Brad Long, executive director Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International An open letter to the Presbytery of Western North Carolina The Layman Online Monday, December 8, 2003 Commentary by Brad Long Executive Director Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International Black Mountain, N.C. The proposed action made by a presbytery task force not to validate the call of Parker Williamson as a member the presbytery has caused me deep concern. I know that this must go before the full Committee on Ministry and then to the presbytery. At these first whispers revealing the intentions of at least some in our presbytery, I cannot be silent about the foreboding I have for our denomination's future. To proceed with this course of action of not validating the call of Parker will have disastrous consequences for the peace and unity of the PCUSA and its continued usefulness in the Kingdom of God. Not to validate this great churchman, tireless advocate of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and courageous defender of Biblical truth will, I believe, cause such a firestorm that the already fractured edifice of the PCUSA will be torn asunder. Consider the following questions: First, do you really know whom you are thinking of invalidating? My suspicion is that you may be influenced by the caricature of Parker and the Lay Committee formed by those leading the apostasy of the PCUSA. Of course, these people hate him and hate the Lay Committee. It would be wise to ask why. The cause of disunity or tension or people no longer wanting to pay their per capita or shifting their giving away from General Assembly causes is not Parker and the Lay Committee, but the organizational culture of the PCUSA that has departed from our Biblical faith. I do know Parker and I know the Lay Committee. I have, over many years, had many opportunities to pray with him and for him. I have glimpsed the wellspring of his actions which is a love for the church, a pastor's heart for congregations, a willing submission to the Scripture as the Word of God, a will set on being led by the Holy Spirit regardless of cost, and a vibrant personal faith in Jesus Christ. Please, do not dismiss my testimony about him by saying that I have some distorted, idealized concept of him. I know him to be a sinner and, in the context of prayer and wrestling together with the Word, have heard his confessions of sin and seen with great clarity his humanity. Nonetheless, I have come to know a fact that the leaders of this church should know and will ignore at great peril: Parker is Jesus' friend and anointed by the Holy Spirit for prophetic witness. To invalidate from the life of our church a true friend of Jesus is to set the PCUSA as an institution against all those in the church who also seek friendship with Jesus. Invalidating this man anointed as a prophetic witness leads the PCUSA away from God's vision of true diversity as revealed to us in Scripture. (Ephesians 4:11-13) I know Parker not just as a disciple of Jesus and a faithful witness to the Gospel, but also as a great churchman. As a fellow renewal leader, I have sat for hours with him at Renewal Network meetings. In many different contexts, I have as a friend and colleague struggled with him for discernment from the Holy Spirit that is confirmed by the witness of Scripture of what course of action we should take. I have spent many late nights after meetings in honest deep conversations where he is neither the editor-in-chief of The Layman nor the object of hatred of the liberals, but a brother in Christ. I think I know what animates this man and inspires his strong prophetic words to the church. It is not politics! It is not any hope for personal power or gain. It is not for personal glory. It is not vengeance! It is love! He has a love for Jesus Christ and the Word of God that reveals Jesus to us. Second, it is a deep love for the church, the people in the pews and the Reformed faith that has made us great. If you invalidate him, what message are you sending to everyone else who also loves Christ and His Church? Do you intend to invalidate us as well when we search our conscience and decide that love for Christ makes demands that may be in conflict with the demands of an institution which is departing from its own first love? Second, do you know what the real issues are? I know the issue of per-capita giving is foremost in many church leaders' minds. We all need to ask why? Why does this one issue arouse such strong reactions on the part of the leadership of the PCUSA? When an institution has lost its vision and strayed from its Biblical foundations, it no longer inspires the participation and giving of the faithful. In order to sustain the human organizational structure that has grown up, that institution must shift from the voluntary basis of support to support based on endowments left by the dead, commercial enterprises and/or systems of coercion. Increasingly, it is no longer shared commitment to Jesus Christ, the submission to the Bible as the Word of God, and a common commitment to fulfill the Great Commission that is holding the PCUSA structure together and providing for its financial support. It is, rather, these systems of coercion. In this situation, Parker and the Lay Committee - in true faithfulness to the essence of the Presbyterian Church and the spirit of the Reformation - have prophetically exposed these growing tendencies toward coercion that are the symptoms of apostasy and have called us back to our true foundation as a church. We are a voluntary gathering of people with a common faith in Jesus Christ grounded in the Bible and articulated in our historic creeds. Parker and the Lay Committee are speaking for all of us who will not allow our stewardship to be governed by the coercive systems of a human organization that is no longer upholding and extending the faith for which we are ready to give our own lives. The Lay Committee has only given voice to the unease in our hearts as year after year we see the official programs of the PCUSA not advancing the Gospel and supporting causes that we know to be contrary to the clear words of Scripture. For Parker and the Lay Committee to be invalidated on the basis of their prophetic stand on the issue of per-capita giving is equivalent to killing the messenger, so that their message identifying the real cause of congregations shifting their giving is denied. To make per-capita giving the issue is monumentally to miss the point of what the church is all about. It is also to ignore the incredible contribution that Parker and the Lay Committee have made to the PCUSA being able to fulfill its own purpose and mission as stated in the opening chapters of the Book of Order. Through The Layman and the pastoral and prophetic voice of Parker Williamson, many thousands of individuals and many hundreds of congregations have heard the clear trumpet call of Biblical truth, taken heart and expressed their discipleship to Jesus within the context of the PCUSA. It is vital commitment to Jesus Christ and a Reformed vision of the church that is alive and empowered by the Holy Spirit, which is not just being defended by Parker and the Lay Committee, but being made real through their powerful witness. To cite only one example - I know of a congregation that had never had women elders and, thus, was out of compliance with the Book of Order. The session trusted Parker to come in and present the Biblical basis for women in ministry. That church in its next election elected a woman elder. This church continues to be a growing vital congregation within the PCUSA. This same commitment to Jesus Christ and to the PCUSA has made him welcome in many PCUSA congregations. They have experienced this same up-building ministry. In addition to this personal ministry, there are many thousands of individuals and hundreds of PUCSA congregations who have been nurtured in Biblical faith and Presbyterianism through The Layman. To fail to validate Parker and the Lay Committee is an invalidation of these many congregations and individuals who have been built up through their ministry. Is that the message you want to send? That is, in fact, the message that will be received by thousands across the PCUSA. If you think you are just dealing with an individual, you are misunderstanding the situation. Parker and the Lay Committee embody a movement of Biblical faith and Reformed theology. If you invalidate him, the message you will send is that this whole movement is invalid for the life of the PCUSA. Do you really want to do that? If so, you will contribute greatly, perhaps decisively, to the impending schism in the PCUSA. Third, are you seeing the signs of the times? Already, if you listen, you can hear the sounds of many workmen building first in their own hearts the new structures that will faithfully express and uphold our Biblical faith. You must know what the liberal leadership of Louisville and opponents of the Biblical faith in the Covenant Network and the More Light Network all dread: The foundations and walls of that new structure have already been constructed in the Confessing Church Movement, the renewal organizations and in many courageous congregations that no longer look to Louisville or the General Assembly for leadership. To invalidate Parker Williamson and the Lay Committee will be the trumpet call to all the rest of us to rise up in determined purpose to have a great "barn raising" and complete the structure. The PCUSA is long overdue for a Reformation. It will surely come, and it may come through your actions of standing against a faithful friend of Jesus. No doubt great good for the Kingdom of God will come of it, but that will not excuse any of us from the judgment of history and of God.

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