Snubbed Conservative Clergyman Says His Ministry Made Presbytery 'Uneasy'

by Jim Brown
February 10, 2004

(AgapePress) - The Presbyterian Church USA has disavowed the ministry of a theologically conservative pastor who has spoken out against the denomination's support for abortion and homosexuality.

The Presbytery of Western North Carolina recently voted to invalidate the ministry of the Presbyterian Lay Committee and its chief executive officer, Pastor Parker T. Williamson. Presbytery officials became angry with Williamson after he urged members of the denomination to consider restricting their tithes and offerings to specific ministries that are faithful to scripture.

Williamson feels that the Western North Carolina Presbytery is uneasy with the Lay Committee's ministry. "They have been very worried about the fact that we have counseled churches, and are counseling churches, to be very careful in restricting their gifts -- particularly gifts that are going into the denomination's infrastructure -- to ministries that are demonstrably lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ," the pastor says.

"In other words, no blank checks to the denomination's hierarchy."

The pastor says it is hurtful to experience such a snub from a church he has been serving for more than three decades. He says denomination officials "tried to sugarcoat it a little bit by saying, 'Well, your ministry is not valid, but you can remain a Presbyterian minister at large' -- which is a strange sort of a thing."

The Presbyterian Lay Committee's leader feels the officials are engaging in a sort of doubletalk. "Basically, what they've said is 'You're a minister, but your ministry is not recognized,'" he says.

But according to Williamson, trying to separate a minister from his ministry is like trying to unscramble an egg. He says he believes the Presbytery made its equivocal decision "because they didn't want me to appear to be a martyr, which they thought from a public relations standpoint might not be good for them."

Williamson says the Presbyterian Lay Committee will be filing a complaint against the Western North Carolina Presbytery in the denomination's courts.