10 March 2010
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Presbyterians Week Headlines
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[1] Erskine College and Theological Seminary Constituencies React to Synod Actions [Extended Article]
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[2] Nigerian Muslims Shoot, Burn, and Butcher Christians, Leaving 500 Dead
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[4] Twenty-Year-Old Undergraduate Woman Called as Pastor of Alabama Cumberland Presbyterian Church
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[7] Springfield, Virginia, PCUSA Church Celebrates World Day of Prayer with Indoor Labyrinth
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[9] Reformation Trust Publishes By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me by the Rev. Dr. Sinclair Ferguson
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[1] Erskine College and Theological Seminary Constituencies React to Synod Actions [Extended Article]
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The 2-3 March 2010 called meeting of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP) General Synod (GS) at the Bonclarken Conference Center in East Flat Rock, North Carolina , voted to 1) restructure the Erskine College and Theological Seminary (ECTS) Board of Trustees (BOT) to be a smaller body of sixteen members plus the active Moderator of Synod, 2) appoint an interim board of sixteen plus four ex officio members, the first two items effectively removing all current ECTS-BOT members, and an amendment to the second commending the former BOT members and stating that “systemic problems,” not “personal failure[s]” are the reason for the removals, 3) modify the nomination process for ECTS-BOT members, and 4) modify the qualifications for ECTS-BOT members, including “subscrib[ing] to the mission of Erskine College and Seminary as set forth in its mission statements.” Following the called ARP-GS meeting, several reactions to the synod initiatives have been voiced by ECTS constituencies within and outside of the ARP Church.
An 8 March 2010 Inside Higher Ed article titled “Questions on Erskine’s Accreditation” states that Belle S. Wheelan, president of the regional accrediting agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS), is “concerned about key rules about institutional independence,” regarding the ARP-GS actions toward ECTS, and said that “there is a serious chance that the college could be in violation of at least two standards that are required for accreditation.” The same article states that ECTS outgoing president Randall T. Ruble says “that he too believes the ARP Church violated accrediting standards.”
An 8 March 2010 article in The Index-Journal by Scott J. Bryan titled “Erskine Dean Bashes ARP” reports that ECTS interim vice president and dean of the college W. Gid Alston “vehemently opposes” the ARP-GS actions, questions the motives and actions of the ARP-GS, and supports the ousted trustees. Alston said: “The thing I found most disturbing about the firing of the fourteen board members is that some of the most highly effective board members in Erskine’s history were among those fired….These people have given tirelessly of their time, talent, and funds to help Erskine grow and flourish, and their dismissal was one of the most unethical and un-Christian acts that I have ever witnessed.” Alston continued: “I assume that sense of ownership stems from the fact that the ARP Church founded Erskine College in 1839, but the synod failed to note that the vast majority of Erskine’s assets, including its endowment, have (come) from contributions from alumni and friends of the college….Only a small percentage of financial support has come from the ARP Church, and the rights and investments of all of our contributors must be protected. Bottom line — the ARP Church does not own Erskine College.”
A 4 March 2010 article in The Index-Journal by Felicia Kitzmiller titled “ARP Fires 14 Trustees on Erskine College Board” quotes several ECTS faculty members including English professor William Crenshaw who said: “It looks like they’re trying to take over the college and imprint the college with their own kind of narrow Christianity. That does not bode well for Erskine to continue as a liberal arts center….I try to teach critical thinking. Part of critical thinking is asking questions about everything. You don’t accept anything just because someone says it.” Retired thirty-four year faculty member Dick Haldeman said: “They have no regard for the tradition of academic excellence….These are very dangerous steps they have taken…. It’s a coup. Associate professor of psychology Robert J.F. Elsner said: “The only fear anyone really has about it is academic freedom. Academic freedom is paramount to a school built on academic success.” Commenting on the possibility of the ARP-GS requiring all ECTS faculty to be of the Reformed faith, Elsner said: “Blind faith is a weak faith. A faith untested is like a sword untempered; it breaks in the first battle….(Students) have to be able to function in the world so they have to be able to understand evolutionary perspective.”
Since the ARP-GS meeting, hundreds of wall posts and discussion posts, the overwhelming majority of which are critical of the ARP-GS, have been published on the “Alumni For Erskine – A Christian Liberal Arts College” Facebook group. Several regional alumni chapter meetings to discuss the ECTS changes are scheduled and listed in the same Facebook group.
ARP pastor the Rev. Tim Phillips’ Gairney Bridge Blog published an 8 March 2010 article titled “Reactions to Synod’s Actions,” where Phillips takes issue with several inaccuracies in reaction to the ARP-GS meeting, concluding “…that a failure to know adequate information leading to invalid logical conclusions is not sound critical thinking.”
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+ Associate Reformed Presbyterian Center, 1 Cleveland Street Suite 110, Greenville, South Carolina, 29601, 864-232-8297, Fax: 864-271-3729
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+ Erskine College and Theological Seminary, Post Office Box 668, Due West, South Carolina, 800-770-6936, gaston@erskine.edu
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+ Inside Higher Ed, 1320 18th Street Northwest, 5th Floor, Washington DC 20036, 202-659-9208, Fax: 202-659-9381, editor@insidehighered.com
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+ The Index-Journal, 610 Phoenix Street, Greenwood, South Carolina 29646, 864-223-1411, jburns@indexjournal.com
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+ Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033, 404-679-4500, Fax: 404-679-4558, questions@sacscoc.org
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[2] Nigerian Muslims Shoot, Burn, and Butcher Christians, Leaving 500 Dead
An 8 March 2010 article from Compass Direct News titled “Islamic Assailants Kill Hundreds of Christians Near Jos, Nigeria” describes how ethnic Fulani Muslims on the morning of 7 March 2010 killed 500 ethnic Berom Christian men, women, and children by gunfire, by burning seventy-five Berom houses, and then attacking those fleeing the fires with machetes.
A statement released by the Plateau State Elders Christian Fellowship said “…the Hausa Fulani Muslim militants were chanting ‘Allah Akbar,’ broke into houses, cutting human beings, including children and women with their knives and cutlasses.”
Dr. Abel Damina, youth president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria said: “Young men, Christians, were going to their farm to harvest their produce and the [Islamist] fundamentalists pounced on them,” he said. “They were called infidels. At the last conference, we received reports with photographs of the [Islamist] fundamentalists using AK-47 rifles to destroy our churches. Where did they get the arms from? We have reports of truck loads of arms that had been intercepted, and we did not hear anything about them.”
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+ Compass Direct News Service, Post Office Box 27250, Santa Ana, California 92799, 949-862-0304, Fax: 949-752-6536, info@compassdirect.org
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[3] Reformed Baptist Founders Ministries Blog Exposes “How to Smoke Out a Calvinistic Pastor in your Church” Documents
A 4 March 2010 article by Tom Ascol in the Reformed Baptist Founders Ministries Blog titled “Memo: How to Smoke Out a Calvinistic Pastor in your Church,” publicizes three unofficial documents circulating in some Southern Baptist churches in western Tennessee being “distributed at seminars being held for churches to teach “how to find out if any of your staff are Calvinists and how to get rid of them.”” The seminars are being conducted “by zealous people who view the doctrines of grace as heresy.”
The three documents are 1) “Reformed Red Flags” – containing “a list of sixteen “behaviors” to look for when seeking to smoke out Calvinistic pastors,” 2) “Theological differences between Traditional Southern Baptist and Extreme Calvinists,” and 3) A document for new church pastors and staff members to facilitate that “a pastor be forthcoming in doctrinal convictions.”
Ascol concludes the article by evaluating the appropriate response to the documents, concluding: “Let’s examine ourselves in the light of that Word and determine to live wholeheartedly for our crucified and risen Savior. Critics will come and critics will go. What ultimately matters faithfulness to our Lord expressed through obedience to His Word.”
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+ Founders Ministries, Post Office Box 150931, Cape Coral, Florida 33915, 239-772-1400, Contact Page
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[4] Twenty-Year-Old Undergraduate Woman Called as Pastor of Alabama Cumberland Presbyterian Church
A 7 March 2010 article in The Birmingham News by Greg Garrison titled “20-Year-Old Pastor Brings New Life to Aging Church” reports that twenty-year-old University of Alabama senior Micaiah Thomas was recently called to be the pastor of First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Hueytown, Alabama.
Ms. Thomas is a candidate for ministry in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and wants to attend seminary after her December 2010 graduation, and possibly help manage an orphanage in a poor country sometime after seminary.
Ms. Thomas is the daughter of the Rev. Lynndon Thomas, director of Cross Culture Ministries for the Board of Missions of the Cordova, Tennessee-based Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Ms. Thomas was born and lived for ten years in Colombia in South America when her parents were on the mission field.
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+ The Birmingham News, 2201 Fourth Avenue North, Birmingham, Alabama 35203, 205-325-4444
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+ Cumberland Presbyterian Church, 8207 Traditional Place, Cordova, Tennessee 38016, 901-276-4572, Fax: 901-272-3913
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[5] Louisiana Public School Industrial Arts Teacher Placed on Leave for Refusing to Allow Student to Build Wiccan Altar for Class Project
A 2 March 2010 Des Moines Register article titled “Wiccan Altar Puts Teacher, Officials at Odds” reports that Guthrie (Iowa) Center High School Industrial Arts teacher Dale Halferty was put on paid leave 1 March 2010 after refusing to allow a student to build a Wiccan altar for a class project.
The student is a practicing witch, and had been bringing a book on witchcraft to class.
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+ Des Moines Register, 715 Locust Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50309, 515-284-8000, publisher@dmreg.com
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[6] Presbyterian Church of Ghana Asante Presbytery Holds Workshop for Ministers, Presbyters, and Catechists
A 3 March 2010 article on the GhanaWeb website titled “Presbyterians Asked to be Committed to Ideals of the Church” describes a recent workshop for ministers, presbyters, and catechists held by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG)’s Asante Presbytery with the theme “Let us rise up and build – the way forward after eighteen decades of existence as a church.”
At the workshop, PCG Moderator of the General Assembly the Right Rev. Dr. Yaw Frimpong-Manso voiced concern about the lack of evangelism in the church, and said that church members are idle, undisciplined, and ignorant of the tenets of the faith. The moderator added that “it was important for Presbyterians to cherish selfless and dedicated service in the missionary work in order to transform society.” Additionally, the moderator advised church members to “shun activities and lifestyles that were not in conformity with the church’s beliefs and practices,” “to promote education, employable training and health outreach programs to enhance the physical well being of people,” and “to campaign vigorously to bring back “the Presbyterian discipline…”
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+ GhanaWeb, Poederooienstraat 66, 1106 CK Amsterdam, Netherlands, 31-207700126, Fax: 1-815-6429100, akoto@ghanaweb.com
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+ Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Post Office Box GP 1800, Accra, Ghana, 233-21-662511, Fax: 233-21-665594, pcghg@yahoo.com
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[7] Springfield, Virginia, PCUSA Church Celebrates World Day of Prayer with Indoor Labyrinth
The 4 March 2010 The Washington Post’s Fairfax County (Virginia) Religion Notes compiled by Jean Mack announced that the Kirkwood Presbyterian Church of Springfield, Virginia, held a celebration of the World Day of Prayer on 5 March 2010 that included a prayer walk on an indoor labyrinth.
A 6 December 2005 post on The Puritan Board by the Rev. Bruce Buchanan of the Chain-O-Lakes Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Central Lake, Michigan, describes the prayer labyrinth as “an occult path of the dead. Successful navigation of it led one to heaven; the lost wandered it forever in terror, ending up in the center pit from which there was no escape. Arcane knowledge (gnosis) of traversing it or a suitable guide, therefore, was [a] necessary part of pagan religion. In other incarnations, it serves a gnostic purpose of meditation…not the “inner-peace” type, but the “path”…to enlightenment.”
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+ The Washington Post, 1150 15th Street Northwest, Washington DC 20071, 202-334-6000, Contact Form
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+ The Puritan Board, Contact Page
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+ The Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 607 North Easton Road, Building E, Box P, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania 19090, 215-830-0900, Fax: 215-830-0350
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[8] Yale University Press Publishes Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” A Casebook
On 15 February 2010, Yale University Press published Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” A Casebook, edited by Wilson H. Kimnach, Caleb J. D. Maskell, and Kenneth P. Minkema.
The book “presents the accurate and definitive version of Sinners, accompanied by the tools necessary to study and teach this famous American sermon….[and] contains questions for in-class discussion, a chronology of Edwards’s life, and a glossary. In addition, curricular materials and video mini-presentations are available on a dedicated Web site.”
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+ Yale University Press, Post Office Box 209040, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, 203-432-0960, Fax: 203-432-0948, customer.care@triliteral.org
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[9] Reformation Trust Publishes By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me by the Rev. Dr. Sinclair Ferguson
Reformation Trust Publishing on 26 February 2010 published By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me by the Rev. Dr. Sinclair Ferguson.
In the book, “Dr. Ferguson laments that “we have lost the joy and energy that is experienced when grace seems truly ‘amazing.’” In an effort to restore the wonder of divine grace, he reflects on it from seven angles, each built around a stanza from a rich but little-known hymn, “O How the Grace of God Amazes Me,” written by Emmanuel T. Sibomana, a pastor in the African nation of Burundi. This book poses probing questions for today’s believer: “If I am not amazed by God’s grace, can I really be living in it? Can I really be tasting, and savoring, and delighting in it?” But those willing to delve into God’s Word with Dr. Ferguson will come away with a deeper astonishment at the depths of God’s grace.”
Dr. Ferguson is the Senior Pastor at First Presbyterian Church (Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church) in Columbia, South Carolina, and is Professor of Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, Pennsylvania.
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+ Reformation Trust Publishing, c/o Ligonier Ministries, 400 Technology Park, Lake Mary, Florida 32746, 407-333-4244, Fax: 407-333-4233
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+ Associate Reformed Presbyterian Center, 1 Cleveland Street Suite 110, Greenville, South Carolina, 29601, 864-232-8297, Fax: 864-271-3729
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+ Westminster Theological Seminary, 2960 West Church Road, Glenside, Pennsylvania 19038, 215-887-5511, Fax: 215-887-5404, communications@wts.edu
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