Free Church Assembly - An Alternative View
The Free Church General Assembly is over. Many are saying it was a good one and that, apart from a small minority, there was genuine harmony and the decisions were good. Others have dubbed it the "Black Assembly". One senior minister, respected throughout the whole reformed world for his godliness and teaching, accused it of "evil and hypocrisy". Are you confused? This article offers another and rather different perspective from what many readers may have seen reported elsewhere.
Does Church Discipline Any Longer Exist?
The Assembly decided to throw out three libels (written accusations with supporting evidence to prove a case) against a prominent Professor of the Church. The libels brought charges and a list of witnesses and documentary evidence alleging that he had been guilty of breaking the ninth Commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness". The libels all referred to matters subsequent to the Assembly Finding of 1995. However, it was claimed there were technical irregularities in the way in which the libels were presented. So the libels were all stopped. The evidence is now not to be looked into and the witnesses not to be heard. Instead the matter was "terminated". What that means is questionable, but the intention seems clear and could be expressed in common speech as, "Go away and don't bring any more accusations against this man". When men at the Assembly of 1998 asked how they might bring a case against the minister in question it was stated they could do so by a private libel. This year those who brought private libels were not allowed to get anywhere because of... . . . alleged technicalities. Does that not mean that one of our ministers is now above the law of the Church? Practically speaking it would seem to be so. Clearly truth must lie with either one side or the other, yet the Church is not prepared to consider the evidence and ascertain from that evidence who is telling the truth. Yet it hopes for God's blessing. How foolish! "He that covereth .... sins shall not prosper". (Proverbs 17:15).
Father Can't Clear Daughter's Name
Then there was the case of a Christian gentleman in one of the Free Church congregations who has been for years attempting to clear his daughter's name of certain aspersions following the Sheriff Court trial of 1996. Technicality here too loomed in the deliberations. He had brought an appeal to the Edinburgh Presbytery which was rejected. But the grounds of rejection were that he had no accompanying documentary evidence to prove that his daughter had ever requested him to act on her behalf!! The Assembly confirmed Edinburgh Presbytery's decision to throw out the case on this alleged technicality. It is the duty of Church Courts to help people with technical problems. In this instance not very much help was given to a loving and a dutiful father in his weary task of clearing his daughter's name. Last year he also had an appeal rejected - on other grounds. So it goes on and on.
College Crisis Deepens.
The Free Church College Crisis deepened with the Assembly agreeing to the proposed "degree-awarding link-up with Edinburgh University". This development ignores the fact that our College has in the past and since 1900 always been jealous of its total independence. This is a new development therefore. It ignores the ominous fact that other reformed theological colleges refuse as a rule to have any influence from broad or liberal institutions such as the one envisaged in the case of the Free Church College just now. In colleges where such influence has been allowed there has tended to be a signifcant increase in the number of liberal textbooks used. The teaching may remain Confessional - for a while anyway - but precious time may be wasted in the study of unhelpful, if not indeed unsatisfactory, textbooks. Have we forgotten that, "Evil communications corrupt good manners?" Recently our College has been attracting very few students but one suspects that this new policy will mean that the College will now attract still fewer.
Veto
The Assembly decided that the recognition granted by the Training of the Ministry Committee to Mr David Blunt as a candidate for the ministry be withdrawn. The Skye Presbytery was rebuked for licensing him as a preacher in the face of appeals by two Presbyteries, Edinburgh and Inverness. Skye Presbytery had fully investigated all the complaints and answered them and therefore decided the appeals were frivolous. This was a low point in the Assembly. Low because a godly man's entrance into the ministry can now be vetoed by Edinburgh Presbytery. Low because his problem was that he was perceived to be on the wrong side. Low because the two Presbyteries who complained of Skye's actions had themselves done the self-same thing in ignoring or refusing appeals in recent months. Low because at the same time the General Assembly were expressing concern over the lack of applicants for the ministry, calling on people to "pray the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labourers into his harvest" and urging ministers "to bring before suitably gifted young men the claims of the Christian ministry."
Red Herrings
The Assembly decided to uphold the Lewis Presbytery Appeal regarding the four leaders of the Stornoway Reformed Fellowship. The speeches for the Lewis Presbytery contained enough red herrings to fill a barrel and said little that was relevant to the case. No one yet knows what they meant by "removal from the roll". At one point they said the crime of which the four leaders of the Stornoway Reformed Fellowship had been guilty was "schism" and was on a par with the sins of incest, adultery, murder, atheism, idolatry and some other horrific impieties. Then the whole process was likened to scoring a name off the roll because the person had moved congregation without asking for a disjunction certificate and had not left a forwarding address. The Western Synod had unanimously asked that every attempt be made to fnd a pastoral solution before resorting to discipline. There were a number of serious procedural mistakes made locally in the initial handling of this sensitive issue but in spite of this the Assembly upheld the Appeal. It seems that the decision reached was on the basis of political expediency rather than on a basis of basic Christian responsibilities or Church law.
Friday Bombshell
Then there was the bombshell on the morning of the final day. An alleged radio report became the subject of a point of order. The Rev David Murray and then the Rev Maurice Roberts were required personally to repudiate the thought of the FCDA ever going to law against the Free Church. Whether it was competent to raise the matter then is questionable. Certainly it was hardly fair. The FCDA had never discussed the matter, it was stated. How could anyone say that a situation could never arise when it might be appropriate and necessary to go to law. After all, Dr Begg had threatened to go to law against the Church in the last Century and the Free Church fathers of 1900 actually did go to law in pursuance of constitutional claims of the Free Church of Scotland and the Free Church exists today because of that very action. In the end Mr Roberts, under hostile questioning from the Clerk (who was not a member of Assembly and should not have spoken at that point) stated that he had witnessed evil and hypocrisy in the course of the week. Let the impartial reader decide whether he wasjustified. Certainly he has had support from all around the world since he uttered his words. It should make people stop and think.
Commission
The Commission of Assembly will meet from 23rd until the 25th June. Matters before it include several appeals linked in one way or other with the 1996 Sheriff Court Case. Also there will be the Report of the Peace Commission. This should have been one of the most important items on the Assembly's agenda. Strangely, it was deferred. Along with this report is an overture form Edinburgh Presbytery trying to close once and for alI this sad saga. It would seem that a reasonable paraphrase of the approach being followed could be put in the words "Draw a line under it, burn the evidence, discipline the three men who dared to bring libels against him, and ban the FCDA." Tyranny is the suggested way to peace. Mr Roberts is due to be libelled for his strong words at the Assembly. Some may think that he displayed an angry outburst because he spoke forcefully and with conviction. Others believe that he was only stating the truth. There were those present who would have agreed with his assessment.
Inconsistency or Lapse of Memory?
Much has been said and written about accepting the authority and decisions of Church Courts and Assemblies but many of those Office-bearers who are now most outspoken in their demands for submission to Church authority were among those present at the Perth meeting of October 7~" 1996. That group issued a statement of defiance towards the authority of the Church. It demanded the calling of another Commission of Assembly to overturn the decision of the Commission of Assembly of 2°° October 1996. Do these facts suggest perhaps that there is a savour of hypocrisy in the present loud outcries for submission to all Church authority?
Prepared by Rev Graeme Craig
Any comments or questions please E-Mail me or Rev William Macleod the Editor.
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