WHILE THE EPISCOPAL AND UNITED METHODIST CHURCHES HAVE STRUGGLED OVER HOMOSEXUALITY, ANOTHER AMERICAN MAINLINE PROTESTANT DENOMINATION—THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (U.S.A.)—HAS BEEN RELATIVELY QUIET. BUT THAT’S CHANGING.

Since 2001, Presbyterians have been awaiting recommendations from a special task force on "Peace, Unity and Purity," charged with seeking a way to overcome severe disagreements on gay relationships and other issues. Now that task force is close to completing its work.

Some aren’t even waiting to read the fine print: 85 conservative congregations sent delegates to a June convocation in Edina, Minn. There, representatives endorsed platforms that laid out essential doctrines and "ethical imperatives," including the Bible as infallible, salvation through Jesus Christ alone, the necessity of world evangelism and rejection of gay sex and abortion. group - which calls itself the New Wineskins Initiative - also proposed a radically reorganized, mission-minded denomination to halt decades of decline in the Presbyterian church, which has a current membership of 2.4 million. The Rev. Tom Edwards of Wichita, Kan., who organized the Edina meeting, said Presbyterianism is too top-heavy and must "start serving the local congregation and stop being a structure that exists for the local congregation to serve the national bureaucracy."

New Wineskins wants its conservative beliefs and restructuring plan to be adopted by next year’s national assembly. The assembly will also debate the task force report and the latest liberal attempt to abolish the church’s policy against actively gay clergy and lay officers.

Though New Wineskins leaders emphasize unity around the group’s bold vision, there’s a hint of schism.

The Rev. David Henderson of West Lafayette, Ind., moderator of New Wineskins, sees three possibilities for the church’s future:
• A thoroughly reformed denomination such as New Wineskins proposes
• New Wineskins congregations find it necessary to leave the denomination;
• The denomination holds together, but congrega tions affiliate with like-minded networks within it, such as New Wineskins and liberal groups.

New Wineskins isn’t schismatic, Henderson told Edina delegates, "because the schism has already happened," meaning liberals and conservatives are thoroughly divided.

The Rev. Jerry Van Marter, who covered the meeting for the church’s news service, said it was "the most overt consideration of a split in the denomination that we have yet seen." Some participants are ready to leave now, he said, while others want dramatic change "but hold out very little hope for that happening."

Another observer was the Rev. Parker Williamson of Lenoir, N.C., whose ardently conservative Presbyterian Lay Committee promoted the Edina meeting.

Williamson personally thinks a Presbyterian break-up is "inevitable" but two elements are necessary. One is an organization for dissatisfied congregations, which New Wineskins now provides. The second is a "precipitating event," especially a liberal victory on homosexuality at next year’s assembly.

Pamela Byers of the San Francisco-based Covenant Network vows continual work until church offices are opened to gays and lesbians, though "I’d be very sorry if this does lead to schism."

For years, liberals have been frustrated by the denomination’s repeated refusal to abolish its sexual conduct rules, while conservatives have been equally frustrated by liberals’ ongoing agitation and disregard for church law.

In 2001, regional units called "presbyteries" voted down a conservative proposal to bar church blessings for same-sex couples. A second issue erupted when a minister told a denominational conference that God brings salvation through various religions, not just Christianity, after which Presbyterian leaders affirmed that such discussions are proper.

One reaction to the growing left-right rift has been the "Confessing Church Movement," through which congregations with 18 percent of Presbyterian members have insisted that "Jesus Christ alone is Lord of all and the way of salvation" and that "marriage between a man and a woman (is) the only relationship within which sexual activity is appropriate." Another response was talks among a few pastors that eventually produced the New Wineskins Initiative.

Internet: Church of the Future

"Churches should stop building larger and larger premises and use the internet more," say two of the leading representatives of the church growth movement.

David Yonggi Cho, pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, with 750,000 members, and Rick Warren, pastor of the 15,000- strong Saddleback Valley Community Church say that the Internet is a key strategy for the next generation. One of the key advantages is the ability to link decentralised house groups.

The pastors met in California, and reached the conclusion Christians should cease building new premises and invest the money in missions instead.

"Twenty thousand new believers each year simply cannot be accommodated in ever-larger premises. Christians will learn to hold services at home, linked with the rest of the church via Internet," says Cho. "Our central services are broadcast live via Internet, and I can speak directly to our house groups via the Internet during the week. In view of this, it is simply not clever to continue to spend money on buildings. That’s like a bottomless pit— there’s never enough money," he says.

"Even if we had the money, it’s questionable whether the next generation would even attend services in large churches," Warren points out. "Even the largest building is full at some point. Imagine what we could do with the money! Our aim is to decentralise and send the Christians into their neighbourhoods."