John Ortberg Introduces ECO
John Ortberg, Pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian, in Menlo Park, CA, shares a vision for ministry and introduces The Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians (ECO). This talk took place on January 19, 2012, at the Covenanting Conference for The Fellowship of Presbyterians, in Orlando, FL. You can also download the video directly through the Vimeo link below.
John Ortberg: A Vision for Ministry & Introducing ECO from Fellowship of Presbyterians on Vimeo.
12 Responses
This is a brilliant sermon!
I went to the Vimeo site to download, couldn’t do it. Attempted to sign up, and the site said that sign-ups were disabled. So I need a little more help please.
Brian Kilbert
Even better the second time I heard it.
I was at the event. It was amazing. Christ was truly present and moving. Thanks for making this available so quickly! I want to download this address but cannot figure out how to download it from Vimeo. I am not that technical but could not find the option to download. Can you provide more specific instructions? –Technically Challenged
Rebecca, Did you get the answer to your question about how to download the video? You can contact me at momlet@gmail.com if you still have questions. Evelyn Lee
I am so glad this was posted and that I was able to listen to it again. There is so much here that it is hard to process it in its entirety. Is it possible to also have a printed version of his sermon available?
Thank you for the conference – it was like standing at a fire hydrant being blasted but so refreshing being with others desiring to be the body of church dedicated to putting hell out of business!
Rev. Ortberg was inspirational with what he said about the Presbyterian church and what drew him to it. When he launched into his description of the kind of Christian walk he observed in Presbyterians, it made me feel like “Yeah, that’s the church I want to be a part of. I’m not very involved in church politics, but I’m very involved in the ministry of my local church. Can someone explain how Rev. Ortberg made the leap from “I found the Presbyterian church inspirational,” to “let’s start a new denomination.”? Something must be pretty broken on the General Assembly level for a bunch of people to want to walk rather than fix things from within existing structures. What is it? Is there someone who can give a nuts and bolts explanation still understandable to a lay person why we can’t work within the structure we have to create a risk-taking church? Rev. Ortberg’s talk, as inspirational as it was, was nebulous about that. Was there another speaker at the conference who spoke about those brass tacks things? Is there a video of that?
Allen, you might want to look at the videos of the meeting in Minneapolis in August. Or google some of the archives of the controversy for the past few years.
I too am active in several of the ministries at my local Presbyterian Church. Somehow, during the past 30 or so years, while I was busy raising a family, going to graduate school, and even being involved in a new church development, I wasn’t really paying much attention to what was happening on the General Assembly level. I was happy when I saw that several women were achieving leadership status, having been ordained as an elder myself during the 1970’s at a time when it was a pretty new thing for women elders to be ordained. But other than that, I wasn’t really involved in a leadership role, so had no compelling reason to watch what was happening. When the Episcopal Church went through their problems with the ordination of gay clergy, I like many others, thought “Well, that will never happen in our denomination.” After all, there was the BCO with it’s fidelity and chastity clause. But the adoption of 10-A changed all of that. Because basically 10-A says that the Bible that I have been reading for all of these 60 + years and trying to understand is wrong and is in error about what it says about the sanctity of marriage and the relationship between a man and a woman, and of Christ and His Church.
Ever since I accepted Christ as my savior and was born again, I have always told myself that when I don’t understand or agree with something in the Bible, it is my understanding that is in error and through prayer, and continued reading, the Holy Spirit has always been faithful to show me that it is I who is lacking understanding, not an error in the Bible.
In my humble opinion, General Assembly has been moving in a direction that smacks of apostasy for several years. I think there is a distinct movement to dilute the faith and make it fit in line with political correctness. Romans 12:2 says “Do not be conformed to this world, but continually be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may be able to determine what God’s will is-what is proper, pleasing, and perfect.”
General Assembly has drawn a line in the sand. What ECO and the Fellowship of Presbyterians are saying is what Joshua declared in Joshua 24:15 “And if it seems evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
What we believe and who we serve is important. And I don’t mean to offend anyone, but it really is the difference between Heaven and Hell, and I love the Presbyterian Church USA, and I don’t want want them to go to Hell, but if they choose to go there, I don’t chose to go with them.
I think that is how we got from finding the Presbyterian Church inspirational to wanting to start a new denomination.
Dianna, thank you for your thoughtful and straightforward response. Thank you also for citing ‘chapter and verse’ in the Book of Order. I will read 10-A so I can get up to speed. If their biblical interpretation that homosexual clergy have no place in God’s church is a line in the sand issue for ECO and Fellowship of Presbyterians, I admire your courage for saying so. In no other place on this site is anyone willing to be honest and direct about this.
Alan, I’ll offer this response, which doesn’t come from an insider of the ECO movement, but from having been around the block a few times. ECO may not be for every evangelical in the PCUSA. If you’re in a fruitful relationship within your local church and it experiences what your session considers to be a fruitful ministry within the Presbytery, then my read of Fellowship and ECO leaders would say not to shift. Specific reasons to form a new movement include a range from the theological to the practical depending on with whom you’re speaking, none of which may apply to your context. Sadly, and to your question about practical specifics, an increasing number of teaching and ruling elders and non-ordained members are experiencing either travail, disharmony, and an inability to function as they interpret the Constitution. For a few, they have even experienced exclusion as evangelicals. That, for me, was eye-opening in MN last summer.
Theologically, much has been written already in the Outlook, Theology Today, and posts here for well over a year. Simply, if one has no significant theological and practical qualms with the new BOO (despite some of it’s improvements), including but not limited to the ordination standards and F-.0403, then likely one would not understand the cry evangelicals are making. Namely, that it is now time to stop spending energy and resources on internal reform, but to rediscover and be led as one body by the evangelical, Reformed principals of the church regarding the Trinity, the lordship of Jesus Christ, authority of scripture, non-pluralisic faith, and evangelisic mission as Presbyterians. I hope this helps.
Hi,
I would like to know if ECO will be presenting any proposal at General Assembly in Pittsburgh. If not, how would a person get in touch with ECO at Pittsburgh. Also, do you have a list of member churches/pastors who already have signed on to ECO? Thank you for your response
Jill Schaeffer
ECO, as a separate denomination, will not be presenting anything to the PC(USA) General Assembly this summer. The Fellowship will have an exhibit at the Assembly, but not ECO.
There are currently around 100 pastors and congregations who have begun the application process for ECO.
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