After this extensive review and investigation, the committee found there is not sufficient evidence to raise “a strong presumption of the guilt” (BCO 31-2) of TE Meyers that he is teaching contrary to the Westminster Standards. The Presbytery overwhelmingly approved the 18 recommendations presented by the committee (12 of which touch on TE Meyers’s theological views).

After nearly nine months of careful work, a large investigative committee of Missouri Presbytery reviewing the views of TE Jeffrey Meyers has reported and the Presbytery (MOP) has approved the report.

This committee was set in place according to the PCA Book of Church Order Section 31-2 by MOP and given two items to investigate:

· First, regarding Meyers’s views: “Is there sufficient evidence to raise a strong presumption of guilt that TE Meyers is teaching contrary to the Westminster Standards?”

· Second, regarding the claim of injurious reports having been made against TE Meyers

This story will deal only with the decisions concerning the theological issues. A separate story will be published in the near future about the injurious reports.

We begin with a brief history of actions which led up to this investigation.

During March of last year, a letter outlining concerns about the public writings of TE Jeffrey Meyers, who had previously publicly identified himself with the theological views known widely as Federal Vision, was circulated among a number of Teaching and Ruling Elders in the PCA, asking if they would be willing to sign the letter of concern before it was MOP. (This author received a copy of that circulated letter prior to it being sent.)

The letter was sent to MOP in March (see previous Aquila Report story here).

In April MOP met and appointed a Committee (now known as the ‘Meyers Investigative Committee’, MIC), which was the central request of the Letter of Concern, since it was the Presbytery’s responsible to determine if anything Mr. Meyers had written was out of accord with the doctrinal standards of the church.

At a called meeting on Saturday, January 8, 2011, the Presbytery received the final report of the MIC and approved a number of recommendations presented by that committee.

The committee spent over eight months examining numerous documents written by TE Meyers in the light of Scripture, the Westminster Standards, General Assembly actions (including the 2007 GA committee report on Federal Vision theology that was commended to the denomination for study, the declarations that were recommended by the Assembly from the report, and the recommendations that were adopted by the 35th General Assembly [2007]), the 2006 report on Federal Vision theology adopted by MOP, questions forwarded to the committee by some of the 29 signatories of the letter, and other books/documents the committee thought would be helpful in its work.

After this extensive review and investigation, the committee found there is not sufficient evidence to raise “a strong presumption of the guilt” (BCO 31-2) of TE Meyers that he is teaching contrary to the Westminster Standards. The Presbytery overwhelmingly approved the 18 recommendations presented by the committee (12 of which touch on TE Meyers’ theological views).

The full committee report has been made available to the public by the Presbytery and can be downloaded from http://db.tt/qHROjaE. [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]

Note the full report is 162 pages long. The committee report itself is 45 pages, followed by two attachments of 117 pages total. Attachment A is a copy of the content of the letter which resulted in the investigation, and Attachment B is a document prepared by TE Meyers in which he responds to many of the questions posed by the committee.

At the called meeting, MOP formed a commission (i.e., the MICR Commission) with a charge, in part, “to communicate the content of this report [i.e., the Meyers Investigative Committee Report (MICR)] … with the goal of exonerating TE Meyers and restoring his reputation.”

Several of the 18 recommendations that have been approved are worth some detailed examination.

Item Number 7 reads as follows: MOP exhorts TE Meyers (along with all presbyters), when employing potentially misunderstood theological terminology, to clarify the difference between the specific sense the terms have come to have in our theological tradition, and the other senses they may have in the Bible or in his articulation and pastoral application of doctrine.

It is obvious even to the casual observer that many people who write on theological topics sometimes fail to carefully explain all the words they use. One could presume that any future examinations of the theological issues at stake in this case will deal with the meanings (past and present) of such words and their meaning.

Item Number 13 reads as follows: MOP strive to publish its findings as broadly as was the LOC, including but not limited to, publication on the The Aquila Report.

We are happy to do our part!!

Item Number 14 reads as follows: In light of the injury caused to TE Meyers and his congregation by the LOC, and particularly its publication on the Internet through The Aquila Report, MOP exhorts the 29 signatories and the editorial staff of The Aquila Report to pray and examine themselves to see if they can find it in their hearts to offer an appropriate apology to TE Meyers and the Session of Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church for any injury to the reputation of their Christian character they have suffered.

This will be part of the topic of a separate story in The Aquila Report.

Item Number 15 reads as follows: MOP instructs its Administrative Committee to draft an overture for the Presbytery to send to the General Assembly or seek some other way to initiate a denomination wide conversation regarding public disputation on the Internet. Such a conversation should also include a) questions regarding the relevance and application of Matthew 18 and other Scripture that might help foster and promote Christ-honoring discourse throughout the PCA; b) a discussion of possible revisions to the BCO that could be brought by presbyteries to the General Assembly (e.g., make more explicit the process for injurious reports derived from Internet sources); and c) a basic set of standards outlining the duties presbyters owe each other as brothers in the faith and fellow servants of the church in the midst of theological disputation.

Again, to be discussed in another article.

Item Number 16 reads as follows: MOP receives TE Meyers’ confession in accordance with BCO 38-1, that in presenting and promoting his theological views (particularly on the Internet) there were times, especially in the earlier part of the Federal Vision controversy, when he responded to others intemperately and failed to demonstrate godly self-control and humility by maintaining a cool spirit. The sorrow TE Meyers has expressed for those instances where his language was derisive and immoderate is fitting, because they hindered rather than helped the cause of unity in the Church in the midst of theological controversy.

MOP judges the confession of TE Meyers to be a genuine expression of a repentant heart, reminds him that by the sacrifice of Christ “your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7); MOP is grateful to the Lord for the growing awareness TE Meyers has testified to of the importance of speaking with carefulness, restraint, and humility; and admonishes him to enlarge on that growth in grace by exercising greater care than he has in the past in presenting and promoting theological views in the future, particularly when those views, though orthodox, can be easily misinterpreted so as to cause discord among God’s people. MOP exhorts all presbyters to exercise similar care.

This action constitutes an act of Biblical discipline according to the PCA Book of Church Order, although it is deemed to be a ‘Case Without Process’ as outlined in Section 38-1 of the BCO, which reads, in part, as follows;

When any person shall come forward and make his offense known to the court, a full statement of the facts shall be recorded and judgment rendered without process. In handling a confession of guilt, it is essential that the person intends to confess and permit the court to render judgment without process…

Many church members (and others) are not aware of this type of church discipline, yet it is clearly the form most often used. It is a tribute to the power of the gospel every time a church takes action in cases where it is needed and individuals are aware of their need and willing to express that repentance with a ‘willing heart’ as in this case.

Item 18 reads as follows: MOP appoints a commission comprised of …names… to work with TE Meyers and the Administrative Committee of MOP to determine ways to communicate the content of this report with the goal of exonerating TE Meyers and restoring his reputation. The quorum for this commission will be three elders, one of which is an RE. This commission will also make recommendations to the Administrative Committee and MOP regarding any future action stemming from this report.

The first part of the assignment of this commission is in process of being fulfilled, as The Aquila Report was notified this afternoon of the official release of this report and details of the meeting were reported to us.

The second part of action assigned to this commission are, at least in the actual language – make recommendations…regarding any future action stemming from this report – are not specific and therefore opened ended. It is unusual to leave an open-ended instruction for a commission, insofar as BCO 15-1 states that a commission is ‘authorized to deliberate and conclude the business referred to it.’ That language is normally interpreted to mean that ONLY the action referred may be taken. It is quite possible, perhaps probable, that the Presbytery intended only minor administrative matters with this language. However, as it stands, there is no definition of ‘any future action stemming from this report.’

We hope that the article concerning the second important, but shorter, matter dealt with by MOP with the approval of the MICR will be published within the next day or two.