A Detailed Analysis of Current Presbyterian Church (USA) Politics, Controversies and a Vision for the Future

Here’s my confession: I’ve been sitting on this post for a while. I’ve been wanting to reflect a bit more on the recent developments of the Fellowship of Presbyterians, their announcement last month about the Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians (Evangelical COPs…that’s cute), and how all of this will affect our denomination. I’ve read a few good posts that I wanted to make sure I linked to:

And like I said, I’ve been sitting on this post for a while. I figured I’d spend some time going through these documents, writing out a thorough, detailed analysis for you all….but I just haven’t had any energy to get into the Fellowship stuff more, or dive into the theology or polity documents of the ECO. I’m just not interested.

And then I saw this tweet from friend Shawn Coons:

 

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Two Lesbians Raised A Baby And This Is What They Got

And this is what people are fighting against? This is what we think will destroy our nation? This is what so many people are afraid of? Really?

The Fellowship of Presbyterians: Thoughts from Afar

Full Disclaimer: I am not currently in Minneapolis and did not pay money to attend the August Gathering of The Fellowship of Presbyterians. But when I visit their website, they let me know that I can follow along the conversation via the #MN2011 hashtag. So I have been. But if there are any inaccuracies in the below statements, I apologize.

Over 2,000 Presbyterian Church (USA) ministers and elders are meeting together in Minneapolis discussing the future of the church. I’ve been trying to follow the #MN2011 hashtag to see what type of stuff has been discussed. And I will admit that I bring a LOT of preconceived notions to this conversation, but also have friends who are there and am trying to remain open. These are a few of the things that have stood out to me.

Lots of Missional Speak

At least from the Twitter stream, there has been a lot of talk about being more missional – seeing this new group of Presbyterians being the ones who are really going to get serious about being missional in the world. I don’t have a problem with the missional conversation, I think looking for where God is on mission in the world and joining in with that is really important. Can Presbyterians suck at it? Sure. But does that mean we need to create a separate entity to focus on it? I’m not really sure that’s the best approach.

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We The People…

As we celebrate the birthday of our nation today, and as many use this day as an opportunity to further their blind nationalism and unhealthy connection between God & country…I’d encourage you to watch this video today called “We the People.” The video was put together by the folks behind Prepare New York; they describe themselves on their website in the following way:

Prepare New York is a coalition of New York based interfaith organizations including – Auburn Seminary and its Center for Multifaith Education, Interfaith Center of New York, Intersections International, Odyssey Networks, Quest, and Tanenbaum and its Religion and Diversity Education Program, who are committed to preparing New York City (and the nation) for the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 by promoting civil dialogue, education about religious pluralism, support for the Muslim community, and coordinating events on the day of the anniversary.

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