BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too...

Phil Ryken on B. B. Warfield and woman deacons: a correction...

(Tim: Given the importance of this correction, we'll leave this post at the top for a few days. Please check below for more recent posts. Thanks.)

Speaking of Bryan Chapell putting forward Phil Ryken for service on a study committee on woman deacons, I held off correcting some significant errors in Phil's commentary on 1Timothy 3:8-13 until I'd been able to notify him of those errors, giving him a chance to correct the text of the PDF available for download. A week and a half after we exchanged e-mails (Phil was quite cordial, by the way), it appears the text hasn't yet been corrected. The errors appear in Phil's commentary issued as part of P&R's Reformed Expository Commentary Series, and specifically his comments on 1Timothy 3:8-13 where the Apostle Paul enumerates qualifications for the office of deacon. In this text, Phil misquotes B. B. Warfield...

Woman deacons: two articles from Aquilla Report worth reading...

(Tim) One news source worth checking out because it isn't dependent on denominational money and the approval of denominational leaders for its existence is Dominic Aquila's eponymous Aquila Report. And concerning the PCA and woman deacons, here's a good article from Aquila Report summarizing this past assembly's actions on the matter.

Also from Aquila Report, here's an article reporting on the actions taken by my own Ohio Valley Presbytery concerning Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis in the matter of their practice of woman deacons. Here is most of the text of the recommendations made by a committee that had been appointed by presbytery to deal with this matter. These recommendations were adopted by Ohio Valley Presbytery...

Woman deacons: what about Warfield's approach today...

(Tim) A reader asks: "(D)id I understand your introduction to say that you agreed with Warfield's approach inasmuch as 'deaconess' could be a valid office in the church as long as it did not entail the exercise of authority over men, and thus was not conflated with the male diaconate?"

I respond: Yes, but I think such an action on the part of the PCA right now would be unwise in the extreme, given the conflation of the biblical office of deacon and these various helps women performed at times in church history. Furthermore, as Warfield points out quite clearly, Scripture itself cannot be said to provide a biblical basis for woman deacons. Warfield's exactly right.

What we find is that at various times the church did precisely what our Book of Church Order (BCO) allows: namely, to create ad hoc or ancillary groups of women for service to the church--including helping those officers called "deacons." Those women might be called "deaconesses," but across church history they were never exercising authority over men.

And this is where the practice of so many churches of the uber-hip metro-sophisticate variety leave us in a position that we must oppose woman deacons...

PCA and woman deacons: unity requires submission...

(Tim) Pushing for Philadelphia Presbytery's overture to study woman deacons, Bryan Chapell presented the Bills and Overture Committee's Minority Report, arguing “We have to listen to one another. We have to be willing to talk about difficult things without fear of demoralizing the church. We must get people together in the same room to talk about (these things) in an atmosphere that’s not highly charged.”

Our denominational magazine, Byfaith, reported that Chapell's minority proposal "recommended that a committee comprised of theologians on both sides of the issue—including Tim Keller, Phil Ryken, Ligon Duncan, and Jimmy Agan—meet together over the coming year to come to a Scriptural understanding of deaconesses." The remaining three members of the study committee were to be appointed by the moderator, but somewhere Chapell was quoted as saying he hoped the majority would be in favor of the status quo--namely, woman deacons forbidden by our Book of Church Order.

So let's do the numbers.

The churches Tim Keller and Phil Ryken serve have woman deacons. And reading what they've written on the subject, we could expect them to support amending the Book of Church Order. Jimmy Agan is a junior faculty member under Bryan Chapell at Covenant Seminary, so he's likely to stand where Bryan stands.

Where is that? I'm guessing some sort of compromise that keeps large churches happy both north and south of the Mason-Dixon Line...

PCA General Assembly votes not to move in the direction of woman deacons...

(NOTE: About fifty deep in the comments under this post is one made by "PCA friend" that readers will find helpful in clarifying what happened at the assembly, as well as the actions' larger context in the intricacies of PCA polity. PCA friend also makes the valid point others also made; namely, that some supported the minority report--and thus a study committee--not out of a desire for change, but because they believed this would be the wisest course to take in supporting our church's present constitutional requirements.)

(Tim) Just now, I received a report on what is likely the most significant decision facing this year's General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America. Several overtures to the assembly--most notably, one from Philadelphia Presbytery that came to the presbytery by recommendation of a presbytery committee including Tenth Presbyterian Church's senior minister, Rev. Dr. Philip Ryken--asked the assembly to appoint an ad interim study committee on women deacons. Others within the PCA (including Central Georgia Presbytery) opposed such a study committee, seeing it as a Trojan Horse for northern city churches moving the denomination in an egalitarian feminist direction.

Overtures to the assembly pass through the Bills and Overtures Committee which meets prior to the assembly and brings recommendations on each overture to the assembly floor. This year's Bills and Overtures Committee was chaired by Rev. Fred Greco who brought the committee's recommendation (its Majority Report) to the assembly floor. This Majority Report called for the overture requesting the appointment of a study committee on women deacons to be answered in the negative, in which case no such committee would be constituted.

The president of Covenant Seminary, Bryan Chapell...

(Southern) Presbyterian Church in the United States: GA actions related to woman's leadership in the church...

"It is the settled doctrine of our church that women are excluded from licensure and ordination by the plain teaching of the Scriptures, and, therefore, cannot be admitted to our pulpits as authorized preachers of the Word; and, also, that they are prohibited from speaking by way of exhortation, or leading in prayer, or discussing any question publicly in the meetings of the church or congregation as a mixed assembly. This is according to the mind of the Spirit as expressed by Paul in 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35, and I Tim. ii. II, 12."

* * *

(Tim, w/thanks to Wayne) Here are excerpts from the PCUS Digest of Assembly Actions, showing the course of relevant actions in the Southern Presbyterian Church from 1861-1944.

Note how change comes to the church. Deform takes the guise of reform and begins its assault. Year after year it returns, knocking at the door of successive general assemblies. It says the church should "not make laws or bind consciences where Scripture is silent." Past generations believed Scripture speaks to the issue clearly, but things obvious to past generations are invisible to moderns. Eventually, men working to guard the good deposit grow weary of the task and begin to make concessions. After all, every concession appears reasonable and harmless.

I'm reminded of a scrap off Kierkegaard's table:

Imagine a fortress, absolutely impregnable, provisioned for an eternity. There comes a new commandant. He conceives that it might be a good idea to build bridges over the moats--so as to be able to attack the besiegers. Charmant! He transforms the fortress into a countryseat, and naturally the enemy takes it.

So it is with Christianity. They changed the method--and naturally the world conquered.

-Soren Kierkegaard, Attack Upon "Christendom," (Princeton University Press, 1944), p. 138.

Here, then, are the excerpts...

B. B. Warfield on women's work and the office of deaconess...

Women have already organized their own work in the church; and with a zeal and success which shame the prevailing apathy of Christian men, women have worked out for themselves a whole series of institutions which, while the church sleeps, may perchance grow fatally to overshadow its official and authorized agencies. To shut our eyes to the dangers inherent in these gigantic voluntary associations would be as silly as it might prove to be suicidal. Nor is it an adequate annulment of these dangers to plead that the loving loyalty of our women to our church system has shown itself to be as great as their loving zeal for God’s work. This is true, and deserves highest praise. But we must bear in mind... (that the) essential principle of every organization comes out sooner or later in its working; and independent and voluntary agencies show sooner or later that they have both independence and will of their own.

-B. B. Warfield in his essay reproduced below, "Presbyterian Deaconesses."

(Tim) Here's an essay by B. B. Warfield on the biblical warrant and historical practice of deaconesses serving the church. Taken from an 1889 issue of The Presbyterian Review, it's a long but essential read for those wanting to debate and vote carefully on the overtures related to this issue coming to our PCA General Assembly next week in Dallas.

Two things to note: First, whatever approach to this question Warfield has taken, it bears little resemblance to the unconstitutional practice of egalitarian feminist churches in the PCA who, for years now, have been promoting women to the office of deacon without ordaining them--women indistinct in title, work, or authority from the male deacons they serve beside (who also are elected but not ordained).

This leads to the second point: Read the last couple of paragraphs of Warfield's essay carefully. There he warns against adopting a policy or practice on this issue that is "bare right (but) does not vindicate wisdom." Warfield goes on to ask, "How may woman’s work be organized so as to make it part of the church work and not extra-ecclesiastical?" He concludes with the statement that whatever is done must not "transgress the limits placed by God himself in his word upon the proper functions of woman in a Christian society," but rather must be "shown to be a further application of principles involved in the institutions appointed by God for the church."

So what are the "limits placed by God Himself in His Word upon the proper function of woman in a Christian society?" And note well: Not a Christian home or Christian church, but "a Christian society."

These "limits" are that woman is barred from the exercise of authority over man...

Woman Deacons: East Lanier Community Church (PCA) steps back...

(Tim) Several years ago, I asked a stated clerk if there were any papers circulating within our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, justifying the widespread practice of electing and installing woman deacons. He sent me this paper titled, "Women in Ministry at East Lanier Community Church: An Explanation and Defense of the Position of the Session Regarding the Role of Women in Ministry at East Lanier Community Church." It was the only thing he'd come across.

So then, in a recent post "Sexuality and the PCA...," I linked East Lanier's paper to similar ones written by Pastor Tim Keller of New York City and Pastor Sam Downing of Denver--both PCA pastors at the time. (Sam Downing since left the PCA for the RCA, taking City Church Denver with him. Rocky Mountain Presbytery blessed his departure at their last meeting. Here's a critique of Pastor Downing's paper done at the request of a member of Rocky Mountain Presbytery.)

These pastors and their papers are representative of a widespread movement in the PCA that practices women leading and exercising authority over men in the church in every position except ruling elder and pastor. Most of these churches have female deacons serving alongside male deacons, without distinction, and they commonly characterize the teaching of Scripture on sexuality in the church as "A woman may do anything a non-ordained man may do." In my own Ohio Valley Presbytery, the best representative of this position is Redeemer Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis which was recently found to be out of accord with the Book of Church Order in her practice of women deacons, and is currently in dialog with presbytery concerning how best to bring her practice into conformity with our PCA Constitution.

Then, this past week, the Session of East Lanier Community Church released a letter...

Women warriors aren't doing so well...

(Tim) In an op-ed piece today, the New York Times is concerned about the results of the recent Rand Corporation study, Invisible Wounds of War, which found that "women suffer from higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression than men" after military deployment. Really.

We are a nation of idiots--callous, degraded, wicked idiots. We send our wives and daughters off to war and, when they come home emotional wrecks, we act surprised and blame it on the fact that one third of them were sexually assaulted or raped while they were deployed. Really.

I have compassion for these daughters, wives, and mothers, but my compassion makes me remember and ask that you all remember, also...

The clarity and simplicity of Scripture's doctrine of sexuality...

(Note from Tim Bayly: This message was delivered October 5, 1998 in Riga, Latvia, at a conference titled "Gender Theology: Questions, Problems, Perspectives," held by the Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church.)

It is a great joy to be here with you and to think of how impossible this time together would have been just a few years ago. How good it is to be able to cross borders so freely--without even the necessity of a visa--and to be able to join together in fellowship and worship with you, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

But then too, I am particularly pleased to be able to speak to you on the subject of Biblical manhood and womanhood. Here it may be appropriate to insert some biographical information, but first please allow me to clarify my own vocabulary:

• 'Complement': "something that fills up, completes, or makes perfect; one of two mutually completing parts" (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary).
• 'Patriarchy': literally, "father rule."
• 'Egalitarian': "a belief in human equality" (Webster's Collegiate Dictionary).

So, when I refer to the different positions taken by Christians today concerning what Scripture has to say about manhood and womanhood, I will use these terms:

First, the words 'complementarian' or 'patriarchal' will be used to indicate the Church's historical position which calls for a distinction in roles between men and women in the government of the Church and home; and particularly to the necessity of men holding positions of authority.

Second, the word 'egalitarian' will be used to indicate the position held by feminists today when they call for women to hold leadership positions of authority equally with men.

Now for some personal history: Although today I myself believe in the Church's historical, patriarchal position, it was not always so. Back in 1976 when my wife and I were first married, both of us were committed egalitarians...

Sexuality and women deacons in the PCA...

(Tim) Recently, this Overture 19 from Central Georgia Presbytery arrived at our PCA General Assembly office. It's one more in the salvo of overtures related to the rebellion against our church Constitution long practiced by a certain type of urban northern church that refuses to use women in supportive capacities to their male deacons, but instead elects both men and women to the office.

In this controversy, Central Georgia Presbytery has chosen an interesting tack of overturing General Assembly against appointing a study committee.

No question, those who want to move the PCA in a feminist and egalitarian direction--and there are many who do, although they'd vociferously deny it--have chosen an excellent hill for their next stand. This issue of deaconess is complex and that complexity, both biblically and historically, will provide good cover for those among us who would prefer expanding, to protecting and repairing the breach in the wall.

If we're to have a study committee, it still seems best to focus its work on sexuality and authority in the church, generally, rather than limiting the work to women deacons...

Missoula meet Moscow...

(Tim, w/thanks to Tommie and Dave) Speaking of the PCA, here's an excellent profile that ran in the Missoula Independent a few months back  titled, "Modern-day missionaries: The Missoula Project wants to plant a church in a secular wilderness. Can nonbelievers sustain a Christian congregation?" The article's author, Jessie McQuillan, does a good job presenting the Project's vision, spending a lot of time with TEs Christian Cryder and Ryan Sutherland, the team appointed to the plant by Rocky Mountain Presbytery. (Rocky Mountain Presbytery also planted Denver's City Church, recently departed for the Reformed Church in America.)

Jay Stevens, founder of a blog called 4&20 blackbirds described as "a progressive Montana blog on national, state, and local politics and culture," asked this question...

The PCA: From NASCAR to "Who's opening an art gallery this month?"

(Tim) Lamenting over Heritage Presbytery's failure to pass a simple statement opposing the murder-by-starvation of 23-year-old Delaware resident Lauren Richardson, Pastor Ken Pierce writes on The Warfield List:

Combine this with our ghastly unreadable denominational magazine, with its "Who is opening an art gallery this month?" mentality.

In the 70's-90's, the PCA chased after the NASCAR market. We are now going over to chasing after the small, wealthy, culturally elite market. And, sad to say, to do this we are becoming like the world: political progressivism, art (and I have nothing against good art!), etc etc.

As far as what I said about ethical thinking: I subscribe to some heavily Catholic=influenced conservative periodicals: First Things, Touchstone, National Review, and (sadly) World. In those mags are ad after ad of good books written by excellent Catholic scholars from their Thomistic world view, with a conservative Catholic take on the issues of the day.

Where is the Reformed equivalent?

Ah yes, let a study committee handle it...

(Tim) For the record, I'm disappointed Rocky Mountain Presbytery's City Church in Denver was allowed to take the PCA's ball and go home without being disciplined for her rejection of biblical sexuality and polity. A plant of the Presbyterian Church in America, she (and particularly her pastor) should have heard a clear "No" from her presbytery, somewhere or sometime. Instead, she saw her presbytery enmeshed in a bunch of split votes that demonstrated tepid leadership, at best; and trendy postmodern commitments to biblical sexuality, at worst.

What would a pastor or session have to do in order to receive a clear disciplinary "No" from a presbytery of the PCA today in this matter of sexuality?

I can hear some responding, "No one's ordained a woman elder or pastor, yet."

If we think it's possible to avoid declaring the boundaries of biblical sexuality at every point leading up to the eldership, but then to hold firm there, our problems are much deeper than the biblical doctrine of sexuality...

Study committees and majority and minority reports...

(Tim) Deep in the many helpful comments under my brother David's post from a few months ago titled "Moving on in victory towards peace and harmony," one writer asked about my own experience serving on General Assembly's Ad Interim Study Committee on Women in the Military a few years back. My response bears on the overtures requesting study committees on sexuality issues that have been sent up to this year's General Assembly. Here's the question I was asked, followed by my response.

QUESTION: "Actually, maybe we should ask Tim his opinion. I know (of) the attempt to make the Ad Interim Study Committee on Women in the Military "balanced" in such a way that nearly no other committee was. That is why that Study Committee was one of only a couple to have minority reports. I'll leave Tim to say whether that was a blessing to the Church."

RESPONSE: The experience was not good. Through it I came to believe even more than I already did in majority and minority reports (except in certain very limited cases). Why?

Well, the year before our final report was presented, our chairman did his best to get us to accept a unified report. So our penultimate year (Daryl has inspired my vocabulary), we presented one report agreed upon by both sides.

Being a grazed woodlot, it was neither good woodlot nor good grazing...

Trust me and bookmark this...

(Tim) If I were to name the PCA ministry I've been most thankful for over my sixteen years in the denomination, I'd name one not likely to be on anyone else's list. Here it is. Honestly, I'm hard put to think of a better justification for denominations as we know them today.

And who put this up for all of us to use?

Our PCA Archivist, Wayne Sparkman, is a dear man calling absolutely no attention to himself. He serves the church diligently so write him a note of thanks. Or better yet, send him a check supporting his work. He and the PCA Historical Center (which he runs) should be in all our congregation's budgets. Thank you, Wayne, for the tremendous resources you provide us all! You're a dear brother.

SJC's preliminary documents concerning use of "Minister" as title...

(Tim) A year ago, we published a critique of a paper by then-PCA pastor Sam Downing of City Church (Denver) defending his decision to call a woman with an M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary to serve on his staff as Minister of Church Life. (Pastor Downing's congregation recently voted to affiliate with the Reformed Church in America and Rocky Mountain Presbytery will act on the matter at their April 24/25 meeting.)

As a defense of most things feminist and the necessity of urban PCA church plants following his lead in this direction, Pastor Downing's paper left the men of Rocky Mountain Presbtytery little choice but to initiate discipline aimed at bringing Pastor Downing and his mission church back within the fold of biblical orthodoxy on sexuality. What wasn't so clear was the best tack to take.

Those with a biblical commitment to church discipline know how often disciplinary cases are decided on technical and procedural matters that seem, in the final analysis, to have little to do with the point at issue. So it has been with this case...

City Church and Pastor Sam Downing: Going, going...

(Tim) Someone asked whether Sam Downing and City Church Denver have really left the PCA for the RCA? Well, not yet. But here's a short testimonial showing Pastor Downing and City Church San Francisco's Pastor Fred Harrell both wowed by the enlightened environs of an RCA One Thing church-planting conference.

Sexuality and the PCA: A proposal to add to our Standards...

NOTE: (Tim) The documents promised yesterday have now been added: One by Alan Foster of East Lanier PCA outside Atlanta, another by Sam Downing of City Church plant PCA in Denver (not yet changed to RCA), and the third by Tim Keller of Redeemer PCA (New York). Links to each document may be found near the end of this post's second page.

Some Personal History:
Fifteen years ago now, when our session was choosing a denomination to present to the congregation for its approval and affiliation as we left the Presbyterian Church (USA), we had narrowed the selection to three choices: the Christian Reformed Church, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and the Presbyterian Church in America. The women of the church had served as elders for decades, but  recently had come to understand it was contrary to the order of creation and command of Scripture, and were now committed to not holding office again. Thus it was that the Evangelical Presbyterian Church was eventually ruled out of consideration. It seemed apparent that their constitutional ambivalence on women exercising authority over men, particularly as church officers, was incompatible with our repentance in this matter. We had come to see father-rule to be foundational for the spiritual and theological integrity of the church.

That left us with the CRC and the PCA. We had a number of Dutch families and some in our congregation had grown up in the CRC. Since our town adjoined the town of Friesland, we had fellowship with many friends and relatives from CRC churches and many of us had been watching their theological battles for years. One night, the elders decided the CRC was out. I distinctly remember one elder summarizing what all of us were thinking: "The CRC will be exactly where the PC(USA) is now in twenty years. Then where will we be?" We all nodded in agreement and moved on to the PCA.

So the choice of the PCA was as much a rejection of the feminist commitments of the EPC and CRC as it was trust in the PCA's submission to Scripture in the matter. Still, the PCA wasn't discussing women officers then, so we felt somewhat secure.

Now, fifteen years later...

Chelsea Clinton drawing water at the well...

(Tim) Within the church today, why are we so reticent to recognize sexual distinctions that go beyond God's command or certain "roles" the result of His command? Pastors and elders can bring ourselves to swallow the very specific biblical prohibitions against women serving as elders, and the equally specific commands for wives to submit to their husbands--even going so far as to defend those prohibitions with some small talk of the nature of sexuality (although we always call it "gender" rather than "sex" because gender is a social construct while sex is a hard biological reality); but still, despite this supposed submission to the biblical command, we show a complete absence of any biblical theology of sexuality.

Why? Why are we so chip-on-the-shoulderish when it comes to a discussion of the nature of man and woman beyond the obvious body parts (which are undeniable and very useful for advertising), and certain small aspects of authority in the church and home? Why do we read sexuality in such a mind-bogglingly narrow way? We claim to love diversity, right? So why such a penurious, such a tight-waddish reading of this one so basic to our lives?

A central part of understanding our culture is seeing the hatred for distinctions at its core, and few distinctions are more despised than this one present in the womb from our earliest days--male and female.

Typical believers in Jesus Christ will think we've seen the goodness of sex when we've decided to marry a woman rather than a man...

Speaking positively about the difficult parts of shepherds' work...

(Tim) Here's a response to this comment left by a reader: "It seems that many in the complementarian community spend almost all their energy on the negative side of the equation."

Feminism is toxic and its relentless attack on Scripture and the Church doesn't give faithful shepherds a lot of opportunity to take their preaching and teaching somewhere else, avoiding this breach. We must focus our defensive work where the good deposit is under attack. In response to people complaining of the frequency of his preaching against fornication, Spurgeon said once that he'd stop preaching against it when people stopped doing it.

Pastors today aren't preaching or teaching against this heresy. And when we do, we do it half-heartedly making it clear to our flock and other shepherds that we wish the need for battle would go away because we're men of peace and love and grace, and we really don't enjoy beating up on women.

Now I may not have captured our critic's sentiments, personally, but from many years experience I know I've hit the mainstream. So think where we'd be if Calvin or Luther or Knox of any of hundreds of other shepherds had tried the positive approach in the darkness of Rome's shadow across the Middle Ages? What if Calvin had written his Institutes without the central thrust of opposing and exposing Rome? Would anyone read them?

The real issue isn't that many within the complementarian camp spend almost all our energy on the negative side of this equation, but that we live in an evil day much like the day of the Apostle Paul and Athanasius and Peter Waldo and John Calvin and Jonathan Edwards and John Newton and J. Gresham Machen and Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Francis Schaeffer, and that our work must follow theirs in being faithful with God's "yes" and His "no." And if our only "no" is said in opposing those who don't say "yes" often enough to suit our tastes, we're not really saying "no," are we?

The service of silence...

(Tim: This article was originally published in Ligonier's Table Talk in 1998.)

Winds of the sexual revolution sweeping our land have carried debris into many areas of our lives. Perhaps the most significant area where we as Christians need to be on guard against the sexual turmoil of our age is in our understanding of Scripture.

One of the most negative effects of the sexual revolution on the church is the way that it has caused Scripture to appear cloudy where once it was viewed by all as speaking clearly and accurately. Much that previous generations took for granted from Scripture today is rejected, passages in the Word our forefathers and mothers viewed as perspicuous men and women today find opaque...

The net of interwoveness...

(Tim, w/thanks to Jake) Last week, a young man training for pastoral ministry passed on a link to this article from USA Today. And next to the link, he wrote: "quoted: pope benedict, mohler, keller, driscoll, osteen, etc."

Not to destroy "peace ...in the world," or to "tear... the net of [PCA] interwovenness, the fabric of humanity," but really, men. Can anyone fail to see the stark contrast presented in the final paragraphs of this article between Pastors Keller and Driscoll? Sin is man-centered with Pastor Keller, but very God-centered with Pastor Driscoll.

Note the article's author says, "Driscoll is sharply clear."

Precisely.

The demographics of the PCA: Follow the money...

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. (Jonah 3:5)

(Tim) Surrounding his book's arrival on the New York Times bestseller list, Tim Keller's buzz has expanded beyond the PCA. Lots of people trying to put their finger on what makes Pastor Keller brilliant observe that the center of his brilliance is his ability to ask and answer "the questions New Yorkers are asking."

So what questions do New Yorkers ask?

It depends. Which New Yorkers are we talking about? Woody Allen, or the firemen?

Pastors such as Tim Keller and Richard John Neuhaus are speaking to a very narrow segment of New Yorkers--what Peter Berger refers to as "the Information Class" and others call "the Chattering Classes." These are people who make their living writing and editing and publishing and reviewing books. Or, transfer the principle to other segments of the word business--magazines, newspapers, TV, blogs, universities, and courts; together, we are the Chattering Class.

Tim Keller is PCA and we are a class-specific denomination...

Brothers, we must not buy into this...

(Tim) Here's an interview with the Rev. Dr. Tim Keller, the senior minister of Manhattan's Redeemer Presbyterian Church which is likely the most influential congregation of our own denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America. The occasion of the interview was the arrival of Dr. Keller's book at No. 18 on the New York Times bestseller list. The interview was done by Anthony Sacramone, editor of Richard John Neuhaus' First Things to which I'm a charter subscriber. I note this because I'm hopeful it will discourage readers from coming to the wrong conclusion as to why I say the following...

Although many of the pastors I love and respect look to Dr. Keller as the model preacher for our age, I do not. And of course, my purpose in saying this is to warn shepherds of the consequences of accepting Dr. Keller's preaching paradigm so clearly presented in this interview...

Women deacons for the PCA: the nub of the issue, along with a proposal...

(Tim) In the discussion of the common practice of women serving alongside men as deacons within the PCA, one man comments, “I’m trying to figure out under what circumstances I’d need to think about submitting to a deacon.”

This is the nub of the issue and the fact that it’s so rarely discussed indicates either ignorance concerning the teaching of Scripture about the order of creation of man and woman, or a deliberate clouding of the issue by those opposed to that order. No doubt both are present across our denomination.

Authority isn’t the heart of the office as it is with elders, but to say the office of deacon is not one of authority, but service, is not to say the sex of the one being promised submission is immaterial to congregational vows.

If those pushing women deacons in the PCA were simply to call them “deaconesses” and make it clear that the implementation of the calling would be hedged about with clear lines of demarcation between deaconesses and deacons--all centered on the issue of reserving to men only the exercise of substantive authority over men--many of us would make common cause with them. The fact that this is precisely not what’s being practiced or argued for is most telling. Is this clear?

Moving on in victory toward peace and harmony...

(David) Let's think for a moment about the meaning of presbyterial life.

If the essence of presbyterianism is elders willingly subjecting themselves to their brethren...

And if ordained elders should never willfully violate the PCA's standards without first submitting their teaching or course-of-action to presbytery for approval...

And if those who come to possess beliefs substantially opposed to settled portions of PCA standards should leave the PCA for a denomination sympathetic to their new convictions rather than mar PCA harmony by staying and fighting...

Then what, pray tell, are we to make of PCA churches actually laying hands upon women (and men) in services of "commissioning" to the diaconal office?

And what are we to make of this overture to the PCA's 2008 General Assembly from the Philadelphia Presbytery asking General Assembly to sanction retroactively the ordination of women to an office clearly forbidden them by PCA standards?

And finally, why has no one sought to discipline these churches and this presbytery?

The irony is so thick you could cut it.

(Thanks for the link, Andrew)

Is the PCA fundamentalist?

(Tim) Ross from New Zealand, by way of Scotland, comments: "I have just come from a Fundamentalist list which looks and sounds remarkably like this one. Would it be fair to call the Presbyterian Church in America the fundamentalist wing of the broader Presbyterian & Reformed tradition? "

Ross, here in America, 'fundamentalist' is used in a variety of ways, most commonly for those who hold a religious belief in life after death and act accordingly. Although he'd deny it, this is the best way to understand the Fundamentalism project of the elder dean of American church history, Martin Marty.

There's another sense, though, that hearkens back to the early decades of the twentieth century when Christians first starting fighting with some zeal against modernism's heresies and got a bad name for it...

Is it enough?

(David) I’ve watched ongoing events at Lane Keister's Greenbaggins blog with concern and relief. Lane has resumed editorial control over the blog, calling for an end to personal attacks and adding co-editors to the three initially appointed when he left the blog to serve as prosecutor in the SJC case against Louisiana Presbytery.

Lane’s first post upon resuming control of the blog was a call for peace:

I must say something now. I have brought other bloggers onto my blog who know many things about the FV. They have chosen to take a bit more acerbic tone than I have. I am allowing them to do that, while not agreeing with them on it. And I am grateful for their participation. But please let it be known that the other bloggers on this blog do not always speak for me on every particular. Please let no one commit the same problem that the critics of the FV are often accused of committing: that of painting everyone with the same brush.

We’re all appreciative of the new tone at Greenbaggins after the eruption of slander and gossip of recent days which saw Doug Wilson accused of being “unscrupulous,” “self-aggrandizing,” a “bully” and “scam artist” on Greenbaggins front page by a former church member. Meanwhile, Greenbaggins authors themselves suggested that interested readers skim a list of outside links for further evidence of Doug’s perfidy. Let's hope such nastiness is well and truly in the past.

A Gollumish twist at Greenbaggins...

(David) I was disappointed when the author of Greenbaggins, Lane Keister, turned from unofficial to official prosecutor of Federal Vision theology by accepting appointment as assistant prosecutor in the upcoming trial of Louisiana Presbytery before the PCA's Supreme Judicial Commission. Lane’s discussion with Doug Wilson had been profitable and civil; by accepting a prosecutorial position Lane not only gave up the opportunity to moderate Federal Vision thinking, he put his own reputation for fairness at risk.

It now seems that Lane’s decision to maintain Greenbaggins with the help of anti-FV friends for the duration of the trial has proven disastrous—so much so that I believe Lane must now choose between Greenbaggins and his position in the case against Louisiana Presbytery. Recent days have seen Greenbaggins become a source of gossip and slander against Doug Wilson. Though Lane did not author the posts in question, he now finds himself in the position of owning a blog that could become subject to judicial action in its own right. This is something neither Lane nor the PCA can afford.

If Lane should continue Greenbaggins during the course of SJC action against Louisiana Presbytery he jeopardizes the integrity of the case against Louisiana Presbytery. For this reason I encourage Lane to remove Greenbaggins from the internet during his prosecutorial work. But it may also be that the recent turn of events at Greenbaggins warrants Lane’s final recusal from involvement in the SJC case. This is for Lane to decide, but I doubt that simply allowing Greenbaggins to go dormant for the remainder of the SJC case will remove the odor of slander that now permeates Greenbaggins—and thus, however unfairly, his own involvement in this case.

Niel Nielson pays tribute to Bob den Dulk's faith...

(Tim) The president of the PCA's Covenant College, Niel Nielson, just started blogging and his first post is a tribute to the late Bob den Dulk, a father in the faith who used the wealth God entrusted him with to support many, many reformed ministries. David and I are grateful for Bob's generosity which, among other things, provided us a number of excellent books at Banner of Truth conferences. But more, we're grateful for Bob's Christian character which was smaller than life, a refreshing change in the world of non-profit development work.

Northwestern University: a morality play for the church...

(by Tim) Sadly, reformed pastors identify less with those who live in rural communities and make their living as sheep farmers (what used to be called "shepherds") than with those who live in books and make their living as academics. So this story from today's New York Times is particularly instructive.

There's a big stink over a psychology prof at Northwestern University named J. Michael Bailey who's gored the ox of transexuals around the country. But before we get to Prof. Bailey and the transexuals, a few comments about the lesson Christians should learn from this battle.

For decades, freedom of religion and freedom of speech have been under a sustained attack and the content of the books we read, the sermons we listen to, and the Bibles we carry to church Sunday morning all bear witness to the attrition of these freedoms.

Speaking only of our Bibles, did you know that millions of Bibles used by evangelicals have had words deleted in order to avoid expressing incorrect opinions deemed to have the potential of being hurtful to women and Jews? Evangelical Bible scholars, linguists, translators, graphic designers, publishers, bookstore owners, and pastors all joined together to produce and sell Bibles that would not be vulnerable to charges of sexism or antisemitism. Many hundreds of times, the original Hebrew and Greek words were changed or deleted so the Bible would be less offensive to moderns...

Should we call City Church's Fred Harrell "honorable" in his departure from the PCA?

(by Tim) Deep in the comments under my brother David’s post, “Sincere Questions…,” a dear brother made a glancing reference to the departure from the PCA last year of City Church in San Francisco. Pastor Fred Harrell and his session petitioned Northern California Presbytery to allow them to transfer into the Reformed Church of America so they could be free to have women deacons, elders, and pastors. The deed was done and Mr. Harrell and his flock are now happily ensconced in the RCA.

Which all led Pastor Ron Gleason, one of the pastors most concerned and active in opposing feminism’s encroachments in our own denomination, to write: “What Fred Harrell did in San Fran was really honorable. He wanted to ordain women Elders; he understood that within the confines of the PCA that was impossible; therefore, he withdrew his congregation—relatively quietly—and went to the EPC.”

No, not “honorable;” and certainly not “really honorable.” In the Church, we can’t speak of a man’s tactics apart from his cause...

Korean Presbyterian and PCA Mission to the World women as martyrs...

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her… (Ephesians 5:25)

(by Tim) In the discussion of the current suffering and martyrdoms of our Korean brothers and sisters in Afghanistan, Valerie comments:

Here’s a thought I offer rather tentatively: What concerns me is… that the great majority of the (Korean) group’s members are women. Yes, we are all soldiers of the cross, but St. Paul didn’t take a wife on his journeys because of the danger.…

I’m reminded of an account I received a few years ago from a dear friend who is a pastor in my denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America. My friend recounted an experience he and his wife had while going through cross-cultural training under Mission to the World, the PCA’s mission agency. (MTW had subcontracted the training out to a company that specialized in providing this service to a number of evangelical mission organizations.)

Here's my friend's E-mail describing one day's training in which all the missionary candidates were captured by terrorists who then demanded that each group of missionaries provide volunteers to be executed. What follows is the account of the ensuing battle among the missionaries over whether Christian fathers should bear the primary responsibility of danger and death, or whether mothers should die so that fathers could live...

Worship wars and church unity...

Note from Tim: A couple months ago, a dear friend who is a former member of Church of the Good Shepherd but now attends a PCA church in the southeast wrote this letter to his pastor and sent me a copy. Reading what he’d written, I appreciated my friend’s wisdom and asked his permission to pass his letter on to our readers. He graciously agreed.

These past few years, the session of Church of the Good Shepherd has worked hard to protect the unity of the body as we labored through changes in different aspects of our corporate worship. The Lord has been kind to us and our unity is intact. But it was a lot of heavy lifting.

Looking back, it’s clear there were times when some had trouble catching a vision for what appeared to be a very low goal; namely, everyone in the congregation being equally unhappy over matters of preference. But in this letter, our brother gives an excellent apology for this discipline within the Body of Christ and the spiritual fruit we may expect it to produce.

At times, our session was on the verge of splitting our services into two cultures, one highbrow and the other midbrow. (The order of worship would not have changed.) But thank God, we decided not to abandon the discipline of considering others better than ourselves and have kept our two services identical. That’s made all the difference.

I don’t mean to say I think any church that aims services at different demographic groups is sinning. Yet I suspect there are many other churches that could benefit a great deal from reading this letter and thinking through their rationale for what they're planning or have already done.

* * *

Dear Pastor,

Thank you for your “Reflections on Worship” paper. If Calvin’s rule (“if we let love be our guide, all will be safe”) were consistently applied in all the intramural debates of our church, what joy you would have as the pastor! Even the sharpest disagreements can be sweetened when the “fight” is joined with mutual commitment, in the safety of the family living room. If here I express concerns about the splitting of our church services into different styles of worship, please know that I do it without seeking to be divisive or unloving.

I agree with the three main arguments you present in your paper. Having grown up with a father who spent his missionary career pastoring small evangelical churches in Austria, I resonate with your point about Europe’s cathedrals having become museums when they’ve refused to reform and contextualize. Calvin’s comment in the second chapter of the Institutes—“wherever there is great ostentation of ceremonies, sincerity of heart is rare indeed”—describes so well the hardening of the big European state churches in their loss of gospel preaching, witness, and worship in the last centuries. All that is left in the gothic buttresses of the great cathedrals is the hollowed-out skeleton of external religion; the heart of faith has long since stopped beating...

Feminist influences in the Presbyterian Church in America II...

Under the recent post, Feminist Influences in the Presbyterian Church in America, the following comment appeared:

…I disagree with the post’s saying that discipling, shepherding, and counselling requires authority. To guide someone along the right path requires only care by the guide and willingness by the straying person to listen and try to stay on the path. One Christian can do that for another without any authority. He can do that without any title, in fact, which goes back to the question of why the guides should be called Deacons instead of, say Guides, or Helpers.…

Yes, “one Christian can do (these things) for another without any authority.” But we must consider the context of the Kellers’ use of these words ‘discipling’, ‘shepherding’, and ‘counselling.’

The context for the Kellers’ paper and their congregation’s actions is twofold: first, the Manhattan cultural context in which feminism long has ceased being argued, and is simply understood—think Columbia University, Manhattan, Woody Allen, the New York Times, etc.; and second, a denomination whose identity and confession is inseparable from its polity which, among other things, is defined by authoritative church officers (yes, deacons exercise authority) who, submitting to the Word of God, are men only.

So yes, in another institution, place, or denomination we might talk about “guides” who come alongside fellow travelers and make astute observations (or even recommendations) that their companions are free to take or leave.

This is the typical understanding of church office in evangelical churches and denominations today, and is not an uncommon understanding of church office even within the Presbyterian Church in America. Yet Scripture and PCA constitutional documents make clear...

Feminist influences in the Presbyterian Church in America...

The pastor of University Presbyterian Church (UPC) in Orlando Florida, Mark Bates, has been invited to candidate for the pastoral position at Village Seven Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Yesterday he announced his departure from UPC. Not knowing Pastor Bates myself, I downloaded a sermon, read some web stuff including his blog, Certain Hope, and checked out UPC’s web site. Pastor Bates is cut from the Pastor Tim Keller stripe, particularly in the matter of the nature and meaning of sexuality which today is the best predictor of how a man will stand in the gaps where Satan is focusing his attack on God’s Word. His Board of Elders at UPC adopted the paper titled “Women and Ministry” written by the Rev. Dr. Tim Keller and his wife, Kathy, as their own position statement on the matter. UPC’s elders make one differentiation, though, in the preface to the Kellers’ paper they’ve placed on their UPC web site :

(T)he Session adopted (Tim and Kathy Keller’s) paper as its position on the role of women in ministry, with the following exception:  The paper says that women may not be elders but that women may serve in any capacity within the local church that any non-elder male might serve. The Session of UPC would add to this that we believe this same limitation would also forbid women from shepherding men.

This short statement improves the Kellers’ position somewhat, but it’s also notable that two months ago UPC hosted Ms. Carolyn Custis James to teach Scripture on the subject of sexuality. Quite predictably, this led to what Pastor Bates on his blog referred to as some misunderstanding of UPC’s position within his flock...

A troubling blog...

I was sobered to find this new blog via our referral page several days ago. The author, a military officer and PCA ruling elder, served on the PCA's Ad Interim Committee which produced the report on Federal Vision thology adopted two weeks ago at General Assembly.

The blog's first post struck me as unwise--akin to a juror's post-trial analysis of the defense--but subsequent posts have truly troubled me. It's one thing to keep Federal Vision proponents off the Ad Interim Report commiittee, it's another thing altogether for the committee to contain men who seem to have approached their work with full-fledged antipathy toward principals in the Federal Vision movement.

As one who largely agrees with the committee's report I find evidence of such bias on the committee both lamentable and almost incredible. Why, Ad Interim Committee members, did you not feel personal antipathy to key leaders of the Federal Vision movement sufficient reason to reject the committee position initially or to recuse yourself from the committee's work subsequently? It's nearly impossible to conclude that this bias wasn't evident during the committee's work, and while no committee member should be expected to approach the work of the committee a blank slate, integrity would seem to demand an attempt at impartiality by committee members--or the conscious inclusion of differing opinions. I

t's unfortunate that the positive contribution of the committee should be clouded in this manner, and it makes me wonder whether other members of the committee were aware of such attitudes during the committee's work....

Don’t play the rule book, play the game…

I’ve been disappointed to see anti-Federal Vision pastors and bloggers claim in the aftermath of the General Assembly’s passage of the Ad Interim Report that it’s time now for Federal Vision proponents to leave the PCA.

If I can say so as one who voted for the report, this is irresponsible. What took place at General Assembly was simply a refinement and restatement of the rule book. Some who oppose Federal Vision views seem to think the rule book is the game. It’s not. The game is played in the sessions, presbyteries and assemblies of our Church where trials are held and authority wielded.

It’s a hollow victory if we passed a definition of what the Westminster Standards teach in the areas addressed by the Ad Interim Report only to put it on a shelf and claim the victory won. Nonsense. The Ad Interim Report has weight only as precedent in trials. And this, I fear, is where the vote on the report at General Assembly could prove a shallow victory. There will be no trials based upon it. The guiltless will never be acquitted, the guilty never convicted.

Why I voted against the Novenson procedural motion....

Prior to General Assembly passage of the Ad Interim Report on Federal Vision... Theology, a procedural motion by a Tennessee pastor named Joe Novenson was voted down by GA.

The motion sought to delay acceptance of the Ad Interim Report for a year as well as to require of the study committee:

1. positive lessons learned from the Federal Vision movement;
2. two additional committee members from the ranks of Federal Vision sympathizers, and;
3. Biblical and exegetical arguments in addition to arguments from the Westminster Standards.

Tim and I believe the Ad Interim Report would have been stronger if the committee had contained representatives of Federal Vision views. Our experience both in authoring and in taking part in such committees leads us to believe that the inclusion of foes uniformly sharpens the thinking--and ultimately the reporting--of such committees.

Despite this conviction I voted against the Novenson motion for the following reasons.

"One of us has got to get some relief..."

Southern story-teller Jerry Clower tells of a coon hunt with Marcel Ledbetter, best coon hunter on earth....

One night Jerry and Marcel were out with their dogs when they treed a coon up a huge sycamore. Marcel, a firm believer in giving a coon a fighting chance, climbed the tree to shake the coon out. But it wasn't a coon, it was a lynx, and it went after Marcel something terrible. The tree was a-shakin' and a-quiverin' from the battle. Marcel was getting torn up. Finally, desperate, he hollered down at Jerry, "Shoot, shoot, this thang is killin' me." Jerry hollered back, "I'm afraid to shoot, I might hit you". Marcel hollered back down, "Just shoot up here amongst us, one of us has got to have some relief."

It was in this spirit that today's session of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America approved the Report of the Ad Interim Study Committee on Federal Vision, New Perspective and Auburn Avenue Theology. Whether the proper target was hit only time will tell....

Welcome to General Assembly...

Not only do we get to see the preacher's pearly whites on flanking screens (they cut away from the video feed during the communion service but left it on during preaching, singing and prayer), we also get to view ads before the worship service. And to think that Whitefield, Spurgeon (and Christ, for that matter) preached to tens of thousands without audio--let alone video--amplification.

Ron Gleason and antiChristian feminism in the PCA...

The recent comment Pastor Gleason posted here prompted me to remember that some time ago I was planning to provide a link to a series of articles titled Christian Feminism? written by our cyber-friend and PCA teaching elder, Ron Gleason, who shepherds the flock of Grace Presbyterian Church in Yorba Linda, California. Grace Pres. is a part of David's and my denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, and I was interested to note we also share with Ron receiving our M.Div.s from Oliver-Cromwell Theological Seminary--a place I doubt any of us would recommend today.

Check out Ron's writing. He doesn't mince or prance, but leads. Here's a sample from his latest post (Christian Feminism XIII: A Rose by Any Other Name) concerning City Presbyterian Church of Denver, the same church David and I commented on not so long ago. Here's a teaser from Pastor Gleason...

Preaching and the feminization of discourse; a timely parable...

For a number of years, I've thought we need a book for preachers called The Feminization of Discourse. The book would show how the feminine priorities that have taken over the Western world have turned the preaching of God's Word from authority to mutual exploration and discovery. One friend lamented the preaching he'd sat under for a number of years saying, "Along with the indicative, can't we please have the imperative?" Read anything about the differences between male and female conversation and it's no mystery why the worship and preaching of our--yes, PCA--churches feel like a tea party. Having a reformed form of godliness, we deny the power thereof.

Our preaching is so graceful--more graceful than the preaching of Jesus or the Apostles. Anyone read the book of Acts, recently? Notice how often those listening to the sermon are confronted with the statement, "You killed Jesus!" No wonder repentance was the entry point to faith and baptism back then. But today? We're compassionate Christians, kinder and gentler elders, and sensitive graceful preachers who want to be liked. Above all. Yes, insofar as we can be liked and still be obedient, that's fine. But a choice between the two is no contest; being liked wins.

Now of course, right here the feminization of discourse kicks in and many are ready to condemn me for being dogmatic, making generalizations, or demonstrating a harsh and judgmental spirit, right?

Well, meet my friend Cesar Millan and see if we preachers have anything to learn from him about our exercise of the authority God has delegated to us, particularly in  the pulpit...

The connection between doctrinal rebellion and sloth...

He also who is slack in his work is brother to him who destroys.

                                                                    -Proverbs 18:9

In connection with pastoral ministry, I've been thinking a lot this past year about pastors who choose not to guard the good deposit, rather spending their time focusing on evangelism and church growth techniques. Question them about their silence in the pulpit concerning sodomy, sacramentalism, Rome, abortion, divorce, or the love of money and they'll come out with some high-sounding platitudinous statement like, "I've determined to know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I want to be all things to all people. We must not allow our pulpit to become a divisive presence in our church, alienating seekers and young believers."

A couple months ago, I spoke to a young professional who attends a flagship PCA congregation on the Eastern Seaboard...

An apology for women ministers in the PCA...

By Tim and David Bayly

Meet Sara Bartley "Minister of Church Life" at City Presbyterian Church (PCA) of Denver.

Read an apology for her work by the Rev. Sam Downing, Senior Pastor of City Presbyterian Church.

(Here's Pastor Downing's original document as a PDF.)

But first, a few words of explanation....

When TE David Kniseley of Rocky Mountain Presbytery discovered in mid-January 2007 that City Presbyterian Church of Denver had hired and appointed (not ordained and installed) a woman to be Minister of Congregational Care he called City Presbyterian senior pastor and fellow presbyter, Sam Downing, and requested that City Presbyterian forego the title “Minister” for a woman staff member. TE Downing declined the request.

Pastor Kniseley then overtured Rocky Mountain Presbytery to instruct City Presbyterian Church to conform to the Presbyterian Church in America’s Book of Church Order in this matter by no longer using the title “Minister” for any non-ordained staff member.

Because Pastor Kniseley’s overture was submitted too late for normal inclusion on the January 2007 docket, the Standing Rules of Rocky Mountain Presbytery required a two-thirds vote for new business to be added. The vote failed. Pastor Kniseley’s overture was thus added to the April 2007 docket of Rocky Mountain Presbytery.

In February, 2007, Pastor Downing wrote the paper we critique below titled “The PCA and Gospel Ministry in an Urban, Egalitarian Environment: Toward a Theologically Accurate, Culturally Appropriate Apologetic,” circulating his paper as an explanation and defense of his church’s practice with regard to women in ministry. In March, 2007, Village Seven Presbyterian Church (Colorado Springs) sent an additional overture to Rocky Mountain Presbytery asking for it to be passed on to General Assembly. Their overture sought to amend the Book of Church Order so it would explicitly state the word ‘minister’ always refers to a teaching elder.

Both overtures (from Pastor Kniseley and Village Seven Presbyterian Church) were slated to come before Rocky Mountain Presbytery for action in April’s meeting.  TE Dominic Aquila, the 2006 Moderator of General Assembly, took both overtures and recast them into two motions—a main and a substitute motion.

Main motion: "That the Presbytery acknowledge that the title 'minister' as used in the Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America is synonymous with 'pastor' and 'teaching elder,' and as such none of these titles may be used to refer to any but ordained teaching elders."

Substitute Motion: "That the Presbytery acknowledge that the title 'minister' as used in the Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America is synonymous with 'pastor' and 'teaching elder,' however, that it also acknowledge that the title 'minister' has been used in a general or generic manner and in this general way can be used for unordained church staff members."

The Main Motion, if approved, would have required City Presbyterian Church (and other churches in Rocky Mountain Presbytery who have used this term for staff people) to remove that title, replacing it with some other word such as 'Director.' The Substitute Motion, if approved, would have permitted City Presbyterian Church to allow its female staff member to retain her title, "Minister of Congregational Care."

The substitute motion (agreeing with the logic of the following paper) was adopted by Rocky Mountain Presbytery on a 32 to 26 vote.

Now, with that background, click below to read Rev. Downing's paper with our critique interspersed within it...

Other PCA standards in peril...

A friend called my attention to Redeemer Presbyterian Church's (NYC) new "Diaconate Director," Jenny Chang... Jenny follows Andrea Mungo who served as Redeemer's Diaconate Director nearly a decade.

Redeemer defines its diaconate thus:

The Diaconate, a group of men and women nominated and elected into the office by the Redeemer members, exists to express in practical ways Christ's command to all believers to love our neighbor as ourselves. We offer help to those in crisis or challenging situations by assessing their needs and working together to find solutions.

Thoughts on the ad interim report on Federal Vision theology...

Now that the PCA's Ad Interim Study Committee on Federal Vision, New Perspective, and Auburn Avenue Theologies has issued its report, debate will be lively. But framing the debate is vital. And to that end Tim and I have several comments we'd like to make.

1. It appears our report a year ago that some within the PCA desire to rid the PCA of 85 Federal Vision (FV) churches was accurate.

Study Committee on New Perspective/Federal Vision issues report...

…it is evident that the version of covenant and election taught by the NPP and FV is incompatible with the views of the Westminster Standards. In fact, these two approaches to covenant and election are not complementary ways of looking at the biblical data, but irreconcilably contradictory alternative accounts of the biblical data. (from the Report of Ad Interim Study Committee on Federal Vision, New Perspective, and Auburn Avenue Theologies)

The PCA general assembly appointed a committee to study the New Perspective on Paul and the Federal Vision/Auburn Avenue theology. The report has just been issued and can be found here. Not to prejudge the matter, but the above quote is indicative of the fact that there are real teeth in the report's declarations and recommendations--teeth that, if the coming assembly adopts the report, will require a number of men to make some tough choices about their ecclesiastical commitments...

Covenant Seminary on sexuality...

Some weeks back, the Rev. Dr. Andrew Dionne, a recent graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary, expressed serious concerns over the commitment of Covenant's administration and faculty to the biblical doctrine of sexuality. At that time, Pastor Dionne forwarded a couple of supporting documents from the years he and his wife, Sarah, were members of the CTS community. Not wanting to allow his material to be lost in the (rapidly depleting?) ozone, I'm depositing it here so it can be on record and debated...

Faithful shepherds stand in the gap...

We all know what it is to play warfare in mock battle, that it means to imitate everything just as it is in war. The troops are drawn up, they march into the field, seriousness is evident in every eye, but also courage and enthusiasm, the orderlies rush back and forth intrepidly, the commander's voice is heard, the signals, the battle cry, the volley of musketry, the thunder of cannon--everything exactly as it is in war, lacking only one thing...the danger.

So also it is with playing Christianity, that is, imitating Christian preaching in such a way that everything, absolutely everything is included in as deceptive a form as possible--only one thing is lacking...the danger

-Soren Kierkegaard, Attack Upon "Christendom" 1854-1855, translated with an introduction by Walter Lowrie, (Boston: The Beacon Press, 1956) p. 258.

Addendum: Wednesday evening, March 8, Br