But the problem is clear, too: "There has been a decline in the teaching function [of the church] with a concomitant loss of biblical literacy," said Dr Don Hopgood, who chaired the task group and presented its report.

And that wasn’t the whole problem. There was more. The task group hadn’t "come down with the answer" because it had been "acutely conscious of the fact that any position espoused by us, however much welcomed by some, would be rejected by others", he said.

Rev Dr Keith Rowe was also firm about that. The task group had decided early on "not to be the prisoner of any group" in the church, he said.

He also spelt out the central problem. The church was in trouble, and "cruelly divided" about biblical interpretation. The Bible was easily diminished in that setting, so its capacity to be a vehicle of grace and a life-giving document was easily lost, he said.

Rev Dr Robert Iles acknowledged the problem, too. "I don’t think all evangelicals will be happy with our report," he said. But he reckoned it was better to be part of the action than to be just criticising from the sidelines.

Moreover, he had a conviction that the unstudied Bible was as dangerous to the church as an illiterate pharmacist.

New Times, SA (August, 2000)