What’s in a Word?

If you know me well, you know I love long words. If you have never seen, heard, or attempted to pronounce floccinaucinihilipilification (FLOK-si-NO-si-NY-HIL-i-PIL-i-fi-KAY-shuhn), you are not alone. Though the word is rare, the late Senator Jesse Helms of North Carolina (who had a biting sense of humor) was fond of using it. According to the dictionary, it is the longest non-technical word in the English language. The word describes the act of considering something valueless, useless, or worthless.

Update on the Executive Board: Parliamentary Tyranny

In the last issue of ARPTalk, "The Noble and the Ignoble," April 14 (https://arptalk.joinapro.com/the-noble-and-the-ignoble/), I reported the Executive Board of General Synod had called an "emergency" meeting in order to hear a motion to apply for the federal government's Payroll Protection Program Loan (PPP), just in case there is a future financial emergency and Central Services is unable to pay salaries. Unexpectedly, after vigorous discussion, in a divided vote, the motion to apply was adopted 9 to 7. We have been reduced to begging the federal government for money! I suppose the God of the Bible who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and all the treasures of gold and silver is unable to provide!

There are many of us who believe the Executive Board's vote to apply for the PPP loan is wrongheaded, disingenuous, and tramples on the consciences of their brothers who cannot reconcile why any faith-based organization, let alone an evangelical denomination, would actively seek to entangle itself in the regulating fetters of the federal government's anti-Christian and God-hating bureaucracy. The federal government's agenda which promotes abortion on demand, gay marriage, and LGBT ideology cannot be squared with the publicly stated positions of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church on these issues (https://arpchurch.org/learn/what-we-believe/). Clearly, the terms of the PPP loan application state participants MUST abide by federal policies.

If a sum of about $350,000 is so essential to the operation of Central Services in Greenville, why has no appeal been made to God's people in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church? Where is the appeal by the Executive Board? Why has news of this crisis not appeared in the ARPMagazine? The silence is deafening!

Compounding this debacle, is a second meeting of the Executive Board which was called to reconsider the PPP loan application. In this meeting, the Executive Board imploded on itself. Declaring, by a vote of 10 to 7, there was no new information to be considered, the meeting was closed. This is parliamentary tyranny. As per parliamentary procedure, a request to reconsider was properly made by a member voting on the prevailing side and ignored. At that point, the issues of an emergency or new information are irrelevant. So, how is this not parliamentary tyranny?

Since the meetings of the Executive Board, if you have watched or read the news, you are aware of well-funded businesses and institutions which have improperly applied for and received the PPP loan. To avoid public shaming and possible litigation, many of them have returned their loan (see the list: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-public-companies-are-returning-emergency-loans-meant-for-small-businesses-2020-04-29).

Our Office of World Witness has also declined the PPP loan. As I was informed, their executive committee met and voted to rescind the loan. Good for them! This would have been a fundraising nightmare! Imagine, "MISSIONARIES FOR JESUS VIA FEDERAL FUNDING!"

The ARPMagazine (housed at the ARP Center in Greenville and under the care of Central Services) usually reports on "all things ARP." But not on the Executive Board's begging! Where is the journalistic integrity of the ARPMagazine? Has the editor been gagged, is there a cover-up, or are the blunderings of the Executive Board too unpleasant to report in a Church newsletter? If it were not for ARPTalk, news of this embarrassing episode would not exist.

The Executive Board's actions have aroused the passions of many in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. I know letters of protest are being considered. I know letters of protest have been sent. I know there are conversations about withdrawing financial support to the DMF as it relates to Central Services. Yes, I hope funds are withheld. Here is an unalterable principle: people cannot be compelled to give, and people will not give if it violates their consciences.

Some Thoughts about Boards

The action of the Executive Board has sparked my thinking about the ARP Center and the boards housed there. Has the ARP Center in Greenville become the Vatican of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, holding the keys to the church? Have the Greenville boards become entities unto themselves, functioning as parachurch organizations, led by bishops?

To begin with, are denomination boards detrimental to our Presbyterian system? Often, in our presbytery meetings, we proudly speak of our connectional nature as those who practice a Presbyterian form of government which is ascending. But that is not what we have become. Over the years, our boards subverted our ecclesiology: reversing the flow from ascending to descending. Over a period of time, boards become kingdoms - parachurch organizations which operate according to their own agendas. Each of our Greenville boards has it own 501c3 which is distinct from the 501c3 of the General Synod. Each board has its own employees, accounting system, fundraising mechanism, accountability network, and distinct culture. Once a year, the boards of the Greenville Vatican report to General Synod to inform the delegates how they are the General Synod and to remind everyone how indispensable they are. They, however, function as independent entities the other 364 days of the year - like parachurch organizations. The goal of a board/parachurch organization is its continuation in contradistinction to the health of the denomination which gave it life. The prime example of this is Erskine College and Seminary as Erskine is in relationship with the General Synod. On many occasions, the chairman of the Erskine board has reminded the delegates of General Synod of the board's independence in governance. The only relationship left is a "fig leaf" which ensures financial support - like a parachurch organization fundraising.

Since 1973, I have questioned the role of the Board of Church Extension (then)/Outreach North America (now). Having planted congregations in Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Louisiana, (and having read the FOG), I naively though the presbytery was "the essential court" of our system of church government, vested with the "power" to plant, organize, and receive congregations. In my work, I learned a church planter has to navigate through a local steering committee, a provisional session, a presbytery committee, and the Director of Church Extension/Outreach North America, and, though the folks under whom I served were nice and well-meaning people, they did not have the foggiest notion of what I was doing. Later, when I became a member of the Board of Church Extension in the 1990s (and served when we reorganized as Outreach North America), I learned ONA did more than coordinate, recommend, counsel, and assist our presbyteries. I learned ONA subsumed much of the role of the presbytery in church planting. The role of ONA is spelled large. ONA controls who the church planter can be. Financial support from ONA is dependent on presbytery's compliance. And, in recent years, ONA has contributed to the "worship wars." Though I am not a fan of what many call "the regulative principle," I have read our Directory of Public Worship, and the Directory does not champion the ideas of those who embrace "contemporary worship." I am distressed by the emphasis on "contemporary worship" which, in recent years, has flowed out of ONA and created considerable distrust of ONA. When I have relayed my concerns about ONA, the response I have been met with is the chilling idea our presbyteries cannot be trusted to do church planting. Really? Our system is badly broken if we cannot trust our presbyteries. Frankly, if a presbytery is unwilling to grow, it needs to die. However, from my observation, when congregational monies are diverted from church planting in the presbytery to support the DMF's boards and agencies, a presbytery is left destitute in church planting efforts and made to beg the largess of ONA. If I were young again, in spite of the daunting challenges of church planting, I would still be a church planter; however, not in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. I could not abide the frustration! Finally, the acid test for ONA is how the footprint of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church is expanding or contracting. If I owned stock in ONA, I would immediately sell!

I have always admired and been amazed at the Associate Reformed Presbyterians of the late 1800s and the early 1900s. A tiny denomination, with little money and few people, but, with abounding energy, unwavering courage, and a God-sized vision, accomplished the near impossible. Their outstanding work of taking the gospel to Egypt, India, and Mexico is praiseworthy. The monuments to their faithfulness are the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of Pakistan and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of Mexico. I am now told the mission of denomination building is passé and imperialistic. Who says? Well, if such is the case, why do we even have an Office of World Witness? It is just another parachurch organization duplicating and reduplicating other parachurch organizations. All I can say is hurly-burly (and don't miss the pun)! Extra large photographs of starving-children will be needed for fundraising!

For years, I have attempted to figure out what CEM does. There is a bookstore in the Greenville Vatican, but Amazon is less expensive, more comprehensive, and faster in delivery. Our ministers in General Synod have multiple degrees, and, unless seminary education is far different now, they have taken courses in Christian education - and, of course, they know how to read and use the Internet which opens to them ALL the resources of the evangelical and Reformed community for Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and small groups. I understand and applaud the work of CEM in Camp Joy, and I also understand the incorporation of CEM in order to protect General Synod from litigation if a child gets hurt. However, is there a more efficient way to do this? Indeed, as I look at CEM, it seems the most important duties for the director are giving a report at General Synod and asking for funding.

I can say more, and I may in a future post, but I am sure I have already stretched the patience and endurance of some of my readers.

In Conclusion

My wife and I were watching the early morning news a few days ago. The Attorney General (AG) of Pennsylvania was saying there must be transparency in government during this time of pandemic.

I said to my wife, "Honey, change clothes! We're going for a ride!"

In the van, I told her to put heaven in the GPS. Well, it was a bit of a drive, but my wife drives fast, and we were there in no time.

St. Peter answered the door when I knocked. He said, "It's not your time! Chuck, why are you here?"

I told him about the AG of Pennsylvania, and said I had never seen a transparent lawyer/politician. I said, "May I see one?" St. Peter told me to go to hell.

Of course, I was disappointed, and it was too far and too late in the day to do what St. Peter said. But, on the way home, I thought to myself, "I'm glad I didn't ask about a transparent churchman."

I began this post asking, "What's in a word?" Actually, a great deal. Words are how we communicate.

I like floccinaucinihilipilification!

I hope this article opens conversations. I really want to see what you think. I know what many of you say in conversations around the table, on the phone, and under the trees at Bonclarken. As the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church continues down the dark and winding road leading to oblivion, will we sit silently, waiting for the inevitable? I do not think it is too late for a change in direction. Do you?