Classical Presbyterian posted the response of Rev. Jim Rigby, pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, to the report of the COM of Mission Presbytery regarding that church's admission to membership of avowed atheist Robert Jensen. Click here to read Rigby's response.
I am not impressed. All you have to do is read Jensen's avowal of his own atheism which he wrote and had published in the Houston Chronicle and elsewhere on the internet to understand that Jensen made no profession of Christian faith under any definition.
Jensen invited the attention of the wider church, and the nation on his membership. He is a professor of journalism who knows very well how to get the attention of the press. Rev. Rigby bewails the attention focused on his session members who were asked to meet with the presbytery's "Listening Team". To the extent that they were not aware of the requirements of the Book of Order and of our polity, Rev. Rigby has only himself to blame as he is charged with training elders prior to their installation.
Jensen invited the attention of the wider church, and the nation on his membership. He is a professor of journalism who knows very well how to get the attention of the press. Rev. Rigby bewails the attention focused on his session members who were asked to meet with the presbytery's "Listening Team". To the extent that they were not aware of the requirements of the Book of Order and of our polity, Rev. Rigby has only himself to blame as he is charged with training elders prior to their installation.
Mission Presbytery is meeting Friday and Rigby is asking that the presbytery refuse to accept the recommendations of the COM. Pray that the commissioners will uphold the requirements of the Book of Order and require St. Andrews to remove Robert Jensen from their membership roll and implement membership procedures that comply with the Book of Order.
Again I say if the pastor and session of St. Andrews cannot abide by the Book of Order, then they should withdraw from the Presbyterian Church and go their own way.
Again I say if the pastor and session of St. Andrews cannot abide by the Book of Order, then they should withdraw from the Presbyterian Church and go their own way.
4 comments:
I've said this over on Toby's blog, but it bears repeating:
Does Rev. Jim understand that we don't have a "Book Of Discipline," but a Book of Order, of which the "Rules of Discipline" are a part? He consistently uses the phrase "Book of Discipline," yet the last time I checked, we hadn't been taken over by the Methodists (who do have a Book of Discipline). Does Rev Jim even know which denomination he belongs to? Or what our rules are?
His main point seems to be, this should have been handled by the Rules of Discipline, in which case there's nothing to be done, because the 90 day restriciton on filing a Remedial case had gone by by the time this came to light. In other words, "sorry, folks, but we slipped this one past you under the wire and there's nothing you can do about it."
What he forgets is that there's no limit on disciplinary cases and filings. I think there's a good case to be made that he's in violation of his ordination vows, specifically #5, "will you be governed by our church's polity...?" It seems obvious that he really doesn't want to do this.
Rev Dave
This is unbelievable. After reading Jenson's article about how he is a christian I emailed him to explain how he isn't a Christian. How can a Christian church allow active membership from an atheist. I am more than happy for Jenson to attend church - he might learn something - but to allow an atheist to preach!!!! I don't get it.
Well, here's what I left at Classical Presbyterian:
I think I need to weigh in. I am not outraged, offended, or bothered by this situation. I would guess that numbers of people in the pews every Sunday share Mr. Jensen's views in one way or another. We did some classes on the creeds in adult ed this past year and one of the honest questions was: Are you metaphorically crossing your fingers when you say some of these words? Many of our young people who were just confirmed talk about the church as a place to grow and learn and discover. While it might make more sense in terms of Presby polity and the language of profession and confirmation for Mr. Jensen to be an active participant rather than a member of his church until/unless he is able to profess his faith in more conventional terms, I'm not sure that I see Christ's gathering of His people as a process of sense or Presbyterian polity.
Gannet Girl, thanks for sharing a different point of view. I do appreciate it.
Let me be clear: I welcome unbelievers and seekers who want to attend worship and who want to participate in the life of the church while learning and seeking--even if they never come to faith. That is what the church is for. Sure, there are times when all of us who have become members have doubts about many aspects of our faith. That is what the community of believers called the church is for, too--to help us with our honest doubts.
But I think it is appalling that a church would accept into membership who professes publicly " I don't believe in the son of a God I don't believe in." That is not a profession of faith--it is a profession of disbelief.
Consider also that the publicity Jensen engineered for this suggests that it is a stunt designed to mock a church which has fallen so far away from the essential tenets of the Christian faith that it no longer has any core principles and has become just another community activist group. If Jensen (a professor of journalism at UT-Austin) had not used his professional skills to publicize this through an op-ed piece in the Houston Chronicle and posted a number of places on the internet, no one outside this congregation would know about it. Now the presbytery is being publicly challenged as to whether or not it will uphold the requirements of the PCUSA's Book of Order on the fundamental issue of admission to membership in the church. I pray they do so.
To me, this situation is distinguishable from that of the doubting church member or the seeker/unbeliever who participates in the life of the church before professing faith.
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