A new issue has popped up in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Mission Presbytery recently: should a person have to confess to the belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior in order to become a member of a church?
The issue arose when Robert Jensen, a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin, joined St. Andrew’s Church in Austin, Texas, in 2005, and later declared in a published article that he does not believe in Jesus, or God, at all. When Mission Presbytery’s Committee on Ministry researched whether or not there are questions in the Book of Order on joining the membership of a church, they found such questions — at least as required in an explicit formula — are not there.
At the request of Mission Presbytery, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary made this the topic of its Fall 2007 President’s Colloquium, “Joining and Being Church: What’s Not Negotiable?” Featured speakers were Michael Jinkins, Austin Seminary’s academic dean, and Paul Hooker, executive presbyter and stated clerk of the Presbytery of St. Augustine. They discussed whether or not there are universally agreed upon minimum standards of belief for becoming a member of a church in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and examined related matters of theology and ecclesiology. At the end of the presentations, John Judson, chairman of the Committee on Ministry for Mission Presbytery introduced panelists for a discussion: Larry Coulter, pastor of Shepherd of the Hills Church, Austin, Texas; Marsha Brown, pastor of First Church, Copperas Cove, Texas; and Chris Harrison, pastor of First Church of Giddings, Texas.
Coulter, who is a member of the Presbytery’s Committee on Ministry, read from a paper written by Robert Jensen entitled, “The Answer Lies in the Conception of Faith that Anyone Can Join the Church.” The paper was presented to a Hindu group in 2006, and was later published in The Hindu Times, The Houston Chronicle, and The Chicago Tribune.
About the paper, Coulter said, “Dr. Jensen’s paper is a provocative paper that I found very engaging. He is a man who loves to make people think, and he has done that for our presbytery.” Jensen’s opening statement said that he does not believe in God, Jesus Christ as God’s son, or that heaven exists, but he raises the question of what the term “Christian” means. He called himself “a secular Christian” and “Christian atheist.”
Jinkins followed Coulter, and toward the end of his presentation, he said, “I trust the faith of Jesus Christ, that is, I trust the faith that Christ has on our behalf as heavenly High Priest, far more than I trust the faith any of us have in Christ. … I am, thus, worried about placing so much emphasis on cognitive affirmation of propositions, rather than simply trusting in a personal God who is hidden in his revelation, and about whom it is very difficult, if not impossible, to make any unequivocal statements.”
He cited a conversation he had with a colleague about a member of a congregation who might have a disability such as Down Syndrome. “If belonging to Christian community is dependent on believing, and believing is reduced to the affirmation of particular doctrinal statements, then we may risk losing the genius of the biblical faith in our preoccupation with orthodoxy.”
Hooker took a different position from Jinkins, basing his presentation on Mark 5:24b-34, about a woman suffering from hemorrhages who was healed when she touched Jesus’ cloak. He said, “Let me state then the thesis of my remarks: It is my conviction that a fair reading of the gospels and a fair reading of our polity both require that a member of a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) congregation profess faith in Jesus Christ as Savior, and accept Christ’s Lordship over life.”
Describing the passages about the bleeding woman, Hooker said “Jesus realizes that, as the text so enigmatically puts it, ‘power had gone forth from him.’ Jesus’ response is that classic line, so often heard perhaps in other forms in the gospels, but always with the same intent: ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well … has saved you,’ according to the text.”
Audio and text from the Colloquium can be found on Austin Seminary’s web site.
Overture passed
This topic is of particular interest to Mission Presbytery (the district of the denomination that includes Austin, San Antonio, and the Rio Grande Valley), the presbytery in which St. Andrew’s Church resides. An overture addressing this issue was passed at Mission Presbytery’s meeting October 19 and 20. At the meeting, the session of First Church, San Antonio, proposed that Mission Presbytery forward the following overture to the 218th General Assembly to amend G-5.0000 as follows:
At the time member-candidates present themselves to the session for reception into membership, whether by profession of faith, transfer of letter, or reaffirmation of faith, the following questions shall be addressed to the member-candidates for their answer as indicated. Sessions may make the determination, on an individual basis, to exempt certain persons from answering these specific questions due to physical or mental disability. In such a case, appropriate alternative questions and their presentation should be devised, still meeting the requirements of G-5.0101a.
Who is your Lord and Savior?
Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.
Trusting in the gracious mercy of God, do you turn from the ways of sin and renounce evil and its power in the world?
I do, by God’s grace.
Will you be Christ’s faithful disciple, obeying his Word and showing his love?
I will, with God’s help.
Will you be a faithful member of this congregation, share in its worship and ministry through your prayers and gifts, your study and service, and so fulfill your calling to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?
I will, with God’s help.
