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Saturday, June 23, 2001
By Ann Rodgers-Melnick, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Beaver-Butler Presbytery, which ignited a national movement in March when it adopted its own statement of Christian faith, has withdrawn that statement in order to craft a new one.
At a meeting this week in Saxonburg, the presbytery rescinded its confession of faith, but affirmed three basic points on which to frame a new confession. It appointed a broad-based task force to work on a new statement and another task force to examine changes to procedures for the ordination and installation of clergy that may be necessary when the new statement goes into effect.
"This doesn't mean we are backing off from what we said before," said the Rev. Mary Sickles, pastor of the North Butler and East Butler churches.
"This is an effort to frame the confession so it can be embraced by most people in our presbytery, rather than have it remain a divisive thing."
The March confession of faith was a two-page declaration affirming salvation through Christ alone, the authority of the Bible and the immorality of any sexual relationships outside of heterosexual marriage. It declared that Beaver-Butler Presbytery would not ordain or install clergy who blessed same-sex relationships or any church officers "involved in any unrepented sinful behavior, sexual or otherwise."
That declaration, authored by Summit Presbyterian Church in Butler, passed the presbytery 46-42. It was then promoted by The Presbyterian Layman, a conservative newspaper, as a model for other Presbyterian congregations. As of Thursday, 484 congregations of the Presbyterian Church (USA), representing 170,000 of its 2.5 million members, had signed similar declarations. Together they are known as The Confessing Movement, a name first used by Protestant churches in Nazi Germany that refused to accept Hitler's teaching about the authority of the state, Jews and other matters.
Last week, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) voted to drop a national ban on the ordination of noncelibate homosexuals and others engaged in sex outside of marriage. However, to take effect, that action must be ratified by a majority of the nation's 173 presbyteries.
The proposal to rescind Beaver-Butler's March statement and to write a new one originated with the presbytery's Coordinating Team. A very brief interim statement that the presbytery adopted as a framework affirms salvation through Christ, the authority of the Bible and the call to holy living.
Some objection to the March statement stemmed from the fact that it was drafted by members of one congregation with little opportunity for others to shape it, said the Rev. Jeff Arnold, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Beaver and coordinator of the Evangelical Network in Beaver-Butler Presbytery.
Arnold did not quarrel with the presbytery's latest actions.
"We felt that the point had been made, and that we could rescind it to follow more of a presbytery-style process. Since it is a presbytery confession, we wanted the spirit of the presbytery to be clear and to follow a process where more people could get involved," he said.