The following article from the Evangelical Press News Service was posted on an ARP discussion board. It makes for very interesting reading.
Annual Meeting Of Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church Could Be Dramatic Battle In Theological Wars
By Warren Cole Smith
(EP News)–Something unusual and interesting is happening in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (ARP) Church. But to understand just how unusual and interesting, it’s best to know a bit about the ARP church and what it has meant to the Christian tradition in America.
First of all, the ARP church is one of the oldest continuously operating Christian denominations in the United States, having been formed in 1782 in Philadelphia. Currently, the church has only about 200 congregations and about 30,000 members, but the ARP’s influence on Reformed theology in America has always been out of proportion to its numerical size. The First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, S.C., an ARP congregation, was during the 19th century — and has since remained — one of the most influential churches in the South, today with more than 2500 members.
The denomination’s college, Erskine College, is one of the top-ranked Christian colleges in the country.But like many Christian denominations, and many Christian colleges, Erskine and the ARP have – some charge — been going down the road of theological liberalism. So much so that Erskine Seminary, which is supposed to train clergy for the denomination, now produces few of the denomination’s new pastors. Dean Turbeville, a conservative ARP pastor
who has served on the board of Erskine College and Seminary, said, “I wouldn’t send a young man from my church to Erskine Seminary. It is no longer, theologically speaking, a safe place to learn the truths of the Christian faith and the Reformed tradition.” Indeed, one of the interesting developments in the denomination is that most of the young clergy in the denomination are more conservative than the older clergy in the church – and most of them have received their seminary training outside of the ARP.Which brings us to the unusual and interesting part. In almost every other denomination where this slide into liberalism has occurred, most notably in the Episcopal Church, the liberals have retained the denomination, and the conservatives have been forced to leave or they simply have gotten old and died. But in the ARP, young conservative
clergy trained at seminaries other than Erskine are entering the denomination. These mostly young conservatives are fighting back, and one of the most dramatic skirmishes in this theological battle was led by a group of conservative students at Erskine College itself.The college’s annual “Alumni and Accepted Students Day” took place this year on April 25. The event is traditionally a time for Erskine to put its best foot forward, both to impress alumni, who are among the college’s most important financial supporters, and the incoming students, who along with their parents are invited to the activities. This year, though, the alumni and prospective students got an alternative view of Erskine. Chuck Wilson, who publishes an independent on-line newsletter about the ARP called “ARPTalk” that has been critical of the Erskine administration, takes up the story of what has come to be called the “Moonlight Revolution”:
“The revolution began innocuously at Convocation (something like chapel). The President of Converse College, Dr. Elizabeth A. Fleming, was invited to speak. Dr. R. T. Ruble, President of EC/ETS, introduced Dr. Fleming to the Erskine College student body. At the end of Dr. Ruble’s introduction, it is alleged that he remarked that Erskine College is not an ‘artsy’ college, but he was glad to have the President of an artsy college speak to Erskine students.
“Dr. Ruble must have forgotten that Erskine College has an art department. Art students took Dr. Ruble’s remarks as demeaning of them and Professors Jan Walker and Sharon Linnehan. Later, a student in the art history class set up a project of performance art. In front of the Daniel Moultrie Science Center, sidewalk chalk was provided and students
were invited to “Say Something.” They did. Very quickly the sidewalk was packed with complaints about Erskine College, ranging from criticism about the high cost of tuition, to the inadequacy of housing, to the continuing evolution vs. creation controversy, to the failure of the Administration to implement the mission of the college as Christian and
Evangelical.”These chalk protests were quickly washed away in preparation for the “Alumni and Accepted Students Day. But a group calling itself “Students For Erskine” went into action. Between 1 and 4 a.m. on the Saturday morning of the event, Students For Erskine not only re-wrote most of the erased messages, but also posted what they called – in the spirit of the original Reformation – the “Erskine 95 Theses” on doors and walls around the college.
Among the chalk messages were some related to Erskine’s mission statement: “What happened to Gospel driven at EC?” and “Please fulfill the mission statement.” Others expressed dismay at the increasinglypermissive atmosphere at the college. One chalk message said: “Alcohol – Big trouble next time. Sex in Dorms – We’ll let it slide. Christian Commitment – How dare you!”
When Erskine’s President Randall T. Ruble was asked to comment on the student protest, he issued the following statement: “Some of our students chose to use their right to freedom of expression by writing chalk messages on sidewalks and other locations on campus. That was not the end of it, however, as student leaders planned a forum to address concerns directly to administration, faculty and staff. A number of people on the Erskine College and Seminary faculty and staff appeared at the forum and answered questions posed by students. I personally met with several of the students individually to ensure their questions were answered.”
It is likely that these forums and this statement from Ruble won’t be the end of the matter either. The ARP’s 205th annual meeting is taking place this week at the denomination’s conference center in Flat Rock, N.C. Among the items on the agenda: whether to appoint a commission to examine Erskine College and Seminary. According to the rules that govern the ARP denomination, a committee would merely bring back a report of suggested action items to next year’s meeting. A commission, on the other hand, has the power to act immediately if it finds actionable items. Those on both sides of the controversy at Erskine know that the stakes are high, and that more than the future of the college is at issue.
According to Wilson: “This is a war for the soul of the church. Are we going to be a church that holds to the inerrancy of scripture, or are we going to be something else? That is the question.”
/Warren Cole Smith is the editor of Evangelical Press News Service. /
