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TechnoratiThe New Wineskins-Evangelical Presbyterian Church Transitional Presbytery was created to run under a newly designed constitution based on a grassroots polity rather than centralized authority and to connect missional churches with the purpose of spreading the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Weaver clarified that New Wineskins is not about polity but about being "grafted into the vine." The vine in Scripture represents Jesus.
Most churches in the NWAC are still praying and considering whether to leave.
"Where we are today is one of those messy times," Weaver said. "All over country there are churches wrestling with how they ought to continue on with their mission in NWAC."
Not all churches part of the network choose to leave the PC(USA), which is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the country and suffering continual membership loss. Some want to and intend to stay. There, they are charged to carry out their missional and prophetic witness and fight for reform.
"If you're staying in the PC(USA), there's plenty to do," Anderson told the New Wineskins congregations while describing the PC(USA) as a "vineyard that has scarred vines - bad theology, ecclesiolatry, old ecumenism and leadership crises."
Work within the denomination includes condemning Presbyterian pride, "overcoming evangelical hesitation," and bearing fruit, he highlighted.
"We must focus on bearing fruit lest we be accused of simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic," he said. "We are needed to correct misinformation, partner with smaller churches without resources, help other churches on their way into the New Wineskins Presbytery, promote damage control and to continue influencing the shape of the PCUSAUSA Some of us actually believe the church will right itself or, rather, be righted by God, who we believe can work miracles with denominations as well as individuals."
The PC(USA) is the country's ninth largest Christian group and claims nearly 11,000 congregations. While only a minority have disaffiliated from the national church, the denomination's head, stated clerk the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, has recognized the departures as serious.
