Presbytery exec says he will make churches pay for schism
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, September 28, 2005
Ken Moe, the executive of the Presbytery of the Grand Canyon, delivered a scathing attack on the New Wineskins Initiative and the Presbyterian Lay Committee in his report to the presbytery during its meeting on Sept. 16.
He said the two groups are promoting schism in the denomination by insisting on subscription to theological standards and moral imperatives. “Denomination watchers are predicting the greatest impact of the storm will occur next June in Birmingham, Alabama,” Moe added. “That is the time and place of the 217th General Assembly.”
“I have a responsibility to protect the presbytery from the effects of schismatic movements,” Moe told the presbytery. “And it is fitting that I make this pledge at Fort Defiance [Presbyterian Church], because it is our Native American churches that would be most hurt by division. I will do everything I know how to prevent congregations from leaving the Presbytery of Grand Canyon. But if any should decide by proper vote to depart from the PCUSA, let there be no secession without compensation! I pledge to work hard to protect the historic mission of this presbytery from the economic ravages of schism.”
He commended the report of the PCUSA’s Theological Task Force on Peace, Unity and Purity and contrasted it with the Presbyterian Lay Committee’s booklet titled, “Can Two Faiths Embrace One Future?”
Moe quotes from the booklet: “‘There are only two viable options for Presbyterians of integrity: We can affirm our scriptural and constitutional standards, explicitly requiring subscription to essential tenets of Reformed faith and morals and initiating an orderly process of discipline to defend them; or we can honestly recognize that the Presbyterian Church (USA) encompasses irreconcilable faiths, and that integrity requires us to divide them into separate denominations.'”
The task force, Moe pointed out, says the denomination “‘should make every effort to prevent schism.'”
“Which of these different approaches seems more extreme?” he asks. “The Layman’s call for strict doctrinal subscription to rein in what it paints as a ‘culture of unbelief’ or the PUP task force’s call to respect the integrity of people with differing beliefs and appreciate the greater areas of mutual agreement?”
He accuses the Lay Committee of “hypocrisy” in calling for strict enforcement of G-6.0106b, the constitutional “fidelity/chastity” ordination standard, but “when it comes to G-8, the Book of Order chapter on church property, it provides encouragement to churches that are looking for ways to get around the clear language and intent of the constitution.”
That chapter says that Presbyterian congregations hold their property in trust for the denomination. If the congregations leave the denomination, presbyteries are given the authority to determine whether they will take over the property. But Chapter 8 does not require a takeover. A presbytery may simply dismiss a congregation with its property – even without requiring some compensation for that property.
Moe said the New Wineskins are “strict subscriptionists.”
“I will say that although I could easily assent to much of what they have published, there are too many significant declarations I could not in good conscience subscribe to,” he said. “And in that regard I know I’m not alone in this sanctuary. My guess is that if we were all honest about it, most of us could not subscribe to all the New Wineskins doctrinal requirements. Which means that if their reimagined denomination were to come to pass, most of us would either have to lie about it or be out on our duffs.”
He acknowledged that, “However clumsily expressed, these tenets and imperatives represent the authentic faith of the writers, and they certainly reflect historic elements within the Reformed Tradition. The problem is forced subscription.”
While he said that “the likelihood of the New Wineskins Initiative gaining control of the PCUSA is somewhere between low and non-existent,” Moe expressed the belief that if “they don’t get their own way, the New Wineskins folk will take their toys and go somewhere else.”
“I want to address one more issue that various advocacy groups rightly call attention to,” he said. “The PCUSA continues to lose members. Letters to the Layman claim the losses are due to departure from orthodox doctrine and that people are leaving to join more conservative churches. Some are. But indications are that we are losing far more people to secular culture.
“And yet we continue to receive a steady stream of new members,” he continued. “Many are coming to us as refugees from authoritarian denominations of both hierarchical and congregational persuasions. What will we say to those who have found spiritual refuge here if we become like the churches they left? April Fools! We were only pretending to be a broad-based, tolerant church. We don’t really respect your doubts and scruples after all!”