New Wineskins looks ahead ...
to a creative new future
or just another split?

[6-21-05]

New Wineskins convocation ends by approving constitution – perhaps a step toward a new denomination?

by Doug King

On Friday afternoon and Saturday morning, June 17-18, 2005, about 190 participants in the convocation, who had been delegated by their congregations represent them at the event, discussed and sometimes debated the draft constitution that had been the center of platform presentations, workshops, and conversation for the past three days.

David Henderson and Dean Weaver, who had been the most active in leading sessions during the convocation, were joined by Doug Pratt (a New Wineskins founder who is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Bonita Springs, FL) joined to present the draft constitution to the delegates’ session. Pratt spoke of New Wineskins as a way of getting beyond the endless debates over "ideological differences," to deal with structural problems which make the denomination too rigid. "New Wineskins is offering an alternative vision," he said – "a way of thinking about the structural problems." New Wineskins, he went on, "is embracing change, while holding fast to the things that must not be changed."

Dean Weaver went on to explain once again the aims of the proposed constitution: theological unity (expressed in the group’s version of the "Basic Tenets of the Reformed Faith," and the companion statement of "Ethical Imperatives"); missional faithfulness, and structural effectiveness. Theological unity would be protected by the policy that every member congregation and church officer would have to "subscribe" every year to the two fundamental statements of faith and ethics.

Over the coming months, he said work groups will be formed to deal with specific concerns, including property issues, drafting overtures to the 2006 General Assembly that would put the New Wineskins proposal into effect in the whole PC(USA), setting up networks for support and training, and drafting constitutional supplements on worship and other areas of the churches’ life.

Weaver then laid out (again) the three possible scenarios for the future:

Acknowledging that some in the group want to be moving toward a new denomination now, Weaver said "I’m begging you to wait." It’s "already but not yet," he concluded. "God has begun to work in us, and God will show us the next step to take."

At this point, as the delegates began dealing with the proposed constitution section by section, your WebWeaver had to leave for other commitments. So for "the rest of the story" (to coin a phrase) we suggest you look at the final report by Jerry Van Marter of Presbyterian News Service. We also provide links to his earlier reports, to reports from The Layman Online, and to the two websites of New Wineskins itself.

Loyal opposition?

 EDINA, MN — June 20, 2005 – About 80 dissident congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have formally confederated as "New Wineskins."

The "renewal" group has a constitution that includes doctrinal statements, a mission organization, a court system, and a governance model that lodges almost all power in local congregations.

New Wineskins leaders say the group is committed to "theological unity, missional faithfulness and structural effectiveness."

During a June 17-18 "delegates’ meeting" at the conclusion of a four-day convocation attended by more than 400 people, about 190 "voting delegates" approved the group’s constitution almost unanimously and elected a 13-member board of directors that eventually will grow to 15. The group has already incorporated as a not-for-profit organization.

While the directors’ names are known, the participating congregations have not been identified publicly.

"Some have been strongly discouraged from being here, so making their names public would not be politic," explained the group’s moderator, the Rev. Dave Henderson, pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in West Lafayette, IN.

The Rev. Dean Weaver, the group’s vice moderator and pastor of Knox United Presbyterian Church in Kenmore, NY, said some supporters of New Wineskins are to be commissioners to next year’s General Assembly, "and that could be jeopardized if their names were made public."

When the formal meeting began, most of the convocation participants traded their nametags for stickers identifying each as either a "voting delegate" or an "observer."

"What has been implicit but which needs to be stated explicitly," Henderson said, "is that endorsement of and involvement in the New Wineskins is in no way a sign of disloyalty to the PC(USA), nor is it any way a compromise of PC(USA) ordination vows."

Henderson acknowledged that the group’s essential tenets and ethical imperatives are "subscriptionist" — that is, endorsing congregations must agree to adhere to them or face disciplinary action by the group.

The New Wineskins constitution describes the PC(USA)’s confessions as "beneficial guides in our interpretation of the Bible."

The constitution establishes three levels of "networks" above the congregation: Ministry Networks of three to eight congregations; Support Networks of from three to eight Ministry Networks; and a National Network. Every congregation must belong to at least one Ministry Network, and each Ministry Network must be part of a Support Network. These networks need not be geographic.

The constitution is silent on the networks’ relationship to PC(USA) governing bodies.

Each network will have its own court, called a Judicial Committee. The only committee mandated at the National Network level is the Judicial Committee.

Congregations will ordain elders and deacons and "certify" other congregational leaders. Support Networks will "guide, train, examine and certify/ordain pastors and lay pastors for congregations."

The constitutional provision that provoked the most debate confers on sessions the authority to ratify constitutional amendments; in the PC(USA), that power is held by the presbyteries. Bob Howard, an elder from Wichita, KS, a former chair of the Presbyterian Lay Committee’s board of directors, said: "Sessions need to have control of the constitutional process" to address "the fundamental flaw in our current system."

If New Wineskins has its way, congregations will be owners of the property they occupy. That runs directly counter to the PC(USA) constitution’s "trust clause," which says that congregations hold property "in trust" for the denomination. Litigation over the trust clause is flaring up around the country. Howard predicted that it eventually will be overturned in civil court.

So the New Wineskins congregations are still in the PC(USA) … for now.

Henderson said reform of the PC(USA) is possible if the denomination will replace its constitution with the New Wineskins version, and abandon the trust clause. Such action, he said, would be "a miracle."

Another option, he said, is "restructure" — in which the denomination would give congregations the option of affiliating with New Wineskins or some other confederated model.

"The PC(USA) as we know it only dates back to 1983, and is for all intents and purposes gone already," Henderson said, "so there could be two or three entities (within a broader denominational framework) created in its place."

Another possibility, Henderson said, is some "precipitating event" that "would cause us to split off and become a whole new entity."

He cited three possible examples:

Throughout the convocation, speaker after speaker characterized New Wineskins as a faithful remnant of a Presbyterian church that has gone astray.

The Rev. Doug Pratt, a New Wineskins founder who is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Bonita Springs, FL, said his involvement in the group is evidence of "a profound loyalty" to the denomination.

"All people in all organizations have trouble reforming their own organizations, so real substantive movement for change must come from outside," Pratt said. "I’m being profoundly loyal to the faith passed down to us by seeking to restore our church to Biblical faithfulness.

"Evangelicals have had a hard time agreeing on anything, except what we’re against," Pratt said. "Finally, with New Wineskins, we have something to be for, embracing change while holding on to that which will never change."

The New Wineskins directors (elders were identified only by state):

Elder Kevin Kauffman of Indiana, Elder Rod Olson of Oregon; Elder John van Geuderen of California; Elder Renee Guth of Arizona; Elder Peggy Hedden of Ohio; Henderson; Weaver; the Rev. John Crosby, pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church, Edina, MN (the church that hosted the convocation and delegates’ meeting); the Rev. Jerry Van Auken, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Kokomo, IN ; the Rev. Ken Mulder, associate pastor of Sunset Presbyterian Church, Portland, OR; the Rev. Russ Wilkins, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Texarkana, TX; the Rev. Randy Jenkins, pastor of Central Presbyterian Church, Huntsville, AL; and the Rev. Kay George, associate pastor of Oreland (PA) Presbyterian Church.

Earlier reports from PNS:

"Schism has already happened" says New Wineskins leader   (6-16-05)

The New Wineskins movement is not schismatic, its leader told 300 Presbyterians attending its convocation on Thursday, "because the schism has already happened."

New Wineskin preachers call PC(USA) to task (6-17-05)

Leaders of the New Wineskins movement insist that their purpose is to create a new Presbyterian vision, not just to react to the travails of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). But the international array of preachers at the group’s June 15-18 convocation here sounded a common theme: They are dissatisfied with the denomination that gave them birth.

‘New Wineskins’ spokesman says it’s time for PC(USA) remnant to ‘get our affairs in order’  (6-16-05)

A seminal thinker in the New Wineskins movement said neither schism nor congregationalism is a solution to the "fatal illness" he believes is afflicting the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

"The best thing we can do is take a resurrection approach, affirming that God takes us from brokenness to death to new life," the Rev. Clark Cowden, evangelist presbyter of San Joaquin Presbytery, told more than 300 people gathered here for the first New Wineskins convocation. "The loving thing to do — what we do pastorally with those with a terminal illness — is to get our affairs in order, celebrate what we have been and done, and prepare for the new future that God has planned for us."

The New Wineskins Initiative

Visit the New Wineskins website
Also --
The New Wineskins statement on "The Essential Tenets of our Reformed Faith"
The New Wineskins statement on "A Declaration of Ethical Imperatives"

From The Layman Online

Layman: Congregations would have final say

John Adams, writing for The Layman Online, also reports on the "delegates’ meeting" toward the close of the convocation of the New Wineskins Initiative. His emphasis is on the amendment to the draft constitution, proposed by elder Robert Howard, an attorney and a former chair of the Presbyterian Lay Committee’s board of directors. This proposed constitution would ensure congregations participating in New Wineskins will not only retain ownership of their property, but now it will also require "that any change in the draft constitution's ‘theological essentials’ or ‘ethical imperatives’ be approved by three-fourths of the sessions of affiliated congregations, which numbered 85 at the end of the four-day meeting. Other constitutional changes would require affirmation by a majority of the sessions."

Message from the world Church: 'Stop the infection'

Parker Williamson offers lots of detail about the criticisms leveled by pastors from "Africa, Argentina, Brazil, and Kenya." [We think "Africa" is meant to refer to Egypt.]

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