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| Melissa Registered user Username: Melissa Post Number: 1406 Registered: 7-2003 |
Are any of you familiar with this movement? | ||
| Riverfonz Registered user Username: Riverfonz Post Number: 1818 Registered: 3-2005 |
Melissa, I believe you are talking about the conservative movement within the very liberal Presbyterian Church USA (PCUSA)--as opposed to the PCA. Here is a website to check out www.confessingchurch.homestead.com Here is a news blurb on the movement; Confessing Church Movement grows rapidly -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org> Date 6 Sep 2001 17:43:53 -0400 Note #6828 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS: 6-September-2001 01311 Confessing Church Movement grows rapidly Prospect of per-capita withholding gets PC(USA) officials' attention by Evan Silverstein LOUISVILLE - The emerging Confessing Church Movement, whose leaders claim they want to return the Presbyterian Church (USA) to its Biblical roots, has quickly picked up steam since its conception six months ago. The sessions of more than 800 PC(USA) congregations, most of which can be described as evangelical and conservative, have signed up so far. Those churches account for about 11 percent of the denomination's membership. Churches join the movement by publicly affirming three tenets: that Jesus Christ alone is Lord of all and the way to salvation; that holy Scripture is the revealed Word of the triune God and the Church's only rule of faith and life; and that God's people are called to holiness in all aspects of life - which includes a duty to honor marriage as the only relationship within which sexual behavior is appropriate. The confessing congregations are planning to gather for a national conference next February, during which they will discuss the movement's future. In the meantime, they are networking within their respective geographic regions - worshipping together, sharing resources and discussing issues and strategies. A number of independent evangelical organizations within the PC(USA), including the Presbyterian Coalition and Presbyterians for Renewal, have endorsed the loosely structured movement, which was sparked by a confessional statement approved on March 13 by the session of Summit Presbyterian Church of Butler, PA. "We're very excited about the growth," says the Rev. Paul Roberts, pastor of the 290-member Summit church, which is about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. "We were hoping we were saying something important, and it has just been wonderful to see so many congregations say, 'Yes, this is really important to us as well, and we want to be connected with other confessing churches.' That has been fantastic." Pastoral and lay leaders of the confessing congregations say their "grassroots" organization is making a stand against what they believe is unacceptable compromise on Biblical essentials by national leaders of the PC(USA). "We're going to start grouping with people who believe the same things," Roberts says, "and we're going to start being the church that we're called to be." I am glad there are many folks in the liberal PCUSA trying to uphold the true Reformed faith, but the cynic in me says that it is somewhat akin to trying to reform Adventism. I hope I am wrong, but all the trends in the PCUSA are otherwise negative. Stan | ||
| Honestwitness Registered user Username: Honestwitness Post Number: 75 Registered: 7-2005  |
I attend a 'confessing' Presbyterian Church. In fact, the associate pastor told me he was one of the leaders that started the confessing church movement a few years ago. He said they hoped that by now there would more activity than there is. But I personally am satisfied that at least they still have a website. Three of us who are new members, within the past three months, found this church through the CC website. I can verify that the teaching and the moral values of this congregation are definitely conservative and Biblical. I am experiencing a deluge of spiritual blessings, since I've been attending. | ||
| Honestwitness Registered user Username: Honestwitness Post Number: 77 Registered: 7-2005 |
I recently discovered another facet of this 'confessing' movement, which is called the ALLIANCE OF CONFESSING EVANGELICALS. Here is a link to their 'Cambridge Declaration,' which explains what they are trying to promote. http://www.alliancenet.org. Click on "Council", then on "What We Believe.") I'm especially interested in their 'Thesis One: Sola Scriptura.' ___________________________ Thesis One: Sola Scriptura We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation,which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation. _____________________________ I had to read this one over a few times: "...or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation." I guess that rules out Ellen White. Also, this paragraph near the end of this web page is worth noting: _____________________________ We also earnestly call back erring professing evangelicals who have deviated from God's Word in the matters discussed in this Declaration. This includes those who declare that there is hope of eternal life apart from explicit faith in Jesus Christ, who claim that those who reject Christ in this life will be annihilated rather than endure the just judgment of God through eternal suffering, or who claim that evangelicals and Roman Catholics are one in Jesus Christ even where the biblical doctrine of justification is not believed. ______________________________ Whew! These guys mean business! | ||
| Riverfonz Registered user Username: Riverfonz Post Number: 1841 Registered: 3-2005 |
Yes Honestwitness! Thanks for posting that link to one of the best statements of faith that there is. And these statements are so good, I think it would be worthwhile posting the whole statement. If evangelicals adopted this statement widely, then the Christian world would have a greater witness. Here is the entire statement: April 20, 1996 Evangelical churches today are increasingly dominated by the spirit of this age rather than by the Spirit of Christ. As evangelicals, we call ourselves to repent of this sin and to recover the historic Christian faith. In the course of history words change. In our day this has happened to the word "evangelical." In the past it served as a bond of unity between Christians from a wide diversity of church traditions. Historic evangelicalism was confessional. It embraced the essential truths of Christianity as those were defined by the great ecumenical councils of the church. In addition, evangelicals also shared a common heritage in the "solas" of the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation. Today the light of the Reformation has been significantly dimmed. The consequence is that the word "evangelical" has become so inclusive as to have lost its meaning. We face the peril of losing the unity it has taken centuries to achieve. Because of this crisis and because of our love of Christ, his gospel and his church, we endeavor to assert anew our commitment to the central truths of the Reformation and of historic evangelicalism. These truths we affirm not because of their role in our traditions, but because we believe that they are central to the Bible. Sola Scriptura: The Erosion of Authority Scripture alone is the inerrant rule of the church's life, but the evangelical church today has separated Scripture from its authoritative function. In practice, the church is guided, far too often, by the culture. Therapeutic technique, marketing strategies, and the beat of the entertainment world often have far more to say about what the church wants, how it functions and what it offers, than does the Word of God. Pastors have neglected their rightful oversight of worship, including the doctrinal content of the music. As biblical authority has been abandoned in practice, as its truths have faded from Christian consciousness, and as its doctrines have lost their saliency, the church has been increasingly emptied of its integrity, moral authority and direction. Rather than adapting Christian faith to satisfy the felt needs of consumers, we must proclaim the law as the only measure of true righteousness and the gospel as the only announcement of saving truth. Biblical truth is indispensable to the church's understanding, nurture and discipline. Scripture must take us beyond our perceived needs to our real needs and liberate us from seeing ourselves through the seductive images, cliches, promises and priorities of mass culture. It is only in the light of God's truth that we understand ourselves aright and see God's provision for our need. The Bible, therefore, must be taught and preached in the church. Sermons must be expositions of the Bible and its teachings, not expressions of the preacher's opinions or the ideas of the age. We must settle for nothing less than what God has given. The work of the Holy Spirit in personal experience cannot be disengaged from Scripture. The Spirit does not speak in ways that are independent of Scripture. Apart from Scripture we would never have known of God's grace in Christ. The biblical Word, rather than spiritual experience, is the test of truth. Thesis One: Sola Scriptura We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation,which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured. We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian's conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation. Solus Christus: The Erosion of Christ-Centered Faith As evangelical faith becomes secularized, its interests have been blurred with those of the culture. The result is a loss of absolute values, permissive individualism, and a substitution of wholeness for holiness, recovery for repentance, intuition for truth, feeling for belief, chance for providence, and immediate gratification for enduring hope. Christ and his cross have moved from the center of our vision. Thesis Two: Solus Christus We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father. We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ's substitutionary work is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited. Sola Gratia: The Erosion of The Gospel Unwarranted confidence in human ability is a product of fallen human nature. This false confidence now fills the evangelical world; from the self-esteem gospel, to the health and wealth gospel, from those who have transformed the gospel into a product to be sold and sinners into consumers who want to buy, to others who treat Christian faith as being true simply because it works. This silences the doctrine of justification regardless of the official commitments of our churches. God's grace in Christ is not merely necessary but is the sole efficient cause of salvation. We confess that human beings are born spiritually dead and are incapable even of cooperating with regenerating grace. Thesis Three: Sola Gratia We reaffirm that in salvation we are rescued from God's wrath by his grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life. We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods, techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation. Faith is not produced by our unregenerated human nature. Sola Fide: The Erosion of The Chief Article Justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. This is the article by which the church stands or falls. Today this article is often ignored, distorted or sometimes even denied by leaders, scholars and pastors who claim to be evangelical. Although fallen human nature has always recoiled from recognizing its need for Christ's imputed righteousness, modernity greatly fuels the fires of this discontent with the biblical Gospel. We have allowed this discontent to dictate the nature of our ministry and what it is we are preaching. Many in the church growth movement believe that sociological understanding of those in the pew is as important to the success of the gospel as is the biblical truth which is proclaimed. As a result, theological convictions are frequently divorced from the work of the ministry. The marketing orientation in many churches takes this even further, erasing the distinction between the biblical Word and the world, robbing Christ's cross of its offense, and reducing Christian faith to the principles and methods which bring success to secular corporations. While the theology of the cross may be believed, these movements are actually emptying it of its meaning. There is no gospel except that of Christ's substitution in our place whereby God imputed to him our sin and imputed to us his righteousness. Because he bore our judgment, we now walk in his grace as those who are forever pardoned, accepted and adopted as God's children. There is no basis for our acceptance before God except in Christ's saving work, not in our patriotism, churchly devotion or moral decency. The gospel declares what God has done for us in Christ. It is not about what we can do to reach him. Thesis Four: Sola Fide We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ's righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God's perfect justice. We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ's righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church. Soli Deo Gloria: The Erosion of God-Centered Worship Wherever in the church biblical authority has been lost, Christ has been displaced, the gospel has been distorted, or faith has been perverted, it has always been for one reason: our interests have displaced God's and we are doing his work in our way. The loss of God's centrality in the life of today's church is common and lamentable. It is this loss that allows us to transform worship into entertainment, gospel preaching into marketing, believing into technique, being good into feeling good about ourselves, and faithfulness into being successful. As a result, God, Christ and the Bible have come to mean too little to us and rest too inconsequentially upon us. God does not exist to satisfy human ambitions, cravings, the appetite for consumption, or our own private spiritual interests. We must focus on God in our worship, rather than the satisfaction of our personal needs. God is sovereign in worship; we are not. Our concern must be for God's kingdom, not our own empires, popularity or success. Thesis Five: Soli Deo Gloria We reaffirm that because salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God's glory and that we must glorify him always. We must live our entire lives before the face of God, under the authority of God and for his glory alone. We deny that we can properly glorify God if our worship is confused with entertainment, if we neglect either Law or Gospel in our preaching, or if self-improvement, self-esteem or self-fulfillment are allowed to become alternatives to the gospel. A Call To Repentance & Reformation The faithfulness of the evangelical church in the past contrasts sharply with its unfaithfulness in the present. Earlier in this century, evangelical churches sustained a remarkable missionary endeavor, and built many religious institutions to serve the cause of biblical truth and Christ's kingdom. That was a time when Christian behavior and expectations were markedly different from those in the culture. Today they often are not. The evangelical world today is losing its biblical fidelity, moral compass and missionary zeal. We repent of our worldliness. We have been influenced by the "gospels" of our secular culture, which are no gospels. We have weakened the church by our own lack of serious repentance, our blindness to the sins in ourselves which we see so clearly in others, and our inexcusable failure to adequately tell others about God's saving work in Jesus Christ. We also earnestly call back erring professing evangelicals who have deviated from God's Word in the matters discussed in this Declaration. This includes those who declare that there is hope of eternal life apart from explicit faith in Jesus Christ, who claim that those who reject Christ in this life will be annihilated rather than endure the just judgment of God through eternal suffering, or who claim that evangelicals and Roman Catholics are one in Jesus Christ even where the biblical doctrine of justification is not believed. The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals asks all Christians to give consideration to implementing this Declaration in the church's worship, ministry, policies, life and evangelism. For Christ's sake. Amen. Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals Executive Council (1996) Dr. John Armstrong The Rev. Alistair Begg Dr. James M. Boice Dr. W. Robert Godfrey Dr. John D. Hannah Dr. Michael S. Horton Mrs. Rosemary Jensen Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. Dr. Robert M. Norris Dr. R.C. Sproul Dr. Gene Edward Veith Dr. David Wells Dr. Luder Whitlock Dr. J.A.O. Preus, III -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOR FURTHER READING, SEE ALSO: Highlights From The Cambridge Summit Meeting An Introduction to The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, by James M. Boice This declaration may be reproduced without permission. Please credit the source by citing the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. I agree Honestwitness, these people do mean business. Stan |
