Friday, April 29, 2011

Central Carolina sends Overture for PCA to leave the National Association of Evangelicals

News has just come out that one of our presbyteries is sending up an overture to the General Assembly for our denomination to sever its ties to the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE).  I've read the overture and am supportive. 

Part of the rationale has to do with the NAE and some of its political proclamations.  In the recent past it has made declarations on behalf of its members on the environment and immigration.  Lest you doubt its political aims visit this page

The NAE was founded in the 1940s in response to the National and World Council of Churches that excluded Bible believing folk (read fundamentalists) who stood on the inerrancy of Scripture.  Since that time evangelicals have tried to distance themselves from fundamentalism by focusing on evangelism and cooperation between denominations by minimizing doctrinal differences.  Of course the parachurch movement is also a huge component of evangelicalism.  But anyone can see that "mission creep" has found its way into the NAE and now it find itself speaking on matters where Scripture is silent.  Our confessions are pretty clear about when the church ought to speak to the magistrate or intermettle in civil affairs.  The political statements of the NAE often conflict with those standards.

Read the overture for yourself.  Also read up on evangelicalism too.  I would suggest this book as a good place to start.  Here is a good explanation of the overture by one of my colleagues.

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