So here's a perfect example of why Presbyterians still can't agree on how to interpret and apply Scripture: did anyone else notice that New Wineskins is using our baccalaureate verse from Isaiah 43 as their mantra?
Check it out (and if you're Presbyterian and don't know what New Wineskins is, you need to find out):
http://www.newwineconvo.com/
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Presbyterian Outlook has an article on the situation - you need to register but its free to read: www.pres-outlook.com.
Also - there is a very interesting article in the on-line publication that the Stated Clerk's office puts out, Perspectives, looking at what drives the seperationist impulse of the Evangelical cmmunity: http://pcusa.org/oga/perspectives/index.htm.
(look for a link on the left side, its a 25 page pdf but its worth the read).
The New Wineskins who are looking to separate are looking to move into the Evengelical Presbyterian Church - which doesn't ordain women. Interestingly enough - EPC is willing to accept ordained women from the New Wineskin group as a "non-essential" scruple.
It is still unclear if churches can leave with property. It is being tested in secular court now.
I just finished the Perspectives article - thanks, Anitra. It's a great overview and really helpful in clarifying the values and premises behind the debates. It's also interesting looking at the same issue from an international ecumenical perspective. The World Council of Churches is struggling to figure out how best to relate to the growing churches in the global south, most of which are evangelical/Pentecostal. How can we reconcile a branch of the church inherently distrustful of the institutional church with bodies (like the Eastern Orthodox) for whom the institutional church IS the what it means to be the church?
Thanks for the referral to the Perspectives article. It’s a great analysis. For those of us serving in, or applying to, churches where we run into folks coming from an evangelical background, and who take exception to a different interpretation of Scripture, this gives us some context. One of the wonderful things about our Presbyterian theology and polity is that it gives us a large umbrella which can cover a multitude of viewpoints. It’s unfortunate that the Confessing Church/New Wineskins folks have taken the position that dialogue isn’t acceptable and that any position opposed to theirs is against scripture. On an individual church level, that can create a lot of pain for a congregation and for a pastor trying to minister to them. On an individual church level, it may well serve a congregation better for a member whose theology is so far removed from the mainstream of that community to find a different church home, than for them to stay and create conflict. Does that apply on a denominational level? I hope not, but I don’t know.
It really creeps me out to see people using scripture to create a systemmatic movement of ecclesial dissociation based on fear, bigotry, and ignorance.
When searching for the truths to guide our lives, polity, and practices, should we not embrace the words of Jesus himself? Wouldn't that be the Christian thing to do? Did Jesus ever show fear, condone bigotry, or suffer ignorance? No. He was a teacher, a healer, and was open to learning for himself as much as teaching and correcting those who misrepresented and misused the scriptures.
As for me, Mark 12:29-31 and John 13:34 say it all. Everything hangs on these commandments. Those who would condem rather than support and embrace have it all wrong. Those who can not find tolerance in their hearts have no reason to call themselves Christian. Anyone who require others to believe in ways that prevent unity are working contrary to the mission of Christ.
My prayers go out to you all and to the PCUSA. These are trying times. And when asked at my Ecclesiastical Council on Saturday, "What angers you?", I had to reply, "Intolerance." I pray that intolerance is banished as acceptable or righteous in any form amoung those who claim to follow the Christ!
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