Sometimes it takes an outside voice to help insiders figure out just who they are and what they’re doing.
Nearly 1,200 Presbyterians gathered last week in Orlando, Fla., to sort out their respective connections to the partner organizations, the Fellowship of Presbyterians (FOP) and A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO), and Donna Petter presented them the gift of clarity. The young Old Testament scholar from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Mass., posited before the attendees two categories that carry a treasure-trove of definition and guidance: exodus and exile.
“What time is it?” she asked the group. Perhaps it’s a time of exodus, “leaving a place you’ve been in for a long time” that has become “a place of bondage to you.” Over the past nine months, 28 congregations have transferred from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) into ECO, nearly 50 additional churches are in process and nearly 100 are engaging in a congregational discernment process.
“What time is it?” she asked again. Perhaps it’s a time of exile. “You’re no longer in a place where you want to be … a strange land due to alien theology.” Yet God is requiring you to learn to be God’s people right there. For folks like that, the FOP is aiming to provide refuge, encouragement and mutually accountable community.
During the Jan. 30-Feb. 1 conference, in plenary sessions, breakout sessions and ECO’s first synod meeting, these two ancient narratives found voice again and again.
The synod meeting, comprising minister and elder delegates from the first 28 affiliated churches, walked through a series of reports, clarified policies, elected committees and affirmed constituting documents. Leaders of the in-process and inquiring churches and scores of others listened to the deliberations presided over by Dana Allin, who will become the first synod executive of ECO on April 15.
Concurrent with that meeting, the greater body of conference participants latched onto the exile narrative, identifying either formally or informally with FOP and discussing their future in the PC(USA). Jim Singleton, the group’s leader acknowledged to the Outlook that the big question swirling around the gathering was, “Is the Fellowship a real, ongoing organization that will continue to have a presence in the PC(USA)? Or is it just a front or first step towards ECO?”
He answered bluntly. “The Fellowship is absolutely here to stay. It will be a continuous presence that will mirror the values of ECO,” but soon it will have its own separate website and organizational structures to help member congregations, pastors and elders to live faithfully as fully engaged members of the PC(USA).
In other words, Singleton said, while those joining ECO are seeking to transfer via a “gracious separation” process, those staying are seeking “gracious differentiation” from some of the values and trends within the denomination without separating from it or trying by political or coercive means to change it to conform to their own views.
Graciousness was the order of the day at the conference. Consistent with the conferences held over the previous two years, nary a criticism was voiced toward anything about the PC(USA). Several denominational staff members were welcomed formally in plenary sessions and a few led breakout sessions where they showcased programs they are leading.
Participants spent the bulk of their time considering the values and mission of their emerging community, focusing on best practices in ministry, on the formation of regional accountability groups and on theological convictions. Joseph Small, retired director of the PC(USA)’s Office of Theology and Worship, introduced to the gathering a yearlong study of the French Confession, the one authored by John Calvin. And pervasive throughout the conference was the focus on mission – Gary Haugen, president of the International Justice Mission presented a gripping plenary appeal for partnering in the war against the slave trade.
For a minority of participants – those who don’t think of the PC(USA) as a place of bondage or a strange land of alien theology – the conference stood as a painful reminder of the denomination’s decline. In recent months congregations have been leaving at a rate of five per week, with the majority of departing congregations joining the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, although momentum is growing for ECO to become the destination of choice.
