I took a trip through a time machine last week, all the way back to Calvin’s Geneva.
Okay, not really. Actually it was a Delta flight to Tucson. I got to lead a retreat for the pastors’ study group of the Presbytery de Cristo.
Over twenty of them meet every month to study theology together.
I put that little sentence as its own paragraph because it is actually pretty radical.
They are part of the PC(USA), just like I am. We are a denomination that has fallen into the very bad habit of trying to resolve all our problems by politics. We pass laws for ourselves. We try offenders. And in recent years we have been rent asunder.
In Presbytery de Cristo, they tell me they tend to vote on issues along the familiar dividing lines.
And yet, in Presbytery de Cristo, amid all the conflicts and divisions of the denomination, they tell me they lost only one congregation.
I strongly suspect that this group of pastors who study theology together have been a key part of that.
In the group all points of the spectrum are represented. And within the group the bonds of Christian fellowship and friendship have grown strong.
They understand each other. They care for each other. It appears that despite many differences they trust each other as partners in shared ministry.
Back in Calvin’s Geneva, the ministers got together every week for what they called the “Congregation.”
They studied Scripture. They studied theology. One would present. All would debate, and explore and learn.
As a result they grew a shared foundation for their work of ministry.
A shared theological foundation.
Can any of you who are Presbyterians imagine our work growing from a shared theology rather than merely a shared polity?
The ministers of Geneva developed a shared, deep-rooted fellowship by growing in the faith together. Shared growing faith through shared theological work was the basis for their accountability.
Their growing faith and mutual accountability became the foundation for reforming the life of the church.
They were not isolated or independent. They came together to learn and grow.
Can you imagine life in your presbytery or district with all those in ministry growing and learning together?
Can you imagine what you might do to bring that about?
It’s not too late.
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Gary,
We all came away grateful — thank you! Will you remind me again of the children’s website you use? I posted your article on my church FB page and also on my own page.
Blessings,
Virginia Studer
Thanks Virginia! It was great getting to know you.
Actually it is a book: “Young Children and Worship” is published by Westminster John Knox. The whole worship program is laid out there, including plans for the figures used in telling the stories. It helps to go to one of the training weekends that are offered from time to time, I think under some office of Western Seminary but I”m not sure.
thanks, Gary, for your joy, reflection, and attention! Hope to see you again soon.
Xaipe,
– larry
Thank you Larry, for your patience with the organizational process and for making it happen.
Great to hear your stories…
Gary
I can image what you have proposed we model after Calvin in Geneva, because the Presbytery of South Alabama attempted something along those lines, but only a very limited group participated and with no others to join in, the small group disbanded with no long term bringing together the shared-faith accountability and common-purpose you found in Arizona. SO for me it is too late as there are few bonds of Christian fellowship and friendship strong enough to bridge the fractures of unconstitutional actions by the General Assembly. Few in the presbytery seem to risk caring enough to understand each other. Their actions and words suggest they do not care for each other sufficiently to spend time in your suggested efforts. It appears that because of many differences they have not built up trust in each other as partners in shared ministry.
As a result we have no shared foundation for their work of ministry – no shared theological foundation. So congregation’s seek transfer to other denominations in hope of finding shared theological foundations. Other congregations find no momentum for such a radical change and so many of their members with no shared theological foundations simply drift away.
Can any of you who are Presbyterians imagine our work growing from a shared theology rather than merely a shared polity?
The ministers of Geneva developed a shared, deep-rooted fellowship by growing in the faith together. Shared growing faith through shared theological work was the basis for their accountability.
Their growing faith and mutual accountability became the foundation for reforming the life of the church.
They were not isolated or independent. They came together to learn and grow.
Can you imagine life in your presbytery or district with all those in ministry growing and learning together?
Can you imagine what you might do to bring that about?
It’s not too late.
Thomas, thank for sharing your experience. I’m sorry to hear that it has been so painful.
The gang in Arizona seems to have two advantages: The reached critical mass in terms of numbers and diversity, and they have been at it for a period of years. (When I first met with them a couple years back regarding the new translation of the Heidelberg Catechism they had already been going for quite some time.)
I suspect the situation in your Presbytery is not unusual. Our unconscious embrace of our culture’s perspectives has included a kind of atomized individualism–rather than Presbyteries being communities of common theological work and mutual accountability in their shared mission. We study alone, or we don’t, depending on our inclination, as with other things that might shape healthy community.
My prayer for you, and for all, is that you can find ways to start small, building healthy collegiality, real fellowship doing theological work for the good of your own lives and for the good of your churches and the whole Church. I’ll pray that small seed grow.
I’ve heard of Calvin’s Congregation, where the pastors and teachers gathered to discuss theology. I’ve also heard, however, that they appealed to the elders to resolve theological disagreements and the the elders often appealed to the civil government. It would seem then that the Genevan council was a delegating authority to the consistory, which, essentially, reduced the clergy to a subsidiary of the state (one such example, if I’m recalling correctly, where the civil authorities trumped Calvin’s theological vision is the frequency of communion). I’m just curious if my understanding of history is on the right track?
A shared polity, believe it or not is easier to share than a theology. My personal problem is that most of the churchmen that I know are operating on a 19th century theology. And most of the common laymen are operating on a 16th century theology. The church is not ready to accept the cosmology of late 20th century and 21st century astronomy, 21st century Quantum Physics and the reality of modern mathematics.
Thanks Ted. Sorry for the delay in replying — a complicated season.
I agree that it is much easier to live in a shared polity. The problem is that when the theological differences become too great, polity will not maintain unity. And real unity is shared faith, which is more a matter of theology.
I would have to disagree on your attribution of these particular dates to the theology of the groups you cite. I regularly teach seminarians and Ruling Elders and find few who know much of 16th century theology. They tend to reflect late 19th and early 20th century roots, whether on the “liberal” or “fundamentalist” side of the debates from back then. Perhaps not truly fundamentalist in the classic sense. More the generic Protestant evangelicalism of the mid 19th century.
And in the things that matter most theologically I’d favor the math of the 4th century, when the Three Persons of the Godhead were understood as One God, and the one Person Jesus Christ was understood to have two natures, truly divine and truly human. Modern cosmology and physics are other topics entirely.