wfn.org | 'The walls of the PC(USA) have fallen down'

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

Note #7065 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

25-February-2002
02076

'The walls of the PC(USA) have fallen down'

Movement founder calls for 'Habitat project' to rebuild the church

by Jerry L. Van Marter

ATLANTA - The Rev. Paul Roberts, whose Summit Presbyterian Church in Beaver-Butler Presbytery launched the Confessing Church Movement (CCM), greeted several hundred supporters Monday with a ringing call to "look up, pray up, stand up and speak up" for the renewal of the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Referring to the Old Testament story of Nehemiah and the collapse of the wall around Jerusalem, Roberts said: "The walls of the PC(USA) have fallen down, and we need to rebuild. What we need is a Presbyterian Church Habitat (for Humanity) project. Let's not fight, let's not argue, let's just rebuild the church Jesus's way."

Roberts called the growth of the CCM in the past year "unbelievable." When the Summit church adopted a three-fold "confession," he said, "We only wanted to say that Jesus is the savior of me personally and of the whole world, and we're not afraid to say it."

Since then, about 1,200 other Presbyterian sessions have endorsed versions of the CCM confession - a statement of three affirmations: that Jesus is the only way to salvation; that the Bible is infallible in its teachings about faith and life; and that marriage is the only acceptable context for sexual relations.

"Now we come to celebrate what God has done," Roberts told the cheering crowd. "He's come down and anointed us to speak a confession to our church and build a renewed church on this confession."

Although members of the 40-member planning team for the celebration insisted that they have no plans and no desire to see the movement become a formal church institution, one team member, the Rev. Doug Pratt asked for volunteers to serve on CCM "support teams" on communication, development (fund-raising) and theological resources.

"We don't know where this is going, but we've all seen too many movements ruined by too much organization, too much structure and by the agendas of their leaders," Pratt said. 

He said the support teams are being convened to "talk about what we can do right here, right now."

Over the next three days, participants in the celebration will hear a number of speakers and meet in regional groups and workshops to discuss the future of the movement.
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