Tenth Presbyterian’s “confession” is nothing but badly done church theater and cheap grace

Tenth Presbyterian (PCA), located in Philadelphia, Pa., recently held a congregational meeting to discuss the GRACE report about abuse at the church and for leadership to “confess” to its role in abuse at the church. As this publication had predicted, the meeting turned out to be nothing but badly done church theater, a sloppy effort at impression management, and mendacious cheap grace at its worst.

Additionally, sources close to the matter tell Anglican Watch that members of the congregation now have little trust in Session and the church elders. No surprise there.

Lowlights of the meeting include:

• A good turnout, with most of the main level of the sanctuary filled. This runs counter to attendance at Sunday worship, which over the past year has been thin.
• The elders offered a brief but thin confession.
• Church “leaders” spent considerable time blaming the church’s woes on problems with Liam Goligher.
• Church members are extremely frustrated with their Session. The congregation, in general, is wary of the elders and vocal in its complaints. The Tenth elders lost trust and credibility a long time ago.
• The biggie: Although Session took written questions, it ignored topics it considered unpalatable. These questions included those touching on abuse by Paul Jones and Carroll Wynne and one implicitly questioning the church’s efforts at impression management, which were suppressed by Jamin Fermer.

Our questions:

Anglican Watch has several questions about this badly done bit of theatrics:

1. Why are Session and church elders not taking responsibility for their roles in this debacle? This should include those things done and left undone. To be clear, several abusers identified in the GRACE report remain active in ministry at Tenth. And, as a reminder, this is a Session that deep-sixed background checks for church staff. While background checks are not a panacea, church members should recognize that Goligher’s previous criminal convictions were not exactly hard to find. Further, while Liam Goligher played a big role in the church’s collective sin, he got plenty of help — active and passive — from Phil Ryken, Session, and corrupt church officials, including George McFarland. 
2. Why is Phil Ryken still welcome at Tenth? Ryken was still at Tenth when young men and women were being sexually abused, and we find it difficult to believe that he did not know these issues. So why is his portrait still hanging in the church? And why does he still preach there, with the Wheaton College choir in tow? Does anyone on Session understand how badly this smacks of impression management and corruption? And the “nothing-to-see-here-move-along” routine only makes things worse, not better.
3. Why is Elder Jamin Fermer covering up abuse at Tenth? Not only did Fermer suppress questions from the congregation about abuse at Tenth during the recent meeting, but he’s been playing impression management games since Goligher first came under scrutiny for his abusive behavior.
4. Why did we not hear anything during the meeting about the church’s criminal conduct toward Phil Snyder? Perjury is a felony criminal offense, and the church used it to try to shut down whistleblower Phil Snyder. No one is going to give Tenth and its Session a break until it owns up to its criminal conduct and begins to behave in accordance with Christian norms.
5. Why is George McFarland still involved with Tenth? To be clear, McFarland is an unindicted felon who proffered knowingly perjurious testimony against Phil Snyder. If McFarland disagrees, he’s welcome to sue this publication; all we can say is discovery will get VERY interesting. Meanwhile, McFarland’s been an elder for more than 40 years, so the whole “happened before I got here” routine won’t work.
6. Again, why is a committee working to help Goligher address his excommunication, yet nothing is being done for victims of sexual abuse at the church? To be clear, Goligher deserves no special consideration, either based on his previous role or his behavior.
7. Why has Session not honored the recommendations of Tim Bayly and others to love their flock by resigning? Even now, Session’s pathetic efforts at impression management and the whole, “But this happened before I was an elder” routine continue, while Session keeps digging a bigger hole for itself with its manipulative antics. To reiterate: Session must resign before the church regains credibility. And Phil Ryken needs to do the same.
8. How many people will be abused before Tenth cleans up its act? These issues have been going on for years, and while some of the most egregious offenders are gone, others remain active at the church. And behind the scenes, nothing has changed. Tenth remains toxic and indifferent, and in practice neither “exalts His name,” nor “proclaims His word.” Indeed, given the scriptural references to Satan as the father of lies, and Tenth’s history of perjury and lying, the question of who’s word is being proclaimed is fair.
9. Why would anyone want to be part of a church where perjury is okay? So far, Tenth hasn’t even acknowledged its criminal conduct (perjury) towards Phil Snyder, let alone repented of this behavior and made restitution. This is the very sort of corruption and oppression within organized religion that Jesus rejected. So why is it okay for church members? Don’t church members understand that by supporting Tenth they are, in turn, supporting criminal conduct and undercutting the Kingdom of God? To be clear: a house divided against itself remains structurally unsound, no matter how many layers of paint are applied.

Our recommendation:

Tenth’s confession this week is neither a real confession nor the first time the church has issued a fauxpology for its misconduct, including lying to the congregation.

Thus, this week’s meeting cements the conclusion that the church is unrepentant, indifferent to victims of abuse, and a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Therefore, we recommend that anyone who desires a place to “worship in the beauty of holiness” avoid Tenth Presbyterian and its corrupt leadership at all costs. We become like those with whom we surround ourselves, and the fruits of Tenth’s current Session and leadership are perjury, sexual abuse, spiritual abuse, gaslighting, suppression of the truth, lying to the congregation, and lack of accountability.