PCUSA: A willful blindness
The Presbyterian News Service released a pair of stories today that illustrate the willful blindness of the denomination
GAC’s Evangelism Committee reviews initiatives to reverse decline
… the General Assembly Council’s (GAC) Evangelism Mission Committee on Oct. 1 reviewed a variety of initiatives aimed at overcoming a decades-long membership decline in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
The committee heard about a laundry list of programs, strategies, and grandiose plans that will have no effect on the denomination’s spiraling decline. These folks still think it’s all about marketing, splashy campaigns, and finding just the right gimmick to get the suckers in the door. Along the way, they heard that paying some attention to church’s mission in the world might help, but …
The full-time overseas mission force is budgeted to increase in 2009 for the first time since Presbyterian reunion in 1983. Budget constraints present a challenge to keep the mission force in the field, [Hunter Farrell, director of World Mission] told the committee and so a direct mail appeal is being planned.
Direct mail! There isn’t enough money in all the program offices and political lobbying that pass for missions in the PCUSA to fund the real work of the church? This afterthought, this sudden interest in foreign missions, will have to find its own funding. Pathetic.
Presbyterian minister acquitted in same-sex wedding case
Now here’s some news that might cast some light on the denomination’s demise.
The Rev. Janet Edwards, a Presbyterian minister in Pittsburgh, was found not guilty Thursday (Oct. 2) following a trial on charges that she violated Scripture and the constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) when she presided at the marriage of two women.
In language worthy of Bill Clinton’s defense of his sexual exploitation of Monica Lewinski, the ecclesiastical court held that
the constitutions of the PC(USA) and the state of Pennsylvania define marriage as an act between a man and a woman. Therefore, judges said, the ceremony could not have been a wedding ceremony. “It can’t be an offense to the constitution to attempt to do the impossible.”
Do these people have any idea how foolish they look? Do they care about the scorn they heap on Jesus’ church when they utter such nonsense? Can anyone in PC(USA) leadership connect the dots here?
This entry was posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 at 8:29 pm and is filed under PCUSA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.