05323
June 17, 2005 

'New Wineskins' preachers call PC(USA) to task 

Chorus of international voices claims denomination has lost its way

by Jerry L. Van Marter

EDINA, MN — Leaders of the New Wineskins movement insist that their purpose is to create a new Presbyterian vision, not just to react to the travails of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

     But the international array of preachers at the group’s June 15-18 convocation here sounded a common theme:

     Dissatisfaction with the denomination that gave them birth.

     Only the Rev. Sameh Maurice, a pastor at 7,000-member Kasr el Dobara Church in Cairo, Egypt, was not overtly critical of the PC(USA).

     Ludgero Morais, general secretary (stated clerk) of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil (IPB), described his church’s relationship with the PC(USA) as “a mother and daughter who no longer speak the same language.”

     The IPB severed ties with the PC(USA) in 1969, calling the American church “apostate.” The PC(USA) maintains relations with two other churches in Brazil — the Independent Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPIB) and the United Presbyterian Church of Brazil (IPU).

     “We discovered that our mother … was taking friends into her home who began exerting a destructive influence on her family … and learned that the mother and daughter could no longer live together,” Morais said. “It was a time of profound sadness, because we had a profound sense of gratitude, but also a sense that we could no longer be in harmony — so we cut relations.”

     For the Rev. David Githii, moderator of the Presbyterian Church in East Africa (PCEA), the PC(USA)’s continuing debates over sexual-conduct standards for ordination and same-sex relationships is a sign that “the will of God is not in our hearts.”

     The PC(USA) constitution forbids sexually active gays and lesbians (and unmarried heterosexuals) from ordination as church officers, and defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Githii said the problem is not with the PC(USA)’s Book of Order  but with a “spiritual deficiency” in the denomination itself.

     As PCEA moderator, Githii ordered one presbytery to abandon a partnership with National Capital Presbytery because of its overture to the 2004 General Assembly calling for the repeal of the ordination standard

     The presbyteries continue in partnership. Githii criticized former General Assembly Moderator Susan Andrews, a member of National Capital Presbytery, for characterizing his demand as “childish.”

     The only PC(USA) preacher at the convocation — the Rev. Dean Weaver of Kenmore, NY, a New Wineskins vice-moderator — recited a litany of complaints against the PC(USA): that it is more concerned with political correctness than with proclaiming the gospel unapologetically; that it is held together not by trust but by the “trust clause” that gives title to church property to the denomination rather than congregations; that it accommodates culture rather than speaking prophetically to it; and that it is not committed to taking the gospel to the unreached people in the world.

     “I love the church; I love the denomination,” Weaver said in his June 16 sermon. “But sometimes, when you love something dearly and it’s dying, the right thing to do is to let her go. I have poured my energies into trying to patch the old (denomination), but now’s the time for a new wineskin.”

     The solution to the decline of the PC(USA), all preachers agreed, is a sort of faith that New Wineskins leaders have described as “orthodox” or “traditionalist.”

     Preaching on June 15, Maurice summarized God’s words recorded in Revelation 2:

     “I know your deeds, your hard work, your perseverance; yet I hold this against you — you have forsaken your first love. … Repent and do the things you did at first. … If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand. … I know your heart does not love me as it did before. … Remember our relationship, and go back and repent.”

     That repentance — and the right exercise of faith — means “demonstrating our commitment to God,” said Morais in his June 16 sermon. “This means God has separated us so we may live lives of holiness in this world. We are a counterculture, not exactly of this world, but called to be a model to society.”

     Modeling faithfulness is producing church growth in other parts of the world, and that should be a lesson to American Christians, the preachers agreed — and that growth is God’s work, not ours

     The PCEA now numbers 4 million, Githii said in his June 17 sermon. “This church is activated by the Holy Spirit — people are scrambling to get in, arriving early to get seats. Our branches are filled with fruits. In contrast, the Western churches’ branches have leaves but no fruits."

     Citing Paul’s words in Galatians, Githii said, “Fools try to fulfill the gospel by human effort. That’s why we’re praying for PC(USA).

     Sinners everywhere are looking for Christ, Maurice said. “If we love Him, the people will come here and they will meet him."

     Maurice said his church — part of the PC(USA)’s partner in Egypt, the Evangelical Church of Egypt, which dates to 1854 — conducts a weekly altar call as part of worship.

     “Every time I make an altar call, hundreds come, even Muslims, and especially teenagers,” he said. “It’s the presence of God in the church."

     Paraphrasing Jesus, he said: “If you love me, you will find me; and then people will find me by encountering you.”
 
     Such growth is occurring in parts of the PC(USA), Weaver said.

     “God is pouring out new wine,” he said. “We’re experiencing that in many of our congregations. Can our old wineskins hold it? No! … The time has come for a new wineskin. God is doing a new thing.”