Understanding ECO

1. Understanding ECO A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians

2. Why Are We Having This Conversation? “I would like a simple 1 sentence answer explaining your #1 overriding reason that leaving PC(USA) and joining ECO is the decision we must make. I don’t want a sermonette just a plain single sentence answer” Linda C Capron

3. Why Are We Having This Conversation? • 72% of our family has expressed a clear desire to depart the PC(USA) • PC(USA) will only dismiss us to “another Reformed body”

4. What Are Our Options? • Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) • Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) • Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO)

5. Who is ECO? • We seek to be a movement, not just a denomination. • Our Mission • To build flourishing churches that make disciples of Jesus Christ.

6. Who is ECO? • The name ECO reinforces our passion for strengthening the ecosystems of local churches. • We believe the church is a living organism that needs life-giving resources to help it grow, thrive, and multiply. • ECO is committed to cultivating a healthy, diverse, resource-rich ecosystem where pastors and congregations can flourish.

7. Who is ECO? • ECO's Four Priorities: • Lift up the centrality of the gospel. • Grow with an emerging generation of leaders. • Prioritize a wave of church innovation. • Nurture relationships & foster accountability among local church leaders.

8. 2 Challenges ECO is Addressing • Theological Challenge – This is the most immediately apparent issue and the first concern of most congregations. • Institutional Challenge – A “denomination” needs to focus on the health of the church and its leaders, not on bickering and/or institutional preservation.

9. ECO’s Core Values • Jesus-shaped Identity:We believe Jesus Christ must be at the center of our lives and making disciples of Jesus at the core of our ministry. • Biblical Integrity:We believe the Bible is the unique and authoritative Word of God, which teaches all that is necessary for faith and life. The prominence of God’s Word over our lives shapes our priorities, and the unrivaled authority of the Bible directs our actions to be in concert with Christ’s very best for our lives. 

10. ECO’s Core Values • Thoughtful Theology:We believe in theological education, constant learning, and the life of the mind, and celebrate this as one of the treasures of our Reformed heritage. • Accountable Community:We want to connect leaders to one another in healthy relationships of accountability, synergy, and care. • Egalitarian Ministry:We believe in unleashing the ministry gifts of women, men, and every ethnic group.

11. ECO’s Core Values • Missional Centrality:We believe in living out the whole of the Great Commission – including evangelism, spiritual formation, compassion, and redemptive justice – in our communities and around the world. • Center-focused Spirituality:We believe in calling people to the core of what it means to be followers of Jesus – what “mere Christianity” is and does – and not fixate on the boundaries.

12. ECO’s Core Values • Leadership Velocity:We believe identifying and developing gospel-centered leaders is critical for the church, and a great leadership culture is risk-taking, innovative, and organic. • Kingdom Vitality:We believe congregations should vigorously reproduce new missional communities to expand the Kingdom of God.

13. ECO By the Numbers • Presently there are over 295 ECO congregations – comprised largely of former PC(USA) churches. • Today there are 9 geographically arrayed Presbyteries • It is highly likely that a new Presbytery will be created here in the Valley to host those of us currently seeking to affiliate with ECO. • There is no “per capita” in ECO. The denomination receives an annual contribution of 1% of each member church’s budget.

14. 3 Things ECO is Looking for • First, we want to make sure the congregation isn’t seeking to come to ECO because they are primarily angry about their current situation. We want to make sure a congregation will use their opportunity to join ECO to become bolder and more aggressive in pursuing what God has called them to do.

15. 3 Things ECO is Looking for • Second, we want to make sure the session understands the covenantal nature of ECO and is prepared to participate in Mission Affinity Groups (MAG’s), and that the pastor(s) will be in a Pastor Covenant Group (PCG) as well.

16. 3 Things ECO is Looking for • Third, we want to make sure that congregations will ensure that those whom they ordain as elders and deacons adhere to those things which are critical to life in ECO – the Essential Tenets, The Confessions, and our Polity.

17. Notes on the Essential Tenets Presbyterians have been of two minds about essential tenets. • We recognize that just as there are some central and foundational truths of the gospel affirmed by Christians everywhere, so too there are particular understandings of the gospel that define the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition. • Recognizing the danger in reducing the truth of the gospel to propositions that demand assent, we also recognize that when the essentials become a matter primarily of individual discernment and local affirmation, they lose all power to unite us in common mission and ministry.

18. Notes on the Essential Tenets Essential tenets are tied to the teaching of the confessions as reliable expositions of Scripture. The essential tenets. . . provide indispensable indicators of confessional convictions about what Scripture leads us to believe and do. Essential tenets witness to the confessions’ common core. This document is thus intended. . . as a guide to the Church’s exploration of and commitment to the great themes of Scripture and to the historic Reformed confessions that set forth those themes.

19. Core Topics of the Essential Tenets • The authority and infallibility of scripture • The person and the work of Jesus Christ • Commitment to having our lives conform to God’s desire

20. The Essential Tenets Offer a Confession. . . As a result of sin, human life is poisoned by everlasting death. No part of human life is untouched by sin. Our desires are no longer trustworthy guides to goodness, and what seems natural to us no longer corresponds to God’s design. Our only hope is God’s grace. We discover in Scripture that this is a great hope, for our God is the One whose mercy is from everlasting to everlasting. (ET III A, p2)

21. And Respond with a Call. . . We. . . hold one another accountable to. . . pursue truth, even when such pursuit is costly, and defend truth when it is challenged, recognizing that truth is in order to goodness and that its preservation matters. (ET III E, 9)

22. Who is Welcome in the ECO Family? The congregation’s fellowship shall be open to all who seek to explore spiritual life by participating in the fellowship of the risen Lord. The congregation shall be gracious in providing pastoral care to all who consider themselves a part of the congregation, in the hope that these spiritual friends might become members of Christ’s body. All who put their trust in Jesus Christ are welcomed to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion. (Polity 1.0302)

23. BUT -- A Flash Pointfor Us. . . We. . . hold one another accountable to. . . maintain chastity in thought and deed, being faithful within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman as established by God at the creation or embracing a celibate life as established by Jesus in the new covenant. (ET III E, 7)

24. AND – a Possible Way Forward Elders and deacons are ordained and installed by the session. . . . Ordaining bodies must ensure that all officers adhere to the Essential Tenets of ECO. Failure of officers to continue to adhere to these standards is grounds for a session. . . to remove an officer from service according to the Rules of Discipline in this Constitution. (Polity 2.0101)

25. ECO & The Confessions ECO believes that the foundational expression of our beliefs is contained in the Book of Confessions. A Reformed understanding of the church’s tradition imagines contemporary Christians, inspired by the Holy Spirit, as participants in an ongoing theological conversation with these historic confessions that gives direction to the church’s faith and life. Accountability calls the church to be prepared to instruct, counsel with, or even discipline one ordained who rejects the faith expressed in the confessions.

26. ECO: What We Gain • Confidence that we are free to respond faithfully to the call of Christ for our family. • Freedom/maneuverability – ECO is not “top down” structure; but “bottom up.” For example: • Elders may serve communion • Session shapes role of Deacons to fit individual church needs • Church determines terms/quantity of Officers • Lose great weight & cost of bureaucracy above us. • Freedom from stigma increasingly attached to PC(USA) among faithful traditionalists. • Streamlined response process when needed.

27. ECO: What We Gain • Encouragement to embrace the particular & peculiar identity Christ is calling us to have as a church. No pressure to adopt a “corporate identity.” • Increased energy from being a part of a faithful, vital, enthusiastic, committed, missional CHURCH community. • More responsive & congenial Presbytery – Comprised of local churches with whom we already have vital relationships. • No longer subject to liberalizing influence of Honorably Retired pastors.

28. ECO: What We Gain • Cross-pollination of leadership thru Mission Affinity Groups (MAGs) & Pastor Covenant Groups (PCGs). • Greater opportunity to join in shared mission efforts with other churches • Resource pool of pastors with theological leanings similar to ours. • Ability to Ordain Pastor Ken immediately. • We hold title to our property (Polity 4.0101)

29. What Doesn’t Change. . . • Our family – we can continue to be exactly who we are becoming. • The character and quality of our worship. • Our leadership. • Our commitment to being a beacon of hope and light to ALL of our Fountain Hills community. Bottom Line: The first Sunday after we make the change will look exactly like the last Sunday before – Except for the ADDED JOY!