denomination leaves chaplaincy group
By Jason P. Reagan, The Layman, September 27, 2011
Citing concerns following recent Presbyterian Church (USA) votes, an evangelical Presbyterian denomination has voted to leave a military chaplaincy umbrella group.
The Associated Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP), a conservative denomination consisting of 290 congregations across the Southeast, voted to leave the Presbyterian Council for Chaplains and Military Personnel (PCCMP) at its General Synod meeting in June. The withdrawal will go into effect Oct. 1.
Created in 1973, the PCCMP endorses, procures and supervises approximately 125 full-time military chaplains – 13 of which are ARP. According to its website the ministry also “offers assistance and support to chaplains and their families and renders an effective ministry to service personnel.”
At least until October, the council is endorsed by the PCUSA, the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, the Korean Presbyterian Church Abroad and the ARP. The ARP contributed $9,000 per year.
In the General Synod resolution, the ARP specifically identifies the PCUSA’s recent deletion of explicit chastity and fidelity ordination standards from its constitution – a move that will allow presbyteries to ordain gay candidates and those engaged in same-sex relationships.
“In the very near future a homosexual candidate for chaplaincy [endorsed by a PCUSA presbytery] is a real possibility,” the General Synod resolution read. “Should this occur, the ARP Church might soon find its chaplains endorsed by an agency that also endorses homosexual chaplains.”
The ARP also pointed out that, under current PCCMP policy, chaplain candidates are only evaluated on their fitness to serve in the military and not on their theological beliefs.
“It is sad for most of us to have the long and treasured tie with the ARP severed,” said PCCMP director Edward Brogan, adding that retired Marine Col. Terry Wallace, the group’s chairman and an ARP member, resigned after his denomination pulled out.
“The ARP withdrew because many of their voting members at Synod no longer wish to be in fellowship with anyone who is in any way connected with the PCUSA,” he said.
Brogan said he was saddened that, although the withdrawal was due in part to PCUSA ordination votes, the ARP didn’t “differentiate between the PCCMP, which has the PCUSA as one of its member denominations, and the PCUSA as they moved to a vote.”
ARP Principal Clerk C. Ronald Beard said the PCCMP had been very helpful with the transition and had not expressed any animosity. In the General Synod resolution in June, the ARP commended Brogan for his “excellent service as endorsing agent and … to the other members of the PCCMP for many decades of fruitful, cooperative ministry on behalf of chaplains.”
Don’t ask, don’t tell
The ARP’s withdrawal from the PCCMP comes at a time when many evangelical groups are coming to terms with another issue concerning gay members of the military – the repeal of the U.S. military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy.
Implemented in 1993, the policy stated that commanding officers could not ask service members about their sexual orientation and gay members were allowed to serve as long as they didn’t reveal their orientation.
In December, President Barack Obama signed a measure lifting the DADT ban, effectively permitting gay military members to openly serve. The repeal went into effect on Sept. 20. Opponents say lifting the ban will reduce military discipline and order.
“As of today, patriotic Americans in uniform will no longer have to lie about who they are in order to serve the country they love … our armed forces will no longer lose the extraordinary skills and combat experience of so many gay and lesbian service members,” Obama said in December.
Brogan said he believes the ARP’s separation had little to do with DADT because the measure didn’t become a “hot-button issue” until after the Synod voiced concerns about the PCUSA. However, the ARP will join an endorsing agency in October that has strongly opposed the DADT repeal over the past few years.
Enter the PRJC
After deliberating over several options, including endorsing its own chaplains, the ARP decided to affiliate with the Presbyterian and Reformed Joint Commission on Chaplains and Military Personnel (PRJC).
The PRJC endorses 200 military chaplains for six denominations, not counting the ARP. Included are the Korean American Presbyterian Church, the Korean Presbyterian Church in America – Koshin, the Orthodox Presbyterian Church the Presbyterian Church in America, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America and the United Reformed Churches in North America.
According to its policy manual, PRJC’s requires its endorsed chaplains to conduct a ministry that “includes all those activities and behaviors which are in accord with the inerrant Word of God, and the doctrinal standards set forth in the Westminster Confession of Faith, together with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms.”
Opponents of the DADT ban say it may prohibit chaplains who believe homosexual behavior to be a sin from preaching against it. In a letter written to all U.S. armed-service branches, chaplaincy leaders from several denominational groups said the measure may “create an environment that is increasingly hostile to the many chaplains — and the service members they serve — whose faith groups and personal consciences recognize homosexual behavior as immoral and unsafe, and do not permit same-sex unions.”
In a recently revised manual, the PRJC states the “repeal of DADT does not relieve PRJC-endorsed chaplains from their responsibility to stand firmly for what is right.”
The manual goes on to state that any documents which may urge chaplains to minister to gay service members “may not in any way be construed as overriding or requiring the compromise of, any Biblical, doctrinal or confessional standard on the part of those chaplains endorsed by the PRJC.”
However, the chaplaincy group urges its members to provide Scripturally-based counsel when needed.
“A service member who professes to be homosexual is still entitled to receive spiritual counsel if he or she so desires,” the manual states. “It is not unconstitutional for a chaplain to encourage such a service member to seek the grace of Christ to repent of this, or any other sin, whether he or she is an unbeliever or one professing faith in Christ as his or her Savior.”
Another concerned voiced by evangelical DADT opponents is the question of whether or not chaplains may perform same-sex civil-union ceremonies in states where it is legal and whether or not they may be required to do so as part of their ministerial duties.
The PRJC made its policy clear in a recent statement: “Chaplains endorsed by the [PRJC] will not be permitted to perform marriage or union ceremonies for homosexual or transgendered service.” The group further states the opinion that chaplains cannot be required to perform such ceremonies even under post-DADT policy.
Anticipating a maelstrom of controversy and questions, the Pentagon has spent several months re-training service members about the new law and is updating hundreds of regulations.
Regardless of the new policy, service members will still be prohibited from making public displays of affection.
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