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THE REV. SUSAN ANDREWS was presiding as the newly elected moderator of the 215th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), so maybe she was caught up in the excitement. "Now is the time," she said exuberantly, "for us to do the work of the people of God."

From the depths of the Denver Convention Center, however, it was tempting to think of the PCUSA's convention in less sanguine terms. On this hot afternoon in late May, inside a dark, cavernous plenary hall, it was easy to imagine legislative sessions in hell: Legislative delegates acting on hundreds of resolutions in a week, and always voting their conscience, as informed by their personal experience; every bit of legislation, its framers will announce in stentorian tones, will be a matter of justice, with delegates condemning how God reigns over his creation; and so on.

It's not that General Assembly's decisions were typically hellish. Indeed, compared to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (ECUSA), which met at the Minneapolis Convention Center from July 30 to August 8, General Assembly was a model of legislative temperance.

The PCUSA's General Assembly dealt with the hot-button issues of homosexuality by referring them to committee for more discussion. ECUSA's General Convention, by contrast, chose to confirm the Rev. Canon Gene Robinson as the Episcopal Church's first bishop-elect who from the outset spoke openly of his homosexuality. (Other homosexual Episcopal bishops have kept their sexual lives hidden or have disclosed themselves only after retirement.)

Observing both conventions as a reporter turned up some common patterns and some truths for would-be reformers of mainline Protestant churches. Here are ten of them.

1. It's a Dirty Job, But Someone's Got to Do It. Liberals are in their natural element at church conventions. They stand at microphones and talk solemnly about the importance of sending a message to the President of the United States, to Congress, or to dictators. But some conservatives also realize the importance of a convention's vote on matters that directly affect local congregations. "Our theology [as Presbyterians] is that wise decisions are made by groups of people," says the Rev. W. Gale Watkins, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Phoenix and a veteran conservative activist at the PCUSA's General Assembly. "I show up. Because of that, I have high credibility."

2. Moderates Rule. Moderates are the bane of a church activist's life. While the activist wants the church to do the right thing right away, moderates tend to say "Not now" or "Not this way." At General Assembly, pro-gay activists spent considerable time blasting the Covenant Network of Presbyterians. Covenant Network opposes the PCUSA's "chastity and fidelity" amendment, which requires that clergy limit their sexual activity to heterosexual marriage. But Covenant Network also opposed efforts to repeal the amendment during this year's General Assembly, saying such a vote would be too divisive. And Covenant Network prevailed. In ECUSA's General Convention, being moderate meant confirming Robinson as a bishop but leaving the issue of same-sex blessings to individual dioceses (groupings of churches, usually by state). In both churches, if you can't persuade the muddled middle, you lose.

3. Presiding Officers Control the Debate. This is about more than keeping a discussion in compliance with Robert's Rules of Order. Presiding officers also choose whom to recognize, and in what order. In his thorough direction of the debate on same-sex blessings, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold quickly recognized Bishop Peter Lee of the Diocese of Virginia, a moderate, who suggested dropping a call for a nationally prepared rite. Similarly, pcusa activists credited Susan Andrews with calling on her predecessor, the Rev. Fahed Abu-Akel of Atlanta, at just the right time to settle debate on the chastity and fidelity amendment.

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October 2003, Vol. 47, No. 10