Indictment of the PCA Standing Judicial Commission | Exhibit 5
“We need to demonstrate the power of what we profess in the way we live our lives.”
“For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.”
— Malachi 2:7
“Dealing with conflict is the daily work of the pastor. God has called us as undershepherds of His flock to care for His sheep, and that often means caring for them through conflict, even when we as pastors may be the cause of the conflict. Conflict in the church is why people sometimes leave a church …”
— “Conflict and Peace,” Tabletalk, March 2022, Vol. 46, No. 3, Burk Parsons, senior pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel; Benyola can attest to such an outcome, after having spent most of 2019 repeatedly requesting to meet with TE Parsons & co. concerning specific decisions in their deportment as avowed Presbyterian pastors, yet Parsons stonewalled every attempt.
“If God is to accept our worship and look with favor on our sacrifice of praise, we must come before Him with humble, broken, contrite, trusting hearts, striving for peace with our church family. This principle is found throughout Scripture (Pss. 24:3–4; 51:16–17; Matt. 15:8; Rom. 12:18; Heb. 12:18–20). As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to regularly examine our own hearts and our relationships, humbling ourselves, looking for the logs in our own eyes and confessing our sins to God and to one another. Pursuing peace and reconciliation with one another ought to be the goal of every Christian. No doubt at times it can be hard and may involve a lengthy process, but it is still worth pursuing. The very fact that our gracious God has provided a way of redemption and lasting peace for you and me through faith in Jesus should lead all of us to be loving, merciful, gracious, and eager to forgive and seek peace with others when necessary.
Failure to seek peace when relationships are strained and failure to maintain purity in our thoughts and actions will result in worship that displeases God. In fact, such worship is a mockery of God. Jesus calls out the Pharisees and scribes in Matthew 15:8–9 and says of them, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me.’ Our hearts are far from the Lord when we say one thing to give the appearance of righteousness but never intend to follow through. …
Jesus’ clear instruction for His church is this: ‘First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift’ (Matt. 5:24).
As we seek to honor and glorify the Lord with our lives and with our worship, let us remember that we are all part of the body of Christ. When unjustified anger and division exist between members of the family of God, we should be quick to seek peace and not let anger escalate. In doing so, we show by our words and our actions that we are peacemakers, and blessed shall we be, ‘for [peacemakers] shall be called sons of God’ (Matt. 5:9).
— “Anger with Our Brothers,” Tabletalk, June 2022, Vol. 46, No. 6, Kevin Struyk, associate pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel; see the above attestation.
“‘I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the LORD God.’ Ezekiel 34:15
Under the divine shepherdry saints are fed to the full. … There is real nutriment for the soul in Scripture brought home to the heart by the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself is the true life-sustaining Food of believers. Here our Great Shepherd promises that such sacred nourishment shall be given us by His own self. If, on the LORD’s Day, our earthly shepherd is empty-handed, the LORD is not.
When filled with holy truth the mind rests. Those whom Jehovah feeds are at peace. … If preachers do not give us rest, let us look to the LORD for it.”
— The Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith, Charles Spurgeon, August 25 reading
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.’ Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
— Ephesians 6:1-4
“Were I to follow out all the flagitious corruptions of ecclesiastical government, I should enter an interminable forest. Of the lives of the priests, for many reasons, I at present decline to speak; but there are three vices of an intolerable description, on which each individual may reflect for himself: First, Disregarding the character of a holy vocation, clerical offices are everywhere acquired either by violence or by simony, or by other dishonest and impious arts: Secondly, The rulers of the Church, in so far as regards the performance of their duties, are more like empty shadows or lifeless images than true ministers; and, Thirdly, When they ought to govern consciences in accordance with the Word of God, they oppress them with an iniquitous tyranny, and hold them in bondage by the fetters of many impious laws. Is it true, that, not only in contempt of the laws of God and man, but in the absence of everything like a sense of shame, foul disorder reigns in the appointment of Bishops and Presbyters? that caprice assumes the place of justice, simony is seldom absent, and, as if these were evils of no consequence, the correction of them is deferred to a future age?”
— The Necessity of Reforming the Church, To The Most Invincible Emperor Charles V., And The Most Illustrious Princes And Other Orders, Now Holding A Diet Of The Empire At Spires, John Calvin
“Let not a contemptuous idea of our insignificance dissuade you from the investigation of this cause. … But our doctrine must stand sublime above all the glory of the world, and invincible by all its power, because it is not ours, but that of the living God and his Anointed, whom the Father has appointed King, that he may rule from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the ends of the earth.”
— Institutes of the Christian Religion, “Prefatory Address by John Calvin to Francis I, King of France,” 1536
“The grace of God is not proven by the foolishness of allowing perpetrators to serve in places where they can abuse again.”
— The Rt. Rev. Justin S. Holcomb, fifth bishop of the Diocese of Central Florida, at the Valued Conference, March 22-23, 2019
“One of the most common passages Christians refer to on conflict resolution is Matthew 18:15–20. This passage is a step-by-step guide showing the way to walk through the process from beginning to end. …
What, then, is the purpose? There are several. We confront the one who sins against us to provide him with the opportunity to repent and be freed from his guilt. We confront for the purpose of restoring a relationship. We confront to restore peace and righteousness in the church. …
Once you have determined that a meeting is necessary and that your heart is right before God, you can follow the steps given by Jesus in Matthew 18:1–20.”
— “Resolving Conflict Biblically,” Tabletalk, March 2022, Vol. 46, No. 3, Dan Dodds
“Fight or flight, aggression or avoidance – neither of these strategies provides an effective long-term technique for managing conflict. … Read … 2 Samuel 14:1-15:37 to learn from a negative example. …
Absalom had heard that his half brother Amnon had raped his sister Tamar, yet he had failed to confront Amnon. Instead, he deceitfully arranged for Amnon’s murder two years later and fled after the deed had been done (2 Samuel 13).
King David had also failed to discipline Amnon (13:21-22), and now he was shirking his responsibility to settle his conflict with Absalom, even though his son longed to see him. David relented only after Joab entreated him to restore Absalom following three years of banishment. But even after allowing him back into the city, David refused to see Absalom for another two years until Absalom forced the issue and the meeting did take place. But it was too late; Absalom had become embittered against his father and conspired to take the kingdom away from him. David’s conflict avoidance strategy not only failed to work but eventually escalated the conflict. Had he dealt promptly with the issues surrounding Amnon and Absalom, Amnon’s murder and Absalom’s conspiracy might have been averted.
The key to conflict management is prompt reconciliation by lovingly speaking the truth (Ephesians 4:15). Effective conflict managers know how to balance truth (confrontation) and love (reconciliation). Effective leaders learn to be peacemakers by dealing directly with disagreements and seeking amicable resolutions. David shows us that putting off confrontation only strains relations and inevitably compounds the problem.”
— Handbook to Leadership: Leadership in the Image of God, Kenneth Boa, Sid Buzzell and Bill Perkins, pp. 254-255
“So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”
— Matthew 5:23-25
“Do the thing quickly, bring yourself to judgment now. In moral and spiritual matters, you must do it at once; if you do not, the inexorable process will begin to work.”
— My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers, June 30
03/12/2019: Central Florida Presbytery rules on the censure of the accused Senior Pastor at Saint Andrew’s Chapel, which the Session of Saint Andrew’s does not ever divulge to their congregation. Yet, at least two dozen people, the alleged victims and family members, had fled Saint Andrew’s.
Alleged violations (errors and/or delinquencies) by the Central Florida Presbytery
Primary standards: Joshua 20:4, Proverbs 3:27, 22:22, 24:11-12, 31:23, Zechariah 8:16, Malachi 2:7, Matthew 3:8, I Corinthians 13:6
05/19/2019: A sequence of suspicious rulings and disciplinary bungles have engaged the curiosity of Benyola. So, Benyola meets with his assigned ruling elder and a teaching elder to discuss certain leadership decisions in comparison with principles of church government he’s been learning from the BCO and other academic literature, some written by PCA officers, and to ask questions about why the Presbytery-ordained pastors have taken actions which are out of accord with PCA polity.
06/07/2019: Without satisfactory answers from the meeting, Benyola emails a 16-page letter to the Session of Saint Andrew’s through his assigned ruling elder, the substance of which was to objectively compare the PCA’s constitution to Saint Andrew’s’ constitution, and to reasonably inquire about why Presbytery-ordained teaching elders are managing a polity that is so clearly discordant with the polity which they vowed to uphold in their PCA Confessional Subscription.
(Letter to the Session of Saint Andrew’s Chapel)
06/25-28/2019: The 47th PCA General Assembly continues enumerating a multitude of errors, oversights and incomplete records from several years’ worth of requirements for Central Florida Presbytery’s licensure, examination and ordination process for teaching elders, especially with its out-of-bounds calls at non-PCA organizations. In its report, the GA Committee on Review of Presbytery Records approves Central Florida Presbytery’s records, “with exception of substance.”
It repeats many, many of the exceptions that it previously found, including, “TE laboring out of bounds without concurrence of Presbytery within whose bounds he labors,” and this time Presbytery responds, “The Presbytery agrees with the exception. The Presbytery permitted a long term TE who was without a call to accept a job offer in another Presbytery who wanted to remain in the Central Florida Presbytery to see how things would work out for him. At the November 13, 2018 meeting of Presbytery, the Presbytery removed its permission for him to labor out of bounds. … Presbytery has also appointed a Commission to Review Records of Presbytery and to lead Presbytery in a committed effort to improve record keeping in all areas.”
Is it haphazard for Central Florida to allow men to possess the PCA’s ministerial credentials out of bounds without understanding what they are doing and what their out-of-bounds work entails?
One has to wonder if any of the events at Saint Andrew’s in recent years, such as the teaching elders’ seizure of congregational voting rights, their excommunication of church members who have no appeal rights, or the investiture of the Senior Pastor without any congregational vote, are mentioned by any of the TEs in their annual reports that should be in Central Florida’s records.
(Minutes of the Forty-Seventh General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, pp. 453-457)
Alleged violations (errors and/or delinquencies) by the Central Florida Presbytery
Secondary standards: BCO 8-7; 13-2,-11; 40-1,-4; RAO 16-3,-4.c,-5
07/10/2019: After approximately two Saint Andrew’s Session monthly stated meetings, Benyola receives a hard-copy letter from the Session confirming receipt of his 06/07 letter, the sum of which letter was basically having to ask them, but not in such blunt words: “Are the pastors of Saint Andrew’s sinning against their ordination vows in the PCA?” The Saint Andrew’s Session’s response letter is half a page, cordially acknowledges receipt, and answers not a single question.
(Response Letter from the Session of Saint Andrew’s Chapel)
Alleged violations (errors and/or delinquencies) by the Saint Andrew’s Chapel Senior Pastor, et al.
Primary standards: Deuteronomy 10:16, Joshua 20:4, Proverbs 3:27, 22:22, 31:23, Zechariah 1:2-6, 8:16, Malachi 2:7, Matthew 3:8, Luke 17:3-4, Acts 20:27-28, I Corinthians 1:10-11, 13:6, II Corinthians 6:3-8, I Timothy 3:2,15, Titus 1:5-7, Hebrews 12:15, I Peter 2:1, 5:1-4
Secondary standards: BCO 8-1,-2,-3; 13-7; 21-5.2,3; 34-3
Tertiary standards: Saint Andrew’s Chapel Bylaws, Rev 2.00, Article IV— Elders (The Session), Section 4.17: Duties of Elders
07/16/2019: Attempting to reach the real root of the issue, Benyola emails an information request to the Central Florida Presbytery Stated Clerk for the minutes of the October 1997 stated meeting when TE R.C. Sproul was granted to labor out of bounds at Saint Andrew’s Chapel. The Clerk responds, “The information you requested is not available to you. Presbytery does not operate like a government, under sunshine laws, which makes records open to the public.” In retrospect, one simply has to wonder if the recurring gaps the GA continued noticing in Central Florida’s records have any connection to Presbytery’s refusal to release its (supposedly) “open records” to members.
07/17/2019: Knowing that it is not the ruling elders but the teaching elders who have taken vows to uphold the form of government and discipline of the PCA, Benyola emails the teaching elders’ administrative assistant requesting an in-person meeting to ask questions and to reconcile, asking to meet with all three, within about two weeks. Their admin acknowledges the email two weeks later to the day, claiming that “the teaching elders have to bring this request to the Session,” but a meeting is never permitted with any of the teaching elders. Why do PCA teaching elders need to clear it with their entire unchecked Session before meeting with a member to answer questions?
Alleged violations (errors and/or delinquencies) by the Saint Andrew’s Chapel Senior Pastor, et al.
Primary standards: Deuteronomy 10:16, Joshua 20:4, Proverbs 3:27, 22:22, 31:23, Zechariah 8:16, Malachi 2:7, Matthew 3:8, 18:15, Luke 17:3-4, Acts 20:27-28, I Corinthians 1:10-11, 13:6, II Corinthians 6:3-8, I Timothy 3:2,15, Titus 1:5-7, Hebrews 12:15, I Peter 2:1, 5:1-4
Secondary standards: BCO 8-1,-2,-3; 13-7; 21-5.2,3; 34-3
Tertiary standards: Saint Andrew’s Chapel Bylaws, Rev 2.00, Article IV— Elders (The Session), Section 4.17: Duties of Elders
07/21/2019: Still technically a member on the roll at Saint Andrew’s, Benyola goes to its Sunday evening worship. After the service, he catches up with his assigned ruling elder, who brings up the subject of the letter Benyola sent the Session and assures him that its points are being considered. Benyola respectfully conveys it still concerns him that Saint Andrew’s’ three PCA teaching elders assumed vows to uphold PCA polity, and is unsatisfied these pastors refused to meet and answer questions about their actions in the administration of this non-PCA church over a period of years.
The ruling elder becomes upset and shouts, “I’m not going to talk to you about this issue anymore. I didn’t set up the church this way. If you have a problem with it, take it up with the dead man!”
And he points to the cemetery outside the front door of Saint Andrew’s, which has R.C. Sproul’s headstone. This ruling elder whom Benyola has known for almost a decade as an otherwise very amiable, loving and approachable Christian, loses it and instructs Benyola to ‘Go talk to the grave!’ Well, if Benyola had caught on earlier and started connecting all these dots while R.C. Sproul was still living, then as a member, he certainly would have sought intentional conversation with Sproul.
All this stonewalling just makes Benyola more suspicious and intrigued to press the matter further.
Yet, disinclined to go against Christian sensibilities by trifling with necromancy, Benyola refrains from following this elder’s odd advice and undertaking any seances that may disturb R.C.’s rest.
08/26/2019: One of the teaching elders at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, also the Chairman of the Minister and His Work Committee at the time, mentions in an email conversation,
“Hello, Peter,
Glad to hear you are using your commute time profitably, though I can’t imagine a seminary course on ecclesiology would be the most exciting thing to listen to. Hang in there. …”
This remark appears innocuous in context and not alarming at the time. But as Benyola continues to unravel their tenebrous tapestry, yet is unable to get meaningful answers from anyone at Saint Andrew’s and Central Florida Presbytery, and as the struggle for redress unfolds the following year; in retrospect, this remark seems to rather betray a tenor of insouciance that will morph into malevolence — which further engenders more suspicion, intrigue and curiosity to divide the truth.
08/26/2019: Benyola again in email requests Central Florida Presbytery’s 1997 meeting minutes, and the Stated Clerk responds, “As I have explained in the past you are not privy to the Minutes of the Presbytery. But, if you have specific questions I will let you know what I can from the open session records. I can share this extract from the open record: Presbytery …” The following day in the same email chain, the Stated Clerk reasserts, “Many think the minutes are public, but they are only for the members of the organization. following Roberts Rules.” Benyola eventually reads the entire Book of Church Order, the Presbytery of Central Florida Standing Rules, and Robert’s Rules of Order, and finds that Robert’s Rules makes no such restriction on release of Presbytery’s minutes, as the Clerk claims. Benyola also finds this assertion strange, since the General Assembly, the highest Court of the PCA, has published its minutes for public access every year for almost half a century.
Alleged violations (errors and/or delinquencies) by the Stated Clerk of Central Florida Presbytery
Primary standards: Proverbs 22:22, Zechariah 8:16, Malachi 2:7, Acts 20:28, I Corinthians 13:6, II Corinthians 6:3-8
10/22/2019: In a meeting with several Central Florida Presbytery teaching elders and a ruling elder as witnesses, Benyola meets with TE Burk Parsons to resolve a remark TE Parsons allegedly made about him behind closed doors; five witnesses from his young men’s discipleship group attested to it, yet TE Parsons has no recollection of it. In any event, at the end of the meeting, Benyola, still a member of Saint Andrew’s Chapel, says he still has concerns about the polity of the church and why he could not get any answers from the Session to his inquiry of that summer. Benyola asks if it is true that the Session has recently voted again not to present to the Saint Andrew’s congregation the recommendation to join the PCA. TE Parsons immediately bristles at the question and answers, “I don’t know how you would know that. I am not at liberty to discuss that. We are working with the Minister and His Work Committee.” Is it appropriate for an avowed Presbyterian teaching elder who presides over an unpresbyterated church to stonewall a member of such a church, answering that inquiries about its polity status are basically none of his business?
More than a year later, when the Presbytery’s Chairman of the Minister and His Work Committee, also a St. Paul’s teaching elder, summons Benyola to secret “conflict resolution” meetings, this TE who was present at that October 2019 meeting purports that Benyola “blindsided Burk with a question about the polity.” “Blindsided”? Benyola had submitted a 16-page letter to the Session with specific questions focusing on the polity of Saint Andrew’s, which received no meaningful answers, thus generating repeated failed attempts to obtain answers from multiple presbyters in the following months. Everyone already knew exactly what Benyola’s questions and concerns were.
Since Benyola is later accused of “blindsiding” his Senior Pastor with supposedly inappropriate questions — about public matters affecting the entire congregation — do we really believe that the Chairman of the Minister and His Work Committee is holding the minister “accountable” for his work, or rather, is he actually protecting the minister from accountability for his ruling decisions?
11/17/2019: With lots of Scripture, church-history study producing Presbyterian convictions, and after several months attending St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church — and with experience, now having read the whole Book of Church Order as well as the local church bylaws — Benyola takes the PCA membership vows and is inducted as a member of St. Paul’s, the local church from which Saint Andrew’s actually split in 1997. Benyola thinks that St. Paul’s is a safer place in terms of church government. Well, at least this Session actually has “accountability” of the Church courts over it.
The Book of Church Order of the Presbyterian Church in America
Part I: Form of Government
Chapter 3: The Nature and Extent of Church Power
3-5. The Church, with its ordinances, officers and courts, is the agency which Christ has ordained for the edification and government of His people, for the propagation of the faith, and for the evangelization of the world.
“But the people of Israel broke faith in regard to the devoted things … And the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel. …
The LORD said to Joshua, ‘Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have transgressed my covenant that I commanded them; they have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen and lied and put them among their own belongings. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies, because they have become devoted for destruction. I will be with you no more, unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow; for thus says the LORD, God of Israel, ‘There are devoted things in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the devoted things from among you.’
… And Joshua said, ‘Why did you bring trouble on us? The LORD brings trouble on you today.’ And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones. And they raised over him a great heap of stones that remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his burning anger.”
— Joshua 7:1, 10-13, 26
“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”
— Matthew 3:8
“And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
— James 3:18
“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us,
what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”
— I Peter 4:17
“If a man have not order within him
He can not spread order about him;
And if a man have not order within him
His family will not act with due order;
And if the prince have not order within him
He can not put order in his dominions.”
— Ezra Pound, Canto 13, circa 1924
“God, therefore, sets up his kingdom, by humbling the whole world, though in different ways, taming the wantonness of some, and breaking the ungovernable pride of others. We should desire this to be done every day, in order that God may gather churches to himself from all quarters of the world, may extend and increase their numbers, enrich them with his gifts, establish due order among them; on the other hand, beat down all the enemies of pure doctrine and religion, dissipate their counsels, defeat their attempts. Hence it appears that there is good ground for the precept which enjoins daily progress, for human affairs are never so prosperous as when the impurities of vice are purged away, and integrity flourishes in full vigor. The completion, however, is deferred to the final advent of Christ, when, as Paul declares, ‘God will be all in all’ (1 Cor 15:28). This prayer, therefore, ought to withdraw us from the corruptions of the world which separate us from God, and prevent his kingdom from flourishing within us.”
— Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin, 3.20.42
“… In discussing ‘the future of evangelical Christianity,’ we do not mean the ultimate future. The ultimate future, according to the great and precious promises of God, is sure; if evangelical Christianity is true, it cannot ultimately fail.
But the future of which we are speaking is the immediate future. The gospel will triumph in the end, but meanwhile we are living in a time of conflict when we need to ask what it is God’s will that we should do. …
But possibly the leaders may come to see, on sober second thought, that even from their point of view the end is being attained at too great a cost, that in running roughshod over the principles of liberty in the church they are really harming their own cause, that theological pacifism will hardly prosper in the long run if it is stained with crime.”
— J. Gresham Machen, “The Attack upon Princeton Seminary: A Plea for Fair Play,” 1927
“But in general, the false position in which they stand has militated against their highest usefulness. Equivocation, the double use of traditional terminology, subscription to solemn creedal statements in a sense different from the sense originally intended in those statements—these things give a man a poor platform upon which to stand, no matter what it is that he proposes, upon that platform, to do.”
— J. Gresham Machen, “The Responsibility of the Church in Our New Age,” 1933
“Freud thought you could study neurotics and learn about normals. He got it backwards. You have to study the normal to understand the delinquent.”
— attributed to Johns Hopkins psychologist Robert Hogan, in See You At The Top, Zig Ziglar, p. 63
“Confrontation is rarely, if ever, pleasant, but it is often needful. In 1 Corinthians 11:18–19, the Apostle Paul finds it most needful to confront the Corinthian church about the divisions and factions that are running rampant among them:
For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized.
When sin is confronted and conflict results, there is opportunity for repentance and reconciliation. When sin goes unchecked because conflict is avoided, sin and unbelief are allowed to endanger the church. …
Over and over again, throughout the history of the church, needful conflicts have served the purpose of preserving the purity of the gospel. In the first century, needful conflict confronted the Judaizers and preserved the gospel of God’s redeeming grace from the error of works-righteousness. In the early fourth century, needful conflict confronted the errors of the Arians and the doctrine of Christ’s full divinity was preserved. In the early fifth century, needful conflict preserved the sovereign nature of God’s grace as Augustine confronted Pelagius. In the Reformation, needful conflict confronted many errors that had crept into the life of the church during the Middle Ages, including the corruption of worship, the sacraments, the role of the clergy, and the gospel itself.
These errors had to be confronted, and as a result, major conflicts erupted in the church. Many godly men lost their lives. Yet these conflicts were most needful to restore the church to spiritual health and vitality. As these errors were confronted and as godly men pressed through the conflicts, the true church was preserved, and those who were not genuine believers were exposed.
Conflicts may be unpleasant, but they are needful if we are to be faithful to Christ and seek to preserve the purity of His church. May God give us wisdom that we may discern when confrontation is needed and how to navigate the resulting conflicts in such a way that Christ is honored and His church preserved.”
— “Needful Conflict,” Tabletalk, March 2022, Vol. 46, No. 3, Roland S. Barnes