Omaha conference now
reaching worldwide audience
By Kevin McDonald, Guest Commentary, May 21, 2010
Two of the country’s finest contemporary “defenders of the faith” against theological liberalism inspired a national audience in late April as they spoke at the Christianity and Liberalism Teaching and Worship Conference, hosted by Covenant Presbyterian Church in Omaha, Neb.
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Christianity and Liberalism
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The featured speakers at the two-day conference were Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) scholar, historian and author Dr. D.G. Hart, and Presbyterian Church (USA) renewal leader and author the Rev. Parker T. Williamson. The context and thesis for the conference was the same that made 1920s New Testament scholar J. Gresham Machen famous after writing his compelling book Christianity and Liberalism.
In a 2010 American church context, Hart and Williamson made the case once again and came to the same conclusion Machen did in the ‘20s: That liberalism is not a legitimate form of historic Christianity, but rather a different religion entirely.
Unfortunately, many churches are being destroyed by theological liberalism as the Church continues being inundated by the onslaught of theological liberalism that comes in many forms as highlighted by the conference. The conference focused on how to maintain healthy churches amidst the growing awareness and knowledge of theological liberalism and its cancer that destroys historical Christianity.
The focus of the conference was to help church leaders understand the effects of theological liberalism upon the Christian church. Fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) for teaching purposes, now a worldwide viewing audience can benefit from the Christianity and Liberalism Conference.
All lectures by the featured speakers are available for viewing at the Covenant Presbyterian Church Web site or in the Equipping Toolbox at The Layman Online.
Church leaders came from as far away as Staten Island, N.Y. and Laramie, Wyo. Churches in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Illinois, Missouri, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska had representatives in attendance. Denominations that were represented included the PCUSA, OPC, Presbyterian Church in America, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Reformed Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Reformed Church in the United States and Assembly of God. Faculty from Grace University in Omaha and a representative of the PCUSA’s Dubuque Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa were in attendance.
The Rev. Dr. Kevin McDonald is associate pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Omaha, Neb.