Contact: Grant Van Leuven, Dir. of Development & Communications, Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, 412-731-8690 ext. 108, gvanleuven@rpts.edu

PITTSBURGH, Jan. 12 /Christian Newswire/ -- "If churches embracing the principle of Sola Scriptura fail to understand and address the concerns voiced in the Emerging Church conversation, we may lose an entire generation of professing believers to a movement seeking to revitalize the faith but infected with a philosophy that kills it," says Rev. Rutledge Etheridge.

Etheridge is pastor of Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church and adjunct professor of systematic theology for the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (RPTS) in Pittsburgh.

He will give three seminar lectures sponsored by the Reformation Society of Pittsburgh on Saturday, January 31, at RPTS (see www.rpts.edu) entitled "The Church's Identity Crisis: Sola Scriptura and The Emerging Church", which will address the Emerging Church movement's wide-reaching conversation about how to live the Christian life with authenticity.

"While we should applaud and apply much of its content, we must also confront that it is moved along by an old philosophical wind which ever threatens to wrest Christ's church from the foundation of her faith – the written Word of God."

The movement seeks to glean the good from Christianity's past while painting a fresh picture of the faith today. But its understanding of the nature and content of Scripture proves detrimental to the identity and mission of the church, according to Etheridge.

"If the Emerging Church eventually defines Christ's church, then the church as Christ defined it will be no more."

For more information visit www.reformationpittsburgh.org.  

Seminar One: The Mechanics and Mission of the Church – A New Old Conversation

This seminar will examine key issues raised by the Emerging Church conversation and explain why these issues are so critical to the church's nature, purpose, and impact on the world.

Seminar Two: The Emerging Church – Reformation or Regression?

This seminar will demonstrate how the Emerging Church leaders' critique of the church is fueled by elements of the same philosophy they want it to reject. Their forward thinking call to the church is actually a call backward.

Seminar Three: Sola Scriptura – Clarity Amidst the Confusion

In response to the Emerging Church's details of a call to be humble in approaching Scripture amounting to an agnosticism contrary to the knowable claims of the Bible, this seminar calls Christians to confidence in God's Word and the ability He gives us to truly know and live it.