Plan for non-geographic, transitional presbyteries overwhelmingly approved
By Craig M. Kibler, June 22, 2007
HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. – In a series of stunning votes, commissioners to the 27th General Assembly of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church on Friday morning overwhelmingly approved a plan to create non-geographic, transitional presbyteries to receive congregations seeking to join the denomination.
With an admonition from Bill Meyer, chairman of the committee on administration, the nearly 1,000 commissioners in the worship center at Cherry Hills Community Church for the June 20-23 General Assembly approved by voice vote and without amendment the following:
- The creation of two administrative commissions – one for churches and pastors desiring transitional membership in established geographic EPC presbyteries, and another for those seeking to join a transitional, non-geagraphic New Wineskins Association of Churches-Evangelical Presbyterian Church Presbytery.
- The members of both administrative commissions.
- The application for transitional membership.
Before the proposals were placed before the assembly, the Rev. Dr. Jeffrey Jeremiah, stated clerk of the EPC, told commissioners that Dr. Samuel Logan, executive secretary of the World Reformed Fellowship, had told him that “believers in Jesus Christ around the world are praying for you during this time.”
As he introduced Meyer, the Rev. Bill Vogler, moderator of the 27th General Assembly, commended commissioners for the discussion on the proposals the previous day.
“The discussion,” he said to applause, “was respectful, honoring and kind.”
Meyer introduced the four recommendations, telling commissioners that the structural proposal “we bring to you is a flawed document. I can’t point out the flaws. We present it to you as a first step that we believe the Lord Jesus Christ is bringing before us. We believe He is setting it before us and to take steps in the future. It does not answer every question in the next five years; those will have to be addressed later on.”
The only one of the recommendations that prompted some discussion, all in favor, was the one on the structure. Bill Davis of the Presbytery of the West, said he was “optimistic that this will serve us well.”
Jerry Albert of Mid-America Presbytery said, “We’re about to learn how big the heart of the EPC is. With the love of Jesus Christ, we will succeed in this transition.”
Meyer, referring to Ephesians 6, said the EPC’s “adversaries are not flesh and blood in other denominations. Our adversary goes by the name of Satan, Lucifer. Let’s stand against him. Let’s understand that he will seek to undermine what we have done today. Stand firm.”
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
After the votes, Jeremiah asked commissioners to join with him to “commit our decision to God by singing A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Commissioners stood up and sang the hymn, many with hands raised to the Lord.
Jeremiah then introduced the Rev. Dr. Gerrit Dawson and the Rev. Dr. Dean Weaver, the co-moderators of the New Wineskins Association of Churches, a conservative movement within the Presbyterian Church (USA). Dawson is the senior minister of First Presbyterian Church in Baton Rouge, La., and Weaver is the senior minister of Memorial Park Presbyterian Church in McCandless, Pa., a suburb of Pittsburgh.
“Thank you for your welcome all week long,” Dawson told commissioners. “It’s been overwhelming. People have prayed for me, smiled for me and encouraged me in ways that I haven’t felt for years. I thank you on behalf of the 160 or 170 New Wineskins churches.
“Thank you,” he said, “for your courage in doing something new and a willingness to fail gloriously or succeed gloriously.”
Not an easy road
Dawson reminded the assembly that there’s still a long road ahead for churches seeking to join the EPC. “Coming out to join you may not be easy,” he said. “It will be a church-by-church vote, a session-by-session vote, a congregation-by-congregation vote, a presbytery-by-presbytery vote.”
“Not all will leave the Presbyterian Church (USA),” he said. “Some will not be called to live out this vision, while others of us will. The New Wineskins name is not popular. I’m sorry to say that your name also will be dragged into it. I thank you for being willing to stand with us. We are proud to stand with you. In a time of storm, you have welcomed us.”
Weaver also thanked commissioners, telling them that he was “so grateful for the Biblical hospitality you extended to us in our time of need.”
He then told them about an e-mail he had received from a commissioner just after the final votes. The e-mail, he said, read: “Regardless of the cost, my friend, welcome to a place where you are loved.”
“It’s good,” Weaver said, “to be home.”
In a joint statement issued on behalf of the New Wineskins Association of Churches, Dawson and Weaver said:
“We offer our heartfelt and profound thanks to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church for creating a New Wineskins Transitional Presbytery. It has been quite a week in Denver. We were overwhelmed with the Gospel hospitality we felt in their midst. The encouragement and affirmation, the sense of kinship in Christ, were all like cool winds on our souls. We witnessed at this assembly a wonderful graciousness of discourse, a Christ-centered passion in worship and a courageous openness to God’s future.
“We are humbled that the EPC has opened its arms to the vision we share. We agree profoundly that God is calling us to an expression of His church based on shared essentials of the faith, clear ethical imperatives and a mission-serving polity.
“We know that many of the New Wineskins churches are called to remain in the PCUSA, living out this vision right where they are. We also know that many of our churches are being called out, and we express our deepest gratitude for the open arms into which they will be received.
“We pray that such a spirit of graciousness as we have felt will blow through our denomination as well.”
After Dawson and Weaver received a standing ovation, outgoing Moderator Dr. Paul Heidebrecht prayed for the assembly, saying: “Lord Jesus Christ, how grateful we are, how overjoyed we are, how overwhelmed we are at what your Spirit is doing here right now.”
Craig M. Kibler is the Director of Publications for the Presbyterian Lay Committee and Executive Editor of The Layman and The Layman Online. He can be reached at cmkibler@www.layman.org.