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Congregations leave Reformed Church in America to form
new denomination amid LGBT debate
By Michael Gryboski,
Christian Post Reporter
Thursday, January 13, 2022
to an ongoing debate over homosexuality and scripture interpretation in October of 2021. | Maria Orr
After months of preparation, a theologically conservative denomination has broken away from the Reformed Church in America, with 43 congregations joining the new body on New Year’s Day.
Known as the Alliance of Reformed Churches, the new denomination was created as the RCA continues to deal with a debate over its official stance on LGBT issues.
Dan Ackerman, director of Organizational Leadership at ARC, wrote in a blog post last June that there were “three primary convictions” that led to the formation of the new denomination.
“The Bible as understood within Reformed theology — its understanding of God, sin and the world — provides a thoughtful faith that can engage people facing today’s uncertainties,” wrote Ackerman at the time.
“The mission of Jesus in the world, entrusted to the local church, can be better served by a more agile form of ministry and governance than what we’ve inherited from the 1500’s.”
“The nature of the organization is to hold a high value on congregational mission and vision so that the organization provides added value to its congregations while, in turn, receiving its funding from those same congregations as partners,” Ackerman continued.
Jeff Walton of the theologically conservative think tank Institute on Religion & Democracy noted in a blog post published Wednesday that the number of churches leaving the RCA for the ARC represents about 5% of the denomination.
“Now the realignment that began in the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is reaching the Dutch Reformed – but without the lawsuits and acrimony that characterized some of those prior splits,” wrote Walton.
“Delegates to the RCA General Synod in October approved recommendations that allow transferring churches to retain assets and church buildings.”
In recent years, there has been much debate in the RCA over whether the denomination should become accepting of homosexuality and same-sex marriage.
In July, an earlier task force known as Vision 2020 recommended a “restructuring” of the RCA, believing that the debate over sexual ethics was part of a broader trend of division.
“There have been numerous points, especially in the last 70 years, where the RCA has been at an impasse. Points of disagreement and tension have included differences of views on things like ecumenical partnerships, social justice/political involvement, merging with another denomination, communism, internal restructuring,” stated the Vision 2020 report.
“This means we currently face something we have previously weathered, but it also means that we are likely to be here again if we do not find a way to handle conflict differently.”
At its general synod last October, the denomination voted to create a task force that would consider proposals to resolve the debate within the approximately 186,000-member RCA.
Churches that celebrate LGBTQs and same-sex marriage are churches where the Holy Spirit is not enlightening the leadership with the word of God. 5% of mainline churches with a real relationship with Jesus Christ is about right.
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'Seismic Shift': Afghanistan Is the New Number 1
Most Dangerous Place for Christians
Michael Foust | ChristianHeadlines.com
| Thursday, January 20, 2022
Afghanistan, Afghanistan may become 'epicenter of Jihadist terrorism' after withdrawal
Afghanistan has supplanted North Korea as the world's most dangerous country for Christians, according to an annual watchdog report that says conditions have gone from bad to worse following the Taliban's 2021 takeover.
The Open Doors 2022 World Watch List places Afghanistan as No. 1 among the top 50 countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian, followed by North Korea, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen. Among other notables: Iran is No. 9, Iraq No. 14 and China No. 17.
Most of the countries on the list are located in South Asia and North Africa.
It is the first time Afghanistan has been number one. David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors, told Christian Headlines that it's the most "seismic shift" in the report's history. The situation in North Korea, he said, has not improved. Rather, conditions in Afghanistan have gotten worse.
"With [the Taliban] controlling the entire region," Curry said, "Christians have left the country – and those that have stayed are either in hiding or on the run."
The report lists the number of Christians in the country as in the "thousands."
"It is impossible to live openly as a Christian in Afghanistan," the report says, warning that believers face likely death if they are found.
The Taliban's promises of a more free society, Curry said, haven't proven to be true.
"The Taliban is trying to roll this out as Taliban 2.0," Curry told Christian Headlines. "But even as of today, there's nearly 4 million children that are out of school – 60 percent of them are girls. That promise was broken.
"... From the first day they seized control, they got a list of prominent Christians [and] they began going door to door trying to find them. So, we know what they're doing on the ground. And then none of it has to do with anything that would be recognized as a democratic system or a fair system."
The world, Curry said, must take "decisive action" to "prevent a religious genocide against Christians." That includes, he said, accepting refugees.
"These are people who, if sent back, will likely be killed," Curry said. "... That's the first and most pressing human rights issue."
The World Watch List, Curry added, is filled with countries whose governments collapsed and are ruled by extremists. Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya and Eritrea, he said, are examples.
"This is a tipping point into other chaotic issues that people of all faiths are going to be forced to deal with [such as] terrorism and the drug trade," Curry said. "The drug trade in Afghanistan is going to go through the roof with their opium trade because it will be the only economically sustainable crop for many people. So you're going to go through a number of issues because [the U.S.] decided to handle this transition in such an insecure way."
Pakistani pastor shot dead in ambush attack after Sunday service;
mourners chant 'Long live Jesus Christ'
By Anugrah Kumar,
Christian Post Contributor|
Monday, January 31, 2022
In what police called a “terrorist act,” two unidentified men followed a pastor returning home in his car after a Sunday worship service and shot him to death in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, which in 2013 was the scene of one of the deadliest attacks on Christians in the country.
The pastor, identified as 75-year-old William Siraj of Shaheed-e-All Saints Church from the Church of Pakistan denomination comprising Methodist and Anglican churches, was shot twice in the abdomen as he and his colleague, identified as Pastor Patrick Naeem, were driving home from church on Sunday.
The shooting occurred near Ring Road in the city’s Gulbahar area, leaving Pastor Siraj dead and Pastor Naeem injured, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported, adding that Naeem had been discharged from the hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.
Pastor Siraj’s body had been handed over to his family.
News channels showed emergency services removing the pastor from the car as people chanted “Long live Jesus Christ” while carrying his body on a bed through the streets to a house, according to Reuters.
“We demand justice and protection of Christians from the Government of Pakistan,” tweeted Bishop Azad Marshall from the Church of Pakistan.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby also responded to the news of the attack. “… We pray for the light of Christ’s justice, hope and peace for our sisters and brothers in the Church of Pakistan,” he wrote on Twitter.
Capital City Police Officer Abbas Ahsan called it a “terror attack” and said, “We are determined to protect minorities.”
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Chief Minister Mahmood Khan offered his condolences to the Christian community and the family of the deceased.
On Saturday, Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed warned of possible terrorist strikes across the country over the next two months as security agencies had learned about sleeper cells of militant outfits in that region, The Times of India reported.
No one had claimed responsibility for the shooting as of Monday.
The country’s northwestern areas bordering Afghanistan have seen a rise in militant attacks on security forces in recent days, many of them claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is close to the Afghan Taliban, Reuters said.
In 2013, at least 81 Christians were killed after two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a church belonging to the Church of Pakistan denomination in Peshawar as hundreds of worshipers were leaving Sunday mass.
About 400 worshipers were exchanging greetings after the service at the 130-year-old All Saints Church when the two bombers, each carrying about 13 pounds of explosives, launched the attack. The walls were pockmarked with ball bearings that had been packed into the bombs to cause maximum carnage in the busy church.
There are about 70,000 Christians in Peshawar. The community accounts for about 2% of the 180 million people in Pakistan.
Muslim minorities, including Shias and Ahmaddiyas, also often face attacks by Sunni terror groups in Pakistan.
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