More from Mark D. Roberts (regarding church unity and the current controversies in the mainline churches):
So many Christians today, especially of the American evangelical variety, seem to have forgotten Jesus's prayer in John 17. They leave churches for trivial or ill-considered reasons. They split churches as if God didn't care about keeping them together. More shocking still, sometimes they even strive to hurt the churches they have left. These are profound tragedies, not to mention profound sins.
I have often been asked why I've stayed in the PCUSA for so long, given the many crazy and unhelpful things the denomination has done over the years, especially through General Assembly votes. My answer has different components. Partly I've stayed because I believe that God has called me to the PCUSA. Partly I've stayed because I've hoped that I could make a difference for good in the denomination. And partly I've stayed become of a firm belief that since God cares so much about the unity of the church, so should I.
It seems to me that, in light of a biblical theology of salvation, Spirit, church, and Trinity, Christians should strive energetically for church unity. Unity is both a result of what Christ has done on the cross and a testimony to the world of this accomplishment. Thus one should leave a church, or split a church, only in extraordinary circumstances, and only when there are solid biblical reasons for doing so, and only after an extended season of prayerful, scriptural, and communal discernment.
Click on the title to read the entire article.
What is really difficult for me in all of this is that our senior pastor has suggested that those of us of a more traditional bent would be happier in the LCMS. Yet we have been happy here, in a rather conservative ELCA church. Now we have a pastor seemingly committed to making sure we are not a rather conservative ELCA church, but more in line with what you would find in Chicago or New York. Those who don't like it are welcome to leave and many have. Now we are in serious financial trouble. What I want to know is where is the concern for unity in all of this?
---Katie
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Local Option in the PCUSA?
Pray for our Presbyterian brothers and sisters.
From markdroberts.com:
This is a blog post I was hoping and praying I wouldn't have to write.
It looks like my denomination, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., felt envious over the recent attention given to the Episcopal Church as it faces the possibility of schism. Thus we decided to get our fair share of the spotlight by acting rather like the Episcopalians. Even as recent actions by the national leadership of the Episcopal Church has brought that denomination to the brink of division, so have recent actions of the General Assembly of the PCUSA.
Today's General Assembly cast two historic votes. The combination of these votes looks almost schizophrenic to anyone not familiar with the peculiar dysfunctionality of the PCUSA. On the one hand, the General Assembly voted by a strong majority (405-92) to leave the so-called "fidelity and chastity" section of our constitution intact. In plain language, the Book of Order of the PCUSA states that all ordained officers in the church must practice "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness" (G-6.0106b). This is a standard that, until today, every leadership body in the church was expected to apply without exception to every leader and potential leader. Period. This is what the General Assembly reaffirmed with a resoundingly favorable vote.
Then there's the other vote. The same General Assembly voted by a 298-221 margin to accept a portion of the Peace, Unity, and Purity Report (PUP Report) that allows governing bodies certain leeway in how they apply the standards of the Constitution. To put it in a nutshell, the rules state clearly that persons who engage in sex outside of marriage may not be ordained. But, according to today's action of the General Assembly, leadership bodies are now free to decide whether they must follow the rules or not. So, on the same day we Presbyterians reaffirmed the rules with a strong positive vote, and then voted to allow people not to follow the rules. See what I mean? It's almost schizophrenic.
(Do you hear the ELCA saying "Me too! Me too!"?)
Click on the title to read the entire article.
---Katie
From markdroberts.com:
This is a blog post I was hoping and praying I wouldn't have to write.
It looks like my denomination, the Presbyterian Church U.S.A., felt envious over the recent attention given to the Episcopal Church as it faces the possibility of schism. Thus we decided to get our fair share of the spotlight by acting rather like the Episcopalians. Even as recent actions by the national leadership of the Episcopal Church has brought that denomination to the brink of division, so have recent actions of the General Assembly of the PCUSA.
Today's General Assembly cast two historic votes. The combination of these votes looks almost schizophrenic to anyone not familiar with the peculiar dysfunctionality of the PCUSA. On the one hand, the General Assembly voted by a strong majority (405-92) to leave the so-called "fidelity and chastity" section of our constitution intact. In plain language, the Book of Order of the PCUSA states that all ordained officers in the church must practice "fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman or chastity in singleness" (G-6.0106b). This is a standard that, until today, every leadership body in the church was expected to apply without exception to every leader and potential leader. Period. This is what the General Assembly reaffirmed with a resoundingly favorable vote.
Then there's the other vote. The same General Assembly voted by a 298-221 margin to accept a portion of the Peace, Unity, and Purity Report (PUP Report) that allows governing bodies certain leeway in how they apply the standards of the Constitution. To put it in a nutshell, the rules state clearly that persons who engage in sex outside of marriage may not be ordained. But, according to today's action of the General Assembly, leadership bodies are now free to decide whether they must follow the rules or not. So, on the same day we Presbyterians reaffirmed the rules with a strong positive vote, and then voted to allow people not to follow the rules. See what I mean? It's almost schizophrenic.
(Do you hear the ELCA saying "Me too! Me too!"?)
Click on the title to read the entire article.
---Katie
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