Ambrose
Puritan Board Freshman
I was checking out Brian Schwertley's church site and noticed that his church is now affiliated with (drum roll, please)... The Westminster Presbyterian Church in the United States, formed January of this year with three other congregations. Formerly he was part of the CRPC (Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church) which was a splinter of the RPCGA (if I remember right).
Per the CRPC's meeting minutes, the CRPC filed charges against Schwertley following his notice of intent to withdraw.
I'm not trying to decide whether either party is right, but wanted to say that I find this behavior somewhat disturbing. This isn't particular to Schwertley and the CRPC, so throw in a dozen other recent similar situations in the Presbyterian world as well. My home church is not formally affiliated with any denomination, but I tend to lean towards presbyterian ecclesiology. What bothers me personally are two things:
1. What is the substantive difference between a) independency, and b) finding a small group of Pastors that think exactly like I do and forming a "Presbytery"? Especially when I turn around and dump the presbytery as soon as I find an area of disagreement? It seems to be an accountability that is only transient. This seems like a woman who says she will be glad to submit to her husband as soon as she finds one that she agrees with, and as soon as her present husband gives her an order she doesn't agree with, she'll find another husband. Maybe that example doesn't translate, but that's the feeling I get.
2. It seems to gravely undermine the doctrine of church discipline when Pastors jump ship when under discipline themselves. How in the world can we complain about people being able to jump from church to church when Pastors are doing the same thing?
Now I certainly don't mean to broad brush everyone in a Presbyterian denomination. Probably on the whole these micro-presbyterian squabbles are not representative. But like airplane crashes, they seem to be on the news a lot.
{Moderator, fixing links}
[Edited on 5-4-2006 by Contra_Mundum]
Per the CRPC's meeting minutes, the CRPC filed charges against Schwertley following his notice of intent to withdraw.
I'm not trying to decide whether either party is right, but wanted to say that I find this behavior somewhat disturbing. This isn't particular to Schwertley and the CRPC, so throw in a dozen other recent similar situations in the Presbyterian world as well. My home church is not formally affiliated with any denomination, but I tend to lean towards presbyterian ecclesiology. What bothers me personally are two things:
1. What is the substantive difference between a) independency, and b) finding a small group of Pastors that think exactly like I do and forming a "Presbytery"? Especially when I turn around and dump the presbytery as soon as I find an area of disagreement? It seems to be an accountability that is only transient. This seems like a woman who says she will be glad to submit to her husband as soon as she finds one that she agrees with, and as soon as her present husband gives her an order she doesn't agree with, she'll find another husband. Maybe that example doesn't translate, but that's the feeling I get.
2. It seems to gravely undermine the doctrine of church discipline when Pastors jump ship when under discipline themselves. How in the world can we complain about people being able to jump from church to church when Pastors are doing the same thing?
Now I certainly don't mean to broad brush everyone in a Presbyterian denomination. Probably on the whole these micro-presbyterian squabbles are not representative. But like airplane crashes, they seem to be on the news a lot.
{Moderator, fixing links}
[Edited on 5-4-2006 by Contra_Mundum]
