A
Declaration of Conscience
By The Presbyterian Lay Committee
[10-29-03]
In recent years, the Presbyterian Lay Committee has become
increasingly concerned over the erosion of our denomination's faith and
life. We have prayerfully considered what God is saying to us in the midst
of this crisis. With sorrow, we have concluded that spiritual schism exists
within the Presbyterian Church (USA) because of a deep and irreconcilable
disunion among its members over the person and work of Jesus Christ, the
authority of God's Word written, and God's call to a holy life. We are two
faiths within one denomination.
We grieve with our faithful brothers and sisters in the
Episcopal Church (USA), whose General Convention rejected the clear
teachings of Scripture and 2,000 years of Christian tradition by its recent
actions. We believe the same dynamics that precipitated this crisis in the
Anglican Communion exist within the PCUSA. As a result, our denomination
hovers on the brink of a comparable catastrophe. The Covenant Network has
already announced that it will seek the repeal of the definitive
interpretation of our ordination standards at the 2004 General Assembly and
that it will support a full-scale assault on those standards at the 2006
General Assembly.
The Presbyterian Lay Committee believes that it is
unconscionable to remain passive while some groups train their followers to
subvert the Constitution and denominational officials undermine it by their
refusal to require compliance. We believe that any compromise with
proponents of a false gospel -- no matter how laudable the desire for peace
and unity that may engender such initiatives -- will further erode our
denomination's integrity and delay the day of decision that will ultimately
come.
We believe that God has called us individually to be
faithful stewards of all that He has entrusted to us, and has called us as
officers of our congregations to ensure that offerings are consistently used
to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and carry out His Great Commission. We no
longer believe that either the General Assembly per-capita budget or the
unrestricted mission budget of the PCUSA is worthy of support. We encourage
all individuals and sessions to exercise their stewardship responsibility
and right to determine how money entrusted to them is spent. We likewise
encourage prayerful study as to whether their General Assembly per-capita
contribution should be redirected and/or their mission gifts restricted to
ministries at home and abroad that are demonstrably faithful to the gospel.
At particular moments in history, God's people have been
challenged to choose between the idols of their culture and faith in the
living God. We believe this is such a time. We reluctantly conclude that
because of our spiritual division, without systemic change, the PCUSA will
collapse.
Therefore, we affirm and encourage the efforts of those
who remain committed to reform and renewal of the PCUSA and those who are
seriously studying new forms of our connectional life. We urge all who share
continued commitment to Holy Scripture as the infallible rule of faith and
practice to work together for the glory of God and the strengthening of His
witness in the world.
Adopted this 18th day of October 2003 by the Board of
Directors of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, meeting in Philadelphia, Pa.
