Coalition leaders lobby for ‘stay in’ PCUSA option
By Parker T. Williamson, The Layman Online, August 17, 2006
ATLANTA – Leaders of the Presbyterian Coalition set the stage for their gathering of some 450 people at Atlanta’s North Avenue Presbyterian Church with a full court press for denominational preservation.
“We want this meeting to be one in which we talk together about where we are as Presbyterians within the PCUSA,” declared executive coordinator Terry Schlossberg, with emphasis on the word “within.”
Schlossberg then welcomed Joan Gray, moderator of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Gray, a minister, said she brought greetings “from the 11,000 member congregations” of the denomination. She offered three “anchors” that she said sustain her as moderator: 1) “God is sovereign.” 2) “Without Jesus, we can do nothing, but with him, all things are possible.” 3) “I believe in prayer, and I believe that there are things God will not do unless we pray for them. Revival is one of those things. We’ve tried everything else. Why not try prayer and be fervent about it. That’s what I am doing, so I would just lift that up to you all too.”
Gray ended her greetings with an urgent plea to those who have been offended by recent actions of the denomination’s General Assembly: “Don’t put a period where God puts a comma,” she said.
Those who came to Atlanta looking for an exit plan soon learned that they were going to be disappointed. “There is no plan,” said Rev. Jerry Andrews, co-moderator of the Coalition. “Our future is not clear, at least not clear to all of us together. We came here to talk, and the Coalition board is here and listening. We will meet after this meeting is over, and we will announce plans at a later date.”
Listening and trusting
Andrews said that after years of being excluded from denominational decision-making, evangelicals now find themselves in a two-party system in which they represent 40 percent of the vote, contrasted with the liberals’ 25 percent. “That makes us the largest minority,” he said, “but it is still a minority, and we’ve been out positioned.”
“We have fought for the right to be heard, but what good is the right to be heard if no one is listening? When the denomination will not hear us, our right to be heard is of limited value,” said Andrews, “so speaking has to be replaced with action.”
But no specific actions steps made their way into Andrews’ commentary. “We argue about whether to go or stay, he said, “but I am convinced neither Luther nor Calvin asked that question. Going is not a solution, and staying is not a strategy.”
Responding to the plea by General Assembly officials that Presbyterians enter into a new season of mutual respect and trust, Andrews said, “We have been called to trust each other more. But Reformed Christians trust God. The call to trust each other must be rejected until it is accompanied by a call to be trustworthy. We will not trust calls to trust until they are so accompanied.”
No commas. Period.
“The Church of Jesus Christ is one holy catholic apostolic church,” said Andrews. “No commas. We reject the false choice that we must select some faithful expressions of the Church, for example its oneness, at the expense or neglect of others, for example, its holiness, as though these are competing attributes among which we must choose. Thus we reaffirm we will not be content with or accept as final any form of the Church that fails to strive for a more perfect expression of all that the Church is – one holy catholic apostolic Church. Without commas. Period.”
Calvin on Schism
Rev. Paul Parsons was welcomed to the podium to tell the crowd what John Calvin thought about schism. Bottom line: Parsons said Calvin opposed it. Parsons, whose interpretation of Calvin made, according to Coalition board member Peter Barnes, a powerful influence on Coalition leaders, said that Calvin was so committed to the “visible church” that he equated separation from that church with sin. “According to Calvin, a sin against any portion of the visible church is against the invisible church,” said Parsons. “Calvin says to avoid schism at all costs.”
Parsons quoted selected passages from Book IV of Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion in which Calvin urged Christians to remain loyal to the visible church, even when it was riddled with corruption. Given the context of Parson’s presentation, particularly as it was emphasized in Barnes’ introduction of Parsons, the unstated implication appeared to suggest that evangelical Presbyterians have no scriptural warrant for leaving a corrupt Presbyterian Church (USA), and to do so is to commit schism.
Notably absent from Parson’s references to Book IV were quotations in Chapter II, wherein Calvin defined schism as an ecclesiastical institution’s departure from the essentials of Christian faith. For Calvin, the “papists,” leaders of the institutional church of his day were “schismatic” because of their departure from essential Christian truths, not those Christians who on the basis of Scripture found it necessary to separate from an institution that could be no longer called “the true Church.”
Suggested ‘principles’
Barnes followed Parson’s commentary on Calvin with a list of suggested “principles” that he said the Coalition board put forward as a “rule” or “standard” by which to measure any option regarding “the way forward.” He suggested that a common agreement on these principles would help frame the group’s discussion and keep its ideas on track.
Heavily weighted toward working within, not apart from the Presbyterian Church (USA), Barnes’ principles were:
1) “Any plan must be true to Scripture, the Confessions of the PCUSA, and seek to take seriously the vows of ordination taken by ministers, elders and deacons.” In a related opinion, the Office of the General Assembly has advised that ministers or church officers who entertain the idea of separating from the denomination are guilty of violating their ordination vows.
2) “Any plan must lead us into effective mission and evangelism.”
3) “Any plan should acknowledge and support the primary role of the local congregation in furthering the mission of God.”
4) “Any plan must help limit the infection of corruption in the church.”
5) “Any plan must provide a measure of protection to vulnerable congregations and individuals.”
6) “Any plan needs to provide both differentiation and permeability.” Barnes admitted that “this is probably our fuzziest principle.”
7) “Any plan should promote responsible stewardship tied to conscience bound by the Word of God.”
8) “Any plan should not abandon reform of the PCUSA.” The Coalition’s commentary on this principle states: “The plan should take into account our location within the PCUSA and the covenanted relationship we have with the whole.”
9) “Any plan should promote unity with the evangelical/orthodox wing of the church.”
10)”Any plan needs to be achievable.”
Following Barnes’ presentation of the “principles,” the audience of approximately 450 was divided into buzz groups of five persons each to discuss what it had heard. No opportunity was afforded the groups to voice their views of the “principles” or to agree to their use. Rev. Roberta Hestenes, facilitator for this portion of the event, told participants that if they had concerns, they could write them on 4×6 cards that were scattered through the sanctuary. She assured them that these cards would be their “avenue of access” to the Coalition board.
Barnes then made a follow-up presentation called “Five Options” for the Coalition’s way forward that constituted the final presentation of the day. Listed as options were: 1) Reform within. (2) Fellowship – forming like-minded groups for fellowship within the PCUSA. 3) Trans-geographic presbyteries – calling on the denomination to allow the formation of non-geographic presbyteries on the basis of theological conviction. 4) Two-synod model v dividing the denomination into an “evangelical” synod and a “progressive” synod and allowing congregations to select the synod to which they would wish to belong. 5) Separation or relocation.
Barnes spent most of his time commenting on the two-synod model, a proposal that he made to the Coalition five years ago that failed to receive Coalition support. The major objection raised against his model was that it lacked theological integrity since the “evangelical” synod in this scheme would formally recognize and thereby legitimize a synod with a different faith that denies essential tenets of the gospel. A second objection stated that the two-synod model is merely another version of the “local option” proposal that “out PUPs the PUP report” recently adopted by the 217th General Assembly.
Previous objections to the contrary notwithstanding, Barnes commended the two-synod model, suggesting “This is a way for people to be free to serve Jesus Christ.”
Following the evening meal, participants were divided into 24 groups to discuss the Coalition board’s “Five Options.” Summaries of their findings will be posted on news print today.
Thanking God for the PCUSA
The evening worship service was led by Rev. John Huffman, whose prayer offered thanks to God “for the PCUSA, this church that we love so much. We remember that grand day when we were first ordained to Word and Sacrament. We pray for our church, and may we not lose our sense of call. We thank you for elders serving alongside us in the governing bodies of the church. How easy it is for us to be caught up in the problems of the day and forget how blessed we are.”
Huffman prayed for “patience, resilience, positive attitudes and a Christ-like spirit enabling us to keep on keeping on.”
He then asked the congregation to sing stanza three of The Church’s One Foundation: “Though with a scornful wonder this world sees her oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed. Yet saints their watch are keeping; Their cry goes up ‘How Long?’ And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.”
Today’s agenda
Today, the Coalition will focus on church property and legal issues, including the growing trend of evangelical congregations to redirect their financial contributions to ministries that they can trust.
Also on the agenda is a “speak out” session that may be revealing, since there has been scant opportunity for participants to express their concerns in plenary session. Comments in the halls indicate that many persons who have come to this conference are restive, increasingly unhappy with their current connections with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and disappointed that leaders of this event have tightly controlled it and appear unwilling to entertain separatist concerns.
During a brief “questions for clarification” session, some of this uneasiness surfaced. One speaker asked, “You say there is an option called ‘stay, fight, and win.’ What have we ever won, and what would winning look like?”
Another said: “My impression from your comments, both off hand and intentional, is that the Coalition is against separation. Is this correct?”
Barnes answered, “I’m not sure how to answer that question. Part of the genius of the Coalition is its diversity. What does the Coalition think? We are all over the map. Our board members have strong opinions about each of these five options. The difficulty is, how do we form a plan that gets most of us going in the same direction? We do not have a common, singular vision at this time. But I think this is something that the Coalition wants to do more in the future, because everybody is looking for leadership.”
Another person said, “If I were the leadership of this denomination, I’d be happy to see what is happening here, because the Coalition is not saying anything. We came here looking for direction. We want to challenge a system that is broken.”
Roberta Hestenes answered: “We’re working on it.”