PCUSA at a crossroads
The Layman 218th General Assembly Preview (2008) Volume 41, Number 3, May 29, 2008
PCUSA at a crossroads Commissioners to the 218th General Assembly are standing at a crossroads: Will the decisions they make in San Jose, Calif., continue the denomination’s continued slide into cultural accommodation? Or will they return the Presbyterian Church (USA) to a traditional interpretation of the Reformed tradition that emphasizes a Biblical, Christ-centered approach to mission and the Great Commission?
As they deliberate the issues before them, commissioners will have as a backdrop the ongoing crisis within the PCUSA – a crisis of faith regarding the person and work of Jesus Christ; a lack of trust in denominational leadership; “creative” theological interpretations of Scripture; a waffling on moral issues; massive membership losses; and declining gifts to what many regard as failing institutions.
Presbyterian Church (USA) officials, and now commissioners, are engaged in an ongoing battle of trust – a battle decades in the making that has been exacerbated by the sanctioning of abortion, permitting local option on ordination standards, funding Biblically questionable activities and turning a blind eye to violations of the denomination’s constitution.
Overtures
All of these issues underlie many of the overtures coming before the 218th General Assembly – “local option” regarding ordination standards; should there be limits on “freedom of conscience;” should marriage be redefined to “a committed relationship between two people” instead of between a man and a woman; should the denomination toss out its existing Book of Order for a streamlined version that is long on platitudes and short on specifics; to calling for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq; or continuing to criticize the State of Israel.
The decisions on these issues and others by commissioners will be made within this crisis mode. Theologian Thomas Oden has said, “our churches suffer from private, subjective and idiosyncratic versions of the faith that do not find their root in the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture, as confessed in the historic ecumenical creeds.”
The leadership of the church, he said, “has been distracted by false gospels. Our finances have been misspent. Our mission efforts have at times become reduced to social service projects lacking clear proclamation of the One on behalf of whom we offer compassion. Our continuity with the historic consensus of faith is imperiled.”
This is the crossroads at which commissioners find themselves. We pray that they will be led by the Spirit and that the decisions they make will be in the furtherance of His will for His Kingdom.