By Passing the Committee on Ministry

My denomination is a part of the Presbyterian and Reformed branches of Christianity. As such we are guided by a Confession of Faith and a Constitution. The Constitution spells out what each judicatory from the congregation, presbytery, synod, and General Assembly are to do. It has served us well for nearly 200 years [we celebrate our 200th anniversary in 2010].

That is until here lately when a congregation within our presbytery is becoming more and more independent by having a flagrant disregard for the Constitution. For example, it is the Presbytery's right to give oversight to those desiring to be ordained and, in fact is the body which ordains persons to ministry for service within the entire denomination. The Presbytery gives this responsibility to the Committee on Ministry with it reporting the progress of each individual to the Presbytery and recommendation for ordination. The Presbytery then in turn has the right to accept our reports and recommendations or not.

Part of the Committee's duties is to determine the educational needs of the person and to suggest the best course of action for him or her to take as they prepare for ordination. This is spelled out in the denominational Confession of Faith. There is also an alternative option for persons who for some reason [deemed reasonable by the Committee] are not able to attend a seminary.

I have said all of this to say this. The congregation referred to above has taken it upon its own to act as the presbyterial Committee on Ministry. This summer two persons from its congregation were enrolled in the Program of Alternate Studies and told what courses they needed to be ordained. Then the session of the congregation notified the Committee on Ministry that these two persons would present themselves before us at our semi-annual meeting.

One was surprised to learn he needed to go through the process of becoming a Candidate, Licentiate, and then Ordination. He expected to be received by the Committee and approved for ordination at the September meeting of Presbytery.

It is my suspicion the pastor mislead this person into believing this way. The other person is an ordained Korean Presbyterian Minister. Which in itself is an entirely different situation. If things check out then, the Committee might recommend the transfer of his ordination into our denomination. Here again, the pastor told him what courses he needed to take at PAS.

In my book, it is wrong for a pastor and local session to act as the presbyterial Committee on Ministry.

I've stated my views. What's yours?

I Lost It

Saturday, August 8th, I was in a good mood and felt rather good. I was attending a meeting of a committee which give direction and oversight to persons desiring to become ordained ministers within my denomination.

Things were progressing rather well until we met with one young man. When the chairman asked about his theological views he replied that he was orthodox, reformed, and a conservative. He went on to explain his position as being Calvinistic [our denomination is not]. He continued by sharing why he had left a certain denomination to set up his own church. That denomination he told us was too liberal and liberalism was heresy. He expanded this to include another denomination which he claimed was the first to allow homosexuals into the church. He held that church to be heretics as well. He continued his rant for several minutes and that's when I lost my cool.

I told him I was a liberal and did not appreciate being considered a heretic. And that I attended both "liberal" churches of which he spoke. I also told him I did not attend my denominational church because of their like-minded opinions of liberals.

I did of course remind him that I was a Christian with just a little bit of difference in interpretation of Scripture and that I had been nurtured as a fundamentalist. But during my faith journey, God had led me away from fundamentalism to the my current views. But, I reminded him, I still was a born again Christian.

I questioned him about homosexuality. He made the statement that all homosexuals are that way by choice and that there is nothing to the myth that it could be genetic in nature. I asked about the theological position of one who had accepted Jesus Christ as Saviour prior to coming out of the closet. He reply was that they made a choice to violate God's Word when they chose to become gay. I asked about their salvation once again and he implied they were not genuinely saved. I responded that I thought he had a lot to learn about salvation and homosexuals.

While I appreciate the views of others, this young man was so judgmental that I found it hard to believe. He expected us to interview him that day and have him ordained in September when the larger body met. The chairman and others told him that would not happen as there was a process he and others had to go through. That did not seem to rest well with him.

Before he left the room, I apologized for loosing my cool and tried to assure him that I would not hold his views against him as we went through the process.

It has been a very long time since I have given into my "Irish temper."