New Wineskins

Well, we're off to the New Wineskins meeting in Tulsa, tomorrow. ("Only, twenty four hours from Tulsa" - who sang that? Gene Pitney?) Three of us are going from Lake Jackson. I must confess to going with soome trepidation. Even though I was in on the birth of New Wineskins, at one of the Presbyterian Coalition's Y'All Come meetings, in Denver, I believe, I've kept my distance for a while. First, because I was finishing up my D. Min, and second, because a lot of the stuff they were doing seemed unrelated to the struggles in the denomination. It was all about "what if," dreaming about what a more biblically faithful churchmanship might look like. Which is fine. But some of us were more involved in attempting to renew the denomination from the inside. At that time, I believe I was having some success, working with the Evangelism and Renewal Team in New Covenant (chairing it for three years) we managed to get about a quarter of the churches in the presbytery involved in a program of renewal and transformation, led by Stan Ott, from Pittsburgh. So, while New Covenant was becoming more open to evangelical initiatives, I was in the thick of it. I like to think we have had an influence for good. But at the same time, in other parts of the country, evangelicals were being increasingly ostracised and marginalized. The New Wineskins folks kept going. I suspect that, in Tulsa, we will hear the fruits of their deliberations, and that we will be nearer to schism than ever before. There are about 110 churches that have endorsed the New Wineskins Constitution, including Lake Jackson. It has no authority, except as a teaching document. But I think that it may be the start of a movement to declare that the PC(USA) has gravely erred and is now beyond the bounds of orthodoxy. It may be the beginning of a split. I'm not sure that I'm ready for that, at least, not until there is a greater consensus about what the new Authoritative Interpretation means, or when it has been tested in the church courts and found failing. It is strange that the Layman is now coming out with materials supportive of schism. Who knows what the coming months may bring? I'm anxious that we should be prayerful in seeking God's gracious will in all of this, and that we should not try to run ahead of the Spirit. But, then, I don't want us to be left behind either! There will have to be a great deal of prayer and study in the coming months as, together, we seek the will of Christ.
Presbuteros