The Meadowview Session Unanimously Approves and Voted for Overtures 23 & 37.
The below letter was approved unanimously by the Meadowview Session to be Read and Submitted to the Piedmont Triad Presbytery during the floor debates over Overtures 23 & 37 on January 22, 2022. This letter was read by John Hargett at Presbytery on 1/22 and to the Congregation on 1/23. RE John Hargett and RE Ozzie Marin were the Session Representatives at that Presbytery Meeting. Pastors George and Pablo were in attendance also.
Below this letter is the video of the report to the Congregation and additional resources to help you understand how we came to our decision.
To Our Brothers at PTP.
Today’s discussion is one more step in what has been the source of countless formal letters, blogs, emails, phone calls and personal discussions. All, in our opinion, to have brought us no closer to unity and moreover created personal judgements and in many cases unnecessarily harsher public statements via facebook, twitter, etc. None of these above actions have been evidence of our high calling to honor the cause of Christ.
We, as a session, have made an effort to keep up with the dialogue presented by both sides of the discussion to enable an educated and informed decision on the issues before us today. We also understand that most of you have arrived at this meeting with your decision on the vote determined and resolute and these words will quite possibly be hollow and without effect.
With all of our different backgrounds, giftings and passions, we, as brothers in Christ, have one unique thing in common. We are all sinners that have been saved by grace. Each of us, through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, are made aware of the baggage that we bring to this office and to our personal testimony. The sins that Paul describes in Romans 7:15 that beset us, that cause us to cringe at our thoughts, our passions, our hidden failures are indeed issues that we need to be able to share with one another as brothers in Christ. That being said, as remnants of our hearts of stone they ought not be used as descriptors to further define our spectacular citizenship in Heaven and blessed calling as Christians.
Men in our denomination, out of hearts of compassion for brothers with a particular sin struggle, have elevated this particular sin as one that is more difficult, debilitating, and therefore requiring more sympathy. Brothers, all of us have issues: pornography, pride, selfishness, deceit, adulterous, fraudulent, and the list goes on. All sin is to be confessed and with the daily assistance of the Holy Spirit mortified. The issue before us today is whether we can find the common bond as redeemed men of God to stand firm and do the needed work to codify clearly understood theology against the background of a fallen world.
We have the ability to show empathy to our brothers and still affirm established truths. We, the Session of Meadowview Reformed Presbyterian Church, unanimously urge the members of PTP to vote to approve the two measures before us today.
Respectfully submitted,
The Session of MRPC
Below this Video Announcement to the Congregation, are links and resources to help you understand further our decision.
More Resources
- What’s Wrong with Side B Gay Christianity? By Pastor George (Gay Identity But Celibate)
- Recommending Overtures 23 & 37 (Includes Text of Overtures) By Pastor Jon Payne, Gospel Reformation Network President
- Why Overtures 23 & 37 Belong in the BCO Pastor George’s Article in The Aquila Report
- PCA Study Report on Human Sexuality The Denomination’s Beliefs on this
- On Identity & Language – Video of the Class We did that gets to the Issue
- Summary of the Human Sexuality Class Video We Did on the PCA Report (Last Class we did)
- All of the Videos from Our Classes on Human Sexuality & PCA Report – 14 Videos
Categories: Pastors' Journal