wfn.org | 250 attend forum on Confessing Church Movement

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Note #6839 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

13-September-2001
01321

250 attend forum on Confessing Church Movement

"Scripture is our authority ... and we're not willing to compromise"

by John Filiatreau

MONTREAT, NC - More than 250 earnest Presbyterians strolled through
rain-washed rhododendrons Sept. 9 to Gaither Chapel of Montreat Presbyterian
Church for a Sunday-afternoon forum on the Confessing Church Movement (CCM).

	Most participants seemed already committed to the movement, a fast-growing
Presbyterian renewal campaign that in six months has won the endorsements of
867 Presbyterian Church (USA) sessions in 45 states and Puerto Rico. The
atmosphere was vaguely subversive, celebratory if not triumphal.

	An announcement from the host pastor, the Rev. Richard White, that "this is
not a presbytery-sponsored event" brought laughter and applause. Most of
those on hand were aware of the pre-forum squabble that ensued after pastors
and clerks of session of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina received
letters of invitation printed on the letterhead of the presbytery's
Evangelism Division, suggesting that the event was organized and supported
by the presbytery.

	That letter was written and dispatched by two members of the Evangelism
Division who also are supporters of the movement. They said any confusion
they may have caused about the sponsorship of the event was inadvertent.

	A presbytery source who asked not to be identified said there was "no doubt
whatsoever" that organizers of the forum intentionally misled people about
whether it had presbytery support.

	The presbytery responded with a letter of its own, in which Executive
Presbyter/Stated Clerk J. William Taber III pointed out in headline type
that the forum "is NOT a Presbytery sponsored event," and went on to specify
that it was "not sponsored by, designed by, supervised by, or financially
supported by any division or committee" of the presbytery. Taber wrote that
the presbytery is planning "a future event ... designed to offer different
points of view and a time for questions and answers."

	During the Sept. 9 forum, White was straightforward, telling his audience:
"(The forum) is sponsored by pastors of our presbytery, representatives of
the movement we've come to know as the Confessing Church Movement. We're
part of this movement; we're not unbiased. ... (But) we're not here to sign
you up today. This is not a strategy session."

	White said organizers of the event "did not want the intensity of a
debate."

	This "dueling letters" exchange - which dramatizes the mutual suspicions of
supporters of the campaign (don't call them leaders; they say their movement
has none, except the Holy Spirit) and non-supporters (don't call them
opponents; they say they aren't against the movement, but have concerns
about how it may affect the denomination) - relates to one ambiguity among
many:

	The panelists in Montreat talked about the risk and fear of a schism in the
PC(USA), but called their movement a "positive" grass-roots campaign whose
supporters are loyal to the denomination and determined to "call the church
back home."

	They said the movement has no "political" aims, but acknowledged that it
would be "naove" to think it isn't political in some respects, or that it
won't play a role in deciding "who controls the money" in the PC(USA).

	They said there is no consensus among member churches about withholding
per-capita and mission funds from the denomination, but some congregations
are very likely to do so.

	They said they don't presume to judge other people's morality or accuse
them of sin, but do believe that Scripture makes clear that homosexual
behavior and other forms of sexual activity outside of marriage are sinful.

	They said their movement is not "organized" - "not yet," in any case -
although "leadership is emerging" spontaneously.

	And they denied that their movement has been "shanghaied" by the
Presbyterian Lay Committee and its publication, The Presbyterian Layman,
while admitting that that stridently conservative group has become the CCM's
principal supporter and operates "the best (online) site for getting
up-to-date information on the movement."

	One panelist said: "I don't see any way the Layman can not be behind this
movement. Of course the Layman is going to support this."

	Jack Adams, a writer/editor at The Presbyterian Layman, rose to say that
the Lay Committee and its publications support the movement because "we love
the Lord and we love his church." He quoted Lay Committee Chairman Bob
Howard as having said of the nascent movement, "I wish I'd thought of that!"
Adams said The Layman isn't leading the movement, and added, "We'd like to
know where it's going, too."

	"We are not saluting any renewal organization," White said. "We are not
getting our marching orders from any renewal group right now."

	White said the computerized slide presentation used during the forum was
taken from the Internet, and "may have been" a creation of Parker
Williamson, chief executive officer of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and
editor in chief of its publications. (He said he left out about 20 of the
original 73 slides that were "inappropriate" and may have offended some
viewers.)

	"This is not a power grab," White said in a later interview.

	The Confessing Church Movement began in April, when the session of Summit
Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania's Beaver-Butler Presbytery adopted a
three-fold statement - a "confession," in historic Presbyterian parlance -
affirming:
 
1.	the lordship of Jesus 
2.	the authority of the Bible and 
3.	the sinfulness of same-gender sex and other sexual behavior outside of
marriage.

	While presenting the slide presentation, White said confessions of faith
historically "do not appear in a vacuum, but in response to cultural
accommodation." This one, he said, appeared after the PC(USA)'s General
Assembly "called for the repeal of our ordination standards."

	Sam Hale, the pastor of Cullowhee Presbyterian Church, said his church
didn't join the movement in reaction to anything done by the GA: "Our
session signed on in May, before the GA met. I thought of it as something
exciting and positive I can confirm, and the session passed it almost
immediately. Our problem is here today because we have not believed in
Jesus. ... I have heard Presbyterians say that Jesus was the Christ 2,000
years ago, but we're not sure who is Christ now."

	Hale said Presbyterian ministers and lay people must devote themselves to
"greater work, including bringing healing to people, significant emotional
healing." He said homosexuals must be helped to repent of their sin and to
change their behavior. "We see students all the time who are confused about
their sexual identity, but we can't tell them, 'Jesus has blessed your
neurosis,'" he said. "We must not bless what the Scriptures call sin."

	Tim Meredith, the pastor of Oak Forest Presbyterian Church in Asheville,
NC, said he supports the CCM because "I want to hold up the cross of Jesus
Christ." Laura Long, interim pastor at Clinchfield Presbyterian Church in
Black Mountain, NC, said the movement is "a way to express the depth and the
joy of our faith, an easy and natural thing to do. ... I don't see it as
divisive. I choose to see it as a positive thing."

	Bill Campbell, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Hendersonville, NC,
said: "The real issue, the deeper crisis in our denomination, is not about
the ordination of homosexuals (but) ... the standard and norm of our talk
about God. It's also an issue about salvation." He said "sexual anarchy" is
alienation from God, and by tolerating it, "the church comes under the
judgment of God."

	Lee Kruse, a pulpit supply pastor in the presbytery, said people at
churches she visits "are surprised (that) I preach the Word of God; I preach
from the Bible. People often tell me, 'We have not heard the truth preached
from the pulpit for years.' ... Scripture on many of these issues is very,
very clear."

	During a question-and-answer session that followed the panel discussion, a
woman asked: "Why is it that you had to pick sex as the litmus test for what
is a holy life?" Directly addressing her own pastor, the Rev. Richard
Burnett, interim pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Waynesville, NC, she
added: "I have just recently gotten divorced. I wonder if I meet your litmus
test, Richard? Will you ignore whatever I did Friday night?"

	"I do want to know about the life that every elder leads," Burnett replied.
"... I have to stick to the Word."

	Meredith responded that sex is "just the issue that we've decided to take a
stand on.  This issue has been forced upon us. I'd prefer not to be talking
about sex so much, but others in our denomination have been attacking
Christian standards about sexuality."

	"I hate talking about sex," said White. "It's embarrassing." He agreed with
the questioner that "greed is just as wrong as homosexuality; Jesus said far
more about money."

	Another questioner noted that the Presbyterian Lay Committee has denounced
this year's GA as "an apostate gathering," and added: "If that's not
divisive, I don't know what is." He said he doesn't want to be used as "a
pawn in a political movement, and concluded: "I'm against this. I don't want
my church saying, 'We know what it is to have a holy life.'"

	Gerrit Dawson, who succeeded Williamson as pastor of First Presbyterian
Church of Lenoir, NC, responded: "I certainly agree with you that we're all
sinners. ... The sins in my heart are enough to stop any 10 trains."
Similarly, Kruse identified herself as a former atheist and "chief of
sinners."

	In a later interview, White called himself "a recovering Pharisee" and said
of any CCM supporters' inclination to a adopt a "holier-than-thou" attitude:
"I think this is something we've got to be on our faces before God about.
... If we understand grace, who are we to point a finger?" On the other
hand, he said, the faithful are called by God to take "a hard line" and
point out "with brutal honesty that God has standards that we must honor."

	"Who are we to know what the mind of God is?" Kruse asked hypothetically,
adding: "Thank God, he has made some things clear to us."

	One of those things made clear in Scripture, Dawson said, is that the
church can't go along with homosexuals who demand, "Bless me in this; tell
me it's a gift from God."

	"We're trying to bring us back to the only real basis on which we're
unified," said Campbell. "In love we wish to take a stand. I want to be part
of the church. Let's also be willing to take a stand on the truth."

	"To stay silent," said Hale, "is to watch the church go down the tubes."

	In response to an audience member who asked, "What happens if these
amendments pass (referring to Amendment A, which would remove a requirement
from the Book of Order that candidates for ministry be "faithful in marriage
or chaste in singleness"), Burnett gave his opinion that "it's a real
possibility that Amendment A will pass," and Hale said:

	"If 285,000 people (a rough estimate of the number of Presbyterians who
belong to confessing churches) took prayer seriously, I suspect we could
keep this amendment from passing."

	One member of the audience identified himself as a retired (Presbyterian)
pastor from Gainesville, GA, who "drove up just to be encouraged by this
meeting." He added: "I am encouraged to see these young ministers on the
platform, young ministers standing tall for Jesus." (White guessed that the
panelists' average age was about 40.)

	Asked what lay people can do in support of the movement, Burnett advised:
"Study the issues. ... Become articulate about these matters. Stand by your
pastors because some of them may be targets. ... Also, come to Atlanta."

	He was referring to the first national meeting of the confessing churches,
scheduled for next February. He said organizers have lined up "a wonderful
range of scholars and pastors, including Theresa Latini, a former lesbian."
Latini represents an organization called One by One that helps "repentant"
homosexuals turn away from sexual sin and become heterosexuals.

	Several of the panelists expressed pastoral concern for homosexuals, and
nodded in agreement when an audience member said: "This (movement) doesn't
have anything to do with hating anybody. ... If Jesus Christ came back
today, he would be in the AIDS clinics."

	Each participant in the forum received a packet of printed materials that
included essays by a number of CCM supporters; directions for joining the
movement; a copy of Summit Presbyterian's confessional statement; and a
simpler model resolution for sessions to consider.

	Asked about the possibility that the CCM will lead to a split of the
PC(USA), White said: "I've had more conversations in the last six months
than in the 12 years I've been here with people who want us to resign our
membership. They say, 'Richard, when are we pulling out?' But we can't just
willy-nilly say we're out. We have to ask ourselves, What is God's call in
our life."

	"Far from being schismatics," he said, "the Confessing Church Movement is
what is enabling us to remain in the denomination. ... Scripture is not the
on-ramp of Christian life, it's the whole highway.  Scripture is our rule
of authority, and we're not willing to compromise. ...

	"Is that going to split the church? I hope not. I don't know what the
Lord's going to do. My heart just breaks when I think about a schism ...
(but) sometimes I'm afraid that two polar opposites are not going to be able
to come together on common ground."

	White said he was pleased with the turnout for the forum, but would have
been happy "even if just five had turned out."
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