Big Church Apostasy

Recently a fresh wave of secessions have been occurring from the large United Presbyterian Church USA. Several developments in the denomination have provoked churches to separate from it. In 1979 its General Assembly adopted a rule that the governing session of every congregation must have a quota of “women, youth and ethnic minorities” which reflects the composition of the congregation. This rule has been enforced with some Presbyterians having gone to the length of seizing the property of congregations which refused to comply. The denomination has also been moving to assure that it rather than the local congregation owns each church building. While insisting on its hierarchical control in the issues of property ownership and women in office, it approved indifference regarding basic Christian doctrines when it admitted a minister, Rev. Mansfield Kaseman, who denied the deity of Christ. These actions have provoked unrest and secessions.

When the doctrinal issue was raised at the denominational assembly at its meeting last May it approved a statement affirming that “Jesus is one person, truly God and truly human. . . .” Although the statement contained a reference to the “birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus” . . . a motion to have it read the “sinless life, atoning death and bodily resurrection” was defeated by a more than 2 to 1 margin.

A New Denomination

Thirty of the seceding churches with a total membership of about 20,000 have now organized as a new denomination taking the name Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The new denomination, while committing itself to the system of doctrine taught by the Westminster Confession and Catechisms left room for some differences of view on such matters as charismatic ideas about the Holy Spirit and allowing congregations to have women elders. Concern to retain local freedom on such issues has reportedly kept the churches from joining other conservative Presbyterian bodies.

Movement Toward A Merger

For some time negotiations have been under way for the approximately 15,000 member Orthodox Presbyterian Church and the about 25,000 member Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod to merge into the 8 year old, 70,000 member Presbyterian Church in America. The general assemblies of all three bodies have approved the union and those decisions would now have to be approved by two thirds of the presbyteries of each denomination, after which the decisions must again be ratified by the assemblies in 1982. According to a recent Presbyterian Journal report the votes of the PCA presbyteries were unanimously for union with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod, but the proposal for receiving the Orthodox Presbyterian Church did not gain the required two thirds majority of favorable votes. Although the presbyteries of the RPCES must now vote on the merger, the OPC presbyteries will not need to do so since the invitation to them no longer exists.

Breaking with the Reformed Ecumenical Synod

The November 3 RES News Exchange informs us that the Free Church of Scotland has broken off .its relationship with the Reformed Ecumenical Synod because of that body’s failure to deal decisively with the grave aberrations of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands. The denomination’s General Assembly stated that it:

is now no longer persuaded of the will and/or ability of the RES fully to implement its own constitution. The tolerance by member churches of views of Scripture incompatible with the Reformed Confessions appears to yield only unduly protracted discussion in the RES. The long drawn-out discussion of dual membership in the RES and WCC (World Council of Churches) has also strained relationships. The more recent discussions with a member Church on the issue of homosexuality have served as a focal point of distress and disenchantment and confirmed the conviction that the Free Church of Scotland must, in the interests of its adherence to Reformed standards, terminate its membership of the RES.

“A ‘sister church’ of the Free Church, the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia, had earlier terminated its membership. In the last two years, six relatively small Presbyterian churches have withdrawn or assumed an inactive status. The total membership of the six churches is approximately 32,000” (RES NE 11/3/81).

In this connection, it should be recalled that the influence of the Christian Reformed Church’s Interchurch Relations Committee has been exerted toward delaying the preventing the kind of forthright action against scandals which Presbyterian brothers are recognizing is long overdue (Acts of Synod 1981, pp. 281–285), and must be undertaken if the Reformed ecumenical organization is to keep any integrity.