In gentle takeover, presbytery commission lets pastor remain
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, May 17, 2005
The Presbytery of San Diego, by a 91-2 vote, has appointed an administrative commission to take over the governance of Mount Soledad Presbyterian Church and canceled the session’s proposal for a congregational vote on leaving the Presbyterian Church (USA).
By all accounts, it has been a gentle takeover among Presbyterians with a shared evangelical faith. San Diego is a strongly evangelical presbytery. Five of the eight members of the administrative commission are ministers or elders of Confessing Churches.
Mount Soledad is also a Confessing Church. Mark Slomka, the pastor of the congregation who will soon become a minister in the Foursquare Church, a Pentecostal denomination, supported the presbytery motion for an administrative commission. “I am not here to contest this request but to cooperate with it,” Slomka told the presbytery during its May 10 meeting.
He added, “I believe in the leadership that will emerge from among the congregation that hears God’s calling to remain a PCUSA congregation committed to contending for evangelical orthodoxy in the PCUSA and a congregation that will partner together with the evangelical vision that our presbytery embraces.”
The commission, in a letter to the congregation on May 11, said Slomka “has been asked to continue to lead the worship portion of services at MSPC but will no longer be preaching … Mark has formally requested, through the stated clerk’s office, that the presbytery bless him and release him from the exercise of ordained ministry in the PCUSA. It is our intention to work with Mark to facilitate that process.”
Both Slomka and the commission made appeals to good will on all sides.
But the situation didn’t begin harmoniously. In August 2002, a minister in the Presbytery of San Diego spoke out against the uniqueness of Jesus Christ as the way to salvation. Slomka and several other ministers objected strongly and began working on a presbytery list of “essential tenets” to be used as guidelines for screening ministers before approving their calls. They focused on Chapter 2 of the Book of Order. The presbytery, an evangelical stronghold, approved the list.
But Slomka was disappointed that the presbytery did not discipline the minister who voiced disbelief in the unique saving work of Christ. Because of the failure to discipline, Slomka said he had a “crisis of confidence” and could no longer serve as a minister in good conscience in the PCUSA.
Backed by a 20-0 vote of the session, Slomka began planning an exodus to the Foursquare Church, which was founded by evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson. They announced their plans to the congregation in April, and the presbytery got wind of what was happening. The presbytery first appointed a response team on May 4 with no official powers.
Those events led up to the May 10 presbytery meeting, when Slomka told commissioners, “I want to begin by apologizing to you. I have been made aware of your feelings that in my own journey you have felt that I have cut you off, rejected you, or abandoned you. I ask your forgiveness. That was not my intention. I lament that my behavior has created this perception. I am willing to meet with anyone, not out of need to defend or justify, but out of a desire to renew relationships and celebrate Jesus.”
He asked for the presbytery’s blessing to be released to the Foursquare Church because “I cannot and will not renounce [the PCUSA] because that is the language of rejection. I cannot renounce brothers and sisters who I recognize and esteem to be beloved in Christ. How can I renounce those who pastor congregations I will continue to recommend people towards?”
Describing himself as having a “Reformed-evangelical-charismatic hybrid theology,” Slomka said, “I am inspired by their [the Foursquare Church] national vision, resonate with their polity …”
The administrative commission’s congregational letter said, “We grieve with those of you who are in grief over recent events within the MSPC family, but we also rejoice with those who are rejoicing over the new things that God is doing in your midst. We do not take our actions lightly, and our actions are motivated by our desire and our charge to foster healing. We are just beginning our journey with you, but we are working as quickly as possible to sort through the myriad of issues and to handle each one appropriately.”
Even with friendly overtones, there will be a split. Some members of Mount Soledad will leave to worship at the Foursquare Church that Slomka will pastor. And some will remain.
Ralph MacKenzie, a church historian-theologian, an inactive elder and a member of Mount Soledad, understands that there will be a divide. But MacKenzie personally wants to remain a Presbyterian.
“I admire Mark Slomka as a pastor,” MacKenzie said. “I love him as a friend in Christ. Quite frankly, Mark has been a very effective pastor. He knows his theology.”
He said Slomka had not been overbearing in his charismatic teaching and that his pastor had every right to be “very, very upset” over the presbytery’s failure to discipline the pastor who didn’t believe in the singular saving work of Christ. “There’s no doubt in my mind that he should have been censured.”
But, under Slomka’s leadership, he added, “almost the entire session was charismatic and there were many of us who aren’t too crazy about that.”
MacKenzie and Norman Geisler, president of the Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, N.C., are co-authors of Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences. MacKenzie teaches Reformed theology and church history to lay people at Mount Soledad and throughout the area.
As authorized by the administrative commission, Slomka was the worship leader for services on Saturday night, May 14, and Sunday morning, May 15. MacKenzie predicted that maybe 50 percent of the congregation will follow Slomka to the Foursquare Church. A date for Slomka’s departure has not been set.
According to denominational data for the year 2003, Mount Soledad attracts more people for worship (357) than it had members (318). The average per-member gift in 2003 was $2,849 – one of the highest figures in the denomination.