Some unhappy United Presbyterians (UPCUSA) declared what amounted to their spiritual independence last month. Upset by a church government that requires them to ordain women, a small, mostly pastoral, group voted to withdraw from their denomination unless requested constitutional changes are made.
At the same time, they formed an association to pursue those changes. Their elected 11-man steering committee, which will have the power to raise funds to further the cause, included such well-known conservative evangelicals as pastor James Boice and Reformed theologian John Gerstner.
Perhaps appropriately, the group met in historic Philadelphia, where several blocks away and 200 years ago, another deliberative body studied what to do about government controls it could not agree with. The one-day meeting in Boice’s Tenth Presbyterian Church was far from a liberty bell-ringing affair, however. Participants repeatedly denied they were schismatic, and said in their resolution that they would leave the denomination only “as a last resort.”
More than 100 concerned pastors and laymen met all morning October 11 for a question and answer period with UPCUSA stated clerk (chief executive officer) William Thompson. In an afternoon address to a larger group of 225 persons who gathered in the church sanctuary, Thompson said the issue of women’s ordination should not be a cause for schism. He promoted church unity, and said that any decision to withdraw “should not be approached casually.” In an evening session, prior to the association-forming vote, participants lined up behind a microphone for 25 minutes of individual prayers in behalf of their denomination and for the actions of that night.
Pastor David Williams and several other Pittsburgh area pastors whose biblical understanding prevents them from ordaining women, organized the Philadelphia meeting. Specifically, they were concerned about the passage of Overture L, which requires that churches elect women to their boards. (This controversial change in the church’s Book of Order was ratified by the May 1979 General Assembly, after being approved by the presbyteries in a 79–70 vote. Besides requiring the election of women elders, Overture L also mandates the “fair representation” on church boards of persons of “all ages and of all ethnic minorities.” Prior to Overture L, the church constitution said the office of elder should be “open” to all persons and that congregations should “give attention” to fair representation of men and women of all ages and ethnic minorities.)
Williams sent invitation letters to the more than 1,300 United Presbyterian churches that presently have no women elders—thus being most directly affected by Overture L. Meeting planners invited a smaller group of 27 pastors—those “most directly under the gun” because of their opposition to women elders,” to the morning session with Thompson. Because news of the meeting got out, however, more than 100 persons showed up.
The group had decided to allow only those persons conscientiously opposed to women’s ordination to vote on the resolution. (Some participants supported women’s ordination, but had attended out of sympathy for those who would be forced to do so against their will by the church constitution.)
With few dissenting votes, the group approved the final resolution, which read in part: “We understand if there is no relief from the stipulation of Overture L provided for those who in conscience cannot approve the ordination of women … we will be forced to acknowledge that the actions of the denomination are so contrary to prayerful conscience, that as a last resort we will withdraw from the fellowship of the denomination.”
The group adopted the name Concerned United Presbyterians, and the newly-elected steering committee selected from within itself a smaller executive committee with pastor David Williams of Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, as chairman; along with Boice; Thomas Graham, Baltimore, Maryland, pastor; and Gerstner, professor of church history at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
The meeting may or may not lead to schism. But in any case, it represented another fissure in this 2.6-million-member denomination, whose designation as the “United” Presbyterian body increasingly has become a misnomer. The denomination still is recovering from divisive debate in the 1978 General Assembly over ordination of practicing homosexuals, and it fears an increasing number of denominational-local church property disputes.
In recent months, two other events sent heavy rumblings throughout the denomination, and particularly within the evangelical wing: (1) The Denver Presbytery in September “took over” the South Presbyterian Church of Denver—even sending armed guards to seal off the property—because the pastor and board indicated they could not endorse a church constitution that requires women elders; and (2) The National Capital UPCUSA membership and Union Presbytery approved in March the transfer of a United Church of Christ pastor to the Rockville, Maryland, UP church, even though the pastor reportedly denied the deity of Christ during his examination by the presbytery.
A number of the Philadelphia participants had contemplated leaving the church ever since 1974, when candidate Wynn Kenyon was denied ordination because his biblical understandings made him conscientiously opposed to women’s ordination. In a landmark decision, the church’s Permanent Judicial Commission overturned the Pittsburgh presbytery’s approval of Kenyon’s ordination, saying his position violated the church constitution, which all UPC pastors must affirm.
(Since that decision, a test for ordination has been whether or not a candidate will affirm ordination of women. Reportedly, 18 United Presbyterian churches and 83 persons have left the denomination over the Kenyon decision.)
During the three-hour question period, Thompson indicated that congregations not having women elders would be in “technical violation” of the constitution. He noted, however, that the church “cannot force a congregation to vote for anyone.” Asked what should be the response to Overture L by pastors who oppose it, Thompson said they have the responsibility to inform their congregations of the requirements of Overture L. If the pastor “actively testifies against Overture L, then I think the presbytery can take action (against him),” said Thompson.
Answering carefully—showing the experience of 20 years in law practice and a stint as president of the National Council of Churches—Thompson also asserted:
• “Congregations cannot withdraw from the denomination; only individuals can.”
• A pastor would be on “shaky ground” by teaching his congregation that the church constitution violates Scripture—the proper forum for such talk is in the presbytery.
• He affirmed the denomination’s claim to the property of any congregation that withdraws.
Saying there may be further litigation, Thompson commented little on the case most pressing on the minds of the participants—that involving pastor Dale Schlafer of the South Presbyterian Church. In an unprecedented action, the Denver Presbytery had locked the doors of the church, in effect taking over the property of the 687-member congregation. Schlafer and his board had signed statements after the passage of Overture L, saying they could no longer endorse the church’s constitution, and the presbytery voted to take over the church.
Schlafer, who since has moved with the majority of his congregation (renamed the South Evangelical Presbyterian Fellowship) to a nearby Christian school, explained his situation in an afternoon session. He said he had avoided taking legal action against the presbytery on biblical grounds, and to avoid “dragging the name of Christ into the mud” through media exposure. He did, however, feel bad about the presbytery’s methods of resolving the problem.
Thompson indicated that various presbyteries probably will seek implementation of Overture L in varying degrees, and that it would be difficult to enforce. He acknowledged widespread dissatisfaction in the denomination with Overture L, and anticipated that it would be amended. Newly-elected moderator Howard Rice, a San Francisco seminary professor, communicated to the Philadelphia gathering that Overture L was “badly timed, badly-written, unenforceable, and basically inconsistent with United Presbyterian polity,” and hoped it would be amended in some form.
The group seemed united, however, in its stand on the deity of Christ issue. The National Capital Union Presbytery had voted to install pastor Mansfield Kaseman, even after questioners during Kaseman’s examination protested his denial of the deity of Christ. Pastor Glen Knecht of Hyattsville, Maryland, and two of his elders filed a complaint to the Synod of Piedmont Judicial Commission, which upheld the presbytery, saying “it lies with the presbytery to receive, dismiss, ordain, install, remove, and judge ministers.” A subsequent appeal went to the church’s highest ruling authority, the General Assembly’s Permanent Judicial Commission. The 15-member body will review the case in January 1980.
In a telephone interview, Kaseman acknowledged his denial that Christ is God. He explained, however, that this was only a partial answer—that he had further explained that he only intended to make clear the dominance of God. “While I’m not questioning the divinity of Christ, I want God to be dominant.” Philadelphia participants were told, however, that written transcripts of Kaseman’s testimony conclusively showed his categorical denial of Christ’s deity.
The case was still pending, but the presbytery planned to install Kaseman last month anyway. He has served as co-pastor of the Rockville church since February. (Presbytery officials explained that since the United Church of Christ and the United Presbyterian Church are “in corresponding relationship,” pastoral transfers usually are made without examination and as a “matter of courtesy.” National Capital is a union presbytery with the Presbyterian Church in the U.S., however, and the latter body requires examination of a pastoral candidate in a transfer process.)
Interestingly, the United Church of Christ does not make a public affirmation of Christ’s deity a prerequisite to ordination. Reuben Sheares, director of the UCC Church Life and Leadership Office, knew of no UCC pastors that had denied Christ’s deity.
However, Sheares observed: “Knowing the UCC as I do, there are probably represented among us every Christological position that has ever come down the pike.”
