BRIEF TIMELINE OF THEOLOGICAL ISSUES IN THE PCUSA 1910-2015
1910 – Essential and Necessary Doctrines Defined; tension between fundamentalists and modernists
1924 – Auburn Affirmation – modernist response
1927 – Ordination is no longer based on national standards but presbytery local option
1936 – Orthodox Presbyterian Church founded under leadership of J. Gresham Machen
1965 – Last year denomination grew; 4.25 million members; the Presbyterian Lay Committee formed to expose and address the undermining of theological and moral standards.
1967 – Book Of Confessions replaces Westminster Confession as confessional standard of the church; Confession of 1967 added; New ordination vows adopted – “Scripture is God’s word to you.”
1973 – 260+ Congregations depart to form Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)
1978 – “Missions” (Great Commission around globe) redefined to “mission” (work of the church)
1978 – Definitive Guidance (wherein homosexuality a labeled “sin”) adopted by General Assembly; ordination of homosexuals prohibited; concurred by PCUS General Assembly in 1979
1981 – Mansfield Kaseman case – ordination approved even though he would not affirm “Jesus is God.” Evangelical Presbyterian Church Formed (EPC) in anticipation of Reunion.
1982 – Both the UPCUSA and the PCUS add the assertion of express denominational trust over all local church property. Few people in the PCUS were aware of the change as the focus was on the documents related to Reunion.
1983 – Reunion of UPCUSA (Northern Church) and PCUS (Southern Church). An 8 year window is open for PCUS churches to leave with their property.
1986 – General Assembly reaffirms 1978 Definitive Guidance;
1989 – The Covenant Fellowship of Presbyterians and Presbyterians United for Biblical Concerns merged to form Presbyterians for Renewal
1993 – Reimagining God event – “Sophia” worship; God is portrayed as female; the substitutionary atonement is rejected.
1993 – General Assembly reaffirms 1978 Definitive Guidance
1996 – Fidelity and Chastity (G-6.0106b) added to Book of Order as Amendment B – prohibits ordination of practicing homosexuals and other people who persist in other sexual sins
1997 – General Assembly votes to overturn Fidelity and Chastity; Amendment A rejected by presbyteries
2001 – General Assembly refuses to acknowledge “the singular saving lordship of Jesus Christ.” GA votes to overturn Fidelity and Chastity; Amendment 01A rejected by presbyteries
2001 – Confessing Church Movement arises – affirms authority of Scripture and Jesus as sole means of salvation; New Wineskins Movement develops
2006 – Peace, Unity and Purity (PUP) received and adopted; General Assembly issues Authoritative Interpretation to allow scruples over Fidelity and Chastity (effectively creating “local option”);
2007 – New Wineskins Association of Churches enters into relationship with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) to create pathway for exodus of churches;
2008 – General Assembly votes to overturn Fidelity and Chastity; Amendment B is rejected by presbyteries. But GA also voided all prior judicial rulings and Definitive Guidance on homosexuality; undoing 30 years of process and washing away the record of PJC rulings.
2010 – General Assembly votes to replace Fidelity and Chastity with milder language; Amendment 10A is approved by presbyteries; Pastors from seven large churches gather to express concern over decline in PCUSA and the Fellowship of Presbyterians begins to take shape.
2011 – Open letter to denomination from the seven large church pastors declaring PCUSA “deathly ill” and accompanying White Paper entitled “Time for Something New.” Fellowship of Presbyterians formed at large gathering in Minneapolis. Ordinations of non-celibate LGBTQ people begin contrary to scripture; departures from PCUSA accelerate; down to 1.75 million members (from 4.25 million in 1965) by 2013.
2012 – ECO: Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians formed in Orlando. (ECO reports more than 200 churches by 2015.) Congregations also continue exodus from PCUSA to EPC which doubled in size between 2007 and 2012, from 180 to more than 400 congregations.
2014 – General Assembly approves overture to redefine marriage and Authoritative Interpretation to allow same-sex “marriage” ceremonies in PCUSA churches by PCUSA clergy in states where it is legal (civil law now dictates our polity, not Scripture). Amendment 14F passed in a majority of presbyteries and becomes effective June 21, 2015. The amendment preserves the right of clergy to not perform any marriage that is contrary to their understanding of the Scriptures. The PCUSA has officially arrived at the “everyone does what is right in his own eyes” position on marriage.
2015 – The Moderator of the PCUSA repeatedly preaches a sermon containing knowing error and is not held to account. On three occasions in January 2015, in videos you can watch on YouTube, the Moderator said that the Bible says we should take divorced people out of the sanctuary and stone them to death on the church steps. The Bible never says any such thing and when asked the Moderator admitted that he didn’t know exactly where the Bible said it but he was sure it did. Even when informed of his error, he continued to preach the same stump sermon in subsequent appearances.
The other pressing issues include:
- a growing acceptance of universal theology by the clergy
- support of abortion
- divestment from holdings in corporations whose products are used for “non-peaceful pursuits” by Israel
- social witness policies that are almost indistinguishable from the progressive agenda of the Democratic party
- staff leadership that does not reflect the values nor priorities of the people in the pews.
17 Comments. Leave new
The sins, individual and collective of the PCUSA are too numerous to mention, sins of commission and omission. If we are talking recent history the current crises of the PCUSA is in essence a polity crises, a Constitutional crises. And that dates to 2006 and the PUP commission.
When the AI was authorized as a means to the end of gay ordination, the implied message was the Constitution was not worth the paper its printed on. It is now basically a business manual. Further that the ruling liberal elites no longer trusted the people, process and polity of the church to adjudicate or process church business. We see the same with the AI and Detroit as applied to marriage ceremonies.
The take away is that if the liberals who own the system no longer believe or trust in it, why should anybody else? If they run away from their own rules, which they made over the last 50 years, why should anybody else support them? If they tell you to pay your per capita and just shut up, why? Again religious conservative-traditionalists need do nothing to bring about the end of said denomination. Those who own and control the system are doing a pretty good job by themselves.
Well, let’s see. First of all, there was no Presbyterian denomination in 1965 with a membership of 4.25 million.
And you missed a couple things:
1964 – the PCUS does away with so-called “negro presbyteries.”
1965 – the PCUS begins to ordain women ministers.
Those events would appear to be related to your entry for 1973.
As expected “Pres” played the race and gender card. As if those who chose to leave the UPC/PCUS/PCUSA were either racists Klan members or knuckle dragging Neanderthals who believe women should be locked in the kitchen. Such is played for two reasons. To prove that liberals are morally and intellectually superior to those on the other side, and of course we should all just allow them to lead, because they are superior by education and class. Also to shut down discussion, to shame those who disagree with the liberal mind-set.
In response to this “Pres” being what can best be called an internet Troll has two options, retort, unusually under another name, or go back to the shadows. Or go to the senior early bird special at the local diner. I suggest the later.
I would say 3.5 million folks cannot be wrong. Even if the mainline Presbyterian numbers for 1965 could be brought forward with actually zero nominal growth, only keeping up with simple population growth since 1965, the PCUSA should be about 10 million in 2015. So what happened? Allot happened.
For Pres and the institutional apologists, if you really, really love the beloved PCUSA you need to get to work, The organization is lead by incompetents, cannot manage its books, and is dropping numbers likes flies. Liberals like to tell others how to live their lives and spend their money. May I suggest that all religious PCUSA liberals need to step up and support such an organization well, “liberally”. They need the money from all accounts. Also they need to serve on all those Presbytery committees well into their 90s. Nobody else wants too.
PG – No denomination @4.25M in 1965 is a simple fact. 4.25 is the number mentioned in this article. The relationship between the two items cited in 1964/1965 and the 1973 departure of the PCA is undeniable. The PCA still has sufficient obsession with women to break off relations with the conservative CRC over the issue. In the middle to late sixties “creeping liberalism” was quite commonly associated with women clergy and too much emphasis on “social issues,” especially civil rights. Again: facts. Now it has merely moved on to something else.
And I think you have a severe misunderstanding of the term “troll.” Most often, that would be associated with the type of person who makes analogies with Nazis in internet posts and otherwise likes put insulting labels on the things he criticizes. I.e. things that you do on a regular basis.
Carmen, under “other pressing issues”, I think “a growing acceptance of a theology of universalism by the clergy” would be a clearer statement.
Pres, the 4.25 million figure is taken from the total reported memberships of the UPCUSA and the PCUS in 1965. Since these two denominations merged in 1983, it seems fair in doing comparative statistics to consider the total of both “parent” organizations over against that of the PCUSA presently. Any way you look at it, the scenario is not rosy.
Well, no. There is an ebb and flow with the Presbyterian denominations. They come together for a time and then someone gets in a huff and splits off again.
But since you want to do some analysis on some sort of meta-denomination: If the Layman and its fellow travelers are to be believed, then fifty years ago there were about 4.5 million Presbyterians overall, and those whom the Layman would label as “progressives” were a small minority. Now there are maybe 2.5 million Presbyterians overall, a majority of whom fit the Layman’s characterization as “progressive.” Or, since the Layman is clearly obsessed with homosexuality (just count the articles), would you like to do a count of the number of Presbyterians who support the ordination of LGBT clergy, and the number who don’t? Which group do you imagine has been growing over the past decade, and which do you think is shrinking?
You all should stay away from the numbers. It is not your strong suit.
The great and enduring mythology of the PCUSA is built on the simple premise that if only the church could in time expand the ‘big tent”, make the theology and practice more ‘progressive’, opening, affirming, saying yes to any and all, all the time. Then folks would flock to the message and church. That the less you ask and demand about Jesus, confessions, doctrine that the church would have this new rebirth, and people and money would follow. Even before the financial shenanigans of 1001. The entire program was based on that myth.
50 years going, how is that working out? The liberals know now the darkness at the end of the tunnel is more darkness, so they blame the following in order.
-Conservatives who snipe and complain and just do not support the organization or pay per capita. Its all their fault.
-The media and message, if that “Layman” would just go away. And stop publishing all that stuff that drives the conservatives nuts and liberal mad. Its all their fault.
-The math, the numbers are just plain wrong. Suspension of believe or the numbers lie. Yes, that the real issue.
For an organization as numbers obsessed as the PCUSA even they know you do not go from 4 to 1 million without some questions asked. But they never ask the question, “why”. A very simple question. And until they do they will wonder in their own never-mever land, where you never have to grow up.
Pres, the trajectory of the numbers tells a significant story. One is a mainline denomination that is rapidly moving to extinction as it abandons biblical truth and constitutional integrity, while God is calling its former members on to new mission endeavors that have such integrity and a vision for future growth. And you misread the numbers to believe that all remaining members are truly “progressive” in their viewpoint. Many are still kept clueless by their pastors, and have no idea that they will be in a denomination that likely will redefine marriage in total contradiction to scripture, our confessions, and historic Christian practice. Others are aware but are in congregations where there is just enough of an alternate viewpoint that dismissal is not likely without the Presbytery seizing the property and assets. They will likely trickle away later. And it is likewise a sad affair when a denomination is no longer concerned with care of souls and the retention of members, but control of buildings and assets, as if those are what makes the kingdom of God.
It seems like the majority …non progressives… Have left the pcusa minority progressive-left with its hefty foundation….its riches…! As they have left to form several new orders each remains a minority. Perhaps these several must form a. United organization to receive their share of what they have left behind. As a majority it would seem like they should have a gallery of smart legal scholars?…yes.
It does seem odd that when churches of other orders decided way back to organize into a new joined order that the properties would become the properties of pcusa. Many of these properties existed way before these organizations were even dreamed of.
Any private corporation worth its salt would have summarily fired such leadership long ago. But the PCUSA keeps electing and hiring these folk who still have the audacity in their massive failures to advise private corporations and national leadership in how to succeed! This is beyond arrogance.
Have a great time taking care of the empty buildings!
To be clear, i do not normally make the progressive or not distinction… I was referring to the apparent definition by the layman and most of its followers. And i did not say that people the layman labele as “progressive” includes all in the pcusa…just a substantial majority of the 1.8 million, and a sufficient number to be a mayority of the 2.5 million ( even if just above 50%).
But still…it is clearly the number of presbyterians whom the layman believes are “not progressive” that is in severe decline.
In 2006 the acceptance of PUP also meant that any belief including the ten questions for ordination can be scrupled or set aside. That includes Jesus as Lord and Savior and adhearance to Scripture. Please add this to that
Item because it was more than fidelity and chastity…….it was any belief
that can be ignored in favor of a Presbytery allowing a pastor or candidate to be ordained and accepted into the PCUSA.
That is a good idea. Otherwise, subversion is validated, rewarded.
http://biblehub.com/matthew/19-9.htm
With regard to the purported erroneous statement of the Moderator that the Bible says divorced people should be stoned:
Matthew 19:9 states that a man who divorces his wife except for infidelity and marries another woman commits adultery. In the Old Testament there are many references to the punishment for adultery being death.
So how do divorced fundamentalist Christians get around what the Bible clearly says? If every word of the Bible is literally true and the word of God, then divorce should be considered a sin like extramarital sex. Fortunately Jesus said that those without sin should cast the first stone, and no one is without sin.
Literalism should at least be consistent.
Sharlene, I often find the sort of argument you present here. let me explain why no one is moved by it.
1) What the Bible clearly says in Matthew 19 is that divorce has been permitted since the time of Moses; but there is no example of stoning as a punishment for divorce. So the historic record of the bible is clear.
2) In Matthew 19, Jesus is teaching the spirit of the law – not the letter of the law. You’ll find a similar list in Matthew 5. The later teaching in Colossians 5:14 is why Christians follow the moral law, but not the ceremonial or civil law of the Old Testament.
3) There are no literalists (I will retract that statement if you can anyone who believes God has feathers based on Psalm 91), but there are many well educated believers who can explain Scripture to you. If you are in a PCUSA church there is no sense in asking your pastor – go to the nearest EPC or PCA pastor for a serious discussion.