But these are different times. If timing is everything then this just may be the time for the kind of radical change The Fellowship is proposing.

In 1996 it was a meeting in Chicago and The Presbyterian Coalition emerged to advance Amendment B which then became G-6.0106b.

In 1997 the meeting was in Dallas and the defense of that standard began its 14 year charge.

In 1998 the group adopted “Union in Christ – A Declaration for the Church,” a statement which defined the theological foundations of the broad spectrum of Presbyterians who self-identified with the Coalition’s work. National Gatherings were held every year.

The group was clear that they were for keeping G-6.0106b in the constitution but defining what the collective body would work for beyond that was difficult to identify. Many ideas for a positive possible future were offered up: a two synod model, a wholesale division of the denomination, a new constitution that would be missional and the fall-back position of “stay, fight, win.”

In the midst of it all, the Confessing Church Movement arose but never really got organized.

At a meeting in Denver, some 10 years ago now, one voice called for a definition of what “win” would look like. No one answered. A handful of people stood and simply walked across the hall. With no more fanfare than that, the New Wineskins Initiative and subsequently the New Wineskins Association of Churches was born.

When that like-hearted group met, they defined themselves by a vision statement that reads:

“We envision a connectional structure that serves the ministry and mission of the local congregation, is united by a mutual commitment to a broadly evangelical and biblical theology, fosters relational networks based on ministry context as well as regional proximity, provides accountability, support, and discipline in a healthy, balanced, biblical way; is flexible and responsive to changing needs and cultural dynamics; supports and encourages partnerships for cooperative mission between congregations; encourages partnerships for ministry and mission with Christians of other denominations and para-church ministries; draws upon proven programs, curricula, and other resources available from across the broader body of Christ; functions like a missions agency more than a regulatory agency.”

If you’ve read the open letter from Fellowship PCUSA, you might now be asking yourself, “What’s different?”

Timing.

New Wineskins emerged in a time when conservatives still held comfortable majorities in most presbyteries. Those times have changed.

New Wineskins emerged when the General Assembly’s Permanent Judicial Commission could be counted on to uphold the denomination’s constitution without apology. That is no longer the case. [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

If history and experience are any guide, the drafters of the Open Letter are now working behind the scenes on a list of theological essentials and ethical imperatives. They will work with the agencies and entities of the denomination and seek to find a way forward that causes minimal harm to our shared public witness. The process and procedures and bureaucracy will become frustrating.

Along the way, names on the list will become members of an association of churches, a more formalized fellowship, covenanted to live into the new reality within or without their mother denomination. Over time, they will begin building bridges or tracks that lead to the positive possible future to which God is calling them. At this point, which of their four proposed tracks will deliver into that future is a mystery. Some of those paths have been painfully cut by others in the past. But these are different times.

If timing is everything then this just may be the time for the kind of radical change The Fellowship

is proposing.

Time will tell.

Carmen Fowler is president of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and executive editor of its publications.