The Epic, Pt. 27

With the arrival of the letter from Elder Bediako the Group was once again confronted with the question of how best to present it. There were some who figured that the many private attempts to reason with Pastor DeSilva combined with the effort to privately present the first two letters had more than used up Pastor DeSilva’s quota of Matthew 18 consideration. There were others, however, who continued to assert that the respectful and minimally embarrassing course of action would be to present this new evidence in a quiet manner which would allow Pastor DeSilva to save face by acting on it without its having been publicized first. The Group finally decided to use this letter as one more opportunity to try to reason privately with Pastor DeSilva. Ironically, this discussion about the best way to honor the intent of Matthew 18 occurred before we had received Elder Miller’s letter accusing us of not following the verse.

Having seen from the first two letters that trying to present such evidence in person had a way of ballooning into a much bigger and more confrontational meeting than was intended, it was decided that a copy of the letter from Elder Bediako should be hand-delivered to Pastor DeSilva along with a cover letter reiterating our request that this matter be reconsidered at a business meeting. It occurred to us that if Pastor DeSilva felt backed into a corner he might be willing to agree to such a request and then just continue coming up with excuses for why it couldn’t happen promptly, so we decided to put a time frame on the request. The two letters were delivered together in a sealed envelope on Monday morning, June 30, 2008, by two members of the Group who simply handed it to Pastor DeSilva and walked out of the office. They did not stick around to get any reaction or response from him, but it was later reported by other church members who happened to be in the church office at the time that Pastor DeSilva’s reaction included language that would have made a sailor blush. The content of the cover letter is included below.

“June 30, 2008

“Pastor DeSilva,

“The changes to the Takoma Park SDA Church’s governance structure which you have been championing these last few months are wrong and completely unnecessary in order to accomplish evangelism (which we wholeheartedly support). The SDA Church Manual clearly stipulates that local congregations are to be governed by a single church board, which is to handle all decisions not reserved to the business meeting of the congregation. Following the Church Manual is mandatory, not optional, and an integral part of the nature of being a Seventh-day Adventist congregation. Therefore, what this congregation has done by adopting a form of governance contrary to the Church Manual is declare that it is no longer a part of the worldwide SDA church. This situation must be remedied immediately by returning to the form of governance dictated in the Manual.

“We are not alone in holding this position. Already the written testimony of Elders Howard and Parmenter have been provided to you, both of which strongly condemn these changes. Now Elder Bediako has added his voice in support of the Church Manual and the letter written by Elder Parmenter (see enclosed).

“There is no uncertainty, no room for alternate interpretation. Our church has erred, and we must correct that error at once. We urge you to call for and support a vote to rescind the change in structure at a business meeting to be held no later than 60 days after the date of this letter and announced no later than 20 days after receiving this letter.

“Your brothers and sisters in Christ,

“[21 signatures]”

Next: Mounting a Defense

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