3821 University Boulevard, Dallas, Texas 75205-1781
October
1, 2000
Peter Pizor, Chair, General Assembly Council
John Detterick, Executive Director, General
Assembly Council,
Chair,
Congregational Ministries Division
Donald G. Campbell, Director, Congregational
Ministries Division
Dear Brothers:
Grace
and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are the session of Highland Park
Presbyterian Church, Presbytery of Grace, and Synod of the Sun.
We
are writing pursuant to D-6.0202b, requesting that the General Assembly Council
cure a delinquency for failing to respond to the issues raised by the
Presbyterian Peacemaking Conference. Specifically, according to G-3.0300a, the
Church is called to tell the good news of the salvation by the grace of God
through faith in Jesus Christ as the only Savior and Lord.
At
the Peacemaking Conference on July 26-29, 2000, the Rev. Dirk Ficca was a
planner, workshop leader and keynote speaker. During his address to the
conference, he said,
"In the instrumental view, salvation comes solely through Jesus. Jesus is the sole and only instrument of God's salvation—through one person at a certain point in history, who lived and died in a certain way, only through this person does God's salvation come into the world. Here the Gospel is about Jesus; Jesus, himself, is the Good News. And the focus here is Christological. It is Jesus who saves us, and if Jesus is the sole instrument of God—if it is only through Jesus that salvation comes—then the only way for the world to be saved is for everyone to become a Christian. So the goal of the instrumental view is Christendom—make the whole world Christian.
The revelatory view says that salvation comes through the Spirit. And that the Good News is not the good news so much about Jesus, but the good news of Jesus: The Good News that Jesus preached. What this view says is that Jesus reveals how God has been at work in all times in all places throughout history in all people to bring about salvation. In this view, it is God who saves us. And the goal is the kingdom of God–-that people would live, as God would have them. And part of the struggle in Western Christianity for the last two thousand years has been equating Christendom with the kingdom of God."
He encouraged
participants to "shift" from what he describes as the
"instrumental view" to the "revelatory view." This denies
the role of person and work of Jesus Christ as savior. This suggested
"shift" is contrary to Scripture and the Confessions of the
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
Salvation
comes solely through Jesus. If salvation means the forgiveness of sins and
eternal life in communion with God, then Jesus Christ as revealed by Scripture
is indeed the very author and substance of our salvation. The uniqueness,
centrality and indispensability of Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world
means that he is no mere instrument of some supposed "salvation"
other than himself. Jesus Christ is our salvation, because he alone is our
righteousness and life (cf. I Cor. 1:30).
The
assertion that the Good News of the Gospel is separable from Jesus, being a
message about God that Jesus simply passed along. Such an assertion would of
course constitute a straightforward denial of the Incarnation-the apostolic
witness that in Jesus Christ the one true God has entered time and history as a
human being, taking all the sin and death and alienation of the fallen human
condition into his own being in order that it might there be crucified and
overcome for our sakes. Apart from God's unique act of self-identification with
fallen humanity in Jesus of Nazareth, the Christian faith simply has nothing to
say about "salvation." Jesus is God's act of salvation toward us.
There is no "Good News" apart from what God has done for us in the
life, death and resurrection of Christ.
The
General Assembly Council had a responsibility to correct and respond because
this was a keynote address that was made at an event promoted, sponsored,
organized and presented by an entity of the Congregational Ministries Division
of the General Assembly Council. Pursuant to G-13.0201, the Assembly Council
responsibilities include the charges:
a. to cultivate and promote the spiritual
welfare of the whole church; and,
b.
to review the work of General
Assembly agencies and bodies in light of General Assembly mission directions,
goals, objectives and priorities.
Thus, the failure of
the General Assembly Council to take action and to "let it be" is a
delinquency. "Letting it be" suggests that the presentation was an
acceptable statement of what the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) believes.
"Letting it be" is a failure to review the work of a General Assembly
agencies that is not consistent with General Assembly mission directions,
goals, objectives and priorities.
Therefore, we request
that the General Assembly Council cure this delinquency by making a public
statement that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) believes and proclaims the good
news of the salvation by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ as the
only Savior and Lord. That is its witness. Second, we request that the General
Assembly Council cure this delinquency by directing and requiring all entities,
agencies, and programs of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) -- including the
Presbyterian Peacemaking Program -- to be good stewards of the resources
provided by working towards the proclamation of that witness.
Your brothers and
sisters in Christ by,
Original signed by the
Clerk
_________________________________
William R. Broocks,
Clerk of Session,
Highland Park
Presbyterian Church
Dallas, Texas
Certified
Mail: Return receipts requested