24 February 2010
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Presbyterians Week Headlines
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[1] ARP Moderator’s Commission on Erskine College and Seminary Issues Preliminary Report Ahead of Called Synod Meeting 2-3 March 2010
[2] UK Parliament Committee Reports Government Failures in Presbyterian Mutual Society Insolvency.
[4] Simon Wiesenthal Center Says PCUSA Ready to Declare War against Israel
[7] Church of Scotland Ministers React to Elton John’s Claim that Jesus Christ was Homosexual
[11] Dr. Philip Graham Ryken Appointed Eighth President of Wheaton College
[1] ARP Moderator’s Commission on Erskine College and Seminary Issues Preliminary Report Ahead of Called Synod Meeting 2-3 March 2010
The Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP)’s Moderator’s Commission on Erskine College and Seminary, on 19 February 2010, issued a preliminary report ahead of the called synod meeting at the Bonclarken Conference Center in East Flat Rock, North Carolina, on 2-3 March 2010. The stated purpose of the preliminary report is: “In order that voting delegates may have the opportunity to prepare for the presentation of [the Moderator’s Commission final] report.”
The preliminary report briefly summarizes the purpose and work of the commission, the history and context leading to appointment of the commission, a statement of the role of the ARP General Synod, ten preliminary conclusions, and an explanation for why the entire final report will be delivered at the called synod meeting and not released in advance.
The preliminary report “particularly commends Dr. Randall T. Ruble, President of Erskine College and Seminary, for his full cooperation…;” notes that both the preliminary and final reports are the unanimous decision of the Moderator’s Committee; admits the General Synod’s past negligence in its oversight of Erskine; addresses “irreconcilable and competing visions about the direction of the college and seminary among the members of the Erskine Board of Trustees” and “irreconcilable and competing visions about Erskine’s mission as a liberal arts college on the Erskine Board and within the Administration and faculty; notes the difficulties of the current presidential search for Erskine; notes the difficulties of the current size and organization of the Board of Trustees; notes the problems as a result of the ideological differences among the Board of Trustees; cites the Board of Trustees for being “negligent in its responsibility to hold the Administration accountable for the faculty it employs;” and concludes: “The so-called “culture of intimidation,” found by Second Presbytery’s Committee on the Minister and His Work several years ago, is still present on the campus. There is an atmosphere in some quarters of Erskine College and Seminary that is inimical to faithful implementation of the mission.”
The preliminary report addenda includes the “Report of the Special Committee on Christian Higher Education as Adopted by the General Synod Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church” dated 8 June 1977; the “Statement of the Philosophy of Christian Higher Education of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church as Adopted by the General Synod” dated 8 June 1977 and 7 June 1978; and the “Report of the Vision Committee” appointed in the wake of the 2005 Meeting of General Synod.
A prayer request for the upcoming synod meeting was posted 23 February 2010 on several Internet email groups and blogs:
“Please be in prayer for wisdom by the commissioners in taking positive action that the APR [Church] may regain control of its college & seminary and integrate a Biblically Christian, Evangelical, & Reformed worldview into the philosophy of Christian Education practiced by the [Board of Trustees], Administration, Faculty, & that such may be integrated into both the Curricula and classroom teaching at both institutions.”
The prayer request message suggested studying the following resources:
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— “Looking for a Miracle: A Transformed Denomination Seeks to Transform its College and Seminary” in the 4 July 2009 World Magazine – http://www.worldmag.com/articles/15536
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— Background on the triumph of Inerrancy in the ARP Church and the identity crisis at its college and seminary is documented by The Christian Observer in “Five Out-of-Work Preachers” –
http://christianobserver.org/five-out-of-work-preachers/
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Additionally, Presbyterians Week for 2 September 2009 article “[12] ARP Synod Moderator Appoints Erskine College and Seminary Commission” provides further background on the ARP Moderator’s Commission.
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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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+ World Magazine, 85 Tunnel Road, Suite 12, Asheville, North Carolina 28805, 828-232-5415, Fax: 828-253-1556, mailbag@worldmag.com.
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+ Christian Observer, Post Office Box 1371, Lexington, Virginia 20110, christianobserver@christianobserver.org
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[2] UK Parliament Committee Reports Government Failures in Presbyterian Mutual Society Insolvency
An 18 February 2010 Belfast Telegraph article titled “MPs: Why did Officials not Spot Presbyterian Mutual Dangers?” reviews a report titled “The Failure of the Presbyterian Mutual Society” from the Treasury Committee of the United Kingdom House of Commons concluding that the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) had “access to all the relevant information” about the coming collapse of the Presbyterian Mutual Society (PMS), but failed to take any action to prevent the financial catastrophe.
The report said that the DETI nor anyone else is responsible for regulating organizations like the PMS, but that it is surprising that no one had stepped in to address the regulatory gap. The report went on to warn the Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI), despite not being legally responsible, not to shirk their responsibility for helping the 9,500 PMS investors who lost their life savings, because PCI congregations were encouraged to invest by “pulpit calls.”
A PCI statement said: “Legally, it appears that the Church has no liability. However, the society was linked to the Church, its role was advertised at the General Assembly, it was the subject of pulpit calls and it was enthusiastically endorsed by many of its ministers. We consider that the Church cannot evade responsibility for what happened, and should consider whether it can help in any way.”
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+ Belfast Telegraph, 124-144 Royal Avenue, Belfast BT1 1EB, Northern Ireland, 028-9026-4000, writeback@belfasttelegraph.co.uk
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+ Presbyterian Church in Ireland, Church House, Belfast BT1 6DW, Northern Ireland, 028-9032-2284, Fax: 028-9041-7301, Info@PresbyterianIreland.org
A 21 February 2010 article by Victoria Cumbow in The Huntsville Times titled “Church Speakers Tell Ways to Cope with Tragedy, Loss” reports on a 20 February 2010 meeting at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama, organized by the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA)’s Presbytery of North Alabama where two members of the PCUSA’s Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Response Team (PDART), spoke to the assembled group about ways to help people recover from loss.
The meeting with PDART representatives comes in the wake of the 12 February 2010 shootings of six faculty colleagues by a University of Alabama in Huntsville professor that left three dead and three injured.
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+ The Huntsville Times, 2317 South Memorial Parkway, Huntsville, Alabama 35801, 256-532-4000, Fax: 256-532-4213, bob.ludwig@htimes.com
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+ Presbytery of North Alabama, 3330 L and North Drive Southwest, Huntsville, Alabama 35801, 256-883-0855, Fax: 256-883-8707, Contact Page
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+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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[4] Simon Wiesenthal Center Says PCUSA Ready to Declare War against Israel
The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) issued a 22 February 2010 news release warning that the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) committee appointed in 2008 to supposedly balance the PCUSA’s Middle East policies was in fact packed with seven activists holding anti-Israel beliefs and one pro-Israel member that quit the committee in protest once he discovered the committee’s radical agenda.
The committee’s recently leaked report:
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— calls for the US to withhold financial and military aid to Israel;
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— apologizes to Palestinians for even conceding that Israel has a right to exist;
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— declares that Israel, if defined as a Jewish State, must be inherently racist;
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— embraces the Kairos Palestine Document, produced by Palestinian Christians, calling for boycott and sanctions against Israel and endorses full Palestinian ‘right of return‘ to Israel which would lead to the demise of the Jewish democratic state;
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— and, denies any connection between biblical covenants and the Jewish people. Israel’s history, it claims, begins only with the Holocaust, a nation mistakenly created by Western powers at the expense of the Palestinian people to solve the ‘Jewish problem.’
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The SWC states that all of the initiatives in the report are those encouraged by the World Council of Churches, and states: “Adoption of this poisonous document by the Presbyterian Church will be nothing short of a declaration of war on Israel and her supporters.”
The SWC asks that the report be protested to PCUSA leadership, and that concerned PCUSA members ask other members to speak out against the report.
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+ Simon Wiesenthal Center, 1399 South Roxbury Drive, Los Angeles, California 90035, 310-553-9036, Fax: 310-553-4521,
information@wiesenthal.net
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+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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+ World Council of Churches, 150 route de Ferney, CH-1211, Geneva 2, Switzerland, 41-22-791-6111, Fax: 41-22-791-0361
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[5] Union Theological Seminary Speaker for May 2010 Sprunt Lectures Favors Replacing Christian Symbol of Cross with Virgin Mary’s Lactating Breast
Presbyterian Lay Committee Editor Emeritus the Rev. Parker Williamson reports in a 21 February article in The Layman Online titled “Breast Theology Uplifted at Union Seminary” that Union Theological Seminary’s May 2010 Sprunt Lectures will feature Margaret R. Miles, emerita professor of Historical Theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkley, California, speaking on “Revisioning Historical Theology.”
Miles wrote an article for the January 2008 The Christian Century titled “God’s Love, Mother’s Milk,” where Miles posited that the use of the cross to symbolize God’s love replaced the earlier and better symbol of God’s love, which was the lactating breast of the Virgin Mary. Miles claims that this earlier symbol was replaced by the cross when patriarchal Western Europeans “secularized the breast.”
Miles considers the Christian cross to be an inappropriate symbol because “it presents a violent act as salvific.” Miles adds: “The equation of love with heroic violence and suffering is typically a male-centered perspective….[T]he value of the nursing breast as a symbol of God’s provision might need to be reconsidered in our own time….In societies in which violence is rampant on the street and in the media, the nursing virgin can perhaps communicate God’s love to people in a way that a violent image, the image of one more sacrificial victim, cannot.”
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+ Presbyterian Lay Committee, Post Office Box 2210, Lenoir, North Carolina 28645, 828-758-8716, Fax: 828-758-0920, laymanletters@layman.org
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+ Union Theological Seminary-Presbyterian School of Christian Education, 3401 Brook Road, Richmond, Virginia 23227, 804-355-0671, Fax: 804-355-3919
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+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
Lillian Kwon of The Christian Post, in a 22 February 2010 article titled “Wis[consin] Presbytery Approves Ordination of Openly Gay Man,” reports that the John Knox Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), in a closed meeting on 20 February 2010, approved the ordination of Scott D. Anderson who lives in an active homosexual relationship.
Anderson was ordained by the PCUSA in 1983, and served as a minister until 1990 when his homosexuality was made public and Anderson then set aside his ordination.
The PCUSA Constitution declares that ordained ministers must maintain “fidelity within the covenant of marriage between and a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness.”
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+ The Christian Post, National Press Building, 529 14th Street Northwest, Suite 420, Washington DC 20045, 202-347-7734, info@christianpost.com
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+ John Knox Presbytery, 1289 West Seminary Street, Richland Center, Wisconsin 53581, 608-647-8828, Fax: 608-647-3386, jkp@jknox.org
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+ Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, Kentucky 40202, 888-728-7228, Fax: 502-569-8005
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[7] Church of Scotland Ministers React to Elton John’s Claim that Jesus Christ was Homosexual
A 19 February 2010 article in the Daily Record by Iain Burchell titled “Chart Star Sir Elton John Sparks Row after Claiming Jesus was Gay” reports on the reactions of two Church of Scotland (COS) ministers to the claim by musician Elton John that Jesus Christ was homosexual.
Former member of the Steering Group for Forward Together, an evangelical group within the COS, the Rev. Ian Watson, said: “There is absolutely no truth whatsoever in what Elton John has said about Jesus being gay. Jesus was a Jew and Jewish law regards homosexual practices as a sin. When Jesus challenged his enemies to prove him guilty of sin, they couldn’t do it. Therefore, I have no doubt whatsoever that he was not a gay man.”
Chaplain the Rev. Lindsay Biddle of Affirmation Scotland, which seeks the affirmation and dignity of homosexuals within the COS, said: “I think it’s wonderful for anybody, including Elton John, to imagine Jesus as being like them. This is very common, and in the Western world we do it all the time, imagining Jesus to be white when, in fact, he was a man of colour.”
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+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN, Scotland, 0131-225-5722
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+ Forward Together, 2 Lanark Road, Kirkmuirhill, Scotland ML11 9RB, 01555-892409, office@forwardtogether.org.uk
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+ Affirmation Scotland, 37 Main Street , Invergowrie, Scotland DD2 5AB, 0141-8837405, info@affirmationscotland.org.uk
A 17 February 2010 article in The Herald by Brian Donnelly titled “Struggling Kirk Sheds Jobs” reports that the Church of Scotland, facing a UK£1.2 million deficit, will eliminate twenty-four of forty-four existing positions in the Council of Mission and Discipleship (CMD). The CMD is responsible for the COS magazine Life and Work, for publishing arm St. Andrew Press, and for the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
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+ The Herald, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow, Scotland G2 3QB, 0141- 302-7000, Fax: 0141-302-7117, On-lineEditor@theherald.co.uk
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+ Church of Scotland, 121 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4YN, Scotland, 0131-225-5722
A 19 February 2010 article in The Patriot News by Mary Klaus titled “Group Works to Mark 1752 Religious Service” reports that a historical marker will be dedicated on 21 August 2010 by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission at the New Kingstown, Pennsylvania site of the first Covenanter communion service to be held outside of Great Britain, which occurred in August of 1752.
Ms. Klaus reports that 250 Reformed Presbyterian Church members gathered under a canopy of trees for the week long event that included a nine hour church service led by the Rev. John Cuthbertson, the first Covenanter minister in America and who subsequently travelled 70,000 miles over the next forty years conducting church services.
The August 1752 service became known as the Junkin Tent service because it was held on the property of Joseph and Elizabeth Junkin, whose son the Rev. George Junkin D. D., LL. D., served as president of what is now Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, from 1848 until 1861.
The younger Junkin left the then Washington College after the outbreak of the War between the States because he disapproved of secession, subsequently ministering to Union soldiers in camps and hospitals throughout the war.
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+ The Patriot News, 812 Market Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17101, 717-255-8100, jkirkpatrick@patriot-news.com
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+ Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA), 7408 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15208, 412-731-1177, Fax: 412-731-8861
An overture (Overture 6) has been submitted to the 38th General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) by the Evangel Presbytery, asking that the GA Administrative Committee conduct a study of the feasibility of changing to a biennial GA meeting instead of the current annual GA meeting, and the feasibility of organizing alternate-year joint meetings of several days in length for geographically contiguous presbyteries at smaller and less expensive venues.
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+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org
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+ Evangel Presbytery, 560 Lake Crest Drive, Hoover, Alabama 35226, 205-982-2807, Fax: 205-982-0915
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[11] Dr. Philip Graham Ryken Appointed Eighth President of Wheaton College
The Board of Trustees of Wheaton College in has announced that Dr. Philip Graham Ryken has been appointed the eighth president of Wheaton College. He will assume the presidency 1 July 2010.
Dr. Ryken is a 1988 graduate of Wheaton College and is the senior minister at the historic Tenth Presbyterian Church (Presbyterian Church in America) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he has served since 1995. In addition to earning his Bachelor of Arts in English literature and philosophy from Wheaton College in 1988, Dr. Ryken additionally earned a Master of Divinity from Westminster Theological Seminary in Glenside, Pennsylvania, and a Doctorate of Philosophy in historical theology at Oxford University in Oxford, England.
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+ Presbyterian Church in America, 1700 North Brown Road, Suite 105, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30043, 678-825-1000, Fax: 678-825-1001, ac@pcanet.org
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+ Wheaton College, 501 College Avenue, Wheaton, Illinois 60187, 630- 752-5000, Duane.Litfin@wheaton.edu
The Presbyterian Church of Wales (PCW) is conducting a training session for children, youth, and Sunday School leaders and workers called “Are We Doing It Right?” or “A Ydym Yn Gwneud Pethau’n Iawn?” in the mother tongue, on 6 March 2010 from 9:15 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at the Park End Church in Cardiff, Wales.
Workshops and resources will be presented by Dave Fenton, Kim and Rory Bell, and Gwyn Rhydderch of the PCW. Admission is UK£3. Attendees are to bring their own lunch, with tea to be provided.
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+ Presbyterian Church of Wales, Tabernacle Chapel, 81 Merthyr Road, Whitchurch, Cardiff CF14 1DD, Wales, 44-0-29-20627465, swyddfa.office@ebcpcw.org.uk
A 16 February 2010 article by T. Keung Hui in The News & Observer titled “Wake Teacher Suspended after Facebook Comments” reports that West Lake Middle School of Apex, North Carolina, teacher Melissa Hussain has been suspended after writing on her Facebook page that students that left a Bible on her desk had committed a “hate crime,” and how Hussain “was able to shame her kids” over the incident.
Comments left on Hussain’s Facebook page by Hussain’s friends said that the parents of Hussain’s students were “bigoted, stupid and uncaring.”
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+ The News & Observer, 215 South McDowell Street, Raleigh, North Carolina 27602, 919-829-4500, Contact Page
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+ Wake County Public School System, 3600 Wake Forest Road, Raleigh, North Carolina 27609, 919-850-1600, 919-850-1819, Contact Page
The National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association reports that agents of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at 9:40 a.m. on 4 February 2010 ignored “No Trespassing” signs and drove up to a barn on Amish farmer Dan Allgyer’s property in Kinzers, Pennsylvania, near Lancaster, telling the farmer that they were there to conduct an investigation, as the agent told Mr. Allgyer, because “you produce food for human consumption.” Allgyer asked the agents why they believed that, to which they replied: “Well, you have cows. You cannot be consuming all the milk you produce….If you get a milk truck in to move all this milk you sell milk to the public, therefore we have jurisdiction.”
Mr. Allgyer called his attorney, who advised that the FDA agents should call him. The agents refused, and drove to a neighbor’s property where they continued to watch Mr. Allgyer. A visitor to the Allgyer farm soon left the farm in a truck, and the FDA agents followed the visitor forty to fifty miles before the visitor called 911.
Pennsylvania State Police pulled over the FDA agents and the farm visitor stopped to talk to the policemen, who told the farm visitor that the FDA agents thought he had human food products in the truck. The farm visitor showed the FDA agents that the truck was empty.
An FDA spokesman associated with the agents refused comment, citing an ongoing investigation.
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+ National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, Post Office Box 239, Bowie, Maryland 20719, info@nicfa.org
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+ U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 10903 New Hampshire Avenue,
Silver Spring, Maryland 20993, 888-463-6332, Contact Page
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+ Ministry of Silly Walks
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