Dear Editor

P & R News, July-September 2002

Dear Editor,

I would like to correct an error of “insufficient information” from the article “Presbytery of the Dakotas Takes on Doug Wilson and Christ Church, Moscow, Idaho,” from your April—June 2002 issue. First of all, the CRE did not correspond with Illiana Presbytery, as your article alleges, concerning my deposition. The Session of Christ Church was the body that communicated with Illiana, as you properly state in your May—June 2001, issue, page 18. Secondly, you failed to mention that I came to the CRE via the Federation of Reformed Churches (FORC) (properly noted in the May—June 2001 issue), which examined me before my deposition, and which encouraged me to finish my trial in the PCA (in accordance with BCO 38-3a, since Illiana Presbytery would not transfer me at FORC’s request and send the trial on to them). This lack of information in your article makes it “appear” that the CRE has a history of taking in, or shielding men, from denominational discipline, which is not true. You may not have meant to infer this, but your mentioning of my case in close proximity to the CRE within these articles lends itself to being interpreted this way. I came to the CRE a full year and a half after deposition, being a minister in good standing in the FORC that whole time.

On another note, I do want to thank you for mentioning that Cornerstone Reformed Church in Carbondale does practice paedo-communion. Having believed it while in the PCA (an exception approved by Illiana), but not being able to practice it, my convictions, and that of the church, have only been strengthened by its practice and practical outworking in the life of the children of the church. What a blessing for children of the covenant to experience the grace of Christ each week as Christ comes to them in the Lord’s Supper, feeding and loving them as his children: “Let the little ones come to me.”

Sincerely,

Burke Shade, Carbondale, Illinois