Five PCUSA ministers will investigate
unattributed allegations against EPC
The Layman, April 20, 2009
The General Assembly Committee on Ecumenical Relations has appointed a five-member task force to investigate the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), the denomination that has been preferred by most congregations leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA). All of the members of the task force are ministers and two are presbytery executives.
Some of the members have already interviewed pastors. In one case, a minister whose congregation now aligns with the EPC refused to grant an interview. The purpose of the task force is to make a recommendation to the 2010 General Assembly on whether the PCUSA considers the EPC a compatible Reformed body.
Depending on what the General Assembly decides, the outcome could greatly affect the possibility of presbyteries being willing to dismiss PCUSA congregations to affiliate with the EPC. Some PCUSA loyalists do not think the EPC is compatible because of its adherence to the Westminster Confession, opposition to ordaining self-affirming, practicing homosexuals and recognition of Scripture as the highest authority for life and faith.
The Committee on Ecumenical Relations, which is a part of the Office of the General Assembly, had been slow to announce the task force and its membership. The Layman contacted the committee’s office several times last week without securing the names of the task force members or their assignments.
Perhaps in response to those contacts, Sharon Youngs, communications coordinator for the Office of the General Assembly, posted a news release about the task force on the denomination’s Web site Friday.
The members of the task force are:
- The Rev. Krystin Granberg, chair of the task force, a member of the Ecumenical Relations Committee. She is listed in the denomination’s Directory of Ministers as being affiliated with Broadway Presbyterian Church in New York City. The church’s self-evaluation: “We are able to claim the work of the Holy Spirit in other cultures, religions and denominations – even in ‘secular’ realms such as politics, humanities and the arts. His skepticism about the human condition gave Presbyterians a unique gift to worldwide Christianity. Our system refuses to fix Truth in any policy, doctrine or rule of faith save the person of Jesus Christ.”
- The Rev. Joy Kaufmann, general presbyter of the Huntingdon Presbytery in Pennsylvania.
- The Rev. Terry Epling, stated clerk of the Giddings-Lovejoy Presbytery in St. Louis.
- The Rev. Eugene Turner of Fayetteville, N.Y., a retired minister.
- Jeffrey Varnos, a minister in Lawrenceville, N.J.
Robina Winbush, coordinator of the Ecumenical Relations Committee, will serve staff to the committee. The Layman asked her why the normal requirements for clergy-laity parity in task forces and other bodies did not apply. She said parity is not required for “subcommittees” of General Assembly committees.
“The committee wanted individuals who had experience, persons who they felt could do the job,” she said.
The 2008 General Assembly authorized the investigation after receiving allegations that the EPC was coaxing congregations to leave the PCUSA. The EPC has repeatedly denied those allegations, which have been made without attribution or documentation.
By a vote of 547-149, the 2008 General Assembly approved the investigation to determine whether “the Evangelical Presbyterian Church is actively pursuing a strategy to persuade Presbyterian Church (USA) churches to disaffiliate with the Presbyterian Church (USA) and be dismissed to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.”
As originally written, the overture called on the World Alliance of Reformed Churches to do the investigation. Clifton Kirkpatrick, retired stated clerk of the PCUSA, is the president of WARC and has been critical of the EPC. The General Assembly chose, however, to follow the recommendation of the Committee on Ecumenical Relations and allow it to appoint the investigative team.
Winbrush said the task force will meet in the fall to evaluate the results of the presbytery visits and begin writing its report.
The next full meeting of the Ecumenical Relations Committee is in May. Told that The Layman might wish to cover that meeting, she added, “It will be in Switzerland.”