The question of “Why a Fellowship of
Presbyterians,” answered by presentation
By Paula R. Kincaid, The Layman, August 26, 2011
The first presentation at the Fellowship of Presbyterians Gathering asked “Why?”
Led by Jim Singleton, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., “Why a ‘Fellowship of Presbyterians,’” gave a brief history of the movement and some of its goals and plans.
Singleton said there are approximately 1,900 people attending the Gathering in Minneapolis, Minn. He said that some are here because they are passionate, scared, dubious or curious. “Some think this might be a very special time – like a karios moment,” Singleton said. “Others hope it might not be.”
Singleton spoke of the seven men on the Fellowship’s steering committee: “While we aren’t prophets, there are seven of us laboring very hard.”
The seven include: John Crosby, Christ Presbyterian in Edina, Minn.; Rich Kannwischer, St. Andrews Presbyterian in Newport Beach, Calif.; Tae-Hyung Ko of Good Shepherd Presbyterian in Rowland Heights, Calif.; Vic Pentz of Peachtree Presbyterian in Atlanta, Ga.; David Peterson of Memorial Drive Presbyterian in Houston, Texas; David Swanson of First Presbyterian in Orlando, Fla.; and Singleton.
For years the PCUSA wrote pastoral letters in moments of confusion in the church, said Singleton. He then read from the 1789 Pastoral Letter from the General Assembly:
“Dear Friends and Brethren: The aspect of divine providence, and the extraordinary situation of the world, at the present moment, indicate, that a solemn admonition by the ministers of religion and other church officers in General Assembly convened, has become our indispensable duty . . . A solemn crisis has arrived, in which we are called to the most serious contemplation of the moral causes which have produced it, and the measures which it becomes us to pursue . . . Formality and deadness, not to say hypocrisy; a contempt of vital godliness, and the spirit of fervent piety; a desertion of the ordinances, or a cold and unprofitable attendance upon them, visibly pervade every part of the Church, and certain men have crept in amongst us, who have denied, or attempt to explain away the pure doctrines of the gospel; to introduce pernicious errors which were either not named, or named with abhorrence, but which have, within a few years since, been embraced by deluded multitudes … God hath a controversy with us – Let us prostrate ourselves before him! Let the deepest humiliation and sincerest repentance mark our sense of national sins; and let us not forget, at the same time, the personal sins of each individual, that have contributed to increase the mighty mass of corruption.” (in Keith Hardman, Seasons of Refreshing, 108)
“A significant amendment [10A] passed in 2010 in this same city last July and the last vote needed to ratify it was by the Presbytery of Twin Cities [also in Minnesota]. … for those of us who began the Fellowship, it was a signal of something larger yet, another part of the erosion of the way we understand Biblical authority.”
Singleton said that “my friends on the other side of the church truly believe that they too affirm Biblical authority …They are using a different set of interpretive tools.”
“Something changed between us long ago. We use the same words but they mean something different,” Singleton said. “Some of my progressive friends say the [ordination] change is a minor change and we will get used to it.” He said it had also been called just a polity change but it is a “polity door that opens the way for a behavior that to one group seems inclusive and to another unrighteous.”
He said “many of us we feel that we are now in effect in a box canyon. A wall is at the end of the canyon and we are not sure how we are going to move because we are at a dead end.”
In describing the creation of the Fellowship of Presbyterians, Singleton said that after last summer’s General Assembly, a “group of us — just old friends,” began to meet discussing the fact that “something is different now and what can we do?”
“A group of us decided to stick our necks out and offer to lead at a time in American culture that anyone who offers to lead gets debunked and pulled down,” Singleton said. “We have asked others for help … We are just a movement. We will not be constituted until a January meeting.”
Singleton said that the Fellowship is “very grateful for every renewal group that has been at work … the difference is we no longer expect to renew the PCUSA by out voting” the progressive Presbyterians.
“We believe that God is up to something different and we need to discern and ask you to help us discern what it is,” he said. “Battling for control is not the solution.”
What’s next
The new thing has to do with adaptive changes, he said, adding that something needs to be done that is going to change us in a very different way.
“We can’t just try to change the Book of Order again, because two years later it will be changed again,” he said.
Standing on the balcony, overlooking the church, Singleton said “we see a couple of things:”
1. Mainline denominations are dying in the U.S., and not everyone agrees why, he said. Denominationalism in America is not being sustained.
2. “We believe the PCUSA is dying,” he said. Since it was formed in 1983 by reunion, Singleton said that “we have not had a single growing year – none.
The seven-man steering committee wrote a paper that used the phrase “deathly ill,” said Singleton. “Deathly ill does not mean we are dead. It means we are sick. The PCUSA has lots of places of life, but overall we are declining at a powerful, rapid rate.”
He said that 89,990 people joined the PCUSA in 2010 and 151,037 left. Last year only 12 new churches were started in the whole denomination.
“Our churches are not reaching people, that’s evangelicals, progressives, everyone,” said Singleton. “A few churches are growing but overall we are not.”
In the former Book of Church Order, “evangelism is the primary and urgent task of the church.”
“When you move into adaptive change, it is going to be uncomfortable,” he said. “We are too different from the norm of the PCUSA. … We have more in common with the church of 1950, instead of 2011.”
Singleton said the Fellowship steering committee holds to some values:
1. “We are not mad. Our best solutions will not be made in anger,” he said. He quoted Ecc.7:9. Singleton said individuals have to let go of the anger and be spirit filled and humble. He called the PCUSA staff that they had worked with over the past months the “best we have ever had. “Louisville is not the problem. There is a virus in the church, probably several. We are sicker than we know.”
2. Humility. “We have seven tall-steeple pastors saying we are going to be humble and that is a little disingenuous,” he said. “If you are going to be proud and arrogant about how right you are” then it might not be a good fit with the Fellowship.
3. The highest value is the congregation. “We are not Congregationalist. We are connectional,” he said. “Being in a denomination that has changed the standards has put congregations in crisis … We won’t introduce anything into a congregation that will cause it to fracture. There will have to be multiple solutions at this moment.”
4. Connect with the PCUSA whe
rever possible and differentiate where necessary. Singleton said the Fellowship would “not fight back politically to take it [the denomination] back.”
“We are not ready to make the claim apostate,” he said. “It is the new moral standard that we cannot accept … the other part of the church has left us theologically.”
“Our vision is to redefine our theological clarity. We’ve become too broad,” he said. Some have “become lord over the Scripture, we need to be under the Scripture.”
The Fellowship wants to be Orthodox, Reformed, evangelical and morally sound, Singleton said, adding, “When we are going to ask people to stand on the essential tenets of the Reformed faith, we are going to know what they are.”
The Fellowship wants a missional passion, he said. “We want to plant 250 new churches in the next five years … We want to reach the lost people.”
Singleton said the Fellowship wants to deeply connect globally and to do leadership in a very different way.
“The Fellowship is an umbrella,” Singleton said. “This is only going to work if the Spirit leads and we follow.”