Ecclesiastical Separation

“…the principle of separation is a core biblical truth. We must grapple with the biblical data and its implications for ministry—and we must do it honestly and faithfully in every generation. I still believe that Pickering’s book is the most reasonable place to start that conversation.” - P&D

“I sat with some GenZ college students and talked about the history of fundamentalism…. These sincere young men told me that they had never even heard of the doctrine of ecclesiastical separation, even though they had grown up in fundamental Baptist churches” - P&D

“However bracing or even harsh pieces like Ashenden’s can be, they tell the truth: visible unity is, if anything, even further away than when the various dialogues among and between various Christian communities began officially a century ago.” - Word by Word

“Paragraph 2553 expired at the end of 2023, with over 7,500 congregations successfully disaffiliating from the UMC through the process” - CPost

Related: The UMC lost a quarter of its churches — most in the South - RNS

“Want to know how to cause a church split? The deepest fault lines – sex, money and pride – have been obvious for centuries, said Archbishop Kanishka Raffel of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney, Australia.” - GetReligion

“The lawsuit comes amid a slow-moving schism in the United Methodist Church largely over the ordination and marriage of its LGBTQ members.” - RNS

“Pastor Brent Kipfer of Maple View Mennonite Church in Wellesley told the magazine that his church began a discernment process after members of the evangelical congregation noticed a ‘more widely varying theological diversity within MC Eastern Canada and MC Canada.’” - CPost

“There is a difference between biblical (doctrinal) separation and limited fellowship over philosophical differences. Obedient believers will have to practice both, but they are practiced differently.” - Kevin Schaal

“I share the dismay of my trench-buddy, Jordan Standridge, about Francis Chan’s new bedfellows, which include Benny Hinn, Todd White, and others in the lunatic fringe of the charismatic plutocracy….But I’m not quite ready to ‘farewell’ him.” - Cripplegate