Getting the story right . . .

Our Pastoral Letter:

The Presbytery of Carlisle, in official meeting on April 9, 2015, approved two action items by clear majority votes: 1) we voted to dissolve the pastoral relationship between the Rev. Wayne Lowe and our Faith Church; 2) we elected an Administrative Commission to function as the council of Faith Church, replacing their session. Immediately following the meeting, Rev. Lowe formally renounced the jurisdiction of our PC(USA). Our Administrative Commission has already fully engaged with a committed group of people at Faith Church who are motivated to move forward together.

Unfortunately, these actions have been wrongly characterized in recent publications. On behalf of our Coordinating Council, we believe it is important to get this story right. In our opinion, getting the story right was not important to the Harrisburg Patriot News in their recent article concerning our Faith Church; neither does it seem important to the Layman.org website which has copied the Patriot News story.

Our actions concerning Mr. Lowe and the Session at Faith Church were not in response to their strongly held theological convictions. Many Teaching Elders, Ruling Elders and active members of the PC(USA) hold conservative and evangelical theological convictions. Many people within our presbytery who voted in favor of these action items hold such convictions. The characterization of our actions as some mighty battle in the culture war between liberals and conservatives is wild hyperbole and simply wrong. Evangelical pastors are not being “forced out the door” as the Patriot-News alleged. 

Our action was motivated by the observed dysfunctional exercise of pastoral authority and leadership in Faith Church. People were silenced, and verbally bullied, which resulted in open dialogue and discernment being stifled. A disdain for the PC(USA) was set by the pastor and a few leaders without conversation and discernment across the congregation. In a phrase, mutual forbearance (see Book of Order F-3.0105) was crushed resulting in a fractured congregation.

The conclusion that the congregation at Faith Church was fractured and divided was not arrived at casually. Our Committee on Ministry, after extensive review of the situation which included several conversations with Mr. Lowe, members of session as well as members of the congregation, concluded that this division was a result of dysfunctional pastoral and session leadership. Consequently, the Committee concluded such pastoral leadership was not equipped to lead the congregation to reconciliation and healing. This conclusion was the basis of our Committee on Ministry recommendations to the Presbytery; the Presbytery agreed by a large majority.

Today there are over 200 Protestant denominations in the United States, of which our PC(USA) is one. Our denominational structure is based on a foundational commitment to mutual forbearance, tolerance and a commitment to holding different convictions together in one church. This style and culture of church is not for everyone. Mr. Lowe’s decision to renounce jurisdiction and to leave the PC(USA), even though that was not the action of Presbytery, suggests that he has determined that the style and culture of PC(USA) is not for him.

This has been a difficult time in our Presbytery. We are grateful for the careful discernment of our Committee on Ministry and the orderly deliberation of the whole presbytery at our special meeting. We are grateful for the work of our Administrative Commission moving forward with the congregation at Faith Church into a new day.

“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3: 20, 21)

Pastoral Letter from the Moderator of the General Assembly

Moderator and Vice Moderator issue letter on marriage amendment

Dear members and friends of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.):

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Presbyteries have been engaged in conversation, discernment, and prayer concerning the recommendations from the 221st General Assembly (2014) in the nine months since Detroit, Michigan. Today, Amendment 14-F (On Amending W-4.9000 Marriage) received the required majority from the presbyteries.

The approved amendment to the Book of Order lifts up the sanctity of marriage and the commitment of loving couples within the church. It also allows teaching elders to exercise their pastoral discretion in officiating weddings and in doing so “… the teaching elder may seek the counsel of the session, which has authority to permit or deny the use of church property for a marriage service.”

Though we know that this amendment received the necessary majority for approval, we encourage the congregations, presbyteries, and synods of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to continue to be in conversation about marriage and family. We hope that such “up/down” voting does not mark the end, but the continuation of our desire to live in community; a partnership that requires prayer, the study of Scripture, listening to and with one another, and a dedication to partnership in the midst of our diversity of opinion.

We trust that God whose Word brought Creation into being is also the same Word that speaks to us today. With confidence, we believe that God calls the Church into living as a transformative community that embraces the call to be God’s beloved community in the world.


Ruling Elder Heath K. Rada Moderator, 221st General Assembly (2014)

The Reverend Larissa Kwong Abazia Vice Moderator, 221st General Assembly (2014)

Grace

In this difficult season in the Presbyterian Church (USA), may we be reminded of the grace we have received through Jesus Christ our Lord. This definition of "grace" comes from Frederick Buechner's Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC:

After centuries of handling and mishandling, most religious words have become so shopworn nobody's much interested anymore.  Not so with grace, for some reason.  Mysteriously, even derivatives like gracious and graceful still have some of the bloom left.

Grace is something you can never get but only be given.  There's no way to earn it or deserve it or bring it about any more than you can deserve the taste of raspberries and cream or earn good looks or bring about your own birth.

A good sleep is grace and so are good dreams.  The smell of rain is grace.  Somebody loving you is grace.  Loving somebody is grace.  Have you ever tried to love somebody?

A crucial eccentricity of the Christian faith is the assertion that people are saved by grace.  There's nothing

you have to do.  There's nothing you

have to do.  There's nothing you have to do.

The grace of God means something like: Here is your life.  You might never have been, but you are because the party wouldn't have been complete without you.  Here is the world.  Beautiful and terrible things will happen.  Don't be afraid.  I am with you.  Nothing can ever separate us.  It's for you I created the universe.  I love you.

There's only one catch.  Like any other gift, the gift of grace can be yours only if you'll reach out and take it.

Maybe being able to reach out and take it is a gift too.

Pray for Christians in Egypt

The note is forwarded from Hunter Farrell, the Director of Presbyterian World Mission  and copied from his Facebook post:

Message from the General Secretary of the Synod of the Nile, founded by Presbyterian missionaries a century ago and now the largest Protestant church in the Middle East:

The Church in Egypt has passed through very difficult circumstances this week, when the terrorist group ISIS slaughtered 21 Christian Egyptians in Libya. They were young people, who went to Libya to look for work. They were slaughtered while they were saying, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom: All the Egyptian churches were involved together in setting up special prayers for the victims' families.

The Church in Egypt appreciates the role played by the state in these circumstances. The President of the Republic went to the Orthodox Church in order to bring consolation. Also, all government and Islamic authorities participated in the condolences, and denounced the terrorist act.
The Church felt grateful to the President, who went to the Orthodox Church for consolation. The Church supports the rapid reaction of the government, which is represented in the air strikes against the terrorist group.

We thank all our brothers and sisters all over the world, who participated with the Egyptian Church in these circumstances, in writing condolences or in prayer. We pray that the Lord blesses and preserves Egypt, and makes the Church in Egypt, a witness to the Lord in this region.

General Secretary
Rev. Refat Fathy

New Book: The Presbyterian Mission Enterprise

New Book:

I am pleased to announce the publication of my new book: The Presbyterian Mission Enterprise: From Heathen to Partner. My book is now available for purchase at wipfandstock.com. 

American Presbyterians have a remarkable heritage of foreign mission work. While today the mission and ministry of the Presbyterian Church and all of mainline Protestantism is in a time of reformation and deep change, it is vital to remember this heritage of world mission. The Presbyterian Mission Enterprise tells this story by highlighting significant mission leaders through the ages. Our story includes Francis Makemie, a colonial-era missionary pastor and church planter who gathered with colleagues to form the first Presbytery in 1706. Tough, old-school Presbyterians like Ashbel Green insisted on a distinctive Presbyterian mission effort, and Presbyterians were among those who heard the call exemplified by William Carey to take the gospel to the whole world. This vision beckoned Walter Lowrie into leadership, and Presbyterians joined the great missionary movement. Robert Speer was a driving force behind this growing movement, negotiating a moderate path through bitter conflicts. After the traumas of World War II, John Coventry Smith worked to reconfigure and redirect the mission enterprise. Now, in an era marked by fragmentation and realignment, leaders like Clifton Kirkpatrick and Hunter Farrell work to continue the Presbyterian mission enterprise as a vital piece of the way forward. Our heritage guides our future.

A letter from Veeda Javaid

Copied here is a letter from Veeda Javaid. Please pray for Pakistan and the Presbyterian Education Boark:

December 20, 2014

Dear Friends,

For many years, Pakistan has been a divided society, politically, socially, religiously. Over the years, terrorism has increased. People are no longer surprised at news of bomb blasts and shootings. Pakistan has lost thousands in terrorist attacks, but December 16, 2014 will be remembered as the bloodiest day in the history of Pakistan, the day terrorists attacked a school and massacred innocent school children, the day that united Pakistan.

Following the attack on a school in Peshawar, political parties have turned aside from their own agendas and the nation now stands with one voice, “No room for terrorism.” On December 16, 2014, one hundred and thirty-two children died, shot in cold blood by members of the Pakistan Taliban. These children should have been part of Pakistan’s future. Instead, for many families in Peshawar, there is no hope for the future. As one grieving father said, “My son was my dream. Today I buried my dream.” For the first time the country is empty of dreams. We do not have the words to describe the grief of a parent who lays his child in the earth before his time. It is a sorrow too large to bear. As someone has said, “The smallest coffins are the heaviest.”

But, with sorrow, there is anger in Pakistan today. There is anger at those who turned their eyes away from terror and let the cost be paid in human lives. There is anger at those who supported the killers and there is shame - shame that as a country we could not protect our children. There is shame amongst people who remained silent at the time of crises. Dear friends, we as a nation have a bad habit of forgetting everything within days and weeks, no matter how big a tragedy is, but this time history will not forgive us if we forget the blood of our children. People have finally started to realize and accept that extremism is a national issue; it is a war we are all involved in. We cannot turn a blind eye to what is happening in our country. As a nation, we have to stand united against this brutality.

All Presbyterian Education Board schools observed black day. Children wore black arm bands and candles were lit for the children of Peshawar. Many churches and Christian organizations have cancelled Christmas celebrations and have instead held special prayers. One student came to me and said, “I want to be an army officer because I want to punish the Taliban.” One mother shared that she was worried and concerned for her 3 daughters and didn’t want to send them to school, but the girls were adamant that they wanted to come. “We are not scared of terrorists,” they said.

The government received information that more terrorists are planning attacks on schools and in order to protect students, asked all schools and colleges to close for winter break from December 19, 2014 until January 5, 2015. Before Presbyterian Education Board schools closed, we were able to deliver Christmas gifts to all boarding house students.

Please pray for Pakistan.

Veeda Javaid
Executive Director, Presbyterian Education Board in Lahore, Pakistan

Thank you from Presbyterian World Mission

A beautiful, new thank you message is posted on the Presbyterian World Mission website. Thank you to all our congregation that participate with and support Presbyterian World Mission.

http://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/world-mission/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXnhraoXUok