With a mass about 100 times greater than our Sun, Eta Carinae makes an excellent candidate for a full-blown supernova, or the explosion of a star. NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of Arizona) and J. Morse (BoldlyGo Institute)
“The first principle of a civilized state is that the power is legitimate only when it is under contract.” Walter Lippmann
Immanuel Baptist Church seeks to control members’ speech.
Immanuel Baptist Church in Arkansas was under fire because the church leaders did not disclose the alleged sexual abuse of minors for seven years. The Roys Report followed up on the church in Embattled Southern Baptist Church Proposes Bylaws Restricting Members’ Speech.
Immanuel is revising its bylaws to include a restriction on free speech.
…“Church members are expected to avoid making statements to the general public, media, or via the Internet with intent to breach Church business confidentialities, injure the reputation of the Church, or disregard Jesus’ imperative to love one another . . .” the proposed bylaws state.
…A member who doesn’t comply with the bylaws “may be subject to discipline or sanctions including temporary or permanent forfeiture (of membership),” states the draft document.
Many churches have come under fire in the media for its lax response to sexual abuse. Due to the pressure put on churches due to social media, churches have hired a bevy of attorneys to respond to these reports. One method to squelch concerned church members from speaking out is to revise church bylaws and the concomitant and (may I add?) controversial church covenants to control their members’ speech. Immanuel Baptist, often known as President Bill Clinton’s church (the church did not revoke his membership due to the Lewinsky situation), will rue the day they took this step. Do they understand how this causes bloggers like me to suspect even more is happening in the church?
Why is Park Street Church ex-communicating members and stressing the annual membership reaffirmation?
I have recently seen a letter removing a person involved in attempting to help PSC understand that many members disagreed with the actions of the Senior Pastor, Mark Booker (he of indeterminate degrees) and the church leadership. The reason for this is simple. Besides appearing like bullies without a clue about how to handle disagreements, they want to make sure that there will never again be a majority of members who do not support the current pastor and leadership. They are thrown out and can’t vote. Folks, remember that PSC is a Congregational church, which means the leadership is stuck with having to allow for the vote of the riff-raff.
The following is a letter just sent to members. I did not make any grammatical corrections, ala Grammarly, so what you see is what members got.
Dear Park Street Church Member,
Greetings in the Lord! I am thankful for how God is continuing to bless our worship and life together this fall. It’s been a particular joy to meditate on the Ten Commandments with many of you on Sunday mornings. May God help us to walk in the ways that he has prescribed for us as his children.
As we enter the last months of 2024, it is time for our annual reaffirmation of membership (accessible here). Our membership reaffirmation process serves to remind us of the commitments we have made to God and to each other and helps the Membership Committee maintain an up-to-date list of active members.
Membership at Park Street Church requires a continuing commitment to affirm and uphold the truths of scripture as summarized in our Confession of Faith and Covenant of Faith and Government. Membership also requires each of us to make and honor commitments to each other as fellow members of a local body of believers.
By reaffirming your membership, you are affirming that you:
- Continue to profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,
- Subscribe to the personal confession of faith (parkstreet.org/about-us/beliefs) adopted by Park Street Church,
- Commit to the church’s Covenant of Faith and Government (parkstreet.org/about-us/bylaws), and
- Regularly worship in person at Park Street Church or are unable to do so due to health, temporary absence from the region, or other similar impediments that unavoidably prevent your regular presence in worship. (If you are not able to regularly worship in person at Park Street Church for any reason but would like to maintain an active membership, please briefly explain in the reaffirmation form.)
If these commitments remain true of you, we warmly invite you to reaffirm your membership and recommit yourself to our common life together under the lordship of Jesus. We want to grow together into greater maturity in Christ, so that we more clearly reflect what we really are—a local expression of the body of Christ.
After a difficult year in the life of our congregation, we recognize that this will not be an easy decision for some. These are not abstract commitments, but commitments to a particular and very imperfect flesh and blood community. The fourth commitment clarifies what has always been true but is not always well understood—that active membership ordinarily requires regular participation in our gathered worship of God. For a variety of reasons, we realize that some members may no longer be able to make this commitment. If this is true of you and you have decided not to reaffirm your membership, you can use this form to withdraw or transfer your membership.* If you would like to discuss this decision with a minister or an elder, we would be very happy to speak with you.
As you consider reaffirming your membership, I encourage you to prayerfully consider the following commitment that you made to the Lord and this community, and that this community made to you. These commitments date back to the origin of Park Street Church, and they were used in the service in which you were welcomed as a member.
- Minister: In the presence of God and this congregation, do you acknowledge your faith in the Triune God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit? Do you pledge yourself in a covenant of love and obedience to allow Christ to control your life, to commune with him in prayer, to worship him faithfully in his sanctuary, and to support the work of the church so that the Gospel may be known throughout Boston and the world?
- New Members: I do.
- Minister: Do you, the members of this church, affectionately receive these candidates into this communion of believers? Do you welcome them to join you in all the blessings of the Gospel, and on your part, engage to watch over them, bear their burdens, and seek their edification, as long as they shall continue among us? Do you covenant to hold their peace and welfare dear to you, and to help them, as the Lord may enable you, by your sympathy, Godly counsel, practical acts of love, and your prayers?
- Existing Members: We do.
Our prayer for Park Street and for all of Christ’s churches in Boston is that the God of endurance and encouragement would grant us all to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together we may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are not yet who we ought to be, but we look forward in faith and hope that God the Father is working in us by his Holy Spirit to conform us to the image of his Son.
We thank you for your partnership in the gospel and your love for God and for Park Street Church.
Andrew Ziegler
Membership Committee Chair*In the 2023 membership reaffirmation process, a distinction was made between inactivation and withdrawal of membership. As there is no practical difference in the effect of either status, we have not continued the distinction here. This merely reflects a simplification of terminology and not a change in policy.
It’s all about control.
Do you wonder why they want you to do this? Do you think it’s just about a nice thing in which you agree to pray for one another while you all tip-toe through the tulips in joyous glee with one another? I used to think so. In the past 15 years, I’ve learned the real reason for these covenants. They are pushed by leaders who want to control the pew peons. It means that churches can discipline you for anything they darn well please. They can insult you, add your name to discipline lists that are read in front of the membership every month, and throw you out of the church. These “contracts” mean that the legal system is banned from making judgments on inside church decisions unless it breaks the law (think physical or sexual abuse or embezzlement of funds.
However, there is an out. Every person can withdraw from their covenants whenever they want, no matter what the document may say. . My many posts on these “covenants” will tell you how.
Membership covenants are legal documents.
Given PSC’s past, I do not suppose that members understand that a verbal affirmation is the same as a written signature. I have written extensively on membership covenants as legal documents. Why do they need these? They protect the church by enacting methods of discipline that the members might find unpleasant or unjust. If your pastor says they do not believe it is a legal document, they are either fudging the facts or clueless. These contracts protect the church. They do not protect you.
I will provide you with many posts I have written on this matter. Go to Church Membership Covenants – Legal Contracts that are NOT Biblical!. There you find a list of all my writing on the matter. Many people have told me they have no idea about the history and origin of these “contracts.”
I do not sign church covenants.
I was fortunate to find a church that does not have these restrictive covenants. I have advised people in churches that demand such covenants to simply not sign them. There is rarely a church that will throw a person out who attends and gives money.
Finally,
I believe PSC is entering a time of authoritarian, top-down leadership. I guess they will continue to get rid of people while simultaneously losing them. Too bad about the Missions situation… They hope to restore PSC to its former glory, but it won’t work, especially with the academic Boston crowd.
Well, I won’t waste time. I have the link for folks to read.
Here are three points that we want to emphasize regarding membership covenants/contracts:
(1) A Membership Covenant (Contract) is a legal document that protects the church.
In her post Membership Covenants Are Primarily Legal Protection for the Church, Dee shared some questions she believes you should consider BEFORE joining a church that requires members to sign a covenant. They are:
- Do you truly know, and trust, the leadership in the church which you are joining?
- Do you understand that, due to the open ended nature of the contract, you conceivably could be punished for any perceived sin?
- Do you know that you are signing away some of your rights in signing this document?
- Does it bother you that the church had legal advice in developing and presenting the contract and you have not been encouraged to do the same?
- Do you know that even if the church did not consult an attorney but used a “covenant” from another church, you are still signing a legal and enforceable document?
- Do you understand that history of the development of these contracts? Does your church leadership?
(2) As long as you are a member of a church, you are under the elders’ control
If you have signed a membership covenant, then you have agreed to the terms of this legal agreement/contract. We cannot emphasize strongly enough that the church leaders can discipline you at their discretion. As a church member, you are under their control. Should you ever be subject to church discipline, the pastors/elders will attempt to convince you that you CANNOT resign from the church while being disciplined.
(3) You Can Resign from your church at any time NO MATTER WHAT!
Some pastors/elders claim you cannot resign…
While under Church Discipline
Without permission
Until you find another like-minded church
THIS IS FALSE! In the United States, church membership is strictly voluntary, and no one can stop you from withdrawing your membership at any time under any circumstances.
We have written a number of posts on Church Membership Covenants/Contracts. Here are some of them:
Proof That It’s Not a Membership Covenant™ But a Legally Binding Contract
Church Membership Covenants and God’s Word to the Wise
Is Mark Dever’s View on Church Membership More Painful Than a Root Canal?
9Marks and ‘Biblical Church Membership’?
Renewable Church Membership – Good or Bad Idea?
Confusion and Ignorance Over Church Membership?
The Village Church/Matt Chandler The Problem With Membership Contracts
NeoCalvinists in Charge: Are They Creating a Divisive *Us versus Them* Church Culture?
Church Covenants Are Not Between God and You But Between Sinful Church Leaders And You
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Bless you, Dee! This is amazing!
Just posting here from the other thread… hope to continue this conversation. And thank you again for providing this safe place to be anonymous if we need to be!
THE MEMBERSHIP PURGE IS HERE!
Trigger warning: gaslighting and a textbook example of doublespeak from George Orwell’s 1984. And sickening salutations as well!
The Park Street Church Membership Reaffirmation (the membership purge) has started! New this year is a removal of the distinction between “inactive membership” and “withdrawn membership.” Too bad none of CEO Booker’s cabal understands active verses passive categories!
Is my bank account inactive or did I withdraw my money? Where is my money? According to these buffoons, “there is no practical difference in the effect of either status.” Counterpoint: yes there is.
I’m also getting flashbacks from a John McArthur church plant (a weed, not good seed growing in good soil, to be clear) that I attended in college… we had a friendship register we passed down the pew and signed each Sunday… a literal attendance record!
“In the 2023 membership reaffirmation process, a distinction was made between inactivation and withdrawal of membership. As there is no practical difference in the effect of either status, we have not continued the distinction here. This merely reflects a simplification of terminology and not a change in policy.”
Just tagging the abusers here for the record… good luck with the membership purge, you all! Hope you don’t accidentally purge a lawyer or judge! Or anyone who has a lawyer who is interested in justice and truth! You are individually liable for the laws and bylaws you are violating.
Membership Committee
Jeff Collier
Debbie Gallagher, Clerk
Mark Halvorsen
Megan Ibekwe
Dorothy Saunders
John Saunders
Andrew Ziegler, Elder & Chair
Randall Wetzig, Assistant Minister
————————————
Subject: Membership Reaffirmation 2024
Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2024
From: Park Street Church
Dear Park Street Church Member,
Greetings in the Lord! I am thankful for how God is continuing to bless our worship and life together this fall. It’s been a particular joy to meditate on the Ten Commandments with many of you on Sunday mornings. May God help us to walk in the ways that he has prescribed for us as his children.
As we enter the last months of 2024, it is time for our annual reaffirmation of membership (accessible here (a link to the Church Center app)). Our membership reaffirmation process serves to remind us of the commitments we have made to God and to each other and helps the Membership Committee maintain an up-to-date list of active members.
Membership at Park Street Church requires a continuing commitment to affirm and uphold the truths of scripture as summarized in our Confession of Faith and Covenant of Faith and Government. Membership also requires each of us to make and honor commitments to each other as fellow members of a local body of believers.
By reaffirming your membership, you are affirming that you:
1. Continue to profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,
2. Subscribe to the personal confession of faith (parkstreet.org/about-us/beliefs) adopted by Park Street Church,
3. Commit to the church’s Covenant of Faith and Government (parkstreet.org/about-us/bylaws), and
4. Regularly worship in person at Park Street Church or are unable to do so due to health, temporary absence from the region, or other similar impediments that unavoidably prevent your regular presence in worship. (If you are not able to regularly worship in person at Park Street Church for any reason but would like to maintain an active membership, please briefly explain in the reaffirmation form.)
If these commitments remain true of you, we warmly invite you to reaffirm your membership and recommit yourself to our common life together under the lordship of Jesus. We want to grow together into greater maturity in Christ, so that we more clearly reflect what we really are—a local expression of the body of Christ.
After a difficult year in the life of our congregation, we recognize that this will not be an easy decision for some. These are not abstract commitments, but commitments to a particular and very imperfect flesh and blood community. The fourth commitment clarifies what has always been true but is not always well understood—that active membership ordinarily requires regular participation in our gathered worship of God. For a variety of reasons, we realize that some members may no longer be able to make this commitment. If this is true of you and you have decided not to reaffirm your membership, you can use this form to withdraw or transfer your membership.* If you would like to discuss this decision with a minister or an elder, we would be very happy to speak with you.
As you consider reaffirming your membership, I encourage you to prayerfully consider the following commitment that you made to the Lord and this community, and that this community made to you. These commitments date back to the origin of Park Street Church, and they were used in the service in which you were welcomed as a member.
– Minister: In the presence of God and this congregation, do you acknowledge your faith in the Triune God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit? Do you pledge yourself in a covenant of love and obedience to allow Christ to control your life, to commune with him in prayer, to worship him faithfully in his sanctuary, and to support the work of the church so that the Gospel may be known throughout Boston and the world?
– New Members: I do.
– Minister: Do you, the members of this church, affectionately receive these candidates into this communion of believers? Do you welcome them to join you in all the blessings of the Gospel, and on your part, engage to watch over them, bear their burdens, and seek their edification, as long as they shall continue among us? Do you covenant to hold their peace and welfare dear to you, and to help them, as the Lord may enable you, by your sympathy, Godly counsel, practical acts of love, and your prayers?
– Existing Members: We do.
Our prayer for Park Street and for all of Christ’s churches in Boston is that the God of endurance and encouragement would grant us all to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together we may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are not yet who we ought to be, but we look forward in faith and hope that God the Father is working in us by his Holy Spirit to conform us to the image of his Son.
We thank you for your partnership in the gospel and your love for God and for Park Street Church.
Andrew Ziegler
Membership Committee Chair
Fill out the form (links to the Church Center app)
*In the 2023 membership reaffirmation process, a distinction was made between inactivation and withdrawal of membership. As there is no practical difference in the effect of either status, we have not continued the distinction here. This merely reflects a simplification of terminology and not a change in policy. Our mailing address is:
Park Street Church
1 Park Street
Boston, MA 02108
Copyright (C) 2024 Park Street Church. All rights reserved.
——————————————-
Form on Church Center
Membership Reaffirmation 2024
Please review the information below and reaffirm or change your membership status by checking the appropriate box below.
By reaffirming your membership, you are affirming that you:
1. Continue to profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior,
2. Subscribe to the personal confession of faith (parkstreet.org/about-us/beliefs) adopted by Park Street Church,
3. Commit to the church’s Covenant of Faith and Government (parkstreet.org/about-us/bylaws), and
4. Regularly worship in person at Park Street Church or are unable to do so due to health, temporary absence from the region, or other similar impediments that unavoidably prevent your regular presence in worship. (If you are not able to regularly worship in person at Park Street Church for any reason but would like to maintain an active membership, please briefly explain below.)
My information
Name
Affirmation *
Use the dropdown to affirm your membership or request a change in your membership status.
I hereby reaffirm my membership status as an active member.
I would like to transfer my membership.
I would like to withdraw from active membership.
I would like a minister or elder to contact me.
Anything else
Please use this field to write down anything else you’d like to let us know.
Phone number
Phone type
MobileHomeWorkOther
Address
HomeWorkOther
Country
Street Address
Apt/unit/box (optional)
City
State
Postal code
Submit
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Coming from a background that does not use literal interpretenation of scripture for the bases as to why concerned members do not seek legal action for the many by-laws infractions . Someone should seek legal action and ask that the non-profit status of psc be removed.
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The concept of membership is a long-time congregational practice. The point is that the church and its governance belongs to the people, not to a small group of leaders. Covenant and membership is a good thing when it is rightly used.
The whole concept of the members “cheerfully submitting” to the leaders is a misreading of Park Street’s commitment. All members are to “cheerfully submit” to the governance of the church, which = the entire membership. What has happened is that Booker and the elders are literally in the process of stealing control of Park Street Church from the membership. That is why they are doing this current purge, forcing out the 56% of the congregation who have rejected Mark Booker’s illegitimate spiritual leadership. They have now made physical attendance on a “regular” basis the new standard, which has NEVER been required before.
Once they finish Mark Booker’s “Great Purge” (Mark’s words!), the leaders will introduce bylaw changes at the annual meeting, which will then protect their control from now till the church collapses.
Attendance has dropped at Park Street from 950 when Mark took over, and is now down to around 600-650. That’s the total I’ve been able to count. They will continue to hemorrhage people and finances. The greatest of ironies is that Mark Booker, this sadly false shepherd, is HAPPY to see people go. Andrew Ziegler is Mark’s toy thing, who is carrying out Mark’s bidding on the membership committee. Andrew loves being Mark’s righthand man. As Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was to Stalin, so is Andrew Ziegler to Mark Booker.
It is hard to watch. God is watching. He knows in full the thoughts and intents of the heart.
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The people, followers of Jesus that is, ARE the church.
When the ones running the show want your money not your voice, it’s a problem.
Just like when a man wants to marry a woman for her body not her voice, that’s a problem.
Moving on from these non-negotiables …
Women have voices.
Church members have voices.
No voice? Dealbreaker.
Dysfunctional toxic relationships deny the other persons’ voices. Run.
By the way, what are the men and leaders trying to shut up and shut down?
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Andrew Ziegler and Mark Booker are adding new commitments and rules to membership.
As others noted on the previous PSC post, in-person worship has never been a requirement and is a way to remove anyone going to Restoration Fellowship.
Also note that the #2 and #3 affirmations are different. #3 is the Bylaws’ Covenant of Faith & Government which states core beliefs (triune God etc.) and then says “WE COVENANT to continue the same ecclesiastical and legal entity created on February 27, 1809, incorporated by Chapter 252 of the Special Acts of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on April 13, 1916, as amended, and to continue in the congregational form of church government then adopted and provided in Bylaws duly adopted by the congregation.”
Contrast that with this newer personal confession of faith that concludes this regime’s favorite imperative: “WE CHEERFULLY SUBMIT OURSELVES to the instruction and government of this church, and we promise to promote its purity, peace and welfare by all means within our power, so long as we shall continue to be a member.”
So to summarize… their response to a 56% congregational vote saying there is or may be problems with Senior Minister Mark Booker is to:
1) get the local biased Vicinage Council to issue a “nothing to see here” statement
2) form a bylaws committee whose membership was never voted on by the congregation
3) remove known opponents from membership
4) change the requirements of membership to kick out anyone not supportive of current regime
5) make it harder to remain a member (used to be inactive was a status that could be easily changed back to active. Undoing a withdrawal required going through the entire membership class and process again. Now Andrew writes there is no difference…)
6) do all this before the February annual meeting so that preferred bylaw amendments and other changes will be rubber-stamped by the people left
I don’t know why PSC is bothering to maintain the facade of Congregationalism. The point of voting is to understand the voice of the people. If you change the voting pool so it’s only those you agree with, then it’s just a rubber stamp. This is stuff you see in dictatorships and corporate America. How is PSC still a church? How is God being glorified through all this?
Dee, one practical question for you. How should a Congregational church determine who has voting rights if there is no membership covenant or agreement? Should they maintain a membership process but not have legal contracts, verbal or written?
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Folks,
Be careful of the “cheerfully submit” part of the contract. This is what they will use to discipline and throw people out of the church. When I first heard about this last Christmas, I believed a church takeover was in progress. Nothing has moved me from that position.
I am so sorry this has happened to all of you.
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I don’t understand why membership is important in a church. It doesn’t affect one’s relationship with God in any way.
I haven’t been a member of a church in over 40 years. I haven’t ever voted in a church election.
I attend where my family and I are welcome in a community with whom we share religious beliefs and practices. I don’t have the slightest interest in defining how someone else should believe or behave, nor should anyone else have the ability to define how I should believe or act.
I vote with my feet, taking my time, talent, and treasure if the politics of a church do not add value to my or my family’s life.
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Does anyone know if a.z as membership chair. Does that position have to be approved by annual meeting? and if so was he vetted at that last meeting:
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From what I heard, before Andrew Ziegler, another elder (Nick) was chairing the membership committee. Nick was removed as chair by the moderator, and the elders appointed Andrew Ziegler as Nick’s replacement. The chair of the membership committee is not elected by the membership. Then over this past two or so years, several membership committee members either resigned or were removed by Andrew Z., because those committee members were not fully supporting Booker. At the same time of removing those committee members (at least 5 committee members were essentially removed by Ziegler), other members have been added over the last two years, those who are strong Booker loyalists.
Ziegler and Booker, with cooperation from the moderator, systematically removed the former chair, and then took steps to remove additional committee members. After gaining full control of the membership committee, they then have made these most recent moves of forcefully removing members in good standing because of their involvement in Restoration Fellowship. Now they are seeking to purge as many members as possible by changing the rules of reaffirmation. After they complete this step, then they will seek to pass their bylaw changes, which will surely erode congregationalism.
What astounds me is that they they must think they are righteous in doing these things, but it is underhanded and secret. They don’t want to admit that this manipulation is calculated, but HIDDEN. If they were being honest and transparent with their motives, then they would not have been allowed to do these things by the membership. So they lie must resort to LYING and DECEPTION in order to gain control. The Spirit is not with them, as the Spirit would NEVER do this. Booker’s practice of deception has spread as a practice throughout that leadership.
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David, membership is important when church government gives power to the people. Previously in a church like Park Street, the MEMBERS own and govern the church. They vote who is pastor, and they can vote the person out. Members control doctrine, mission, and use of funds. Leaders who actually believe in Congregationalism are subject to the people. The leaders at Park Street have usurped the people.
In authoritarian churches, you vote with your feet, because leaders can do whatever they want. In congregationalism, you vote with your vote, and hold leaders accountable. That is how I thought it would work at Park Street.
In
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“In the 2023 membership reaffirmation process, a distinction was made between inactivation and withdrawal of membership. As there is no practical difference in the effect of either status, we have not continued the distinction here. This merely reflects a simplification of terminology and not a change in policy.“
This is absolutely false. According to the Bylaws, the Membership Committee may remove a member from active membership, but only if the member has not been at Park Street for two years. But even then, they are still kept on the inactive membership list, and the Bylaws explicitly state that members on the inactive list may be reinstated on application to the Membership Committee without completing a New Members Class. With the removal of this option, Andrew Ziegler is basically unilaterally amending the Bylaws in his capacity as unelected chair of the Membership Committee.
Note also that nowhere in the bylaws is regular in-person worship a condition to continuing membership. Active members are those who have “actively engaged in the support of, or otherwise show their interest in” PSC at some point within a two year span. Anyone who recently voted against Mark in the special meeting certainly has shown an interest in PSC in the past few months, even if they are now attending Reformation Fellowship.
It is also significant that the only way to fully remove a person from both active and inactive membership is by a vote of the Board of Elders that the member is “leading a life dishonoring to Christ and His church.” Instead of openly proclaiming that this is what they think of every member who is now attending Reformation Fellowship, they are basically requiring members to revoke their own membership by depriving them of the basic protections of church Bylaws.
Finally, there is nothing in the Bylaws that conditions membership on annual reaffirmation of a covenant. I don’t know whether this is a practice that dates before Mark or not, but I do think that if a member does not respond to the reaffirmation letter, the Membership Committee has no authority to revoke their membership. Of course, we’ve seen the level of regard church leadership has for limitations on their authority, so in practice you can bet they will still do this.
The power grabs at Park Street have become so obvious they are no longer even trying to hide them. It is especially odious coming before the “Solemn Assembly” that purports to be a time for repentance and healing of divisions. It’s not surprising at this point, but it is still deeply saddening.
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Congregational governance is the Biblical model of doing church. Elder-rule is an illegitimate form of church polity, IMO. In most cases, it leads to church leaders manipulating, intimidating and dominating the laity (e.g., PSC) … this was never the divine plan. PSC refers to itself as congregational, but Mr. Booker and the BoE think otherwise.
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All the signs are there. The biggest clue was overriding the last congregational vote of not affirming Mr. Booker. IMO, church leaders have a plan and they are working the plan.
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The only folks who are cheerful when you sign on the bottom line are church leaders. Most church membership contracts are designed to benefit the clergy not the laity … and a set up to discipline the spiritual daylights out of you if you don’t walk the line. The only covenant a believer needs to enter into is the one written in red by Jesus.
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It’s amazing how many church folks don’t get this essential truth. The Church of the Living God is not a building.
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I’m no fan of current leadership but this seems unremarkable? I don’t see any loyalty oath in here. Of course if you’re regularly worshipping somewhere else it makes sense that your membership should be there. That just seems to be common sense.
There are a ton of red flags but I don’t see this as being one of them.
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Max,
Max, Dee, Friend of Park Street church, Watcher, David et al
I looked for ‘cheer’ and ‘cheerful’ in ESV concordance:
* “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul”
* ” A glad heart makes a cheerful face”
* “God loves a cheerful giver”
* “Is anyone cheerful? let him sing praise”
* “Let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth…But know that for all these things
God will bring you into judgment”
I agree 100% with David that church membership does not affect our personal relationship with God. In the past 6 months, I attended Sunday worship at 4 different churches as well as the Restoration Fellowship (RF) in Boston. My spirit was uplifted and blessed by the cheerful faces and voices of praise in all the gatherings, esp. at RF—- but barely noticeable at PSC. At the upcoming PSC “Solemn Assembly”, will our active members be more cheerful than during recent Sunday worship services? I have not decided whether to attend; if not, will watch online.
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“Hell has no torment worse than Constant Forced Cheerfulness.”
— G.K.Chesterton, “Three Tools of Death” (Father Brown Mystery)
And no one is more Constantly Cheerful than the Objects of North Korea.
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It’s called a Potemkin Village.
‘The more adjectives about Democracy in a country’s official name, the nastier a Dictatorship is is.”
— TV Tropes, “People’s Republic of Tyranny”
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I wouldn’t set foot anywhere near this church.
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Kristen, it seems remarkable that the current leadership has created conditions making church attendance on a Sunday at Park Street Church more than uncomfortable and odious. Many have removed themselves from attending on Sundays, temporarily attending other places of worship, waiting to see if God might change the heart of leadership or remove them. Meanwhile, the current leadership has now introduced a new “rule” that if you are not attending in person, they will not reaffirm your membership. They are taking advantage of people’s good conscience, as it will push some members to not reaffirm. This is exactly the intention of Booker/Ziegler, etc. Other members will reaffirm their membership, though they have not attended in months. Will the membership committee challenge any members, by asking questions on how often they have been attending? For those people who reaffirm their PSC membership, but then have attended RF for the past two months, will Ziegler’s membership committee reject their request for reaffirmation? I think they will likely try.
They are using normal processes that have been in place, but have changed their purpose. From what I understand from some of the former elders is that the old reason for reaffirmation was not to screen people out, but to figure out who might have gone missing, and then leaders were to reach out to try to connect with and care for them. It was NEVER about removing people from membership. These new leaders are using a legit shepherding process of a large, mobile church, but with the opposite motivation: to remove those who do not support their leadership.
It is remarkable. It seems to be a sad demonstration of heartlessness.
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You know, and that’s alright! The Body of Christ is not confined to a single place. I have found it refreshing to visit other churches, to worship with the Church that’s within every church … not everybody who goes to church is the Church … not every church is the Church. The Bride of Christ are sprinkled here and there; you know them by their fruit and love one for another … everybody else are just church members whose religion is more important than a relationship with Christ.
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So if this is how the current members are treated then how are they intending on acquiring new members? If I was in the Boston area looking for a church, this place would not be on the list.
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“Unremarkable”: ‘not surprising; common; ordinary’
You are right! It is not surprising that PSC leadership is continuing with its common and ordinary leadership style to manipulate, intimidate and dominate PSC members.
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I just returned a couple boxes of frozen waffles to Walmart which were on a listeria recall list. I wish God would do that with some of these ministers and ministries. They are making folks sick.
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Park Street leadership seems to be focusing on outward markers of allegiance like counting the ppl in the pews. I’m sure they must also be secretly looking at ‘giving units’ coming in. To see who is giving faithfully or rather, who is no longer supporting them. I’m sure there is a correlation between these two markers—bucks and bottoms (some say bucks and butts) who are running out the door by the hundreds. NB: Only faithful Park Street ‘B and B’ supporters will likely be permitted to vote at the 2025 annual meeting.
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100% the intention is to root out anyone who has been going to RF and make sure they cannot vote in the next annual meeting. Also, I’ve heard their official records of attendance seem off. They are still saying that ~900 are attending but based on the recordings I can’t see there being more than 300 at each morning service and 50 at the evening service.
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nickels and noses
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BTW: I cannot recall our SM looking cheerful in the pulpit— can you ?
Maybe if he tries to smile often, we shall emulate
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Max,
Max,
Walmart…frozen waffles…listeria…return …
You are a treasure. You make me laugh and yearn for God at the same time. Much love to you and your family <3
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Ariel,
Ariel, there are so many churches going through hell because of a spiritual leadership crisis in America. I look at some of the stupid shenanigans by poor church leaders and don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I suppose I need to be agonizing more rather than analyzing … praying rather than complaining. I’ll try to do better in the days ahead. I’m pleased to hear that you yearn for God … I do, too.
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I think this is fairly common across American churches … church leaders inflating numbers. As a 70+ year Southern Baptist (I’m done with them now), the SBC for years claimed 16 million members … based on attendance of the SBC churches in my area, I figure 4 million active members would be about right. Still on church rolls in many SBC churches are folks who moved from the area, joined other churches, left the faith altogether, or literally dead.
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He ought to be weeping at the altar at this point.
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If he submits to BoE tearfully instead of cheerfully during the Solemn Assembly, he will be purged from membership based on PSC by-laws— unless that section of the record is deleted again
HOWEVER our heavenly Father of Amazing Grace will run to embrace a tearful Prodigal Son even before the words of genuine repentance are verbalized from the heart.
Let us fast and pray for this miracle
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There’s nothing cheerful about a genuine Solemn Assembly … that’s why they call it “solemn.”
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Does anybody know what the SM meant with his remark about holding his position loosely? If 56% of the congregation, 90% of ministers, and now missionaries are leaving.. and the church is now actively seeking to reduce its membership count.. hmph.
.
I would also agree a church takeover is in order. At this point I cannot believe there are any advocates of a congregational led body. Nobody would dare challenge Mark in a change like that at this point, except maybe the 4C’s, whose authority as we have all witnessed is purely as advisors.
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EXACTLY this.
FWIW, I left Park Street Church in 2017, after having been a member there for 20 years. Sometime between Sept 2017 & Dec 2022, my PSC membership had become inactive. I probably only went to worship services at PSC twice during those 5 years when I was searching for a new church home. And yet, I had absolutely no issue transferring my PSC membership to my new church. Nor was there any attempt on the part of PSC to get me to worship there, or else be kicked out of my membership.
Thinking about the upcoming Solemn Assembly on October 25 – what if PSC leaders would lead by example? What if they would lead in repenting with specificity, and demonstrating that they truly believe that the good news of the Gospel is for them?
Imagine if Mark Booker had written the following:
“To intentionally prepare, we are planning to engage in the following spiritual disciplines over the coming weeks…
1. Confession and repentance: this is about acknowledging where WE have transgressed the Lord and his ways. How have WE sinned against him? In what ways have OUR thoughts, words, and deeds failed to be expressions of love for God and love for others? Be specific.”
What if PSC leaders were to prayerfully consider the following blogpost by Jimmy Hinton, “Submitting to Church Leaders Isn’t as Biblical as You Think?” https://jimmyhinton.org/submitting-to-church-leaders-isnt-as-biblical-as-you-think/
Particularly relevant to PSC’s membership reaffirmation move, I really love what Jimmy Hinton says here:
“… People who leave the church because they’ve been wounded are not the ones forsaking the assembly. And forsaking the assembly does NOT mean not showing up to church. The ‘forsaking’ is an abandonment of people in need. When Jesus was on the cross, he used this same word. ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken (abandoned) me?’ Jesus was in need. In distress. Another sense of the word means to leave people in their distress. Forsaking the assembly is not about not going to church on Sunday mornings. It’s about abandoning, deserting, or leaving behind those in need. My opinion is that, ironically, Hebrews 10:25 is addressing leaders who were abandoning those of the assembly who were living in desperation. Again, here is my translation: ‘. . . not leaving helpless those of us assembling together, as is the custom with some, but consoling one another, and so much more as you see the day drawing near.’
This is a call to not abandon those in need who assemble together. It is a clarion call to console one another. To provide care and comfort to those who are oppressed, poor, and in need. Context is important, and the consistent message throughout the Bible is that God’s foundation is righteousness and justice (Psalm 89:14), that Jesus came to preach good news to the poor, proclaim liberty to the captives, recovering sight to the blind, and set at liberty those who are oppressed (Luke 4:18-19), and that leaders (those who go before) are the ones to especially serve and keep watch over the souls of those aforementioned.
So the next time a leader tells you to submit to their authority, or shames you for ‘forsaking the assembly, just remind them that all the authority has been given to Jesus and that they are indeed the ones deserting the assembly by not caring for the wounded.”
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Elizabeth Klein,
Elizabeth,
Thank you for that quote from Jimmy Hinton. I had that verse (Hebrews 10:25) ‘thrown’ at me when I resigned from my former church. It was definitely used as a guilt tactic. His interpretation makes so much more sense!
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Yes, isn’t that interpretation so clarifying? Jimmy Hinton is a gem.
Btw, I really should have mentioned above – I was led to Jimmy Hinton’s blogpost through The Broken Road’s Substack newsletter today: https://readfarandwide.substack.com/p/read-at-the-speed-you-need-write
The Broken Road is written by Mindelynn Godbout & Abram K-J, and has a whole lot of helpful resources for spiritual abuse survivors. I highly recommend subscribing!
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Mark Booker: Your fig leaves include your spiritual gymnastics to pursue and maintain power over others, including those you purport to love: your dear wife and children. Jesus died for you. He will heal you. Return to Him. You will become able to be loved and love others.
Rev. Dr. Tim Keller’s sermon: East of Eden
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/timothy-keller-sermons-podcast-by-gospel-in-life/id352660924?i=1000673826400
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Also, if you use automatic withdrawals to make donations (whether through the church, your financial institution, or a 3rd party such as PayPal), know how to turn them OFF if you decide to take your membership/attendance and donations elsewhere. And do so before, or concurrent with, your notifying the church of your withdrawal.
Under IRS regulations, absent a clear showing of fraud, a donation – even inadvertent – is considered to be voluntary.
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Luke 15:5-7
“And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulder and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says: Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep…In the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
(maybe more rejoicing over one tearful SM than over nine restoring ministers)
Lord Tennyson
“More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of… For what are men better than sheep or goats that nourish a blind life within the brain, if knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer… For so the whole round earth is every way bound by gold chains about the feet of God.”
Calling all TWW bloggers: please pray for our SM !
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Tip: Use automatic withdrawals as little as possible. The only auto-payments I use are a couple of utility bills and regular deposits to my retirement accounts. I have used Paypal maybe twice in the past five years, and my Paypal account is linked to a dedicated savings account with only a small balance — this way, if that account gets hacked, it’s separate from my main accounts. Otherwise, everything is by paper bills and checks. Oldthinkers unbellyfeel INGSOC.
There’s another reason for this. The same reason you’re getting all those high-pressure ads to make everything online. Disconnecting buying the stuff with actually paying for it. (Apple stores even have an auto-pay system where you just pick up the merch and walk out; the store Pings your iPhone and automatically bills an autopay from your linked account. as far as you know, you just got the latest expensive gadget and walked out with it for FREE.)
With checks or cash instead of tap-and-swipe (“Why don’t you just tap your card/scan the QR Code?”) you actually SEE the money flow out of your account. You SEE your account drain as it happens. YOU DON’T SPEND AS MUCH! And that’s why more and more businesses these days refusing cash or check — Plastic or Online only, with hidden Fees and T20+% tips automatcially added. (In Christianese, none could buy or sell unless they had The Mark…).
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only if you see the fruit of genuine repentance in his life (Matthew 3:8) … some “pastors” can fool you by crying without tears … maybe they teach that in seminary classes to stir emotions in the pew to drive home a sermon point
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“Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together” is used far too often by church leaders to shame the pew into sticking with the program, whether they agree with it or not!
Authoritarian pulpits also like to weaponize “they went out from us, but they were not of us” (1 John 2:19) to keep pewsitters (giving units) in place after some get wise enough to leave. No pulpit knows who are Kingdom citizens, only God. There’s a world of difference between a church member and a member of the Body of Christ. The latter sometimes find it necessary to put wayward ministers and ministries in the rearview mirror.
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NAAH,
May the Solemn Assembly at PSC be a genuine offering unto God, and not just a thing to do by PSC leaders … may the pulpit be as solemn as the pew … may confession and repentance flow like a river … may God’s will, and not man’s, be done.
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There are some versions of the Bible that support that interpretation of Hebrews 10:25 … referring to the “assembly” rather than “assembling”
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It seems that the CCCC has won a great victory. They have forced out all the dangerously educated pastors. They have kept their Anglo-Catholic sycophant in power. They have engaged in a Stalin-like purge of all who would not pledge their absolute faith to Bookerism and have compelled them to form an authentic Christian congregation. One would think that the Hamiltonian 4Cs would be anxious to move on.
But no. Enter the CCCC Vicinage Counsel 2.0. This one seems to be more of a Clannish Inquisition. The secondary participants have been commanded under threat to appear before yet another CCCC tribunal. Of course, there is a difference between the Spanish Inquisition and the Hamilton-Conwell Inquisition. Tomás de Torquemada, the first Grand Inquisitor sought to stamp out the sin of heresy…those who overly taught false doctrine. This Inquisition with its Gordon-Conwell bishops and cardinals is seeking to stamp out the mortal sins of accountability commanded by Mathew 18 and Corinthians 5 . How dare you continue to question the integrity of our priest who lied about his credentials, and whose hostility and domination alienated almost all of his most senior staff!
What would Pope Francis do if nearly all of his best and long-term Bishops of a diocese said that they could no longer work with the Cardinal he had appointed? Would he blame the previous Cardinal, fire all his best Bishops in order to keep the dishonest and hostile Cardinal? Of course not! That would be an act insanity. I think that even Tomás de Torquemada would have told his pope that the real trouble maker has to go. But not the Hamilton-Conwell Inquisitors. Ruining their careers isn’t enough. Excommunication isn’t enough. They had to protect their fellow senior pastor at all costs. Clearly, the destruction of the first Vicinage gave them a new experience of ecclesiastical power. So now they are out for blood. In order to feed their ravenous episcopal egos, they are demanding more humiliation, longer confessions, better genuflection, more painful penance, and slightly louder groveling. Will the inquisition end here? Will these actions satisfy their lust for authority and power? Don’t hold your breath. The Spanish Inquisition lasted 356 years.
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Who are you talking about? with our former pastors for a second time….?
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But the new substitute for believing faith is already a more widely promulgated template (meme) than the real thing, and quite “sure” to gather business.
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I assume you are referring to former PSC pastors? If so, it appears that CCCC won’t be satisfied until they totally annihilate these truth-tellers. Religious persecution still exists in America … but at the hands of religious hierarchy.
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Can you tell us a bit more about this? Are you reporting that the CCCC or the Vicinage Council are going after the pastors who resigned? Is there more that they are being forced to endure?!
Thanks for clarifying!
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I’m sorry to be so vague, but I’m really am not at liberty to be more specific at this point.
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sounds ominous … flogging? the rack? excommunication?
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No worries at all! Like all that these muppets try to do in secret… it will eventually become public in some form! They are totally delusional to think that they can keep hiding their choices!
.
… nevermind that God sees all things including their scheming hearts… but then they seem to be weeeeeell beyond caring about what their Maker thinks or wants!
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I can vouch for BTA that I know what they are talking about. I also won’t disclose the exact nature, but yeah the 4C’s are on a bit of a vendetta.
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Michael is no longer a minister in good standing with the 4c. One of the reasons given was he took parishers away from psc to start the fellowship.
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Ridiculous. He “took” parishioners? They didn’t follow him voluntarily?
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Question: does anyone know how the psc solemn assembly went? I wonder if ppl attending felt able to freely lament, confess and repent. Did opportunities for authentic heartfelt prayer seem squelched? Did the leaders keep the meeting so very “proper and orderly” yet still allow opportunity and safety for attendees to pray freely in this communal setting? Did ppl leave this meeting with a much lighter load because they experienced God’s Spirit bringing forgiveness, healing and reconciliation?
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Going back to basics, it is obvious that:
Park Street Church is no longer a church in good standing with the 4Cs, due to the BoE’s blatant disregard of the majority Congregational Vote on 6/2/24 to disqualify the SM from employment
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Can you really schedule that sort of thing with God? From my experience, genuine confession and repentance only occurs when one is moved by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, rather than programmed by church leaders.
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Max,
Exactly, Max. Genuine confession and repentance is a heart thing; an inside job that occurs only by Holy Spirit conviction. Not an orchestrated, check-the-box, public performance.