Rev. Taylor believes that the United Church of Canada is controlled by liberal theologians who are willing to throw away their faith if they find it incompatible with fashionable worldly views.

This difference in views has led to controversy within the church with members of the mainstream church looking upon the Renewal Fellowship and the evangelical movement generally as a threat. The conservative evangelicals worship in a style that makes more traditional members uncomfortable.

A result of the strong feelings which have been aroused over forms of faith and worship was reported in the United Church Observer in August, 1983 as follows:

Robert Taylor Splits With Church

“The Rev. Robert Taylor, who formerly chaired the board of the United Church Renewal Fellowship (UCRF) and was minister of St. James United, Edmonton, has left the denomination in order to found an independent congrega— tion.

Taylor will receive a United Church salary until the end of August, the date he has suggested for his resignation to take effect. Edmonton Presbytery subsequently insisted that he leave the pastorate June 30, 1983.

The Rev. Clair Woodbury, chairperson of Presbytery, defended that decision. ‘It seemed best that he make a complete break at the end of the Conference year.

When you’ve got a minister moving outside the United church, when he doesn’t agree with the policy of the United Church, it’s questionable,’ he said.

Taylor refused comment to THE OBSERVER, “for the good of the situation here.”

In his keynote speech at the annual conference of the UCRF in Toronto last fall, he urged those who felt uncomfortable within the United Church to wait pa- tiently for change. However, he said, he understood that for the sake of their spiritual health some would have to leave.

His resignation follows a split in the congregation this spring which saw both

sides asking Presbytery to intervene. Before a Presbytery commission began work with the congregation, Taylor submitted his resignation.

Some of the 160 persons who signed a petition in March, endorsing his ministry, are expected to leave St. James with him.

Eileen Wright, who chaired the pastoral relations committee which called Taylor to the church in 1981, was one of the organizers. She said the split resulted from ‘long-standing difficulities between certain of the founding members of the congregation, who feel it is their church, and those who have been coming for many years because they appreciate the emphasis of those who are called to its ministry.’ ”“7

47 United Church Observer, August, 1983.

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