Difficulties Emerge for Associate Reformed Presbyterians

A Most Surprising ARP Synod Meeting

Posted by William B. Evans

ShareThis

I approached the 2011 meeting of the ARP General Synod with trepidation. As I have argued here, the ARP Church has recently been in the throes of an ecclesiological crisis. Fallout from the unsuccessful attempt to replace the existing Erskine College and Erskine Theological Seminary Board of Trustees in March 2010 revealed deeper, already-existing problems of disunity, dysfunction, and a lack of commitment to church discipline. In addition, the June 2010 Synod was marked by the political emergence of a center wing which then voted with the left wing of the church to step back from the effort to replace the Erskine Board. If the divisions evident at the 2010 June Synod meeting were to persist, the chances for harmony and progress at the 2011 Synod were not good.

I also sensed that the ARP Church itself could well begin to unravel, and I had shared my concerns with some colleagues about two triggers that could precipitate just such an implosion. First, a failure by the Synod to respond appropriately to the Erskine trustees' revision of the Erskine By-Laws (which appear further to distance the institutions from the Synod) could have led to a financial crisis as churches began to withhold offerings from the Denominational Ministry Fund for reasons of conscience (the DMF funnels over a half-million dollars to Erskine every year). Second, there was considerable talk before Synod of a proposal that Synod apologize to the Erskine trustees that the Synod had attempted to remove in March of 2010. Such a motion would doubtless have provoked heated and extended debate on the floor, and the damage to unity would have been substantial. Thankfully, and by the grace of God, that motion was never introduced. Furthermore, the Synod did respond in a measured and prudent way to the Erskine Board.

For more, see: 

http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2011/06/a-most-surprising-arp-synod-me.php