Parker’s Back?
PCUSA’s Renewal Leader Fights Ministry Invalidation
by Terry Schlossberg
The Reverend Parker Williamson, executive editor of an independent publication in the Presbyterian Church, USA (PCUSA) called The Layman, is taking his presbytery to church court. In a dramatic and well-publicized turn-around, the Western North Carolina Presbytery voted last February not to “validate” his ministry with the Presbyterian Lay Committee (PLC), as it had done every year since 1989.
Loss of validation is less significant for Reverend Williamson than for his ministry. He is a minister in good standing in his presbytery, as he has been for 32 years, and the presbytery continues to recognize . . .
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Terry Schlossberg is executive director of Presbyterians Pro-Life (www.ppl.org), one of the sixteen unofficial renewal groups in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
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