For those who might not have seen it...
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Friday, April 24, 2009
Micro-Denominations
Ok, some more thoughts on church unity.
I'm not familiar enough with other general strands of protestantism to know how prevalent (or not) this is, but there seems to be a strong tendency in Presbyterianism to divide. I point you to a diagram of Presbyterian splits and merges just in the United States.
Does anyone really think that diagram looks like unity? Looks more like spaghetti to me.
I won't claim to know or understand what all the reasons were for the splits and recombinations. I know the PCA and OPC split off from their respective branches over doctrine. The Civil War was also a factor in that diagram. You can see that we also carried over some differences from homelands. At any rate, this splitting results in what I have seen called "micro-denominations." I haven't seen a definition for that term (though doing a Google search on it was interesting) but it certainly implies a small denomination that holds certain distinctives very dear. I would say there are a few in NAPARC.
Of course, this is something of a matter of perspective. Any Christian denomination in, say, the Middle East would likely be a micro-denomination. And let me be clear, I believe it is one thing for a family to decide where to go to church and a very different thing for a church to decide what denomination they will be a part of. I'm talking about the latter decision.
My main point is to wonder why a micro-denomination (at least of Presbyterians) would exist in the United States. We have Presbyterian denominations of decent size from liberal to conservative and on many other dimensions. Besides those in NAPARC, there is the mainline PCUSA, the Cumberland Presbyterians, and the EPC. A church has lots of choices already - why pick (or start) a tiny one? I suppose I would particularly wonder that in light of the Church being called to unity. It also seems a huge practical expense to maintain a denominational structure when you are tiny. Do you have a educational materials office or just use another denomination's materials? How do you have presbytery meetings when pastors are spread over hundreds of miles across multiple states? Do you develop your own set of polices from scratch?
I think a denomination's very existence says: "we are correct and everyone else is wrong on this slate of important issues/doctrines/practices." And those micro-denominations hold some thing or things very dear that simply do not overlap with other, larger bodies. If a church is convinced that certain things are non-negotiable, that there is no debate to be had on them, then I'll admit, I don't see much choice for them. If you are convinced from scripture that you are to hold worship services on Sunday morning from day break to noon and everyone is supposed to stand the whole time (see Nehemiah 8), then I can see a church having a problem with a denomination that doesn't support that requirement. But then, surely you have to wonder if you're the tiny minority, are you the faithful Remnant pursuing holiness before God, or are you wrong and sinfully hurting the unity of the body?
That's not a bad question to ask about any denomination as long as such entities exist. The PCA, or all of NAPARC put together wouldn't do wrong to ask which one we are. Perhaps I feel insulated from the question because I perceive the PCA as big (and compared to some they are). However, compared to 1 billion Catholics, 300,000 PCA members is rather tiny.
I'm not familiar enough with other general strands of protestantism to know how prevalent (or not) this is, but there seems to be a strong tendency in Presbyterianism to divide. I point you to a diagram of Presbyterian splits and merges just in the United States.
Does anyone really think that diagram looks like unity? Looks more like spaghetti to me.
I won't claim to know or understand what all the reasons were for the splits and recombinations. I know the PCA and OPC split off from their respective branches over doctrine. The Civil War was also a factor in that diagram. You can see that we also carried over some differences from homelands. At any rate, this splitting results in what I have seen called "micro-denominations." I haven't seen a definition for that term (though doing a Google search on it was interesting) but it certainly implies a small denomination that holds certain distinctives very dear. I would say there are a few in NAPARC.
Of course, this is something of a matter of perspective. Any Christian denomination in, say, the Middle East would likely be a micro-denomination. And let me be clear, I believe it is one thing for a family to decide where to go to church and a very different thing for a church to decide what denomination they will be a part of. I'm talking about the latter decision.
My main point is to wonder why a micro-denomination (at least of Presbyterians) would exist in the United States. We have Presbyterian denominations of decent size from liberal to conservative and on many other dimensions. Besides those in NAPARC, there is the mainline PCUSA, the Cumberland Presbyterians, and the EPC. A church has lots of choices already - why pick (or start) a tiny one? I suppose I would particularly wonder that in light of the Church being called to unity. It also seems a huge practical expense to maintain a denominational structure when you are tiny. Do you have a educational materials office or just use another denomination's materials? How do you have presbytery meetings when pastors are spread over hundreds of miles across multiple states? Do you develop your own set of polices from scratch?
I think a denomination's very existence says: "we are correct and everyone else is wrong on this slate of important issues/doctrines/practices." And those micro-denominations hold some thing or things very dear that simply do not overlap with other, larger bodies. If a church is convinced that certain things are non-negotiable, that there is no debate to be had on them, then I'll admit, I don't see much choice for them. If you are convinced from scripture that you are to hold worship services on Sunday morning from day break to noon and everyone is supposed to stand the whole time (see Nehemiah 8), then I can see a church having a problem with a denomination that doesn't support that requirement. But then, surely you have to wonder if you're the tiny minority, are you the faithful Remnant pursuing holiness before God, or are you wrong and sinfully hurting the unity of the body?
That's not a bad question to ask about any denomination as long as such entities exist. The PCA, or all of NAPARC put together wouldn't do wrong to ask which one we are. Perhaps I feel insulated from the question because I perceive the PCA as big (and compared to some they are). However, compared to 1 billion Catholics, 300,000 PCA members is rather tiny.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Family Pictures
We went to a Clemson friend's wedding recently that was held at Pretty Place. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful, worshipful wedding. And, we got to take some family pictures while there.
My favorite people:
This family picture turned out quite well. Lydia was slightly shy and cute. Stephen was slightly smirking and holding a stick. A very accurate portrayal.
My favorite people:
This family picture turned out quite well. Lydia was slightly shy and cute. Stephen was slightly smirking and holding a stick. A very accurate portrayal.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Cute Lydia
That last post was mostly about Stephen, so this one is about Lydia. Here's some random pictures that will likely embarrass her in about 12-15 years.
Lydia likes to get her pink seat and push it close to her keyboard and play music. She sometimes doesn't judge the distance well (either way)
Stephen took this picture in one of his random picture-taking moods, and I thought it was a nice close-up of her (and is better than a crooked picture of a lamp).
It is our tradition that I make pancakes or waffles for breakfast on Saturday morning. Lydia likes my blueberry pancakes.
Lydia likes to get her pink seat and push it close to her keyboard and play music. She sometimes doesn't judge the distance well (either way)
Stephen took this picture in one of his random picture-taking moods, and I thought it was a nice close-up of her (and is better than a crooked picture of a lamp).
It is our tradition that I make pancakes or waffles for breakfast on Saturday morning. Lydia likes my blueberry pancakes.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Easter Egg Hunt
Stephen's school had an Easter Egg hunt. That was this past Thursday and I took the day off (mostly to get tires on my car and get the lawnmower fixed), which allowed me to go and take pictures. Everyone in Stephen's Pre-K class was able to go, no matter what days they normally went, so they were a good crowd. Everyone got to take 11 eggs home and they were all filled with goodies. They were all to line up at the fence and then file in the playground in an orderly manner. Ha! Stephen managed to snake through the line when they opened the gate. Ah well. At least we were careful to keep them all to 11 eggs.
Here's the group (Stephen is in about the middle in the green shirt)
Stephen with his basket full of his eggs - and a big grin on his face
Stephen and Patrick went through their stash immediately and compared notes. Stephen got one "dinosaur" egg more than Patrick, and Patrick got one more "clear" (semi-transparent) egg than Stephen. They seemed to think this worked out.
Some of the girls played with Lydia too, so a good time was had by all.
Here's the group (Stephen is in about the middle in the green shirt)
Stephen with his basket full of his eggs - and a big grin on his face
Stephen and Patrick went through their stash immediately and compared notes. Stephen got one "dinosaur" egg more than Patrick, and Patrick got one more "clear" (semi-transparent) egg than Stephen. They seemed to think this worked out.
Some of the girls played with Lydia too, so a good time was had by all.
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