Conservative Presbyterians Leave Church
Pastor Dale Morgan
Conservative Presbyterians Leave Church*
Friday October 12, 2007 9:16 AM
By BRUCE SCHREINER
Associated Press Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - The Episcopal Church isn't the only mainline
Protestant group shaken by open conflict between theological liberals
and conservatives.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is facing similar trials, with
traditionalist congregations planning to bolt and a conservative
denomination preparing to take them in.
About 30 of the nearly 11,000 Presbyterian congregations have voted to
leave the national church since the denomination's national assembly
session in 2006, according to The Layman, a conservative Presbyterian
publication that has been tracking the breakaways. Denominational
leaders say they could lose an additional 20 congregations as a result
of this latest rupture.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a conservative group separate from
PCUSA, has voted to accept any of the departing congregations.
Presbyterian conservatives are meanwhile organizing themselves through
groups such as the Presbyterian Global Fellowship and the New Wineskins
Association of Churches.
Presbyterian leaders emphasize that only a fraction of their
congregations are leaving. But any litigation over church property could
hurt the church's reputation and its bottom line. And the departures
come after years of dwindling congregational membership and recent
budget woes.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is the country's ninth-largest
Christian group, but its membership has shrunk from about 3 million in
1986 to 2.27 million at the end of 2006. The denomination last year
eliminated 75 jobs at its headquarters amid budget cutbacks.
``It is not a split down the middle of the life of the church, but it's
serious,'' said the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, chief executive at
denominational headquarters in Louisville. ``It's always painful. And it
takes a huge amount of time, energy and emotional pressure.''
Kirkpatrick, who has been a target of criticism from Presbyterian
conservatives, is stepping down next year after more than a decade in
office. He said he was leaving because it had become too difficult to
juggle two time-consuming roles, as the Presbyterian stated clerk and
president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.
The split could also cost the denomination some of its oldest and most
vibrant churches. In Baton Rouge, La., the 180-year-old First
Presbyterian Church plans to vote Oct. 28 whether it should split off.
At least three more of the 66 congregations in the Presbytery of South
Louisiana could move toward leaving in the coming months, said the Rev.
Alan Cutter, the general presbyter. In the Midwest, Gashland
Presbyterian Church in Kansas City, Mo., recently voted in favor of
leaving, but needs the approval of the regional Heartland Presbytery.
Like other mainline Protestant groups, Presbyterians have been debating
for decades how they should interpret Scripture on salvation, truth,
sexuality and other issues.
Tensions erupted after a June 2006 meeting, when delegates granted new
leeway in some cases for congregations and regional presbyteries to
sidestep a church requirement that clergy and lay officers limit sex to
man-woman marriage.
Delegates at the national assembly also voted to let church officials
propose experimental liturgies with alternative phrasings for the divine
Trinity - ``Father, Son and Holy Spirit.'' Among the possibilities:
``Mother, Child and Womb'' or ``Rock, Redeemer, Friend.''
``We believe that PCUSA has moved away from being the true church and
having the same biblical foundation, and we choose not to subscribe to
those changes,'' said Phil Josephson, a Gashland church elder.
Opinions on the denomination's long-term prospects vary widely.
The Rev. John Buchanan, pastor at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago,
said that while staunch conservatives and liberals are unhappy with
church policy, the vast middle is satisfied.
``The people of this congregation are not at all distressed with where
we are right now,'' said Buchanan, a former moderator of the
denomination. ``And I think there are many, many more churches like
that, than there are churches that are unhappy.''
Cutter takes a long view, noting the denomination's history of splits
and mergers.
``The process of union and reunion in the Presbyterian Church ... has
been going on for centuries,'' he said. ``I don't anticipate it
stopping. I anticipate there may be people that want to come back.''
But the Rev. Parker Williamson, editor emeritus of The Layman newspaper,
said entire congregations are leaving, an escalation from the usual
pattern of disgruntled individuals leaving on their own.
``It's happening as bits and pieces of the church that are flying off,''
Williamson said. He contends the pace of departures is ``ramping up
significantly.''
The Rev. Gerrit Dawson, senior pastor of the Baton Rouge church, said
his congregation hungers for theological clarity instead of the
``institutionalized nebulousness'' in the larger denomination.
``PCUSA is not getting better,'' Dawson said. ``It's going to keep
fragmenting. And we don't want to spend the rest of our ministries doing
that. There's a world to be reached.''
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On the Net:
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.): http://www.pcusa.org