“New wine in old wineskins will burst the Church. People will leave the denomination because they want to live in Christ. Shifting deck chairs on the Titanic accomplishes nothing. Go and grow; remain and stay the same.”

In the months since it first announced its presence in the Presbyterian Church (USA), Fellowship PCUSA has gone from calling the PCUSA “deathly ill” and requiring “radical change” including the possible departure of evangelical churches from the PCUSA, to now being in favor of “starting a new Reformed body without leaving the PCUSA.”

The Mary 4 letter, states that “Between now and our Gathering in August, we intend to take steps toward a new way of connecting. We are committed to starting a new Reformed body without leaving the PCUSA…” (Read letter here)

The wording in the May letter is vastly different from the Fellowship’s Feb. 2 letter which stated, “To say the Presbyterian Church (USA) is deathly ill is not editorializing but acknowledging reality … We believe the PCUSA will not survive without drastic intervention, and stand ready to DO something different, to thrive as the Body of Christ. We call others of like mind to envision a new future for congregations that share our Presbyterian, Reformed, Evangelical heritage. If the denomination has the ability and will to move in this new direction, we will rejoice. Regardless, a group of us will change course, forming a new way for our congregations to relate. We hate the appearance of schism – but the PCUSA is divided already.”

The February letter includes a proposal for possible new Reformed body, “Some members of the Fellowship will need an entity apart from the current PCUSA. It is likely that a new body will need to be created, beyond the boundary of the current PCUSA, while remaining in correspondence with its congregations. The wall between these partner Reformed bodies will be permeable, allowing congregations and pastors to be members in the Fellowship regardless of denominational affiliation. All kinds of possibilities exist, and much will depend on how supportive the PCUSA can be in allowing something new to flourish.”

Apparently, that proposal is now off the table.

Read More: http://www.layman.org/news.aspx?article=28431 [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.]