Broken Covenant: Signs of a Shattered Communion
By Parker T. Williamson
Special to The Layman Online
Wednesday, February 7, 2007

There was a time when Presbyterians knew what they believed. Rooted in Scripture, denominational leaders guarded the truth that had been entrusted to them. Aspiring ministers were tested for an unequivocal commitment to the church's faith.

Essential beliefs were specified, and candidates for ordination subscribed to them in writing. No scruples, no behind the back finger crossing, no "wink, wink" reservations, no private definitions of Biblically conceived and confessionally affirmed doctrine. The lines between belief and unbelief were clearly drawn and commonly understood. If you wanted to be ordained a Presbyterian, you had to believe what Presbyterians believe.

Today, having lost more than half the denomination's membership in the last few decades, decimated its budget, consumed its endowments, and jettisoned most of its missionary force, Presbyterian Church (USA) managers are clinging to the vestiges of a vanishing institution. What happened? What caused an unparalleled witness to the Gospel in the United States of America to be so rapidly swept toward oblivion? These are questions, not of conjecture, but of history. the rest