PCUSA exec, renewal leaders
hear evangelicals’ frustrations
By Charles F. Burge, The Layman, August 19, 2008
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Evangelicals attending the Presbyterian Global Fellowship gathering in Long Beach expressed frustration and alarm to renewal leaders and a ranking Presbyterian Church (USA) staff member about the decisions of the 218th General Assembly. In response, the renewal leaders promised details on “a way forward” within the next month or so.
During the fellowship’s two-part seminar titled “Can We Be Faithful in the PCUSA?” the Rev. Michael Walker, theologian-in-residence at Highland Park Presbyterian in Dallas, faced two packed seminar rooms on August 15 and heard expressions of frustration from evangelical church leaders, not only with the direction of the denomination but also the apparent lack of a plan by renewal group leaders.
Walker, formerly the executive director of Presbyterians for Renewal (PFR), laid out the theological and organizational complexities of the situation but avoided outlining any clear plan or action for evangelical churches in dealing with the decisions of the General Assembly. In response to questions, Walker said he believed that evangelicals must be concerned both for the unity and the purity of the denomination. Commenting on the book of Ephesians, he said “Should we be focusing on missions and not concerned with holiness? No, we must balance both.” He discussed a “reshaping or realigning” of the PCUSA, allowing for formal distinctions between evangelicals and progressives, “recognizing that divide, allowing us to move forward without a fundamental split in the denomination,” but was void of specifics.
Conference attendees raised pointed questions. “How do we send a message to the denomination that says, ‘Enough,'” asked one pastor. “My session is ready to bolt. What message do I send to my church?”
“Why continue to preserve a unity which in fact does not exist?” asked another. “This seems like preservation for the sake of preservation.”
Regarding a question about a boycott on per capita spending, Paul Detterman, PFR executive director, indicated that is an option being considered by the renewal group leaders, but said, “…we need to educate people on what per capita does and does not do.” Walker did say that the Presbyterian Coalition, PGF and PFR were in discussions on “a way forward.” Detterman said, “I wish this conference were held one month later,” indicating that there would more details by then on a plan of action.
PFR has encouraged congregations to redirect giving “to missions and ministries that serve the Kingdom” and “to ministries beyond the current forms of the PCUSA” in the wake of the 218th General Assembly, but has not recommended specifics. The PGF Covenant 2008, signed by PFR and the Coalition, states that “the mainline church is in crisis” and asks for signers “to invest our financial resources only in those local and global mission efforts that we believe are biblically faithful and accountable, within the Presbyterian family and through other partnerships into which the Lord calls us.”
Detterman told The Layman that the frustration of evangelical church leaders “is understandable” but that simple and quick answers are not available: “It isn’t that we’re not willing to give answers to the questions people are asking, but it is important how we frame the questions. What we are doing here is the equivalent of ecclesiastical brain surgery.”
On August 14, just prior to the conference, a group of 43 “tall steeple” pastors gave an earful to Linda Valentine, executive director of the General Assembly Council, regarding the actions of the General Assembly. Invited by conference coordinators to address the group, Valentine fended off questions that indicated the dissatisfaction of the pastors, one person told The Layman. When asked if she herself could state why they were unhappy, she responded that they have differing opinions about what should have happened and touted the familiar denominational line that “we don’t have to all agree as long as we have the same mission,” he added. Valentine also indicated that she did not know what the reaction of the global church was to the decisions of the General Assembly, and deferred the question to mission leaders. Valentine confirmed her attendance at the meeting and said that the discussions “were good … frank … and honest.”
The discontent from evangelicals about the denomination was evident in convention center hallways and hotel lobbies during the PGF conference, with discussion on withholding per capita from denominational entities and forming communion with like-minded evangelical congregations as the major subjects. “What if we were like the Methodists,” half-joked one pastor, “and held our churchwide assemblies once every five years? Maybe the GA would not get us into as much trouble.”