To the author(s) of this article, why do you not see the CREC as a legitimate denomination? In full transparency, I am an elder in a CREC church and am asking for clarity, not necessarily to ruffle feathers or for some great debate.
The PCA histically has had more M.Div.s than pastoral positions.
The EPC (as an example with which I am familiar) has more churches desiring Confessionally Reformed ministers than it produces. This has always been the case, but has become even more acute since the huge influx of churches from the PCUSA approximately 10-15 years ago.
As the ministers who came out 9f the PCUSA retire or move, those churches are most decidedly NOT going to call some guy who attended a PCUSA or other mainline seminary. They tend to look for ministers who are Reformed and well-educated.
Where does one find such men? They are largely graduates of RTS, Covenant, Westminster, etc. Who overwhelmingly attends those seminaries? People in or from the PCA. Where does a church find such a man, especially if he is a seasoned minister? Existing PCA churches.
I was a member of my EPC presbytery's Ministerial Committee for years. As an RTS man, I encouraged churches looking for ministers to look to call men from those seminaries. They usually found them in the PCA.
The EPC is in a constant state of flux. The continual inflow of congregations from the PCUSA from the EPC founding in 1981 to the present day means that there has been a continual in-migration of less-than-confessional churches and ministers. The congregations typically (re)discover Reformed theology in that process, and usually select future ministers who are more confessional than the ones they arrived with.
At least in regard to PCA men going EPC, I would suggest that what you are seeing isn't necessarily ''left-moving'' clergy so much as men to whom denominational loyalty to the PCA isn't a core conviction. In my experience, they are very often men who remain confessional but for whom being PCA is less important than having a good call to a confessional congregation regardless of its affiliation.
(Bear in mind that - on paper - EPC and PCA vows and subscription rules are identical. And if a congregation & presbytery affirm male-only officers, then the difference between EPC and PCA is virtually nonexistent at the local level.)
That’s my thought exactly. And my experience. I’m a former PCA pastor in a complementarian EPC church. I couldn’t find a PCA congregation to serve when I was searching for a call last time. Are my presbytery meetings ideal? No. But neither were my PCA presbytery meetings.
To the author(s) of this article, why do you not see the CREC as a legitimate denomination? In full transparency, I am an elder in a CREC church and am asking for clarity, not necessarily to ruffle feathers or for some great debate.
Comrade, just a note to say that as "data" is plural, they suggest, rather than "data suggests". ;)
There's another option.
The PCA histically has had more M.Div.s than pastoral positions.
The EPC (as an example with which I am familiar) has more churches desiring Confessionally Reformed ministers than it produces. This has always been the case, but has become even more acute since the huge influx of churches from the PCUSA approximately 10-15 years ago.
As the ministers who came out 9f the PCUSA retire or move, those churches are most decidedly NOT going to call some guy who attended a PCUSA or other mainline seminary. They tend to look for ministers who are Reformed and well-educated.
Where does one find such men? They are largely graduates of RTS, Covenant, Westminster, etc. Who overwhelmingly attends those seminaries? People in or from the PCA. Where does a church find such a man, especially if he is a seasoned minister? Existing PCA churches.
I was a member of my EPC presbytery's Ministerial Committee for years. As an RTS man, I encouraged churches looking for ministers to look to call men from those seminaries. They usually found them in the PCA.
The EPC is in a constant state of flux. The continual inflow of congregations from the PCUSA from the EPC founding in 1981 to the present day means that there has been a continual in-migration of less-than-confessional churches and ministers. The congregations typically (re)discover Reformed theology in that process, and usually select future ministers who are more confessional than the ones they arrived with.
At least in regard to PCA men going EPC, I would suggest that what you are seeing isn't necessarily ''left-moving'' clergy so much as men to whom denominational loyalty to the PCA isn't a core conviction. In my experience, they are very often men who remain confessional but for whom being PCA is less important than having a good call to a confessional congregation regardless of its affiliation.
(Bear in mind that - on paper - EPC and PCA vows and subscription rules are identical. And if a congregation & presbytery affirm male-only officers, then the difference between EPC and PCA is virtually nonexistent at the local level.)
That’s my thought exactly. And my experience. I’m a former PCA pastor in a complementarian EPC church. I couldn’t find a PCA congregation to serve when I was searching for a call last time. Are my presbytery meetings ideal? No. But neither were my PCA presbytery meetings.
HEAVENS TO MERGATROID! EXIT, STAGE LEFT!