As the winds of progressive culture continue to pick up
speed, evangelical denominations find themselves feeling the pressure of where
to draw the line. History tells us that the mainline denominations, which were
once evangelical in ethos, eroded under the pressure of Neo-Orthodoxy and the
temptation of cultural credibility.
This Category Five has now reached the evangelical reformed
world and the PCA, particularly in the form of last year’s Revoice
Conference. This is in addition to the inclusion of un-ordained (at this
point) female deacons and a St. Louis PCA Church’s participating in Faith
for Justice— an organization that provides an ongoing teaching platform for
a Transgendered Education and Advocacy Coordinator of the Missouri ACLU. One
might wonder how this could be tolerated in the PCA, particularly in terms of a
biblical sexual ethic; but creative parsing of sexual identity and personhood,
cohabitation in the form of spiritual friendships, and promotion of conferences
through the use of church facilities have muddied the waters for a direct
response by many moderates.
My prayer is at this coming General Assembly, we will see an
open and faithful rebuke to some of these very real fissures corroding
confessional and biblical fidelity. But what if these churches continue down
the path of imprudence?
I believe there are other options for progressives that will
present themselves in the near future— and I don’t mean an exodus by
conservatives in the PCA.
As a response to the ongoing debates and now full inclusion
of LGBTQ+ membership and ordination in the PCUSA, a new denomination called the
Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians or ECO, was formed in 2012. This denomination
quickly grew as many large PCUSA churches transitioned into its ranks. At the
time, I was attending Fuller Theological Seminary in Houston, an extension established
in response to the liberalism of the PCUSA seminary in Texas. However, it
puzzled me that ECO retained the twelve confessions listed from the BCO of the
PCUSA.
What has become clear is that this retention was simply a
transitional stage as ECO moved further and further away from its former
mainline roots into what is now a broader evangelical, uncompromisingly egalitarian,
small “r” reformed denomination. In 2018, ECO voted to remove four of the
aforementioned confessions, limiting their current standards to Westminster,
Heidelberg and the Barmen Declaration. Though ECO explicitly regards these as “not
binding,” they are considered guiding documents. The only binding document is
presented in a statement of faith called the “Essential Tenets.”
In addition to ECO, and positioned to the Left of the PCA, is
the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Compared to ECO, the EPC retains the
Westminster Standards, yet they also set aside a fundamental document, “The Essentials of our Faith.” While all
but two of the EPC’s presbyteries allow for female Teaching Elders, there are
particular congregations within those bounds that retain both female Ruling
Elders and Deaconesses.
Why the comparison of confessional documents of
denominations outside of the PCA? It is no secret that the history of American
Presbyterianism looks like a spaghetti junction of division and realignment. A
future merger of ECO and the EPC will provide a broader evangelical home for
progressives in the PCA. Some such as City
Church, Houston, have already made the exit based on the egalitarian issue.
Others like Christ Presbyterian Church in Houston, one of the largest churches
in the EPC, voted last month to enter the PCA.
Both ECO and the EPC are beginning to look even more like
the same denomination. In the current culture creep, larger denominations will
provide both resources and a louder voice to whatever convictions they adhere.
At current size both ECO and the EPC combined, would immediately make for a
denomination just over half the size of the PCA. I believe the seeds of
realignment have been planted and the trees of ECO and the EPC are beginning
even now to produce similar looking fruit in the form of a New School,
egalitarian, missional and culturally accommodating, small “r” reformed church.
