Hey, this is my life right now. On a different thread I commented on my recent experience at presbytery, in which a new set of bylaws was passed that hugely empowered the Moderator and the presbytery Administration Commission.
The latest development is that my pastor heard through the grapevine that the new Admin Commission had already lined up someone to replace him as Chair of the Candidates and Credentials Committee. Subsequently, someone from the Admin Commission contacted my pastor to directly inform him of their decision, explaining that they wanted to take the C&C Committee in an (unspecified) new direction. There might be a good reason to replace my pastor as Chair of C&C – he had served for many years, and it could be worthwhile to give a younger man the opportunity to gain experience in this area – but there are other possible reasons, which I will leave for the reader to consider. At any rate, it seems discourteous not to involve my pastor in this sort of decision from the beginning, but this is not the first time he has been presented with a fait accompli by one of the big players in the presbytery.
The new Bylaws urge all churches give 3% of their budget for church planting within the presbytery. Our Session decided to wait and see exactly what sort of work was going to be supported by this before giving anything ourselves. Are we now no longer good Presbyterians, since we aren’t submitting to the will of the brothers? I think not – what is happening now is power plays, not collegiality. The new Bylaws were developed at a meeting in which the TEs “forgot” to invite the REs on the committee (one of whom was from my church). Rather than doing whatever could be done to remedy this oversight, the TEs rebuffed attempts from one RE, who had long experience with non-profit financial and legal issues, to offer input on the Bylaws.
What now? As @Hobbit says, we can do our own thing and ignore the rest of the presbytery. But what is the point of being part of a presbytery when one does not share its vision? No decisions have been made yet, but the topic has been broached.