An Inkling
Jesus prayed that the church would be one. Agreed.
Given a choice, Luther and Calvin wouldn’t have left the church, bad as it was. Agreed.
Schism is wrong. Agreed.
If a congregation cannot agree with the new ordination standards (and the consequent changes coming in how our church embodies the grace, forgiveness, and transformation of the gospel) and leaves the PCUSA for another denomination they are schismatic. Agreed.
Ergo, it is better for a congregation to stay put in the PCUSA, even if they cannot abide this change, lest they be schismatic. Disagreed.
Why? Because we’re already in schism, simply by being a part of the PCUSA. Our denomination has taken us into schism with the global and historic church. Our choice is no longer between schism and no schism, only between which form of schism. That’s hellish, but that’s where we are.
The members of the PCUSA comprise a little over ½ of 1% of the population of the United States, which holds about 5% of the global population. We are tiny. The path apart that we have chosen will hardly register in the global church. One billion Catholics and 300 million Orthodox will hardly notice. Nor would the burgeoning churches of the global south, except that we were the mother church to many of them. Because of our history they at least notice that we’re leaving them, and they grieve. And they are commencing with the severance of our much treasured mission partnerships. Alas.
But wait – haven’t we already been out of synch with many such churches through our readiness to affirm the leadership gifts of women? True. Many churches have chosen a similar course, but many have not. Yet even those who disagree with us on women’s roles have not rejected us outright as a faithful church, for they recognize that we have made the case from scripture, even if they interpret the scripture differently. They rightly recognize no such justification for the changes we are making in our sexual ethics. Thus they are deciding if this is a departure of sufficient magnitude to break fellowship with us. Many already have. We will see many more if the PCUSA does what the revisionists hope it will at the next General Assembly, namely redefine marriage.
In these blogs I am offering reasons why I believe the PCUSA has crossed a line toward biblical unfaithfulness with its ordination standard changes. To that list add schism – not if some congregations leave. We’re already there. God may guide some congregations to leave and others to stay. But he has not given us an option for avoiding schism altogether. It’s a good thing he’s merciful!
With this, I’ll pause the daily blogs until Monday, and then another reason…
Blessings,
Keith
