Theological integrity is biggest issue facing PCUSA, new board member says
Craig M. Kibler , Posted Monday, Nov 27, 2006
Article updated May 2, 2011
“Theological integrity is the biggest issue facing the Presbyterian Church (USA) today,” the new chairman of the board of directors of the Presbyterian Lay Committee says.
Forrest A. Norman III said that “the way relativism has permeated the theology of far too much of the denomination is not faithful to the traditions of Presbyterians, not faithful to the Bible and, while the theological liberals seem to come by this honestly and have a true conviction of what they believe, it does stray from the faith handed down by the Apostolic tradition.”
“Sadly,” he said, “it seems that the PCUSA has placed more emphasis on academic re-interpretation than on the exploration of faith. The consequences are clearly evidenced in the declining membership faced by the PCUSA. For the faith to stand strong, it must stand on God’s Word without compromise.”
“We need to have a major realignment along theological lines and not along denominational lines,” Norman said. “It makes no sense for churches to be bound together without theological unity.”
He said he was born into the Presbyterian Church, but raised in the United Church of Christ. Norman said it was as a teen, while attending an Assemblies of God church, that he “heard the gospel preached for the first time where it made sense.”
Later, after service as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, Norman said he felt his faith reinvigorated. He left the UCC as it “slipped away from its Biblical heritage” and attended various churches. “The interesting thing during this faith journey was that God was always calling to me and I was trying to respond, but not always in the right ways.”
Norman said he “found a minister strong in the Word and well-founded.” Despite concerns over the denomination, Norman said it was “the faith expressed by the congregation and the pastor” that brought him back to Presbyterianism.
Norman is a member of Hudson Presbyterian Church in Hudson, Ohio, a church that voted in 2006 to change denominational affiliations from the Presbyterian Church (USA) to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He has served as a deacon, a mission team leader, adult education teacher, a lay preacher at Hudson and as a Bible study leader, among other activities. In his spare time he volunteers with Project Healing Waters, an outreach for wounded U.S. veterans.
“Modern attempts to define ‘what Scripture really is’ all too often dilute the value of Scripture, seemingly getting lost in their own linguistic constructs,” he said. “While there can be value, and particularly academic value, in portions of such attempts as the Confession of 1967, I find it difficult to reconcile its lesser view of Scripture with the traditions of the Reformed faith. Frankly, the Confession of ’67 seems to run contrary to the tenets of the earlier confessions and catechisms, permits too much leeway in interpretation without discipline, and substitutes trend for tradition. Of course, the value of the traditions is not in their age – which would merely be tradition for tradition’s sake – but in their well-tested fidelity to God’s revealed Word.”
Norman is a partner in the Cleveland law firm of Gallagher Sharp. In addition to his civil litigation practice, he has counseled churches of various denominations in more than a dozen states, assisting them in matters ranging from tort claims, ecclesiastical hearings and church property cases. He received his bachelor’s and J.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University and is a barrister in the American Inns of Court.
In his professional life, Norman has done work with Lawyers for Life; Liberty Counsel, a national public interest law firm that seeks to preserve religious liberties and traditional family values; and Hands of Hope, a network of pro-life organizations.
He said he has a “great wife and four wonderful kids.” Norman and his wife, Sarah, and their children – Forrest, Grant, Hunter and Helena – live in Hudson, Ohio, southeast of Cleveland.