This happened circa 1972-73. At the time I was fairly sure I would go with the then-forming Presbyterian Church in America. I read God’s word from Genesis to Revelation. I could not find God leading toward schism, nor could I find that he wanted me to split. Instead he lead me into church history.
I learned that Martin Luther did not counsel schism. He excoriated the pope and his minions. The Roman Catholic church finally excommunicated him. I found John Wesley preaching to the factory workers of England because the Church of England did not minister to them. The pulpit was barred to him for a time, but later this barrier went down and Wesley was fully restored. The Methodist denomination came into being after Wesley’s death, but Wesley himself never suggested such a move.
To its detriment the Northern Kingdom split after Solomon’s death. In my reading of the Old Testament prophets, I found none that ever said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Establish a new Israel.'” Elijah has such thoughts but dropped them like a hot potato when God told him there were 7,000 in Israel who had not bowed their knee to Baal.
Whose church is it? For a long time I have heard liberals and conservatives referring to this denomination as “our church.” Get a life! This is not your church, my church or our church. This is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It belongs to him. He bought it with his own blood.
Do you not think that he knows what is right and wrong within his holy catholic church, including this denomination? At the right time, in his own timing, he will act. In the meantime, the prayer of Habakkuk 3:17-19 is for us. By the providence of God, he put us where we are, he has placed evangelicals right were he wants us to proclaim the truth of Jesus. Do you really think he is saying “run from the battlefield”? We need to take seriously the words of Jude: “I say this because some godless people have wormed their way in among you [us], saying that God’s forgiveness allows us to live immoral lives.” (See also Revelation 22:10-11.)
Yes, I weary with 40-plus years of infighting over this, that and the other. How long do I have to swim upstream? As long as Jesus wants me to, and he will be there with me, you and anyone else who trusts in him.
Out of 11,000-plus congregations, how many do you believe will leave? One thousand? Two thousand? I say fewer than 500. This will make a dent in the denomination, and it may well open the door wide to those who hold beliefs opposite of those of our Lord Jesus Christ and his church. I will have no part of it.
Posted Nov. 20, 2003
George C. Kaulbach is an honorably retired minister living in Cornelia, Ga.
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