New Wineskins plans to release ‘wide range of options’ in response to state of PCUSA at Feb. 8-9 convocation
By Craig M. Kibler, January 3, 2007
The New Wineskins Association of Churches is planning to release what it has termed “a wide range of options” in response to the state of the Presbyterian Church (USA) during its winter convocation Feb. 8-9.
The convocation will be held at First Presbyterian Church in Orlando with the Rev. Dr. Sameh Maurice as the preacher and teacher. More complete information is available on the Web site of the association.
Sameh MauriceMaurice is the pastor of Kasr el Dobara Church in Cairo, Egypt, which event organizers describe as the largest Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church in the Middle East – 7,000 people regularly attend services and reach out to the city and region through multiple ministries and activities.
Since July, a New Wineskins strategy team has been working on a report “for action, which will include an examination of Biblical, spiritual, missional, congregational, strategic, legal considerations, and which could include the request for dismissal of a congregation from its presbytery.”
On Oct. 16, 2006, the group released a preliminary report that condemned what it called the denomination’s “pre-emptive punitive action against any PCUSA congregation that seeks to leave the denomination,” and suggested it is urgent that congregations take steps to prevent their property from being confiscated by the denomination.
The interim report includes several references to documents that have come to be called “The Louisville Papers.” The “privileged and confidential” recommendations, prepared only for presbytery leaders and their lawyers, outline draconian legal and administrative strategies to confiscate the property of congregations considering leaving the PCUSA.
“We specifically encourage every member of the denomination to read the Louisville Papers in order to understand the urgency of the occasion,” the preliminary report says.
As they prepared to present their final report in Orlando, the strategy team called on Presbyterians to pray. “The potential for damage to the cause of Jesus Christ is very great. Please pray that the leadership of all concerned will come and reason together to peacefully resolve our many differences in accordance with Matthew 5:25, thus avoiding potentially devastating and costly waves of litigation.”
Craig M. Kibler is the Director of Publications/Executive Editor of The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at cmkibler@www.layman.org.