{"id":1161,"date":"2006-08-10T00:42:00","date_gmt":"2006-08-10T07:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1161"},"modified":"2006-08-10T00:42:00","modified_gmt":"2006-08-10T07:42:00","slug":"will-this-be-the-pcusa-constitutional-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1161","title":{"rendered":"Will this be the PC(USA) constitutional crisis?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, I updated the news of the Riverside PC of Linn Grove, Iowa,
\nearlier today but since then a flurry of additional items have broken,
\nall ultimately involving property.  I’ll give you my observations
\non it at the end, but here is what has become public in the last 48 hours:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I have already discussed the vote at the Riverside Church and the called meeting of Prospect Hill Presbytery to address that.<\/li>\n
  2. The Layman is reporting<\/a>
    \npossible similar action by the Windsor Presbyterian Church of Des
    \nMoines, Iowa.  The church has called a congregational meeting for
    \nthis Sunday, August 13, and any action will be considered\/responded to
    \nat the next stated meeting of the Presbytery of Des Moines on August
    \n19.  Interestingly, the     presbytery web site<\/a> currently has a broken link to their “call” (docket?) for August 19.<\/li>\n
  3. The PC(USA) Office of the General Assembly has just issued a new Advisory Opinion<\/a> on “Implementing the Trust Clause for the Unity of the Church.”<\/li>\n
  4. The Layman has been supplied with two PC(USA) legal documents dealing with implementing the trust clause<\/a>.  One of these (“Church
    \nProperty Disputes: A Resource for those Representing Presbyterian
    \nChurch (U.S.A.) Presbyteries and True Churches in the Civil Courts.”) addresses civil cases the other (“Processes
    \nfor use by presbyteries in responding to congregations seeking to
    \nwithdraw.”) ecclisastical law.\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So, where does that leave us?<\/p>\n

    I find it interesting, this outbreak of  secession in Iowa.  What is going on in the Synod of Lakes and Prairies?
    \nBut other than the coincidence of geography and the broken link on the
    \nPresbytery of Des Moines’ web site I am willing to let this take its
    \ncourse as I wrote in my post earlier today.  I pray it will be
    \ndone decently and in order, but not legalisticly and vindictively.<\/p>\n

    The new advisory opinion I find a bit more disturbing.  Is the
    \ntiming a coincidence or was OGA holding it until a real threat
    \narose?  While I agree with much of it, particularly point I (I.
    \nThere is not a unilateral right of a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
    \ncongregation to depart from the denomination or its presbytery of
    \nmembership.), it seems to take a darker tone in point II (II. There are
    \nalso significant restrictions on how and under what circumstances a
    \npresbytery may release a congregation.) and really sounds controlling
    \nwhen you get to point III ( III. If a presbytery fails to carry out
    \nthese constitutional responsibilities, the synod may be required to
    \nintervene.) <\/p>\n

    Finally, the two legal papers have some significant “strategy” points
    \nto them that are due to what they are, legal discussions, as opposed to
    \nsermons on grace and forgiveness.  I have only skimmed them but
    \nhope to read them in more detail this weekend.  But sections of
    \nthem have a real “take no prisoners” tone to them.<\/p>\n

    So I ask again, where does this leave us?  I struggled with the
    \ntitle I gave this post hoping that I was not over reacting.  But
    \nreviewing the OGA material again, I am really left with the feeling
    \nthey are setting themselves up to win the individual battles of keeping
    \nthe buildings, but losing the war by having the membership leave the
    \ndenomination and in a way that does not bring glory to God and testify
    \nto the grace and forgiveness Christians are to demonstrate to the
    \nworld.  The PC(USA) may end up with a lot of empty structures if
    \nthis is done wrong.<\/p>\n

    Will this be the dividing point in the PC(USA)?  I don’t
    \nknow.  If each of the presbyteries, synods, and the GA do it
    \nright, we might end up with a smaller PC(USA) but our mutual
    \nforbearance will be a witness to the world.  If we do it wrong,
    \nit could get really ugly.<\/p>\n

    I will admit that I did not expect this to be the constitutional
    \ncrisis.  I hoped and prayed that the new authoritative
    \ninterpretation would get us through another two years without being
    \ntested.  However, the pragmatist in me expected one of several
    \npresbyteries to test the “local option” and I wanted it to play out in
    \nthe PC(USA) PJC system first before we got to the point of
    \ncongregations packing up and leaving the denomination. 
    \nUnfortunately, it appears that some congregations are jumping to the
    \n“end game” and trying exit strategies now.  May God grant us
    \nwisdom and discernment in the days ahead and grace and forgiveness in
    \nour dealings within the PC(USA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Well, I updated the news of the Riverside PC of Linn Grove, Iowa, earlier today but since then a flurry of additional items have broken, all ultimately involving property.  I’ll […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nWill this be the PC(USA) constitutional crisis? - The GA Junkie<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.gajunkie.com\/?p=1161\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Will this be the PC(USA) constitutional crisis? 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