Confessing Church leaders Seek to discern next step
The Layman Online, January 24, 2003
Some leaders in the Confessing Church Movement within the Presbyterian Church (USA), saying they have sensed a call to “something more,” are calling for stronger links “for the purpose of being the church.”
During a meeting Jan. 19-23 in Indianapolis, the group decided to form an interim council to “discern God’s leading for the next steps,” the group said. “The council will issue an interim report within the next six weeks.”
The meeting in Indianapolis included regional leaders, members of the Confessing Church Movement leadership teams and Confessing Church Celebration planners.
The only full gathering of the Confessing Church Movement, which now includes 1,289 congregations with 427,820 members, was held in January 2002 in Atlanta. About 1,000 Confessing Church members attended that national celebration.
As a percentage, the movement represents 11.6 percent of the congregations in the PCUSA, 17.2 percent of the membership and more than 20 percent of the contributions.
The Confessing Church Movement, which is not incorporated and has no employees, is a federation of congregations whose sessions have lifted up three tenets in response to unorthodox teaching: 1) that Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord for the world; 2) that Scripture is the infallible authority for life and faith; and 3) that God’s moral standards for holiness are not subject to revision to accommodate a changing culture.