New Presbyterian Body Aims for Orthodoxy with Less Bureaucracy

In any case, I think most Presbyterian churches could do with a whole lot more bureaucracy, at least in terms of being held accountable to the actual governing documents of their denominations and making positive contributions to the government of the denomination.

http://www.startribune.com/local/west/138014883.html

I am well aware of what is happening in this situation (our church has rented space from this church for a number of years). To be clear - this is not separating over the gospel. The “conservatives” who pulled out of the PCUSA did not do so over the gospel - they have long given into the social gospel ideas. Their idea of orthodoxy is “Jesus is the unique savior of the world” - an undefined and fuzzy statement. Their idea of the gospel is “getting people involved in building the kingdom.” Admittedly, they are against homosexuals becoming church leaders - but they are still theologically far from theological conservatism or evangelicalism (I once asked Crosby - a number of years ago - why he would not separate from the PCUSA as Machen did. Crosby attacked Machen for his lack of influence in pulling more people out - and desired to stay in to make a difference - obviously he lost the battle).

Is this the article referred to above?

http://layman.org/news.aspx?article=29704

[CAWatson] (I once asked Crosby - a number of years ago - why he would not separate from the PCUSA as Machen did. Crosby attacked Machen for his lack of influence in pulling more people out - and desired to stay in to make a difference - obviously he lost the battle).

Did Machen do the right thing? I don’t know. The crazy stuff makes the headlines. I personally know many theologically orthodox PCUSA members and a few decent pastors as well. In fact, it’s quite possible that there are still more orthodox Christians in the PCUSA than in Machen’s denomination. In 2010, the PCUSA reported 10,560 churches with a membership of 2,016,091 people. The OPC, on the other hand, had about 300 churches and 30,000 members. So, even if we assume that only 10% of the Christians in the PCUSA are orthodox (a low estimate), there are still 7x more orthodox Christians in the PCUSA. So, whether or not Machen was right to pull out, it seems that separatist groups struggle to gain momentum and establish themselves as significant church bodies. The OPC certainly never did, although Westminster Seminary exerts a broad influence on other denominations. Crosby may have had a point, and may still have a point.