THE FREE PRESS VOL. I - No.2 1630 S. Hanover St., Baltimore 30, Md. July 28, 1955 The Formation and Testimony Of the Bible Presbyterian Church BY CARL McINTIRE, D.D. PASTOR OF THE BIBLE PRESBYTERIAN CHUJl.CH, COLLINGSWOOD, N. J. "Let every man take heed how he tics came into play in regard to their 2. buildeth thereupon." operation and direction. It was this sys­ When the Bible Presbyterian Church tem, built up through 'tIhe years, that the The Presbyterian Guardian, just pre­ was 'formed in 1938 and its constitution modernIsts actually captured. vious to the General Asserqbly of the Presbyterian Church in 1936, contained adopted, certain foundations were laid. Here are historical evidences; It was my privilege to !be among those an article, "What Should True Presby­ terians Do at the 1936 General Assem­ who helped start this testimony and I 1. served as a member of the committee bly?" which was reported at length in which drafted the constitution of the Christianity Today, Mid-June, 1933, the Christian Beacon of May 21, 1936. church. Vol. 4, No.2, contains the first and his­ Dr. Machen specifically refers to such a toric announcement of the iormation of machine, "The ecclesiastical machine has We had come through bitter trials at done its work too well and the apostasy !he 'hands of the Presbyterian Church the Independent Board for Presbyterian Fo~~gn Missions. After reporting the of the Church has progressed too far In the U.S.A. The lessons learned in since 1923." Then he advises: "If by that experience we wanted to write per­ decISion of the General Assembly in "accepting the majority report of the some oversight of the machine, you are manently into the structure of the new elected to one of the important com­ Presbyterian testimony being established. Committee on Foreign Missions, express­ ing confidence in the Board," the article mittees, do not sign on the dotted line. It was our thought to build cautiously, Bring in a minority report." Further, carefully, to set up adequate safeguards. states, "The formation of a new Board was therefore announced at Columhus, in his hostility to the machine, he said: Eighteen years have passed and we but only after an earnest effort to reform "Be sure you speak to the specific point ha,:e now come to a crisis in our Synod the olel Board had broken itself upon the that i~ under discussion. Even if you do whIch was never anticipated. The church a£lamant walls of ecclesiastical bureauc­ so, you may 'be ruled out of order by is being changed and made into a differ­ racy." 'the Moderator, who, of course, will rep­ ent type of denomination from that resent the machine." which I mys~1f have given time and Thus, from the very first, "ecclesiasti­ strength to help build through these cal bureaucracy" was a part of the strug­ 3. gle. years. The Case for Compromise, a pamphlet The 18th General Synod saw our first consisting of a series of articles which "political caucus." "Bible Presbyterian appeared in the Christian Beacon writ­ politics" was a phrase that we have heard ten by Dr. H. McAllister Griffith~ oon­ ~or !h~ first time. "Men are out politick­ On the last day of the 18th Gen­ tains a section which discusse~ the ~ng' IS another expression, and there eral Synod of the Bible Presbyte­ machine: IS talk of "the machine." In view of rian Church, meeting irt St. Louis, "The boards of the church, appearing ~ese . developments, there are certain Mo., there was formed, independent histoncal facts that all need to consider. of the Synod, a Committee for True at first a {lundred years ago as instru­ Presbyterianism, by a number of ments of action, have Ibecome the great I brethren who were seriously con­ and absorbing interest of those at the top. The church has developed a bu­ AN FCCLESIASTICAL MACHINE WAS cerned by the events of the Synod and the change which had taken reaucracy-an expensive one-also by ONE OF THE FACTORS IN THE PRESBY­ what seemed administrative necessity. TElUAN CHURCH IN THE U.S.A. THAT place in the BIble Presbyterian Church. The purpose of this Com­ Now bureaucracies are dangerom lhings. WAS A POINT AT ISSUE IN THE GREAT Instead of existing fvr th'_ sake of the STRUGGLE WHICH LED TO THE SEPARA­ mittee is <to bring information to the TION OF 1936. members of the denomination. This body (whe~her nation or . chure!!) the body sometimes comes to the condition 'Dhe Presbyterian Church in the publication is the second to be issued in pursuance of this purpose. of existing in order to support thCJl't. Yet U.SA. developed around its official those in control a.re not vicious men. boards and agencies what Dr. Machen Dr. Carl McIntire has prepared T'hey are usually pleasant, likeable, sin­ called an "ecclesiastical machine." The three articles which are published in cere men. But they are looking at things denominationally controlled 'boards a.nd this issue. through a different end of the tdf"scope ~endes became very powerful in the than does the commun man. • 1,<1 ',\Inen bfe of the church, and ecclesiastical poli- they come to think most of ail of the Page 2 THE FREE PRESS July 28, 1955 Work of the Church Through Official This indisputable evidence ought to sionary Operations of the Church." Agencies, when that is the passion of settle the question in the minds of many :In the conduct of the missionary work their lives, they are creating the very concerning the place of the issue of the of the Presbyterian Church two distinct psychological situation out of which ecclesiastical machine in the great strug­ functions are then described: totalitarian churches are born . The gle in which we engaged with the Pres­ "1. The functions which are strictly great thing to those who (~nconsciously) byterian Church in the U.S.A. Some ecclesiastical, and which have to do with hold to this view, is the outward organi­ would tell us now the issue was only the training and ordination of men for zation of the church. The budget must modernism. It was both. missionary work, the giving to ministers be raised. The boards and agencies, the N ow that the Bible Presbyterian thus set apart their misisons and author­ job-employing, fund-dispensing anns are Church has found, first, a caucus oper­ ity as evangelists, the ultimate determin­ really the church. Everything else exists ating in POlitical fashion, and, second, a ation as to where they shall labor and for them. The church is a vast reservoir drive for Synod-controlled agencies sup­ how long they shall remain in their field of contributions to be tapped. Individuals ported hy this caucus, we are moving to of laIbor, and the responsibility for the who are members of the church are bound develop the ;;arne kind of system which manner in which they discharge their to support its official agencies to the full crea.tes and feeds an ecclesiastical duties. 'extent of their ability." machine. "2. The functions which are purely The article then says, ' "Modernism II administrative, and which provide the was coupled with bureaucracy, and the ways and means for sending the mission­ combination was irresistible." THE MANDATE OF 1934 WITH THE aries commissioned by the Church to Had the church not developed the bu­ STUDIES OF THE CONSTITUTION FOCUSED their respective fields of labor and of sus­ reaucracy which the machine operated, ATTENTION PARTICULARLY ON THE taining them when they are there." MACHINE OF THE CHURCH. 'there never would have been official agen­ The section then offers an entire divi­ cies for the denomination to order men This focusing of attention upon the sion entitled, "1. The Ecclesiastical Func­ fo support! It was in contrast to this machine was twofold. First, the machine tions": "All ecclesiastical functions must situation that independent agencies, such produced the Mandate, under the lead­ by their very nature be exercised exclus­ ~ the Independent Board.for Presbyte­ en~hip of William B. Pugh, stated clerk ively through the judicatories of the rian Foreign Missions, were started by of the General Assembly, who, with those Church." Here is the argument that it those who were protesting against the closely associated with him in the boards is Presbyterian and in accord with the lIIOrlernist control of the machine. and agencies, were running the church. whole position of the Presbyterian Church 4. Second, it demanded that the machine­ in the U.S.A. that it direct in ecclesi­ controlled boards and agencies actually astical matters their missionaries under The Christian Beacon, November ' 5, be supported by the members of the Inde­ 1936, carried an editorial entitled "A their own boards. We now hear it in pendent Board for Presbyterian Foreign our own midst. Machine," in which I said: "The Presby­ Missions and others of the church. A terian Church in the U. S. A. is run by machine used the authority of the church In "2. Administrative Functions," we a machine. Nobody dOUlbts this. Those to endeavor to compel support under read: "It is under this power of super­ who have left the denomination have left pressure of .the boards and agencies intendence that the Presbyterian Church the tyranny of this machine which mani­ which the machine delighted to use for through <its Supreme Judicatory has al­ fests .itself constantly in the administra­ its purposes. It was the boards and ways conducted its missionary work and tion of -the affairs of the Church.