"Some years ago John Burgess wrote an essay for The Christian Century in which he described the drain on the ordinary life of the PC(USA) by coalitions with “reform” agendas for the denomination. To whichever coalition or covenant group you belonged, the dedication and resources with which you once strengthened the church for mission, service, and witness, now went into lobbies that were hungry for power, for theological dominance, or for political control. Burgess’ article was written in the ‘90s. Has anyone calculated the hundreds of thousands of dollars which, since then, have been contributed to the Covenant Network, the Presbyterian Coalition, PFR, and the Confessing Church movement, and the like – in staff salaries, speakers’ fees, and travel for conferences, phone bills, office equipment, and the like? If those sums of money were prudently managed and spent, they might eliminate AIDS in a medium-sized African nation...."Mr. Sparks makes a good point here and I hope we can not only see his point as it applies to other peoples agendas, but as it applies to our own agendas as well.
Whatever one may think of the recommendations of the Task Force on the Peace, Unity and Purity of the Church, they learned how to gather around the Lord's Table together, and modelled for the rest of the PC(USA) how Christians who differ can act as a community.
Read Benjamin Sparks' editorial in its entirety -- it will give considerable food for thought.
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