Posted on 06/21/2014 12:06:59 PM PDT by Gamecock
DETROIT, MICHIGAN, JUNE 19, 2014 – A statement of protest by the Presbyterian Lay Committee repudiating the action of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church USA to redefine marriage.
The 221st General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has approved both an Authoritative Interpretation of the Constitution and an amendment to redefine marriage. In the name of 1.8 million Presbyterians nationwide, the General Assembly has committed an express repudiation of the Bible, the mutually agreed upon Confessions of the PCUSA, thousands of years of faithfulness to God’s clear commands and the denominational ordination vows of each concurring commissioner. This is an abomination.
The Presbyterian Lay Committee mourns these actions and calls on all Presbyterians to resist and protest them. You should tell your pastor and the members of your session that you disapprove of these actions. You should refuse to fund the General Assembly, your synod, your presbytery and even your local church if those bodies have not explicitly and publicly repudiated these unbiblical actions.
God will not be mocked and those who substitute their own felt desires for God’s unchangeable Truth will not be found guiltless before a holy God. The Presbyterian Lay Committee will continue to call for repentance and reform: repentance of those who have clearly erred at this General Assembly and reform of the PCUSA according to the Word of God.
Presbyterian Lay Committee
Board of Directors, June 19, 2014
Some have. The problem as they see it is that the home office holds the deeds to the building.
Local bodies have sued for the building and won. They left and joined the Evangelical Presbyterian Church or a new denomination called ECO, A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.
One church recently paid the home office over $8,000,000 to leave with the building.
The OPC left without their buildings, which is why they have less architecturally impressive church buildings than many PC(USA) facilities.
IMHO the building issue is not a valid concern. Take the congregation and strike out in a conservative denomination.
The Presbyterian Church (USA) continued its years-long trend of losing congregations and members in 2013, according to statistics released by the mainline Protestant denomination last week.
According to the data compiled by the PCUSA's Office of the General Assembly, by the end of 2013 membership was approximately 1.76 million, compared to approximately 1.84 million by the end of 2012.
Additionally, the number of PCUSA congregations decreased during 2013. There were 10,038 churches in 2013, versus 10,262 in 2012.
Of the 224 churches no longer with PCUSA, 148 of them were dismissed to other denominations while the remaining number were dissolved.
For the third straight year, the number of dismissed congregations increased, having been 21 in 2011, 110 in 2012, and 148 in 2013.
I guess it would stink to have sunk funds into your building only to find that once the parent organization goes looie, it really wasn’t “yours.”
But fine, if that’s the game they want to play. I guess it would be wise to purchase it if reasonably possible, or look for a different place to meet. Some churches will host other ones at staggered hours, even cross-denominationally. I could easily see Baptist churches being sympathetic here.
When the PCA formed in 1973 they devised a system that the money sent up to the General Assembly was voluntary on the part of each congregation. The church building is also owned by the congregation.
The PCA figured it all out.
That sounds like a more reasonable way to keep congregations from getting lassoed into organizational follies.
The should leave...period.
BTW-We can talk about wheat and tares in the church until the cows come home. However, this is what happens when people do not understand and/or follow sound doctrine. So the next time someone states that doctrine isn’t important, they better think again.
“When the PCA formed in 1973 they devised a system that the money sent up to the General Assembly was voluntary on the part of each congregation. The church building is also owned by the congregation.
The PCA figured it all out.”
Exactly. If say a PCA church wanted to join the OPC or vice versa, it’s very simple. One of the many reasons I like my denomination(PCA).
Amen.
I had always assumed that the great falling away would be tied to doctrinal issues, but clearly it is tied to moral issues. These churches have embraced sin rather than preach against it. Rather than tell people to repent of their sins they encourage them to embrace their sin and celebrate it.
There is a special place in Hell for the pastors of these churches. The regular places in Hell will be reserved for the congregants.
You can’t get to this point without throwing doctrine out the window. The PC(USA) has been preparing for this moment for well over 150 years. They drank the koolaid of German theological liberalism and this us the result.
Hope you are well.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.