wfn.org | Stay in the PC(USA), preachers urge

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #7067 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

26-February-2002
02078

Stay in the PC(USA), preachers urge

Logan, Purves, Huffman tell CCM supporters not to 'jump ship'

by Jerry L. Van Marter

ATLANTA - Although the consensus here seems to be that the Presbyterian Church (USA) is in desperate straits because of theological drift and internal squabbles, preachers at the Confessing Church Movement (CCM) celebration have urged their listeners not leave the denomination.	

Calling this a "dark, stormy season in our church," the Rev. Catherine Purves, pastor of Bellevue United Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, PA, cited the story of the storm-tossed boat in Mark 4 and described the PC(USA) as a ship "traversing a very stormy sea  a killer storm in which we're swamped by wave after wave of controversy, to the point where it feels as if our ship may be breaking apart underneath us."

The question facing many Presbyterians, Purves said in her Feb. 26 sermon, is "Should we take to the lifeboats, or ride out the storm?"

Her answer was unequivocal: "Don't jump this ship!"

Recounting a children's book she had read to her children, Purves speculated that Noah - faced with a lot of shoveling, a lot of smelly animals and a lot of waiting - must have had moments when he wanted to abandon the ark. "We grow weary and want to be rescued now," she said, "but we are called to not grow weary and abandon ship. The ship you jump may be God's ark."

Instead, Purves said, the CCM is "calling the church back to Scripture, to holiness, to true faith." She said the storm will be calmed by growing knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. "Don't forget whose ship this is," she said. "Jesus is the captain of this ship, in all His glory."

The Rev. James H. Logan Jr., pastor of Bread of Life Christian Ministry, a PC(USA) congregation in Charlotte, NC, said: "We have shut the Lord out of His church long enough. We're here to reopen the door to Jesus."

Preaching on Feb. 25 to an electrified crowd, Logan said the writer of Revelations 3 envisioned Jesus, rejected by the church at Laodicaea, as standing outside a door, asking to be let in. "We all bear the responsibility for the sorry condition of the church," he said. "The Confessing Church Movement has cracked it open a little bit, but Jesus is still outside. We all need to go further and do more."

To "swing the door wide open," Logan said, requires repentance, an acknowledgement that Jesus is Lord of all, faithful obedience to the word of God, and a commitment to holiness.

"We've been accused of drawing a line in the sand," he said. "Well, friends, I've drawn a highway!"

He warned his listeners: "When you open the door and Jesus comes in, so will everything and everyone else; you'll have to put up with a lot of folks who aren't like you. Are you ready?"

The crowd responded with thunderous applause.

The Rev. John Huffman, pastor of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA, reminded the 800 participants on Feb. 26 that controversy is not unique to the PC(USA) of the 21st century. "Read Revelations," he suggested. "The Christian church in the first century was facing these same issues - how to flesh out the faith in a pagan society."

Huffman, who in graduate school studied the Presbyterian controversies of the 1920s, said, "Don't leave - we'll find the same problems wherever we go."

He added: "I'm sure we've all had ample opportunities to leave, but we're here - here because we love our church."

As a pastor, Huffman has persuaded at least one of his congregations to remain in the PC(USA).

He ticked off a list of reasons why he stays: the denomination's holistic approach to the Gospel, its accountability and connectionalism, its educated clergy and educational institutions, its confessions and other historic resources, its orderly processes.

Saying that he is personally committed to "staying and fighting the good fight," Huffman called the recent defeat of Amendment 01-A (the so-called "fidelity and chastity" provision of the Book of Order) "an overwhelming victory," but warned that the war is not over. 

"We are engaged in a battle with those who are determined to prevail, and I am equally determined that they will not prevail," he told a cheering crowd. 

Huffman urged his listeners to "hold your convictions with compassionate love for those with whom you disagree" - but he added, referring to a number of court cases related to the issue of the ordination of gays and lesbians: "We must expect and demand enforcement of the constitution. There are those who have disturbed the peace, unity and purity of the church for decades, and they haven't been held accountable."

Huffman seemingly is running out of patience about the ordination issue. He is a long-time opponent of withholding per-capita as a form of protest, but he said he is prepared to propose that his session observe the pending cases for the rest of the year and then, if the cases are not settled to its satisfaction, put its per-capita in escrow for one year beginning next January. If the cases still were not resolved satisfactorily at the end of 2003, the money would be directed to mission causes, beginning in January 2004.

"One thing we know," he concluded, "is that no matter what happens to the PC(USA), there will always be strong local congregations."
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