By Viola Larson, Naming His Grace blog.
So what is schism? How does it fit with heresy? Part of my thoughts are at the moment centered on a little church in Northern California, Burney Presbyterian Church. The Sacramento Presbytery held a special meeting to vote on a motion to place an administrative commission over the Burney church. This is the motion:
With the determination of the Administrative Commission appointed to the Burney Presbyterian Church on February 28, 2015, determining that there is a schism pursuant to the Book of Order (G-4.0207), that the presbytery take immediate action and take original jurisdiction of the Burney church, and continue the relationship with the PCUSA in all means of its ministries.
The first AC appointed to the church simply determined that they were in schism but were not allowed to act on their assumption. At the meeting, to the Presbytery’s credit, members of the church were allowed to speak. But commissioners were not offered the first AC’s report and so the only reason given to commissioners for stating the church was in schism was that several people, including two session members, did not wish to leave the PCUSA while the other four session members did. Most Burney church members want to leave and spoke out at the meeting.
The above means that in the Sacramento Presbytery if a church wants to leave the PCUSA but a few members do not, the church could easily have an administrative commission placed over them.
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Most Presbyterians of all stripes see schism as such an odd, bad, or so rare an event, that we all need to lament. Not according to history. In the Presbyterian root in America going back to 1720, there have been 6 major and numerous smaller breaks, dissolutions, fractures in the body. Happens about every 70-90 years for Presbyterians. Last big blow out was of course the fundamentalist-modernist fracture on the 1930s. Its in our DNA as a people. Get over it.
Now of course the PCUSA of 2015 is not the UPC of 1970, or even the UPCNA of 1935. Its not even the PCUSA of 1985. This schism is happening during a structural, systemic decline, death spiral of the denomination. Unprecedented in American religious history. And the denomination will not recover and will be in merger/union with another liberal denomination within 10 years. It is in the process of institutional collapse, XX numbers of churches staying, departing, whatever will not change that narrative or outcome. The die is cast. Love the PCUSA, hate the PCUSA, its in the process of dying.
For those churches, bodies still tied to the dying caracas of a church and wishing to depart. Depart, leave, move, change fellowships. Frighting over property or bricks and mortar is contrary to the Gospel and unbecoming of the faith. Let the apostate pagans become property managers, they will flush that down their back hole as they do everything else. As Forrest Gump reminds all, “stupid is as stupid does”.
Peter Gregory tells the truth but is perceived as angry. I don’t hear anger in his comments but a healthy, timely admonition, thanks be to God. His comments are meant for those with ears to hear.
PCUSA leadership is morally corrupt and spiritually dead. They may be in consort with the devil, but they wouldn’t know it if it hit them in the face. Frankly, i hate to give the devil that much credit, the PCUSA is doing good enough on it’s own.
It is not that the leadership of the PCUSA, OGA, and its governing matrix are evil, bad or somehow under satanic control. I am sure the vast majority are kind, empathetic and compassionate people. What they are are stunningly tone-deaf, incompetent, inept in administration and management, and run the denomination as the religious arm of the Progressive Democratic caucus. And in that sense yes the are pagan and apostate by any classical definition of the terms. It is not bad or evil to say so. Nor is their anger, just an opinion and observation, one is free to agree or not.
As to their motivation to fight the departure of churches with their property. The PCUSA seeks to retain physical property not to nurture or care for the “true” church or those who remain with the PCUSA. They could care less about those who remain. They full know that most, if not all surviving churches will collapse within 5 years. They seek the unlocked value of said real estate for their own purposes. And those purposes are simple.
Nothing is more sacred and more sacrosanct than the physical continuation of their 15 Synod/171 Presbyerty/13 Seminaries/DC and Wash DC offices. At 50-60K membership losses per year, the system is collapsing before them, as people flee the organization they seek to keep the wheels spinning by substituting money for people. Simple as that, simple drive for survival, nothing less or more, nothing noble. Is that evil? Not for me to say, but it is calculated and intentional.
So if there are no congregations left, what does PCUSA do with the cash they generate from the sales of the buildings? If there are no congregations, is there a PCUSA?
It must be remembered that the PCUSA is structured like a cartel. Power and authority is vested in courts and councils that does not necessarily depend on the consent or even approval of those so governed. The OGA, Louisville complex, and to an extent its various organs and entities, UN office, DC office, and to an extent its seminaries and presbyteries have streams of income and seeks others that may not be all that related to people in the pews or cash derived from. Any settlement money, extortion, shake down process done to local churches are used and fed up the food chain to support the governing matrix that has very little care or correlation to what happens in the local church.
@ Peter – you are wrong, I know of a Presbytery that is using money from congregational departures to support new congregation development and/or congregations that have been impacted by schisms that are in re-building processes. Why do you make such nonsensical pronouncements about things you simply do not know? Because you want something right? You just want to discredit those who do not bow to your particular beliefs and practices. I hope you spend as much time working on your sermons as you do monitoring and commenting on this website – if you do they must be masterpieces…
Pres-tater:
I thank you for the compliment, but I would go that far. But you be the judge. My sermons are accessed at any time on the church website or live-stream, 9:30 summer, 10:30 fall. You may have time on your hands that time of day.
As to your comments on the PCUSA, I do apologize, all is well, the great renaissance of the organization is about to break forth, we just need to just believe and have hope in our blessed Stated Clerk, Moderator and our beloved PCUSA, Hope and change, Hope and change.
@ Peter – ouch – rude, crude and full of attitude as usual…
In todays rapidly changing secular world, we need a united/strong church not a divided/weak church. We need to know God’s Word and to be able to pass it on to others. Perhaphs the Bible Content Exam will help us.
@ robert – there is only requirement to join in active member fellowship with a PCUSA congregation – simply profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, just that – no extra Bible Content Exams allowed 😉