Riptides of ecumenicity ran strong last month as commissioners to the 107th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. (Southern) served notice that they no longer desire their denomination to be a sectional church but are committed to plunging more deeply into ecumenical waters. In the wake of a battering debate on membership in the Consultation on Church Union, they voted 255–184 to remain as a full participant. Commissioners also ratified 405–16 further negotiations leading to union with the Reformed Church in America.
Half a mile away, the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America overwhelmingly endorsed continued efforts toward merger with Southern Presbyterians but rejected full participation in COCU 148–128, choosing to retain observer status. The favorable RCA-PCUS negotiation votes set the stage for acceptance next year of a plan of union by the national bodies. This will then be submitted for approval of presbyteries and classes and finally returned to the General Synod and the General Assembly for official ratification in 1969.
Reluctant to jeopardize delicate negotiations with the 240,000-member RCA (by then complicated by the General Synod’s rejection of COCU membership), the 955,000-member PCUS refused to invite other Reformed churches—specifically the United Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A.—to join merger talks. The PCUS General Assembly was also unwilling to pass a resolution expressing “its gratitude to God” that the UPUSA in its “Confession of 1967” “has been led to this authentic, historical, contemporary confessional statement of its faith.” It did, however, commend the United Presbyterians Book of Confessions for study in the church and for consideration by the RCA-PCUS Joint Committee of Twenty-Four as it writes a confession for the new proposed church. Further opportunity for PCUS-UPUSA cooperation was provided by the assembly’s approval of the creation of union synods and presbyteries with other Reformed churches.
While Southern Presbyterians were unified in their desire to merge with the conservative Reformed Church in America, vigorous floor fights on a variety of issues showed a sharp cleavage between the dominant liberal advocates of COCU and the National Council of Churches and a strong and vocal minority of conservative evangelicals. The division was most vividly seen in debates on the election of the moderator, COCU, the Delta Ministry, a new publishing policy for denominationally owned John Knox Press, and a statement on American intervention in Viet Nam.
Dr. Marshall C. Dendy of Richmond, Virginia, executive secretary of the church’s Board of Christian Education, squeaked to a one-vote victory, 226–225, over his third cousin, Dr. Patrick D. Miller of Decatur, Georgia, in the race for moderator. Considered the more liberal of the two nominees, former jazz musician Dendy proved to be a forceful moderator. He expressed the wish that his church break away from its narrow geographical bounds and hoped that the RCA would “go into COCU with us.”
The COCU debate centered on whether full participation committed Southern Presbyterians to involvement in an emerging 25-million-member Protestant superchurch. Dr. William A. Benfield, Jr., chairman of the Ad Interim Committee for COCU, asserted, “Our participation means that we are in the mainstream of what I believe to be the most significant movement of ecumenism in the history of Protestantism in America. But our participation … has not and cannot commit our denomination to any change in the standards of our church.”
Presbyterian Journal Editor G. Aiken Taylor, the only PCUS commissioner present at the recent Cambridge meeting of COCU, replied by referring to statements from COCU officials that the consultation will put off drafting a final constitution for the united church until after the denominations come together but has a present aim of creating a de facto union before completion of formal structures. He called attention to a statement by COCU chairman David Colwell that remarkable strides are already being made in coordinating and consolidating the work of the boards and agencies of the participating denominations. Dr. William Kadel, president of Florida Presbyterian College, urged continuation in COCU since, he claimed, there are biblical, confessional, historical, and contemporary bases for such an action. Dr. Horace L. Villee, moderator of the Synod of Mississippi, objected to membership since “the consultation is working for a church union where doctrine and polity mean nothing.” After an hour and a half of heated exchange, the General Assembly voted to remain a full participant in COCU.
After approving a report aimed at resolving irregularities in the Synod of Mississippi and establishing a committee to help churchmen carry out its recommendations, the General Assembly debated continuation of its support of the NCC Delta Ministry. Dr. Kadel endorsed the Delta Ministry as “a principal witness to human need … that speaks to the church’s responsibility to serve … and provides an opportunity to forgive an institution within the church.”
The Rev. Lee Gentry of Cleveland, Mississippi, strenuously opposed it, claiming that “no permanently located minister [in the Delta] can say anything good about it.” He stated that “its methods are not Christian” as it divides lower-class Negroes from those in the middle classes, and sets Negroes against whites. “Where do you find creation of hostility [as a Christian method] in the Bible?” he thundered. The Rev. F. W. Hobbie of Staunton, Virginia, admitted the Delta Ministry had made mistakes but expressed appreciation for its “ministry of compassion, of service, of Jesus Christ.” The Rev. W. J. Stanway of Hattiesburg said the NCC project is “obstructionist,” “creates dissent and ill will,” and “is not concerned with the souls of the Negroes.” The Rev. James Baird of Gadsden, Alabama, called the assembly to choose between its own Mississippi committee and the Delta Ministry, claiming it was a question “not of concern but confidence.”
The assembly finally voted approval of the Delta Ministry, 222–214. An amendment by Dr. J. McDowell Richards, president of Columbia Theological Seminary, softened the blow by making it clear that the General Assembly “is not pointing the finger of criticism at Mississippi as more sinful than other sections of our church and … we do not approve all that has been done by the Delta Ministry.…” The sum of $25,000 is presently earmarked by the PCUS for the Delta Ministry.
Liberals scored another victory as the assembly approved a new publishing policy for its John Knox Press. The commissioners voted 292–117 to expand the range of books John Knox publishes by deleting the requirement, “and which are written by authors within the bounds of the evangelical tradition.” Moderator Dendy sought to justify the change by claiming that “the definition of evangelical is difficult to have agreement about” and the new policy facilitates “dialogue with Roman Catholics and others.”
Another heated debate resulted in approval of a resolution on American policy in Viet Nam. It stated, “we are deeply perplexed and anguished by the tragic war in Viet Nam,” and directed to the churches a series of questions that included these: “Should a government ever draw back from inflicting damage upon its enemies at the possible price of military defeat?” “Is there a worse evil than defeat?” “Are we truly committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ as good news to the Communist as well as the capitalist, to the revolutionary as well as the conservative, to the stranger as well as the friend?” Many commissioners wanted a stronger PCUS statement of commitment to U. S. policy in Viet Nam. The resolution was passed as Moderator Dendy’s affirmative vote broke a tie in the assembly.
As the PCUS engaged in tempestuous verbal battles, the General Synod of the Reformed Church in America displayed a greater sense of unity. In addition to giving the green light to merger talks with Southern Presbyterians and the red light to participation in COCU, the synod acted to:
• Elect Dr. Harold Schut of Scotia, New York, president of the General Synod and Dr. Raymond Heukelom of Orange City, Iowa, vice-president;
• Reaffirm its Covenant of Open Occupancy in housing;
• Create one board of superintendents for its two seminaries, Western and New Brunswick;
• Merge its Boards of Education, World Missions, and North American Missions and its Stewardship Council under a new corporation.
• Submit to its forty-six area bodies a proposal to open the offices of elder and deacon in the church to women;
• Call on President Johnson to “assure territorial arrangements in the Middle East” that take into account the “relevant historical, human, and moral factors” that will result in a righteous peace.
The 1967 national church assemblies in Bristol showed a drift to the left by the PCUS and maintenance of a steady and generally unchanged course by the RCA. Whether the ecumenical tides in the two denominations will go in or out will be largely determined by action taken at their national meetings in 1968.
Presbyterians At Ottawa
The 93rd General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, meeting in Ottawa June 7–15, was told by its retiring moderator that he didn’t have time to waste “in the wilderness of ecumenical relations.” Speaking to a full house in Knox Church (which was founded 123 years ago when a group of Presbyterians favorable to Free Church principles withdrew from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church), Dr. Deane Johnston said that Presbyterians had a duty to their own church. “The Presbyterian Church suits us,” said the burly exarmy chaplain, “and preserves deep insights into God’s revelation which should not be allowed to perish from the church. As Presbyterians, we must be prepared to defend the doctrines of Reformation.”
The next day, the Papal Delegate to Canada, the Most Rev. Sergio Pignedoli, was introduced to the 260-member assembly by the newly elected moderator, Dr. John Logan-Vencta, 68, with the words: “What John Knox would have said at a time like this I would hesitate to say.” This was the first time that a Roman Catholic representative paid an official visit to the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
In spite of the new ecumenical climate in the Canadian churches, the visit did not go unprotested. The Rev. Hector MacRury of Toronto presented a formal protest to the General Assembly on the basis that the visit of the Papal Delegate was contrary to the Subordinate Standards of the Presbyterian Church as found in the Westminster Confession of Faith. MacRury referred his fellow churchmen to Chapter 25, Section 6: “Nor can the pope of Rome in any sense be the head thereof; but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God.” The protest was allowed to stand, but a vote commending those responsible for inviting the Papal Delegate was passed 122–46.
Ecumenical interests did chalk up one major victory, however. The assembly voted overwhelmingly to respond favorably to an invitation to join the Anglican and United Churches of Canada in their talks on union. Observer-consultants are to be appointed, and the move affirmed “that the term of reference of these observer-consultants be those indicated by the submissions from the presbyteries on the matter, namely that they confer in Christian charity with our brethren of other churches, but take no action which would commit our church without consent of the assembly.”
Another first at the 93rd General Assembly was the presence of voting women. By action of last year’s General Assembly, women were made eligible for ordination to the ministry and eldership. Several women have already been made elders, but though several have qualified for ordination to the ministry, none has crossed the boundaries of tradition.
J. BERKLEY REYNOLDS
Baptists On Divorce
The Ontario and Quebec Convention of the Baptist Church in Canada is asking the Canadian government to relax divorce laws. Adultery is now about the only grounds for divorce in Canada.
The 750 Baptist delegates who met at Peterborough June 9–12 drew up a resolution calling for consideration of divorce in cases of: insanity, when expert treatment over a suitable period of time has not produced a cure; chronic alcoholism or drug addiction; repeated acts of cruelty endangering health; repeated prison terms; disappearance for three years; and desertion for three years. The resolution reaffirmed the church’s adherence to Christian ideals in marriage and called for reconciliation attempts by both parties before the granting of a divorce.
