The Presbyterian Coalition is convening a national Lenten gathering called “Repent & Believe: A Call to Prayer and Repentance” — an invitation for people from all the political corners of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to come together in confession and worship.
While the Coalition is the official sponsor, some involved with the Covenant Network of Presbyterians (on the opposite side of the political divide over ordination standards) have been involved with the planning as well.
The meeting — including five worship services — will be held at Grace Presbyterian church in Houston from March 17-19, just before Palm Sunday.
Jerry Andrews, a pastor from Glen Ellyn, Illinois and co-moderator of the Coalition, said the gathering grew out of discussions after the General Assembly last summer in which some evangelicals decided, “If we’re serious about the whole church praying together and the whole church confessing sin together . . . let’s call a time when we get together and repent together, not repenting other people’s sins, but our own.”
The event is sponsored by the Coalition — a group that supports the PC(USA)’s current ordination standards, which limit ordination to those who practice fidelity if they are married or chastity if they’re not. But the planning team also includes leaders from some racial-ethnic groups within the church; Peggy Hedden of the Presbyterian Lay Committee; and John M. Buchanan, pastor of Fourth Presbyterian in Chicago and Cynthia Campbell, president of McCormick Theological Seminary. Buchanan is a founding co-moderator of the Covenant Network, which is trying to open the doors to ordination for gays and lesbians, and Campbell is on the group’s executive committee.
The model for the “Repent & Believe” gathering will be John Calvin’s Genevan Form for Church Prayers, Andrews said, and the emphasis will be on both individual and corporate confession and prayer.
Different parts of Calvin’s Form for Church Prayers will be emphasized in different worship services, Andrews said — from the proclamation of the gospel (Who would walk into the presence of a holy God to confess, Andrews asked, without “the assurance of a merciful God?”) to confession, the declaration of pardon, the recitation of the law (two services will focus on the Ten Commandments) to the passing of the peace.
Laura Mendenhall, the president of Columbia Theological Seminary, is to be the worship leader, and those speaking are expected to include Craig Barnes, a professor of leadership and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and pastor of Shadyside Presbyterian Church; Curtis Jones; executive director of the National Black Presbyterian Caucus, and Campbell, from McCormick seminary.
“The whole church needs to repent, the whole church is in trouble,” Andrews said. “It’s filled with sin, period. Forget left and right for a minute, not that we can forget it for a long time. We need to repent. We need to go before God.”
To find scheduling, hotel and registration information for the conference, check the Coalition website, www.presbycoalition.org, or call Rob Bullock at the Coalition’s office in Orlando, 407-447-2100.
