessed and the discipline exercised by and for ministers and sessions is ordered in and by a consistent and cohesive ecclesiastical framework; and

WHEREAS it is incumbent upon all ministers and elders of The Presbyterian Church in Canada to devote time, talent, and treasure to the furtherance of Christ’s gospel in and for the world, undistracted and unhindered by the diversion and diffusion of further efforts and energies directed at resolving a fundamental impasse on two irreconcilable definitions of marriage and by implication those deemed eligible for ministry; and

WHEREAS the Scriptures testify that Paul (without John Mark) and Barnabas (with John Mark) parted company for a time when their disagreement over the eligibility of John Mark as a candidate for missionary service led them to a sharp disagreement (Acts 15: 39), and yet later the same Paul eagerly sought the same John Mark’s help “because he is helpful to me in my ministry” (2 Timothy 4: 11)

THEREFORE the session of Parkwood Church, Ottawa humbly overtures the Venerable, the One hundred and forty-sixth General Assembly of The Presbyterian Church in Canada, to propose and initiate a restructuring of The Presbyterian Church in Canada designed (1) to bring together as one synod those ministers, sessions, congregations, and presbyteries holding the present confessed doctrine of marriage defined as the union of one man and one woman and who affirm that those eligible for ordination as either elders or ministers are expected to teach and to practice no other definition of marriage; and (2) to permit ministers, sessions, congregations and presbyteries who wish to hold and practice a different doctrine of marriage defined as the union of two adult persons and who affirm that those eligible for ordination as either elders or ministers may teach and practice such a definition of marriage be brought together as a separate synod; thus enabling two synods to be constituted, each with ministers, sessions, congregations, and presbyteries mutually accountable within their respective ecclesiastical frameworks; both synods to share in the present resources of The Presbyterian Church in Canada and to co- operate where common cause is affirmed or can be found and affirmed, in the furtherance of Christian witness, while preserving with integrity confessional fidelity and presbyterial polity; or to do otherwise as the General Assembly in its wisdom deems best.