Presbyterian Coalition plans task force on PCUSA issues
The Layman Online, April 23, 2001
Declaring that “our denomination’s unwillingness to uphold our biblical and confessional standards for marriage and the growing acceptance of homosexuality as simply an alternative lifestyle have become intolerable,” the Presbyterian Coalition says it “is not a time to bolt” from the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Coalition, a renewal group in the denomination, issued a statement on April 20 outlining its planned response to the defeat of Amendment O, which would have prohibited ministers from conducting services to bless homosexual couples.
Besides homosexual unions, the statement expressed concern over “the reluctance of the General Assembly Council to address the Christological issues stemming from the Peacemaking conference that have presented themselves vividly in the last year.”
The Coalition added, “… one can sense the chasm growing in a church divided over these important matters. We believe the threat of schism in the church is real, and this opinion is one that is shared by a surprisingly diverse group of people.”
The Coalition has named a task force to “consider a wide variety of possibilities for common conviction, commitment and action for the years to come that will serve the whole church. All options will be considered, and everything will be on the table.
“The results of this study will be presented to a larger meeting of the leadership of the Coalition in late July, and it will ultimately provide the framework for the Coalition’s annual Gathering of Presbyterians, which will be held in Orlando, October 1-3, 2001.”
The Coalition raises the same issues as the Confessing Church Movement, which has been endorsed by several renewal organizations and dozens of sessions.
The Confessing Church takes immediate action to rally Presbyterians around three historic tenets of faith:
- Jesus Christ alone is Lord of all and the way of salvation.
- Holy Scripture is the triune God’s revealed Word, the Church’s only infallible rule of faith and life.
- God’s people are called to holiness in all aspects of life. This includes honoring the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman, the only relationship within which sexual activity is appropriate.
Those involved in the Confessing Church Movement, which began in Pennsylvania, have said they took immediate steps because schism was already occurring as Presbyterians have been leaving the pews in the aftermath of the vote on Amendment O and other issues.