Election of the Stated Clerk

            This year marks the end of the second term of service of our denomination’s Stated Clerk, Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick was elected first in 1996 and then reelected in 2000. There is no limit to the number of terms the Stated Clerk may serve. Kirkpatrick was opposed by three persons, Rev. Bob Davis, a pastor and head of the conservative renewal organization The Presbyterian Forum; Rev. Linn “Russ” Howard, a pastor in Pennsylvania, and Elder Alex Metherell, from California. Kirkpatrick won reelection by a significant majority on the first ballot: Kirkpatrick 349; Davis 137, Howard 25, and Metherell 19.

           The Stated Clerk heads the Office of the General Assembly and is responsible for interpreting the Constitution of the church (subject to the guidance of the General Assembly and its Permanent Judicial Commission). He is administrative leader of various ecclesiastical services, including the Office of Examination Services, the Office of Constitutional Services, and the Office of Assembly Operations. His counterpart, Elder John Detterick, Executive Director of the General Assembly Council, leads the church’s mission efforts.

           My sense is that the Assembly’s decision is very wise here. These have been difficult years for the Presbyterian Church (USA), in which a number of our congregations have withheld per capita funds (that support the work of the Office of the General Assembly) in protest over positions of the General Assembly, while others have engaged in open defiance of the Book of Order provisions against the ordination or installation of persons who are sexually active outside of marriage. Kirkpatrick has been portrayed in various church-related publications as biased toward one side or the other, often depending on the persuasion of the editorial board of the publication. In my judgment however, Cliff Kirkpatrick has served well and fairly, insisting that – as he has so often put it – “dissent is always to be honored, but defiance is never to be tolerated.” Cliff has kept a cool head and an even disposition under the weight of pressure that would have withered a lesser man. He loves the Presbyterian Church with a deep and unmistakable passion, is fully committed to mission, has the support of the leadership of the denomination (including more than twenty former moderators of the General Assembly), and is a person of integrity and honor. The church is well served by his leadership.

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