Concerns with the PCUSA

Concerns with the PCUSA Below is a summary of concerns which have been expressed by Eastminster members and Elders. 1. Continual opposition to basic understanding of Jesus Christ as the one Lord and Savior and that our sin can only be removed by his death on the cross A 2008 Presbyterian Panel Survey by PCUSA revealed only 35% of ministers believe Christ is the only way to salvation. The opening line of the new Form of Government (nfog) was intentionally changed and implies a theology of universalism as it states God creates, redeems, sustains, rules and transforms all things and all people. The redeems all people changes our understanding of salvation by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Lord. 2. Drift from Scriptural teachings and confidence in the Bible as the written Word of God and the rule of our faith and life Eastminster adheres to a Traditional Reformed theology that Scripture is the final authority. The PCUSA continues to move toward a Progressive theology which views scripture as containing the experiences and insights of human authors rather than divinely inspired. This approach allows for reinterpretation and application in each new cultural setting. The Bible becomes a general guide for our faith and life rather than an authoritative rule. Effective July 2011, the ordination vows of ministers and elders no longer require chaste in singleness or faithfulness in marriage. This change loosens the sexual standards of the leaders of the church. Unrepentant sexual behavior outside the bonds of marriage can now be accepted by a church or presbytery in its leadership. The focus on inclusiveness downplays the primary importance of our repentance for all our sins. 3. Lack of enumerated Essential Tenets The ordination vows of Elders and Ministers include receive and adopt the essential tenants of the Reformed faith but these tenants are not explicitly written leading to ambiguity. Each Presbytery and Church can pick and choose which essential tenants they want to believe. This creates an atmosphere of low trust and high control as a church cannot immediately know what the ministers and elders of another church believe. 4. Shift in church governance (New Form of Government) The new Book of Order took effect in July of 2011 with a new Form of Government that shifts to a top down governance versus a traditional Presbyterian bottom-up form. Churches are expected to serve the Presbytery and its mission instead of the Presbytery serving the churches; our mission could be subject to an overriding Presbytery mission more than ever before. Presbytery s role now seems to be one of bring local churches in line with national body. Property ownership is being held like a sword over churches with a recent ruling by the Permanent Judicial Commission stating property valuation must be considered when dismissing a congregation. Many Presbyteries are beginning to prescreen pastoral candidates and only pass along approved candidates for a church s consideration. In a few years Eastminster likely won t select pastors as we have done in the past. A ruling at 2012 General Assembly that the Book of Confessions is detached from the Book of Order sets a precedent that our beliefs no longer set boundaries for our actions. The ruling stated Page 1

the Confessions are merely statements of faith from a given time and in essence can be ignored, thereby allowing the Book of Order to be changed to reflect the politics of the time. 5. Unwillingness to enforce Book of Order in judicial proceedings Recent decisions by the national Permanent Judicial Commission (PCUSA Supreme Court) show an unwillingness to uphold the polity in the Book Order. No disciplinary action was taken on a minister in New Jersey for marrying her same sex partner as the PJC stated it was not a Presbyterian ceremony. No charges of violating the Book of Order, which defines marriage as man and woman, have been brought against the elected Vice Moderator of the 2012 General Assembly (she later resigned) for preforming a same-sex marriage. This lack of enforcement of our church constitution has led to national advocacy groups urging ministers to state their willingness to knowingly violate the Book of Order and perform same sex marriages. 6. Obsession with political causes The national denomination devotes an inordinate amount of resources to issues that have little to do with theology. At the 2012 General Assembly only 5% of meetings and overtures dealt with theology. The focus seems to be on social and political activism instead of spreading the Gospel supported by the fact that the PCUSA has paid lobbyists in the Office of Public Witness in Washington, DC. The General Assembly regularly takes stands on divisive issues like abortion, the United Nations, immigration reform, corporal punishment, spanking of children, divestment in companies, health insurance, Israel, etc. The national Moderator was the first signature on a letter to Congress asking for an investigation into U.S. aid to Israel. We are consistently defending or explaining actions by the higher body to visitors and members. This unrelenting emphasis requires members and congregations to choose sides on controversial issues and drives wedges into highly charged issues. 7. Diverted energies and Distractions There appears to be no end in sight to controversy as the PCUSA will be spending two more years studying the definition of Christian marriage likely increasing the dysfunctional behavior between higher governing bodies and local churches. Global mission partners are in disagreement with recent PCUSA positions and recommendations as the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico has ended relationship with PCUSA and the Presbyterian Church Ghana stated it would break relationships with any church ordaining gay ministers. These continuing disagreements make it difficult to leverage denominational resources to advance Christ in our community and abroad. 8. Accelerated weakness in PCUSA due to church departures In the last two years in our presbytery alone, three churches have been dissolved, three churches have combined into one church, and five churches have been dismissed to another denomination. That represents a 20% reduction in membership and a 40% reduction of active attendees. Cherokee Presbytery is operating with a $45,000 deficit for 2012 and foresees a similar deficit for 2013. The same thing is happening around the county. National renewal groups are withdrawing from promoting change from within the denomination. The church departures now leave Eastminster as a minority voice on numerous issues both in Cherokee Presbytery and nationally Page 2

Comparison of Presbyterian Denominations ₁ 2 ISSUE Do significant numbers of elders and pastors question that Jesus Christ is Lord of all and the singular way of salvation? PC(USA) ECO EPC Yes ₁ No No The ordination vows for officers in the Worship section of the Book of Order still have a strong statement about this; "Do you trust in Jesus Christ your Savior, acknowledge him Lord of all and Head of the Church, and through him believe in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?" However, in reality there is no consensus regarding whether faith in Christ is necessary for salvation. A survey from the Research Services of the PCUSA found that less than half of PCUSA pastors agree that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation. (There are no similar surveys for the EPC or ECO, but their ordination vows are much more stringent.) At the 2001 GA a resolution was introduced to declare that "Jesus is the singular saving Lord", but before passage it was modified to say that "Jesus is unique." At the 2006 GA before modifying a proposed resolution to say Jesus was "uniquely Savior", a group of delegates stated their belief that Christ is only one among many paths to eternal life. Do significant numbers of elders and pastors question that Scripture is the only infallible rule of Faith and life? Yes 2 No No In the Worship section of the Book of Order there is a strong ordination vow concerning scriptural authority; "Do you accept the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be, by the Holy Spirit, the unique and authoritative witness to Jesus Christ in the Church Universal, and God's Word to you?" However, in recent years, a significant number of PCUSA pastors have deemphasized, if not de-facto discarded, the historic affirmation that the Bible is the only Authoritative Word of God. A significant number of pastors have rejected such basics as the virgin birth, the bodily resurrection, the ascension, validity of miracles, etc. A recent update to the Book of Order (G-2.0104-b) suggests regarding ordination examinations that Scripture be used as guidance, saying nothing about authority. A very recent GAPJC case (Parnell v San Francisco Presbytery) has ruled that there is such "a vast diversity of interpretation of scripture and the confessions regarding human sexuality evident in the record" that a discernment of Truth is not possible. Can Truth be discerned about any subject where there is diversity of interpretation of scripture and the confessions? How does the denomination describe the Trinity? Many terms subject to interpretation Father, Son, & Holy Spirit Father, Son, & Holy Spirit Does the denomination support full ordination opportunity for women? Yes Yes Yes 3 3 The EPC considers belief in ordination of women a non-essential for Salvation. It is therefore left up to the individual church to determine if it wants to ordain women elders and deacons. It is left up to the individual Presbytery whether it will ordain women pastors. Twelve of the thirteen Presbyteries in the EPC ordain women pastors. This ia a non-issue if we elect to join the EPC because our church has ordained women elders and deacons, and we would be in a Presbytery that ordains women pastors. Does the denomination affirm that property is owned by the local church? No Yes Yes Can the denomination list what it considers to be "Essential Tenets of the Faith"? 4 No 4 Yes Yes Ordination vows for pastors and officers include the question "Do you sincerely receive and adopt the essential tenets of the Reformed faith as expressed in the confessions of our church as authentic and reliable exposition of what Scripture leads us to believe and do." But there is no listing of the "Essential Tenets", thus creating an ambiguous position. Page 1

Comparison of Presbyterian Denominations 5 ISSUE Does the denomination require all officers to subscribe to its list of the "Essential Tenets of the Faith"? PC(USA) ECO EPC N/A Yes 5 Yes 6 ECO ordination vows for pastors and officers include the question "Do you receive and adopt without hesitation the Essential Tenets of the ECO as a reliable exposition of what Scripture teaches us to do and to believe, and will you be guided by them in your life and ministry. Their "Essential Tenets" are in a four page document, (summarized into 19 statements,) and are to be "Received, adopted, and bound by", with no provision for scrupling. 6 EPC ordination vows for pastors and officers include the question; "Do you affirm and adopt the "Essentials of our Faith" without exception?" The "Essentials" are comprised of seven concise statements. The Westminster Confession must also be affirmed and adopted, but with scrupling allowed. Are there national standards for ordained officers? 7 No 7 Yes Yes With the recent changes to the Book of Order, apparently confirmed by a recent Presbyterian judicial decision, presbyteries and churches may consider other criteria of their choice for choosing elders, deacons and pastors, subject to the "guidance" of Scripture and the confessions. The ordination process then requires no affirmation of, or commitment to, an identifiable set of "Essentials". Yet, if one church or presbytery ordains an officer, all other churches in the PCUSA are required to honor it, regardless of the beliefs or lifestyle of that officer. Does the denomination specifically identify the local church as the critical level of Governing body? No 8 Yes 9 Yes 8 9 With the recent adoption of a new Form of Government (nfog), the PCUSA seems to exhibit more of a hierarchical or subservient structure of "top-down" government than was historically practiced in Presbyterianism. This is particularly true in the defined responsibilities relative to local mission work. (Prescribed from above, carried out below) The Mission Statement of ECO is: "To build flourishing churches that make disciples of Jesus Christ." The ECO is still in the initial start-up phase, and application of polity is still uncertain until put into practice. Does the denomination adopt the Book of Confessions as doctrinal guidance? Yes Yes 10 No 11 10 11 ECO recognizes Scripture as the final authority for doctrinal guidance, however, the Book of Confessions is affirmed as a secondary authority. In developing their four pages of "Essential Tenets", theologians examined all the confessions looking for common themes, which they summarized into their statement. The Book of Confessions is not referenced in the ordination vows for pastors or officers. The EPC has adopted the Westminster Confession & Catechisms as the confessional document of the denomination. This is a significant difference between EPC and PCUSA or ECO, but it is not necessarily a negative. Many in the PCUSA feel that saying that you affirm 10 Confessions is like saying you affirm everything, or nothing. It is impossible to agree with everything in all the confessions (some of it is contradictory), and also beyond reason to ask someone to scruple all the different things they might disagree with. On the other hand, a single confession is much easier to manage. Does the denomination assume an active political role? Yes 12 No No 12 The Washington Office, an agency of the General Assembly of the PCUSA, is established to lobby in Washington DC for issues and positions of concern to GA. Does the denomination have a (foreign) mission program? 13 Yes No 13 Yes ECO has established relationships with the Outreach Foundation, Presbyterian Frontier Fellowship, & Antioch Partners that they anticipate will develop into a foreign mission program. Page 2

Comparison of Presbyterian Denominations ISSUE PC(USA) ECO EPC Has the denomination demonstrated a primary emphasis on evangelism? * 14 There may be a different view on this among some ruling and teaching elders in our Presbytery. No * Yes 14 Yes As indicated in what they chose for their name, ECO intends that there will be an emphasis on evangelism in everything they do. This is spelled out in their "Our Values" statement. However, as a start-up denomination that emphasis is still at a theoretical stage. What is the denomination's position on abortion? Pro-choice Pro-life Pro-life How many missionaries does the denomination support per 10,000 members? Does denomination allow pastors who are not serving local churches to vote in Presbytery or GA? 1 none yet 10 Yes No Yes When was the denomination founded? 1983 2012 1980 What was the origin of member congregations? UPC (USA) & PC (US) PC(USA) UPC (USA) What are the number of member churches in the denomination? 10,000 15 20 16 350 17 15 PC (USA) membership has been in decline in the United States since the 1960's. Since that time, the denomination has gone from approximately 4.5 million members to under 2 million. Over the last few years, this migration away from PC(USA) has increased under the weight of the denomination issues. It is expected that membership and number of churches will continue to decline in the near future. 16 17 ECO is a start-up denomination, and their membership is very fluid. As of November 2012 they will have 20 fully certified member congregations, but there are another 70+ in various stages in the process that will be members before year's end. Hundreds of other churches and evangelical presbyteries from around the country are currently in a discernment process and considering the ECO. There is no way to know, but it is not unreasonable to project significant growth in the next several years. EPC has seen rapid growth over the last several years going from approximately 180 churches to over 300. All of the churches that have left PC(USA) from Cherokee Presbytery in the last two years have joined the EPC. Much like the ECO, there is no way to know, but it is reasonbable to project significant growth over the next several years as many churches are in a discernment process and are considereing the EPC. Is there a local Presbytery and how many member churches are included? Cherokee (37) East (10) Southeast (26) Does the denomination have a Book of Order? Yes Yes Yes Is there a required/suggested financial support level of higher governing bodies? Yes Yes Yes What is the cost per member of the denomination? $40 1% of church budget $17 Page 3