The Bosque Boys

The slow schism in the Episcopal denomination continues following denominational endorsement of same-sex sex. From Virginia this news.

Leaders of two of Virginia's most historic Episcopal parishes have voted to split from the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia, a move that could spark a legal battle over millions of dollars' worth of property.

And from Ohio this story. Two more Presbyterian congregation vote to leave the PC(USA), which has been in turmoil for over two decades because of several issues, including same-sex practice.

Two area congregations have voted to leave the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The pastors of Stow Presbyterian and Hudson Presbyterian churches said the decision to break away from the denomination came after much prayer and deliberation.

Mainline denominations (by million members) Statistics from Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches, via USA Today.

United Methodist Church
• 1995: 8.5
• 2004: 8.2
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
• 1995: 5.2
• 2004: 4.9
Presbyterian Church (USA)
• 1995: 3.7
• 2004: 3.2
Episcopal Church
• 1995: 2.5
• 2004: 2.3
Disciples of Christ
• 1995: .93
• 2004: .74
American Baptist Churches
• 1995: 1.5
• 2004: 1.4
United Church of Christ
• 1995: 1.5
• 2004: 1.3

The North Texas Association (NTA) of the United Church of Christ (my old association when I served a conservative UCC church near Waco 94-05) has voted to receive into membership the 4300 member Cathedral of Hope. The official UCC site has a postive report.

The Cathedral of Hope touts itself as "the world's largest liberal Christian church with a primary outreach to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people." Briefly, the congregation is open and affirming of same-sex sex and marriage.

The NTA had been a conservative hold-out in the denomination, but the dwindling numbers of conservative rural congregations gave priority of leadership to a few congregations in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area strongly supportive of same-sex sex and marriage. Now the transformation is complete, since Cathedral of Hope will be far and away the largest congregation in the association, indeed the 4th largest in the denomination. Some of the congregations in central Texas, and a few in the Metroplex probably will consider leaving the denomination.

Prior to the vote, the national office of Biblical Witness Fellowship, a network of conservative UCC congregations, expressed reasons to be hesitant in admitting Cathedral of Hope (in addition to their theology). below

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The splitting of the Episcopal Church continues. Last month the Diocese of Quincy (Illinois), unhappy with the liberal trends of the denomination, asked for other oversight within Anglicanism. In other words, the diocese plans to remain Anglican (the worldwide communion of which the Episcopal church has been the U.S. expression), but does not want to accept the leadership of the Episcopal denomination. News release here.

See earlier posts.

From the Washington Post. Some "Third World" Anglican bishops are calling for the U. S. Episcopal church (the Anglican church in the United States) to go ahead and split. Conservatives in the US, upset over the official Episcopal actions regarding same-sex practice (including consecration of a gay bishop) have already begun a process of schism.

Here are the paragraphs relevant to my point:

A suggestion by African, Asian and Latin American Anglican bishops that the Episcopal Church be turned into two churches because of disputes over gay issues would lead to chaos, the head of the U.S. church said on Thursday.

Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of the 2.4-million-member Episcopal Church, said a communique issued on September 22 from Kigali, Rwanda, by conservative bishops of a group known as the Global South "raises profound questions about the nature of the church, its ordering and its oversight."

Bishops at the meeting in the Rwandan capital suggested that it was time for Episcopalians upset with the 2003 consecration of Gene Robinson of New Hampshire as the first openly gay bishop in more than 450 years of Anglican Church history should form their own church.

More below

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Two congregations that currently are in the process of leaving or of reassessing their relationship with the Presbyterian Church U.S. (PCUS) illustrate the significance of the problem for this mainline denomination.

The Hudson Presbyterian Church of Hudson Ohio has voted to leave the denomination. Article here. The relevant portion of the article is: The anticipated loss of Hudson Presbyterian Church is a serious blow to Eastminster Presbytery. Having grown steadily for the past 10 years, Hudson is now the fifth-largest congregation in the presbytery, and it outstrips all others in its overall giving of $872.39 per member. By contrast, the largest congregation in the presbytery, Poland Presbyterian Church in Poland, gives $469.77 per member.

The Montreat Presbyterian Church in North Carolina will conduct a series of meetings to determin their future with the denomination. The relevant portion, from the session's* letter is: In the last year we have seen the Lord do glorious things in our church. The youth ministry has over 90 students; we have more people involved in missions than any time we are aware of; worship attendance has blossomed with two distinct services; the Morning School has grown to capacity and is serving even more effectively in reaching unchurched families; and, perhaps most notably, God has renewed our sense of fellowship and community among the body. We rejoice in our calling to make this known to all the world. Our first priority is faithfulness to our Savior who calls us to proclaim His glorious news.

"Our ability to do this in partnership with the PCUSA, however, has been overwhelmed by its ongoing crisis of Biblical authority. This was most recently evidenced by the actions of the past General Assembly, but the roots reach back much further. The cumulative result has been to move the church from under the authority of Scripture alone to the authority of tradition as defined by the PCUSA at the moment.

The problem for the mainline PCUSA that is here illustrated is that it is losing exactly those congregations that give a movement vibrancy and growth. Other mainline denominations are having similar experiences. Perhaps we should say that the fruit of liberalism leads to death, not life. For other posts on this topic see here.

*A session is the governing board of a Presbyterian congregation, elected by the membership.

I have been posting the continuing decline of the mainline denominations in the United States. Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, United Church of Christ, who were once the dominant groups of Protestants with big impact on America, have become sideline churches, dwindling each year. While several factors are involved, a turn to liberal doctrines is the common thread.

Here is an item from about a year ago that I overlooked before. It is a call from the Calvin Synod of the United Church of Christ (UCC) for congregations of that denomination to withold monies from the denomination because of resolutions adopted at the previous national meeting. Here.

Here are the resolutions:
"THEREFORE LET IT BE RESOLVED, that the Twenty-fifth General Synod of the United Church of Christ affirms equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender and declares that the government should not interfere with couples regardless of gender who choose to marry and share fully and equally in the rights, responsibilities and commitment of legally recognized marriage; and...

LET IT BE FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Twenty-fifth General Synod calls upon congregations, after prayerful biblical, theological, and historical study, to consider adopting Wedding Policies that do not discriminate against couples based on gender;"

Here is the call to action portion of the Calvin Synod communication and more thoughts below.

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Christ Church, Plano, Texas (near Dallas) now has left the Episcopal Church and kept its property. One of the denomination's largest parishes (weekend attendance 2200), Christ Church has been unhappy for several years over the lack of respect for Scripture manifest in the Episcopal handling of the issue of same-sex practice. The parish plans to remain within Anglicanism (the world-wide communion of which Episcopalians are a part) overseen for the time being by the Bishop of Peru. From the Dallas Morning News. Hat tip Religion Headlines.

For previous posts on Mainline decline here, and here, and here., and here.

From the Dallas Morning News newspaper, link from Religion Headlines, an article on the slow-moving schism in the Episcopal Church. The largest Episcopal parish in Texas with 2200 worshippers each weekend (huge by Episcopal standards) already is leaving the denomination, though remaining within the world-wide Anglican communion. Seven diocese are evaluating their position within the Episcopal denomination. Biggest issue: same-sex unions and gay bishops. Interestingly, the only picture accompanying this article is of a minority member of the Dallas Diocese, a member in favor of same-sex union. Read article.

The seven Diocese are: Dallas; Central Florida; Fort Worth, Tx; Fresno, Cal.; Pittsburgh; Springfield, Ill., and South Carolina. (For you Baptists)--A diocese is the area under the authority of one bishop. A parish is a "church." The Episcopalians have produced far and away more presidents of the United States than mere size would indicate. This fact reflects the elite status of many Episcopalians.

The presbyterian Kirk of the Hills in Tulsa, probably the largest Presbyterian church here in Oklahoma, is leaving the mainline Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., continuing the decline of that once grand denomination. The Kirk of the Hills website is here. On their website is posted this notice:

KIRK OF THE HILLS DISAFFILIATES
FROM PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH ( U.S.A.)

Yesterday the elders and the trustees of Kirk of the Hills voted to disaffiliate from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) denomination in response to decisions made by the PCUSA at the national level which depart from the authority of the Bible and the denomination’s historical beliefs.

Rev. Tom Gray and Rev. Wayne Hardy have resigned from the PCUSA, and have been hired by the Kirk of the Hills Corporation as co-pastors of the church. Rev. Gray said, “I ask that Christians in Tulsa and around America pray not only for Kirk of the Hills, but also for the Presbyterian denomination as a whole. We will continue to love and pray for our brothers and sisters in that denomination, and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ to use these recent events for His will, and to accomplish His work.”

With this disaffiliation from PCUSA, the Kirk of the Hills will affiliate with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (E.P.C.). This change will not impact day to day operations and ongoing ministries of the Kirk.

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The publishing house of the Presbyterian Church (USA) recently published a book that accuses the US government of bringing down the World Trade Center as a justification to create an American Empire. Not surprisingly, the book has angered many Presbyterians. Putting aside the question of the book's dubious thesis (actually wacko thesis), the decision to publish once more demonstrates that the bureaucratic elites at most mainline denominations remain clueless as to the reasons for the decline of these once great and powerful churches. Article from the Washington Times. Here is the hompage of the publisher which features an ad for the book, and favorable reviews prominently. (Also an explanation for why the book was published.) More information in this Christianity Today article.

Meanwhile, the former mainline churches continue their move to the sideline. See my earlier post.