wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] 'Confessing church' pastor to run for stated clerk

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Note #8012 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

'Confessing church' pastor to run for stated clerk
03494
November 17, 2003

'Confessing church' pastor to run for stated clerk

Pennsylvanian has called for PC(USA) to split into two churches

by John Filiatreau
and Jerry Van Marter

LOUISVILLE - One of five ministers who taped a "Call for Confession and
Repentance" at the entrance to the Presbyterian Center here in a dramatic
protest in October 2002 has announced that he is running for stated clerk of
the Presbyterian Church (USA).

The Rev. Linn "Rus" Howard, the pastor of Peters Creek United Presbyterian
Church in Venetia, PA, is expected to formally announce his candidacy after
Thanksgiving, according to his friend and associate, the Rev. Robert Kopp.

Howard, contacted by telephone, declined to discuss his candidacy, saying
only, "No comment."

Next summer's 216th General Assembly (GA) will elect a stated clerk, the top
ecclesiastical officer of the PC(USA). The incumbent, the Rev. Clifton
Kirkpatrick, is completing his second four-year term, and is expected to seek
a third.

A GA -elected Stated Clerk Review/Nomination Committee is expected to
announce its nominee in April 2004.

In their 2002 protest, the five ministers were hearkening to Martin Luther's
nailing of his "95 Theses" to a cathedral door in 1517 to protest corruption
in the Roman Catholic Church - the first salvo in what became the Protestant
Reformation.

The group declared the PC(USA) "irretrievably apostate under current
management" and contended that the denomination is "decaying and dying in the
belly of the beast" (Revelation 13:1-8).

Their main complaint was that PC(USA) officials, including Kirkpatrick, had
failed in their duty to enforce the provision of the denomination's
constitution that forbids the ordination of sexually active gays and
lesbians.

The statement also urged PC(USA) congregations to "refrain from giving
undesignated mission money to governing bodies" and divert per-capita gifts
"to ministries faithfully engaged in God's ministry of compassion."

Howard's own church has withheld its per-capita payments to the General
Assembly for the past two years.

Last week, Howard presented to Washington Presbytery an "Overture for
Gracious Separation" for forwarding to the 2004 General Assembly in Richmond,
VA.

He charges in the overture that the PC(USA) "has become primarily a political
institution devoting much of its time, talent and treasure to secular and
unbiblical agendas," and that the current moderator and stated clerk "by
their actions undermine the will of the overwhelming majority of church
members who have repeatedly upheld the historic and biblical constitutional
standards of chastity in singleness and fidelity in marriage between one man
and one woman."

In a personal note affixed to the overture, Howard wrote: "I pray that Bob
Howard's plan for Gracious Separation will become an Overture, which will be
approved by an overwhelming majority at the General Assembly and in every
presbytery during the next year."

Attorney Bob Howard, a former chair of the Presbyterian Lay Committee (no
relation to Rus Howard), called on conservatives and evangelicals to split
from the PC(USA) and form a separate church during last month's annual
meeting of the Presbyterian Coalition.

Rus Howard claims the PC(USA) already has become two churches - "one
consisting of individuals and congregations committed to the exclusive
Lordship of Jesus Christ, the authority of the Scriptures, and the power of
the Holy Spirit to actively transform sinners into saints; and the other
consisting of individuals and congregations committed to a 'progressive
theology' that affirms multiple ways to salvation, the shared authority of
Scripture and human experience, and the belief that polity can bring unity
among sinners and saints who do not share a common understanding of the
Gospel."

Howard added that the division is "irreconcilable because we no longer share
a common understanding of the authority of scripture, the person, work, and
lordship of Christ, and the commitment to holy living that discipleship
requires."

Washington Presbytery has appointed a six-member committee to prepare "an
even-handed presentation" of Howard's overture during the presbytery's
regular meeting in January.

Howard has been among the opponents of the PC(USA)'s participation in a
national boycott against Taco Bell restaurants and their parent company, Yum!
Brands.

In a commentary published on the Web site of the Confessing Church Movement,
he wrote that the rationale behind the boycott: "is that one of the suppliers
from which Taco Bell periodically buys tomatoes does not, in the eyes of the
Assembly, pay its tomato-pickers enough money for their labor."

"For an organization that historically has underpaid its employees, this call
for a boycott of Taco Bell puzzles me," he wrote. "Would it not have been
more appropriate for the General Assembly, in light of Matthew 7:3-5, to call
for a boycott against itself? You would think that we would clean up the
litter in our own yard before calling the cops about our neighbor's litter."

Howard said national leaders of the denomination should return gifts to the
church, enclosing a note: "Thank you for sending the enclosed check. However,
we are returning your generous gift because we think you should pay your
secretary, custodian, youth minister and pastor a living wage."

Howard is a co-host of a public-access cable TV program in Pittsburgh titled
"Real People," which combines religion and humor, often having to do with his
baldness, which rivals that of Kirkpatrick. "We're trying to put a human face
on Christianity," he told the Associated Press, referring to himself and his
co-host, Kopp. "We want to break through the 'exclusive' image of the church.
I think there are just so many Christians who do not have fun. You can have
fun and still be serious about your faith."

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