Staff writer
chriscam@observer-reporter.com
WAYNESBURG - The future of reformed Christian theology is a positive one, said Charles Burge, executive director of the Presbyterian Lay Committee.
Burge spoke Saturday to those attending the committee's Faith and Life Conference at Waynesburg University. The committee is a conservative watchdog of the Presbyterian Church USA denomination.
Burge is encouraged by reports that young people are discovering reformed theology. Many, he noted, are moving away from mainline denominations, tired of worship services that focus on men, not God.
The country is in a "post denominational culture" in which many people under the age of 50 no longer feel bound to the same church their parents did.
Burge pointed to Passion Conferences in which between 10,000 and 15,000 college students regularly attend. The renewed interest also is being led by elders. He cited Timothy Keller's book, "The Reason for God," which is on The New York Times best-seller list and the works of Baptist minister John Piper.
"Something is going on," Burge said.
Also speaking during the State of the Church report was the Rev. Parker Williamson, editor emeritus.
Williamson said when the General Assembly of the PCUSA meets Wednesday in San Jose, Calif., at stake is how $2 billion in donor-designated contributions to the church will be used. Williamson said the Presbyterian Foundation is the fiduciary authority of those funds and they should not be used by the General Assembly Council, as has been proposed.
"I think it's the most important issue that's coming to this General Assembly, he said.
According to the Washington Presbytery Web site, local individuals planning on attending the GA include Eric Bowman, the Rev. Joseph Rychcik, the Rev. Thomas Ribar, the Rev. David Stammerjohn, the Rev. Charles Perrine and elders Judy Scott and Elizabeth Todd.
The Rev. Rus Howard, pastor of the Peters Creek Presbyterian Church EPC, currently involved in a church property issue before Washington County Court, was another conference speaker.