A Report to My Commission

Here's a quick update on the decision of the ERC Administrative Council to provisionally sever ties with our people here at Faith.

Dave Williams did send an email to me recently in which he said that he'd reviewed my correspondence with George Jenson and that he stood by his assertion that I refused to supply the information requested by the Commission. 

I, then, sent to Dave a copy of an earlier email I sent to George in which I offered to do everything possible to create conditions in which genuine and productive dialog between the Commission and our community could take place. (George, to my stunned amazement, rejected that offer.)

Incidentally, I made that offer even though the Commission was attempting to set up a face to face meeting dealing with the status of my credentials with third parties when the Conference had not yet had that meeting with me. And, it still hasn't.

I added that I understand that Dave may not have seen the actual email but that, as the ERC Director of Congregational Care, I am certain that George told him about it.  (I may, at some point, copy that note here for the benefit of the members of my Commission.)

Since then, the Commission on Church Renewal has been mute.

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Here's where we are in the saga, as I understand it:

The Commission has explained that it decided that, under our polity, since I, the pastor at Faith had had my credentials removed, it needed to act. 

I have pointed out that, years before the rumored action against my credentials, I had resigned as the pastor of Faith and that, during those years, the Conference showed no concern at all about Faith not having a pastor.

I was not Faith's pastor when the rumored action against my credentials was taken. 

In fact, the only action the Conference took, to my knowledge, was to remove my name as pastor of Faith Community in its Directory.

I also pointed out that since Dave Williams is the staff person working with both the Commissions on Church Renewal and Church and Pastor that he, at least, knew that the story Renewal is telling is disconnected from fact.

And, I have pointed out that, here at Faith, we continue to embrace CGGC doctrine and to seek to carry out its Mission and Vision Statements and that we were doing that before I resigned as pastor and that we continue to do so to this day and in a way few ERC congregations, if any, do. 

But, and I don't say this facetiously, truth doesn't seem to stand in the way of the ERC when it wants to do something. 

The truth seems to be that the powers that be in the ERC are going to do what they want to do no matter what the truth is.