By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post.
Could some evangelists within the nation’s largest Presbyterian denomination be moving away from the practice of calling sinners to repentance?
An early report from the August conference of a church-planting movement within Presbyterian Church (USA), called 1001 New Worshipping Communities, suggests the possibility.
“Millennials, it is argued, do not feel guilt and shame the same way older generations do. … As such, they do not respond to what one person referred to as ‘fire and brimstone scare tactics,'” read the report.
“Telling them that they are sinners and need to repent does not work. Millennials respond to evangelism that tells them the world is [broken], and it is only through Jesus that it can be fixed.”
The report’s comments were based upon conversations held by attendees of the Pursued by Grace Conference, the first national gathering of the 1001 NWC.
Read the “Final report: 1001 NWC Conference Interviews.”
Related article: From ‘repentant sinners’ to ‘helping Jesus fix the world: ’1001 movement interviews reveal shift in approach to evangelism
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Both John the Baptist and Jesus called upon everyone to repent of their sins before God. When do this and ask for God’s forgiveness, we have assurance that we will be washed clean by the Blood of the Lamb(Jesus). This is why Jesus died on the cross so our sins would be forgiven.
“Telling them that they are sinners and need to repent does not work. Millennials respond to evangelism that tells them the world is (broken), and it is only through Jesus that it can be fixed.”
Two evenings ago, I walked into the living room to see why my ten-month-old daughter was crying. I walked in just in time to see her almost four-year-old sister jab a pencil into her back. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3.23) And what is more, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 6.23) We are all born as sinners (Ps. 51.5), and our hearts are wicked from our youth (Gen. 8.21). We cannot stop being sinners (Jer. 13.23), and God will judge us for all our sins in thought, word, and deed (Eccl. 12.14, Mt. 12.36). The only hope my daughter has—indeed, the only hope that anyone has—is to put her (our) faith in the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the Cross for the remission of our sins.
When Heath Rada on September 23 said that people in the pews have lost trust in the denomination’s governing structure, it is because officers in the Presbyterian bureaucracy impugn the Gospel of Jesus Christ, saying things like, “they do not respond to what one person referred to as ‘fire and brimstone scare tactics’.” That “telling (millennials) that they are sinners and need to repent does not work” to bring them into PC(USA) pews is not surprising; most Presbyterians in the PC(USA)—especially those in bureaucratic office—do not believe it themselves.
Christians do not tell unbelievers that they are sinners in need of repentance and that God will judge them for our sins lest they repent and trust in the Lord Jesus in order to scare them into church. We tell them this because this is part and parcel of the human condition, and only Jesus Christ can save them from the penalty, presence, and power of sin.
What my older daughter did to her younger sister was a sin against God, arising from her wicked, sinful heart. When we sin, our sin arises from our wicked, sinful hearts. And God most assuredly will judge us for them. Regardless of whether the PMA, the PC(USA), and the millennials believe it, we absolutely need Jesus Christ to save us from our sins.
Just another example of what led my spouse and me to leave the PCUSA last month. What good is a so-called Christian denomination that doesn’t believe the Bible?
Such a body has lost all claim to being Christian.
**“Millennials, it is argued, do not feel guilt and shame the same way older generations do. … As such, they do not respond to what one person referred to as ‘fire and brimstone scare tactics,’” read the report.**
The so called spoiled brats called millennials had examples in the home, baby boomers who have been rebels wanting a church after their kind. Well boomers, look at the Apostasy you boomers have created, now your kids, if not blood washed will be in the Lake of Fire along with you boomer as in Revelation chapter 20 and 21, are following your example boomers.
I totally agree, the lack of repentance is just one of the many scriptural departures of pcusa. Thankfully there are real evangelical Presbyterian denominations that are obedient to the scriptures.