Evangelical Presbyterian Denominational Leadership Issues ‘Encyclical’

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Posted on 11/26/2024 12:15:55 PM PST by Morgana

The National Leadership Team of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church has written an encyclical to address frequently asked questions about the state of the EPC, its organization, doctrinal issues, and “direct criticisms.”

The lengthy letter dated November 6 does not claim to be an “authoritative document,” but an attempt to answer questions. According to the authors, it is meant to be shared among elders and sessions within the denomination, perhaps to stimulate discussion.

“This letter also indicates that we do not want to adjudicate through the press or other online venues,” the National Leadership Team wrote.

Both MinistryWatch and Christianity Today have written articles about concerns and issues within the EPC.

The letter addresses several issues, including an explanation about leadership and organization, women’s ordination, sexual standards for ordination, financial transparency, and the use of $888,000 in grant money from the Lilly Endowment.

The EPC letter acknowledges there may be “people of sound conviction” who disagree, and the leadership claims to welcome disagreement in the “right spirit in the right context.”

The Presbyterian Plumb Line Editors is one such group who disagrees. In the group’s response letter, editors say the EPC encyclical “raises far more questions than it answers.”

The Presbyterian Plumb Line is a quarterly digital publication “designed to biblically inform the Teaching Elders and Ruling Elders of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church about issues that impact our ability to govern under Christ’s authority and faithfully shepherd the flock.”

Four teaching elders and one ruling elder make up its editorial board.

The respondents were not satisfied with the way the EPC encyclical addresses several matters, including the denominational leadership approach and stated clerk election, same-sex attraction and ordination, and financial transparency.

“This encyclical is further evidence of top-down leadership that has permeated the EPC: the desire to silence criticism and control the narrative. If the EPC is in turmoil, the blame does not lie with critics but with EPC leadership. Under this leadership, we have been plunged quite suddenly into discord and division. The peace and unity of the church have been recklessly squandered,” the Plumb Line editors wrote.

“Instead of focusing on the Gospel, we have been distracted by issues of homosexuality, identity politics, woke ideology, hierarchical leadership, pursuit of cultural relevance and a failure to communicate basic financial information with GA commissioners,” the response letter says. “Instead of keeping Presbyters informed, we have been kept in the dark. Those on the side of the truth do not discourage open, honest debate or attempt to silence criticism. As a result, EPC leadership has lost the trust and confidence of many within the EPC.”

Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church

Meanwhile, Pastor Nate Devlin is hopeful and optimistic that issues involving the departure vote by Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church near Pittsburg may be approaching a peaceful resolution.

Lawyers for the church and Presbytery of the Alleghenies agreed to pause further civil court action until sometime in January.

Additionally, while the church trial of Devlin and the Beverly Heights session began on Saturday, November 23, it was stayed until January 11. The presbytery’s Judicial Commission, which was conducting the trial, encouraged the parties to engage in mediation to reach an agreement about the membership rolls.

A major sticking point in Beverly Heights’ exit from the EPC is a difference in opinion about the rolls of active members who are eligible to participate in the church dismissal vote.

Beverly Heights believes both the EPC Book of Government and its corporate governing documents allow it to determine the membership of its body.

However, the presbytery believes it has authority to evaluate the membership rolls based on “numerous reports from people who asserted they had been mistreated by [the Beverly Heights] session.”

Administrative Commission member Roger Rumer was present at the trial on Saturday. While he couldn’t speak for the commission, Devlin said Rumer agreed to discuss it with the commission at its next meeting and decide the possibility for mediation by December 6.

“[Beverly Heights] remains optimistic about the possibility of negotiations, and we are grateful to the Judicial Commission for their encouragement to return to the negotiating table. We are also grateful to Roger Rumer for his willingness to take the proposal back to the Administrative Commission,” Devlin wrote to MinistryWatch.

“The Session and I believe these turn of events are evidence of God’s merciful intervention, and we are hopeful for the opportunity to work with the [Administrative Commission] to reach an agreement and pursue a dismissal vote. We’d ask MinistryWatch’s audience to please keep all parties in prayer.”

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1 posted on 11/26/2024 12:15:55 PM PST by Morgana

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