PFR urges GAC to reconsider response to Ficca controversy
By Robert P. Mills, The Layman Online, May 4, 2001
We have no life apart from Jesus, and the General Assembly Council has no purpose for existence apart from the proclamation and preservation of this affirmation. Nothing is more important.
Insisting that “Nothing is more important than bearing witness to what God has done in sending forth His Son to be the Savior of the world and the person through whom God the Father has reconciled all things in heaven and earth to Himself,” the board of directors of Presbyterians for Renewal recently “voted to express its concern” to the General Assembly Council about the council’s response to a furor sparked by last summer’s denominationally sponsored Peacemaking Conference.
At that conference, PCUSA minister Dirk Ficca asked rhetorically, “What’s the big deal about Jesus,” and suggested that Jesus Christ is not the only path to God. Despite numerous and repeated requests from Presbyterians across the country, the council refused to express any concern about Ficca’s comments. Instead, they supported conference officials, who invited a Presbyterian minister to deny Presbyterian confessional standards at a Presbyterian event.
By such actions, PFR wrote the council, “You have undermined the clear mandate of Christ to make disciples of all peoples. You have failed to assure the Church of the Council’s commitment to the confessional standards of our denomination regarding Christology and soteriology. You have failed to make it clear that the widely quoted statements of Rev. Ficca are outside the bounds of our Reformed and Presbyterian tradition.”
“We affirm the values of free and open inquiry, when appropriate, at General Assembly sponsored events. However, when presentations are made by Ministers of Word and Sacrament, Elders, or Deacons as ordained leaders bound by our common vows, such freedom is limited by the confessional standards in the church (G-2.0200).”