In multiple denominations, there appears to be an attempt to purge teachers and even laymen for being too based in their theology or other views. A church in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod attempted to Ryan Turnipseed. This example stands out because it backfired spectacularly. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church is attempting to bar Michael Spangler from teaching. David Whitney is the pariah in the Evangelical Free Church of America, along with Jeff Kliewer, the author of Woke Free Chruch.
David Whitney came under fire from the EFCA for being vocally opposed to locking his church down in 2020. For this, he was branded a Christian Nationalist and the EFCA engaged in a fishing expedition. Evangelical Dark Web interviewed David Whitney last October.
Since that interview, the Evangelical Free Church defrocked David Whitney at their 2023 denominational meeting. Since then David Whitney’s church Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church of Bowie, Maryland left the EFCA.
The EFCA is a credobaptist tradition tracing its origins to Swedes who opposed state-established religion, a point that David Whitney highlights with his refusal to stop meeting during Covid. The Board of Ministerial Standards acknowledged that Whitney did not teach contrary to the EFCA’s stated beliefs, but rather violated the “ethos” of the EFCA. In a more recent interview with Seth Brickley on the Tearing Down High Places podcast, Jeff Kliewer’s podcast, David White tells his story with remarkable consistency.
In response to this interview, Brian Berg, the new chair of the Board of Ministerial Standing sent this letter obtained by Evangelical Dark Web.
The Board of Ministerial Standing of the EFCA has unanimously voted to revoke your Certificate of Ordination (COO). We hoped and prayed that placing your COO under discipline would lead you to repentance and achieve our desired outcome of reconciliation. However, to the contrary, you continue to defy and flaunt the decision of BOMS, and publicly misrepresent the process, with a recent example being your Tearing Down High Places podcast interview earlier this month on the subject, “Erastian Church Compromise in the EFCA.”
To be clear, revocation is considered a final step in the disciplinary process. Most of the time, once a credential is placed under discipline, it will remain in that category until repentance occurs. Sometimes, the final step of discipline will be administered, that of revocation. The credential is no longer valid. The rights and privileges that accompany an EFCA credential and minister in the EFCA no longer exist. In the process of discipline, revocation is similar to a church’s action of excommunication. It is a more severe separation owing to a willful flaunting of discipline that calls for a severing of ecclesiastical ties.
This decision is consistent with our united purpose from the beginning, which reflects a heartfelt, sincere desire to facilitate the relational unity, doctrinal fidelity, and missional alignment of the EFCA.
They did not like the podcast.
Essentially, David Whitney was punished for being a Christian Nationalist, even though he didn’t adopt the label. The EFCA is yet another example of a church denomination run by liberals.
