Extremists nonetheless

6 November 2006
This is just an idea. You may agree or disagree. If you are a member of GKI, you may share the same concern about our church.
I was rather disappointed to learn that the last General Assembly of the GKI has decided to make the selection process for our future ministers limited exclusively to graduates of STT Jakarta, UKDW and UKSW. Well, not really exclusively, but it is gonna be very difficult for graduates of other seminaries to enter the ministry at GKI. (Please correct me if I am mistaken here. I got the info from a website.) The official papers of the GA certainly didn’t reach the hand of the chair of a Komisi Pemuda at a local congregation such as myself.
Ain’t that pathetic? If we claim that our church is ecumenical and moderate, why do we close our doors for the evangelicals and graduates of other seminaries, and only open our doors for the ones fully supported by GKI such as STTJ and UKDW? If we are truly ecumenical and moderate, we will be happy to accept anyone who is committed to the ministry, teachings and cause of the church, won’t we? If we are to be an excellent church, don’t we suppose to accept only the best candidates, no matter what their seminaries are?
I am afraid that the church is being taken over by the fundamentalists. Not the kind of fundamentalists who emphasize the inerrancy of the Bible, like the common ones, but the liberal fundamentalists. Well, maybe they are better known as the liberal radicals. These people are just as dangerous as the normal fundamentalists, for they only see their own way and teachings to be the best.
A famous lecturer and pastor of GKI, once in the seminary’s website, made statements claiming that those fundamentalists were stupid, knew nothing of good logic, rejected the "best" way of interpreting the scriptures. He also seemingly claimed that his understanding of God and the Bible, which was very liberal, was the best way and others who disagree seemed to be less of a Christian. This is scarry, right? What’s his difference from those fundamentalists? They are both extremists. One stood at the left extreme and the other stood at the right extreme, extremists nonetheless.
Moreover, this decision, I believe, does not respect the historical and doctrinal differences in the body of GKI. Anyone who reads the history well should understand that GKI was made up of different congregations, in terms of language, teaching, polity, and structure. The preamble into the new Church Constitution I think clearly reiterates GKI’s commitment to protecting such differences. A decision to ban a minister coming from the rather evangelical seminaries will put an end to those differences.
For those reasons, I support some congregations that are seeking to revoke the General Assembly’s decision. To accept such decision will mean putting the end to their unique way of life as a church. I cannot imagine if I am forced to abandon my way of life. Therefore, I can sympathize with them. This decision, I think, will jeopardize the church’s unity rather than doing good to the church.
Does anyone agree with my ideas?
Well, this is such a heavy topic. But lives are not just haha hihi, right? That includes the life of a church.