More than 250 conservative congregations have quickly rallied around a new movement within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), built on opposition to same-sex unions and the belief that faith in Jesus Christ is the only route to eternal salvation.
Called the Confessing Church Movement, the effort by conservatives to gain support has been endorsed by 257 congregations, with 110,000 members, since it was formed nine weeks ago, according to the Presbyterian Lay Committee.
The lay committee, based in Lenoir, N.C., is promoting the protest movement, and will sponsor an informational meeting on it during its annual conference at Grove City College in Pennsylvania on Friday.
The issues raised by the Confessing Churches will also come before the Presbyterians' General Assembly in Louisville, Ky., in June.
Conservatives see the movement as the future of their church, but liberals are downplaying it as insignificant.
Friday's lead speaker at the lay committee meeting is the Rev. Paul Roberts of the 275-member Summit Presbyterian Church in Butler, Pa. Roberts and his 12 lay elders started the Confessing Church movement in March, issuing a three-point platform:
--Jesus Christ alone is the way to salvation.
--The Bible is "God's revealed Word, the church's only infallible rule of faith and life."
--"Marriage between a man and a woman" is "the only relationship within which sexual activity is appropriate."
The first plank of the platform comes in reaction to a step taken in February by a council that runs the church between General Assemblies, the annual national meetings of church delegates.
The council said it was proper for a denominational meeting to sponsor a talk by the Rev. Dirk Ficca that suggested salvation occurs apart from faith in Jesus Christ. Ficca, a Presbyterian, directs an interfaith organization based in Chicago, the Parliament of the World's Religions.
The third plank came in response to the result in March of nationwide voting within the church that allowed local congregations to conduct ritual blessings for same-sex couples if they aren't called marriages.
Proponents say the Bible plank supports the other two.
The lay committee wants legislation to bind denominational officials and programs to the three points.
But the Rev. Deborah Block of Milwaukee, co-leader of the rival Covenant Network, which advocates toleration for openly homosexual clergy and lay officers, said the Confessing Churches is "a divisive movement" that is "counterproductive."
Liberal Presbyterians are rallying behind another declaration, "Affirmation 2001," which says the church should protect "freedom of conscience" and "welcome all persons." The text, posted on the Internet on May 1, has been endorsed by several hundred individual Presbyterians.
The Rev. Parker Williamson, leader of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, thinks the Confessing Churches point toward the future of the denomination.
There won't be a Presbyterian schism, he said, because the left-right split already exists within the church. But like-minded congregations will form their own networks and "ignore denominational structures as a dinosaur."
Roberts believes "the problem with our denomination, and why we lose so many members, is that we lack focus on what we clearly believe." He thinks local congregations must take the initiative to remedy that. The denomination, with 3.6 million members, has suffered steady losses the past 35 years.