Three churches in the PCUSA’s Presbytery of Cincinnati have voted to leave the denomination, according the to Layman Online:
A group of Ohio congregations delivered another blow to the Presbyterian Church (USA) in what is becoming growing fallout following major changes in ordination standards.
“When churches within a denomination cease to hold to the same basic beliefs concerning the faith, it no longer makes sense to be joined under one name,” read a statement issued by Russellville Presbyterian Church (Russellville, Ohio), the Church By The Woods (Sharonville, Ohio) and Holtsinger Memorial Presbyterian Church (Cincinnati, Ohio).
“We believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and that people are called to try and live in accordance with the standards set forth in the Bible,” the churches stated, adding, “we reject the pluralism that has crept into mainline denominations such as the PCUSA.”
One indication of what has led to these three churches to leave at this time is the vote in the presbytery, which was 99-72 in favor of changing the ordination standards. This despite the fact that, according to one of Russellville’s elders, the presbytery had previously been conservative:
[Elder Dallas] Hurt said the Presbytery of Cincinnati had been “conservative on these issues” for the past 25 years as the controversies began simmering within the General Assembly.
“At this point in time, we have lost those votes [in the presbytery]. We’ve lost the General Assembly,” he said, adding “there is no common ground left.”
The churches now believe, according to their recent statement, that the presbytery is a “frequent proponent of liberal theological change within the PCUSA.”
I suspect this is going to be a determining factor for a lot of evangelical congregations. In the past, there were a lot of churches where they could say, “yeah, there’s lot of loony stuff going on in Louisville, but at least our presbytery is still sane.” With the number of presbyteries that have flipped on the ordination issue (22, at latest count), as well as all the uncertainty surrounding the proposed new Form of Government in the Book of Order, I’m anticipating a lot of churches throwing in the towel. How many is a lot? Beats me. But I’ll bet these three small churches in Ohio are just the tiniest tip of the iceberg.
May 27, 2011 at 4:45 pm
I guess that’s how it goes; I mean, at this point, it’s an established pattern, right? (The Episcopal Church, the ELCA…) I guess having seen it before doesn’t make it any easier to deal with when it comes around to one’s own denomination.
So, what does this mean for those congregations? Do they join (re-join?) the conservative one (the PCA?)? Do they form their own, new denomination, as some Lutheran congregations did after the (equivalent, I assume?) ELCA decision two years ago? (When that happened, I could just hear the Catholics saying, See, if you start splintering into denominations, where does it end?) Under the Presbyterian way of organizing the church, is it possible for them to be sort of denomination-less congregations standing on their own?
In the full article you linked to, I also find this: “The churches also objected to the PCUSA’s past support of militant Muslim group Hezbollah.” What? This is getting surreal. I’m just an ignorant layman; so I don’t know why a denomination would have occasion officially to take sides on something like that in the first place—but they did, and they chose the terrorists?
May 27, 2011 at 4:58 pm
As far as denomination goes, I expect the pattern we’ve seen the last few years will continue: most will join the EPC, some the PCA, and a few the ARPC. A few may go independent, but only if their presbytery lets them.
As for the thing about Hezbollah, the statement from the churches is a little exaggerated. I don’t recall ever seeing official PCUSA support for Hezbollah, but there are prominent people in the denomination who have visited the region and hobnobbed with Hezbollah.
May 27, 2011 at 5:09 pm
I’m afraid we’ve heard these kinds of predictions before. Each time cultural pluralism is proclaimed the official god of the PCUSA, predictions of significant denominational shift usually follow, only to see a trickle actually take the plunge. That’s not to minimize what these 3 churches have done, and the couple hundred before them over last few years. They should be commended. But a tsunami it ain’t. I doubt that this time will be any different, even though this has happened at the presbytery level rather than the GA level. Most congregations who have been restless but have been making excuses to stay up to this point will likely just find another excuse to stay put. While this sounds mean, it’s not meant that way. It’s no easy thing to say goodbye to the only family you’ve known. There are plenty of built-in incentives to try and hang on and grasp onto any kind of reason to stay the course, hoping that God will bring about revival. But there’s no true revival without true repentance, and the PCUSA isn’t gonna repent because they believe they’ve rightly discerned the mind of God. Both the PCUSA establishment and the conservative PCUSA churches have seen the writing on the wall for a while and the respective implications, and both have found a way to make peace with it up ’til now. Just don’t think we’re in the midst of some watershed moment that changes that.
May 27, 2011 at 8:15 pm
Ditto to Jason. I’ve heard for twenty years, “If GA does this we’re gone!”, then after GA does that thing, “If GA does this we’re gone!”, etc…, etc…, etc… ad nasuem.
I have tired of PC(USA) congregations, to paraphrase Shakespeare, that strut and fret their indignation for an hour and then we hear no more, a bunch of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
The denomination has been apostate for a generation or more. Nothing that has occurred recently has done anything but confirm its apostasy.
May 31, 2011 at 2:13 pm
It’s funny how I have the same feelings as indicated in the prior 2 posts. Perhaps the biggest enemy is apathy, not apostasy. It’s kind of like the frog realizing he’s in boiling water….as he loses consciousness….