By Don Fortson
TE, Presbytery of the Central Carolinas
In the EPC today, we are afraid of conflict. We are reminded repeatedly of our ethos, which calls for charity in all things. Those who speak out and disagree are often perceived as troublemakers who are disturbing the peace. And yet, the EPC was founded by men and women who were not afraid to speak and disagree when they believed the biblical and confessional foundation of the church was in danger of crumbling.
Next year’s General Assembly has the potential to be a watershed moment in the 46-year history of our church. To date, the doctrine and ministry of the EPC has been a testimony to biblical and confessional faithfulness. This is not by accident, as from its inception the EPC was founded on fidelity to the Word of God and the Westminster Confession of Faith. We do well to remember this as we take up what I believe is the most contentious issue we have faced in the life of our denomination — the ordination of ministers with ongoing unnatural sexual desires. This article recalls what the founding and succeeding generations of EPC leaders did to ensure our church followed the testimony of two thousand years of biblical orthodoxy.
Founding Generation
By the early 1980s, liberal theology had run its course in the UPCUSA and the PCUS — the final authority of the Bible was questioned, the deity of Christ was challenged, universalism was acceptable, abortion was a legitimate Christian option, and an increasing number of ministers considered homosexuality compatible with professing Christ as Lord. A group of pastors and ruling elders in the northern and southern Presbyterian churches decided it was time to leave a denomination no longer affirming historic orthodox Christianity. The churches, whose consciences convicted them it was time to depart, looked around for a suitable denominational home. Alignment with existing Reformed bodies did not seem an option since these congregations were charismatic or had women elders. However, the EPC’s founders were persuaded these two issues could be areas where believers might have liberty of practice within a confessional church since there were biblical reasons for holding these positions.
The founding generation of EPC leaders were convinced that one of the culprits of mainline demise was the Book of (multiple) Confessions and feeble ordination vows that had not held officers accountable to Reformed doctrinal commitments. They decided to return to historic Presbyterian practice and adopt the Westminster Confession and Catechisms as doctrinal standards, and resurrected traditional ordination vows that affirmed clear constitutional accountability. These decisions would give the new denomination a strong foundation for the future. It was understood that ordination vows would be binding among honorable men and women. A brief statement of essential evangelical faith was written to show solidarity with other orthodox churches.
Logo and Motto
The ethos of the EPC at its founding was captured in the logo and motto of the new denomination. The first official EPC logo had a cross, Bible, and dove (representing the Holy Spirit) in the center, encircled by the EPC motto: “In Essentials, Unity; In Non-Essentials, Liberty; In All Things Charity. Truth in Love.” The final three words of the motto, “Truth in Love,” are a succinct summary of what was central to the founding generation of the EPC. I have written about this early EPC history in Liberty in Non-Essentials: The Story of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. When the EPC published its history in 2016, Stated Clerk Jeff Jeremiah wrote a foreword in which he stated:
An important development that sparked the creation of the EPC was the arbitrary way the mainline determined what was ‘essential’ and what was ‘non-essential.’ Commitment to biblical truth and confessional orthodoxy was deemed a non-essential while endorsement of women’s ordination was deemed essential.1 (emphasis mine)
As Jeremiah pointed out, indispensable submission to biblical truth and confessional orthodoxy was the foundation upon which the EPC was built. This was their solemn resolve in reaction to the crumbling foundation of mainline Presbyterianism where Scripture and the doctrinal standards of the church had become “non-essential.” The final authority of the Scriptures in everything it teaches is the solid rock of Christ’s Church, otherwise the influence of every new wind of doctrine will begin to rebuild that foundation with sand. The founders offered this opening statement of historic evangelicalism in their “Essentials of Our Faith” document:
All Scripture is self-attesting and being Truth, requires our unreserved submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is a complete and unified witness to God’s redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks. On this sure foundation we affirm these additional Essentials of our faith.2
This opening assertion of biblical authority is followed by a list of seven essentials, which according to Ed Davis (EPC Stated Clerk, 1981-2000) was informed by the Wheaton College statement of faith, as well as the brief statement of faith adopted by the National Association of Evangelicals. The “Essentials of Our Faith” concludes with this statement: “These essentials are set forth in greater detail in the Westminster Confession of Faith.”
Westminster Confession and Catechisms
The most substantive confessional expression of the Reformed Tradition in the English language is the Westminster Confession and Catechisms. The Westminster Confession has served American Presbyterians well for almost three hundred years. The EPC founders recognized that drift from the Reformed faith expressed in the Westminster standards had brought corruption into the church’s doctrine and practice, and they sought to reverse this by returning to the ancient boundaries as faithful articulations of what Scripture teaches. In the foreword to Liberty in Non-Essentials, Jeremiah wrote,
In the EPC, to be Reformed means that with the church through the centuries we are unapologetically biblical and orthodox. We affirm that the Bible is God’s Word, and we are people under its authority. We are also confessional. Our commitment to the Westminster standards is ‘open and honest.’ A careful reading of the Confession (written in the 17th century) can lead to questions, reservations, and even exceptions. For TEs, the Presbytery determines whether exceptions are acceptable — which is in keeping with the Adopting Act of 1729.3
The EPC constitutionally is a confessional, Reformed church because the founding generation of EPC leaders believed that truth matters! They asserted that biblically we must be “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). “Truth in Love” expresses well the ethos of the EPC where we see ourselves as a family that trusts each other – a place where we can speak the truth to each other in love. Trust in the Christian family is tethered to truth; there is no unity or trust apart from shared truth found in the Holy Scripture. Our unity in the truth as Reformed believers is expressed in our common confession, the Westminster standards. This was the vision of our founders at our inception, a vision that has been faithfully embraced and practiced by succeeding generations in the EPC.
Speaking Up
There is a misperception among some in the EPC that to raise concerns about church issues is inherently divisive, unloving, and violating the trusting ethos of the EPC. This kind of thinking is not biblical. Neither is it consistent with the spirit of the EPC’s founders. One of the reasons the founders of the EPC knew it was time to leave the mainline was because many evangelicals had capitulated and stopped speaking up, resulting in the proliferation of theological error. Observing little willingness to confront false teaching, the founders believed there was little hope for the mainline church being reformed according to Scripture. The lesson they had learned: unless there is vigilance and a willingness to address erroneous doctrine and practice inconsistent with Scripture and our constitution, the EPC is destined to repeat mainline mistakes over time. St. Paul’s parting words to the elders at Ephesus make this very point:
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore, be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. (Acts 20:28-31)
This is a continuous spiritual battle within congregations and denominations. Church leaders must be alert and not hesitate to speak up when God’s truth is twisted. A seminary classmate was Mark Jumper, son of Andy Jumper, one of the EPC founding fathers. Mark remembers his father’s frustration with evangelicals in the old mainline who would not speak up, but decided “to go along to get along.”
I fear that in 2025 this spirit prevails in parts of the EPC, where those speaking up are perceived as “troublemakers” and “malcontents” who need to be quiet and get along with others. This reminds me of the voice heard in the PC(USA) – “We must have peace and unity,” meanwhile the ecclesiastical house was burning down! Whenever unity has been valued above truth in Presbyterian history, doctrinal disaster eventually follows. John Calvin, our Reformed forefather, knew the importance of speaking up when God’s truth is at stake. He wrote: “A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.”
The reason many of us in the EPC are raising the alarm about the preliminary report from the Ad Interim Committee (AIC) on same sex attraction (SSA) and ordination is that some parts of the report are simply inconsistent with the Scriptures and the Westminster Standards. Members of the AIC surely must know that EPC congregations do not want SSA ministers, so what is the incentive here? There are good folks on the AIC who know Scripture, so we’re wondering: Who are they trying to protect? Greg Johnson? SSA ministers currently in the EPC? The EPC’s reputation with outsiders? Perhaps all of these. There must be some motivation driving the convoluted preliminary report which is solidly orthodox in parts and then ditches those affirmations when it recommends that SSA candidates may be examined for ordination.
Whatever the motive behind the preliminary report, the EPC must not dismiss what the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:26 about “dishonorable passions … contrary to nature.” Opening church office to individuals with ongoing unnatural sexual desires would be a watershed moment in the history of the EPC — a departure from Scripture, 2,000 years of historic biblical orthodoxy, and from its own foundational roots. Sometimes the most loving thing to do in the church is to speak up when God’s truth is attacked. The EPC way: “Truth in Love.”
____________________
1 S. Donald Fortson III, Liberty in Non-Essentials: The Story of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (Livonia, Mich.: Evangelical Presbyterian Church, 2016), x.
2 See Explanatory Statement to “Essentials of Our Faith” in Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms in Modern English (Evangelical Presbyterian Church, 2004), v.
3 Liberty in Non-Essentials, xii.
Leave a Comment