I am reposting this from the previous topic. It seems to make more sense here:
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I impart upon you all to make your own decision, but this was my decision with regard to reaffirming my membership with Park Street:
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Randall,
I’m not at all interested in reaffirming my membership with Park Street Church under the current leadership for reasons you are well aware of. I am very happy with the new fellowship that was formed by the former Ministers, Elders, and Congregants of Park Street at Restoration Fellowship.
I am grateful to Park Street Church for the many times it has supported me spiritually/financially/emotionally over the 15 years that I have been a member and for the opportunity to lead the homeless ministry for six years, be a Deacon for four years, and a Missions Committee member for five years. It was a privilege to serve my church, and I regret that I’ve seen it fall so short and integrity that I have to leave.

I sincerely hope you all will learn from this reckoning that God has given you in the mass exodus from Park Street that occurred.

Sincerely,
~Susan E. Lane
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As for Restoration Fellowship, I do not feel that it is a confused mess of people, as the person who commented earlier who has decided to stay with Park Street, but it is a beautiful new beginning of a gathering of former members of Park Street, both new and old, who left in solidarity from a church whose integrity was compromised by the poor leadership. While some hurt, of course, was expressed initially, many of us have expressed relief and joy in joining with a ministry team and congregation excited to get to know each other more intimately and worship God without all the austerity and secrecy of the former church.
Isn’t it typical, that the ones who inherit a bad reputation because of their own doing, are the ones to protest the loudest? The Park Street leadership is a victim of their own demise, and that is all.

The greater church, the Body of Christ, is universal. It is comprised of all true believers in Jesus. As a Christian, you belong to the Body of Christ … the only covenant you need to enter into is the one written in red by Jesus. Every local church is to be a microcosm of this universal church, where believers live in unity and operate freely with their unique spiritual gifting, where clergy and laity stand equal before God, where the Body is working together to fulfill the Great Commission. Sadly, this is often not the case in the organized church. If it’s not where you attend, you are free to seek a place where you can find the genuine. Never sign a church membership agreement … they are intended to control you, and are often used to discipline the spiritual daylights out of you if you don’t agree with the direction church leaders are going.

FYI, there isn’t an eruption in Iceland at the moment – the story you posted is from May. This particular spot near Grindavik has been erupting every few months for a least a year, and another one is due perhaps before the end of the year.

> Perhaps it would be in order to declare it a new type of congregational congregation. We could call it Congregationalism 2.0.

Perhaps, in ways reminiscent of many present-day political elections, the purpose of voting in such churches is not to allow the voters to express their preferences, but to create the appearance that they have consented to what the rulers are determined to do.

Janice: “Do you pledge yourself in a covenant of love and obedience to allow Christ to control your life …

which really means “to allow US to control your life”

Iceland is a fascinating country though I’ve not been there. They’ve had a hard history; in the 1780s the Laki eruption resulted in the death of a quarter of the population due to the resultant famine. Religion there has state support, a tax for those over 16 goes to the registered religion a person declares they belong to (or if unregistered or undeclared to the university/government).

Max, for what it is worth, you are the best truly “Baptist” “preacher” I have run across in a long long time. Keep plugging away with the truth!

I’m not an attorney but I’d be tempted to respond with:

“In response to your letter of DATE, I’d like to remind you of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing that exists as the basis for all contracts. By failing to deal forthrightly and honestly with members, Park Street has breached the covenant. No further communication is necessary.”

Max,

yes, that’s the subtext.

how else in someone in power to adjudicate how well one is allowing “Christ to control your life” besides “are you doing what i want you to do?”.

Believer:
I’m not an attorney but I’d be tempted to respond with:

“In response to your letter of DATE, I’d like to remind you of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing that exists as the basis for all contracts. By failing to deal forthrightly and honestly with members, Park Street has breached the covenant. No further communication is necessary.”

I would regardless. Maybe run it by an attornry first.
My only change would be “Park street has breached the covenant and acted in Bad Faith.”
If there are two magic words to conjure with in contract law, it’s “BAD FAITH”.

This is not speculation, this is 100% the reason for this. They want to flush out the RF attendees (and anyone now going to other churches) so that only the loyal remnant will have congregation power by the time the annual meeting happens.

Observant Outsider: They want to flush out the RF attendees (and anyone now going to other churches) so that only the loyal remnant will have congregation power by the time the annual meeting happens.

When you flush dissenting members you flush their votes away. Votes from only a loyal remnant assures affirmation of Mr. Booker. Meanwhile, the Kingdom of God moves on unhindered by the games of little men in their little kingdoms who do church without Him.

SNB alum,

… a textbook church takeover

Friend of Park Street Church: The Solemn Assembly order of program PDF … It’s 12 pages of manipulation using the good words from God in the Bible to again run roughshod over others.

Using the Bible to manipulate, intimidate, and dominate others is a violation of the Third Commandment which is to not use the name of the Lord in vain.

nmgirl: “Having a clear list of members helps ministers, elders, staff, deacons, and other volunteers know whom we should be caring for.”
Shouldn’t christians care for everyone, inside or outside their bubble?

Indeed! The focus of any church should be more outward than inward.

What church leaders are really saying in that statement: “Having a clear list of members helps us know whom we should be controlling.”

Wanderer: I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt with this one. Of course, I figured they wouldn’t be reaching out to members at another church to see how they could support them. But after giving it some thought, I realized—having been a member for so many years—they never previously reached out to me either, even before Mark was involved. They never checked in to see how they could care for me.

I would echo your sentiment- no one has reached out to me since the Balbonis left

Friend of Park Street Church:
This abomination was just released: The Solemn Assembly order of program PDF.I’ve skimmed it briefly and it is way worse than I expected.It is an answer to prayer that I could not attend in person!It’s 12 pages of manipulation using the good words from God in the Bible to again run roughshod over others.I’m not even sure how to give an adequate trigger warning…

Anyone want to join a four-week discussion group about the book “The Great Divorce” by C.S. Lewis?In the wicked leadership at Park Street Church, I see so many of the visitors to Heaven who decide to take the bus back to the hellish place they boarded the bus.They prefer the sounds of their own voices and the busyness of self-importance to the call to look away from self to the far off mountains and clear air of that new world.

Oh, leaders of Park Street “Church,” shed your vestments and feel the weight lift off of your shoulders. Become real. Become solid. Don’t take the bus back to the twilight… for soon the night will come there… Stay as the early dawn gives way to the full day.It is The Day that we have been waiting for from long before we knew it.

Friend of PSC– our true friend indeed—- Great (and small) minds think alike —
Immediately after reading eNews on the Solemn Assembly, I searched for my copy of ‘the Great Divorce’ — my favorite guide to life abundant

Here is an Ode to PSC ‘s S.A. 10/25/24:
It is a tale, a sequel to Hamilton, moderated by Abraham,
full of fasting, singing and sorrow, CONFESSING NOTHING ?!

Wanderer,

Is the quality of their prayers going to improve now that they have “rid the town of you renegades that betrayed them”? I myself followed the fashion of not praying, hence I also am behind your not being cared for.

I meant: … that “betrayed” them by remaining faithful – to prayer. Regrets for omission

Friend of Park Street Church: Galatians 5:14-15

[14] For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” [15] But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

In the Phillips translation of that passage:

“It is to freedom that you have been called, my brothers. Only be careful that freedom does not become mere opportunity for your lower nature. You should be free to serve each other in love. For after all, the whole Law toward others is summed up by this one command, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’. But if freedom means merely that you are free to attack and tear each other to pieces, be careful that it doesn’t mean that between you, you destroy your fellowship altogether!” (Galatians 5:13-15)

The “lower nature” has been on the throne at PSC. It first manifested itself with Mr. Booker’s narcissistic treatment of PSC staff and spread from there into the elder board and pew. Such departure from “serving in love” never ends well for a church.

dee: The aurora was beautiful. I just read that there is a new solar flare and that they are trying to see if the lights will be seen further south.

When I was a kid (long, long, time ago) growing up in Wisconsin, there was an instance where the Aurora got as far south as the Milwaukee area.

I don’t know. I was a Park Street member for ten years (2006-2016) after attending for three years before that and there was a whole lot I was eligible to do once I was officially on the membership rolls. And when I started regularly attending another church instead I did the paperwork to formally withdraw my membership. There was no scandal, nothing nefarious, they were sad to see me go, happy to see me come back to visit, but of course if I was regularly engaged in another congregation I should be a member there instead.

I know people who attended PSC for decades without ever becoming members and that’s fine they had their reasons. But that is very much not the norm for Congregationalists. Maybe the current PSC leadership is doing Congregationalism badly but you can’t do Congregationalism at all without a defined membership.

I am generally on RF’s side in this whole mess but I don’t understand what they mean about being “a Fellowship not a church.” I think I’m a bit nerdier than your average bear and I do not recognize this ecclesiology.

Kristen: I am generally on RF’s side in this whole mess but I don’t understand what they mean about being “a Fellowship not a church.” I think I’m a bit nerdier than your average bear and I do not recognize this ecclesiology.

I think we have to ask ourselves “What is Church and what isn’t?” … “Is the Church (the real one) a place or a people?” The word church is derived from the Greek word “ekklēsia”; ecclesiology, the doctrine of the church, is also based on this word. Ekklesia is used over 100 times in the New Testament and in all instances refers to a people, an assembly, a fellowship who gather, responding to the call of God through Christ. The Church (the Body of Christ) is not a place, a building, an institution, a denomination. Not all who attend a church fellowship together in Christ … you will know ‘the’ Church (the ekklesia of God) by the love they have for one another, where there is no distinction between clergy and laity, where their mission is only the Great Commission. Anything else is doing church without God and Lord knows there has been an outbreak of that across America! I would rather attend a genuine fellowship than a counterfeit church.

Also, I am happy for those who left Park St that they have the Restoration Fellowship. So often when people are forced to leave a church because of the behavior of the leaders, they end up alone. They are not only separated from those who remain in the organization that had been their church, but typically from others who also left. Some cannot walk through the doors of any church, but others will end up in different churches, often “sitting in the back” possibly both literally and metaphorically. It can take a long time before people are able to trust again. So many bonds get severed. Blessings to those who stood up to abuse and shenanigans.

Jerome: And in July, this person added the following to The Wartburg Watch entry on Wikipedia:
“…functioning as a ‘Christian gossip aggregator,’ and thus viewed skeptically by many Bible-believing Christians…”

LOL. Was it after Cindy’s story?

Eyewitness: Being “under care” is not anything you want to hear in a Neo-calvinist church … the actual meaning of “care” is “under our control.” It is a euphemism for the the process of church discipline

Exactly. A lot of folks in NeoCal churches, including TWW regulars, can speak of having the spiritual daylights disciplined out of them by “caring” church leaders. Members in such churches who dare to question leadership or belief and practice of the church have found themselves being interrogated by an elder board under a hot spotlight, shunned and/or excommunicated. Manipulation, intimidation and domination are tools of New Calvinist “pastors” and their yes-men elder boards.

What quality and method of “believing” does the Bible deserve? Does that re-editor have testimony of a god bigger than his boss men classes? Did the prayers of his peers overcome the cookie cutter?

When I and others left a certain slithery grouping, concrete circumstances were created decisively stopping us stay in contact to aid each other.

Believer:
I’m not an attorney but I’d be tempted to respond with:

“In response to your letter of DATE, I’d like to remind you of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing that exists as the basis for all contracts. By failing to deal forthrightly and honestly with members, Park Street has breached the covenant. No further communication is necessary.”

This.

Max: The “lower nature” has been on the throne at PSC. It first manifested itself with Mr. Booker’s narcissistic treatment of PSC staff and spread from there into the elder board and pew. Such departure from “serving in love” never ends well for a church.

Thank you m, Max, for this clear and concise statement! Your diagnosis is spot on! Thankful for your words!
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It reminds me of Romans 8… the internal battle of the Spirit in those who belong to Jesus the Messiah with the “former person” the “dying flesh”… Saint / Apostle Paul’s duality sometimes doesn’t sit well with me, but other times it is exactly my experience!
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(To be clear I think the duality that bothers me is a misunderstanding of Paul… that our physical bodies are bad and inferior to our soul / spirit / essence / spark / et cetera. Sort of a flat reading of Romans 8 without the broader context of Brother Saul, now Paul.)

The best sermon I heard about this topic was from a person who used the Greek word for “dying flesh” or “former person” sarx instead. Sometimes using a word in Greek or Hebrew can help define it without all dragging in all the English connotations.

I could not figure out how to copy and paste using the Greek Alphabet, but here is a bit about the Greek work often translated as “flesh” in English. And then the Hebrew word for “flesh” used in the Hebrew Bible.

Also, I’m not trying to be geeky or arrogant…I have a Hebrew and Greek Bible app that helps me when the English is giving me trouble… and, honestly, when is the porous English language not troublesome?! I also enjoy pointing people to the Journal of World Englishes, a peer-reviewed academic journal about the various Englishes (yes, plural) around the world!

Sarx
(Transliterated from Greek)

Definition
NOUN-Genitive, Singular, Feminine I.
– Greek –
Strongs nt: 4561
(Greek word) – sarx
• (Greek word) probably from the base of (Greek word); flesh (as stripped of the skin), i.e. (strictly) the meat of an animal (as food), or (by extension) the body (as opposed to the soul (or spirit), or as the symbol of what is external, or as the means of kindred), or (by implication) human nature (with its frailties (physically or morally) and passions), or (specially), a human being (as such): carnal(-ly, + -ly minded), flesh(-ly).

Used 130 times in the Bible.

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Bae-sawr’
(Transliterated from Hebrew)

Definition
– Hebrew –
Strongs ot: 1320
(Hebrew word) baw-sawr’
• (Hebrew word) from (Hebrew word); flesh (from its freshness); by extension, body, person; also (by euphem.) the pudenda of a man: body, (fat, lean) flesh-ed), kin, (man-)kind, + nakedness, self, skin.

Used 241 times in the Bible

Friend of Park Street Church,

Everything in Paul is shorthand metaphors, and his grammar breathless. His letters were geared to being read by strangers en route so as to not appear as any “wrong” kind of countercultural. He not infrequently means the opposite of his apparent wording, a Greek habit. He names the part instead of the whole. This is in addition to specific local and contemporaneous factors that strongarming commentators like to ration or twist. His readers and their hearers knew his doctrines beforehand. The Spirit brings alive. James chs 3-4 deal with the topic you focus on: the daily work of strengthening virtues. Both writers imply both inbreathing / indwelling, and the infillings, by Holy Spirit, prophesied by the OT as being offered when Christ would ascend.

The Bylaws are being changed… but not in the manner prescribed by the bylaws themselves. They have, built in, a process by which the bylaws can be changed. CEO Booker doesn’t like this method (because it puts the power in the hands of the congregation and cramps his narcissistic style)… so he gathered some lackeys to get the job done.
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… which really makes one wonder… why bother with all the charades and accompanying mental gymnastics? Just suspend the Bylaws and be done with it! It really points to a 1984 situation…. Big Brother Booker is eager to put the Newspeak into the Bylaws.
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https://mailchi.mp/parkstreet.org/enews-thursday-november-14-2024
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Bylaws Committee Update
The Bylaws committee has been meeting since June of this year, approximately once every two weeks. The current members of the committee are Jim Bruce, Evan Burnham, Julie Halvorsen, Sarah Schaffer Raux and David Rix (Chairperson). The task given to the committee was to comprehensively review the current Bylaws, and to make recommendations to the membership of the congregation of proposed changes. The committee has received quite a few recommendations and comments, and it is not too late to offer further suggestions by emailing bylawscommittee@parkstreet.org.

The review of the Park Street Church Bylaws will be a deliberative process that will include review and comment periods for firstly the Board of Elders and Senior Minister and secondly the membership of the congregation. Any final proposal will certainly not be available by the Annual Meeting in February 2025. The committee is about halfway through a first draft of any proposed changes, which it will then review a second time at the committee level before initiating the comment periods.

Again, please do not hesitate to contact the committee if you have further suggestions and comments.

Thank you,

David W. Rix
Chairperson, Bylaws Committee

Save the Date… I guess… and go with your spiritual armor on!

Park Street Church newsletter

Annual Meeting 2025

The 2025 Annual Meeting will be held on Sunday, February 23. More details will be available in the coming weeks.

Sunday, February 23, 2025 | Sanctuary

Keep your head down, be quiet, don’t respond, preach unremarkable”biblical” sermons but never acknowledge or respond to any actual charges… and people eventually seem to forget or give up. At least God will not forget. At least with God there is a coming act that will bring all into the light.