The Rev. Donna Marsh, Fellowship Community
In stressful times, everyone wishes for a silver bullet: one simple way out of a difficult mess, one thing to do to resolve interlocking problems. Every parent of a troubled teen searches desperately for one mentor or one school that will get the beloved child back on track. In troubled marriages, the couple often searches for one life change that will renew their relationship—a new city, they think, maybe a new baby (heavens, no) or a new job. As their pastors and friends, we know that there are no silver bullets in these situations, only much hard work to be done.
Yet we in the Church pine for silver bullets of our own. If only we could get our doctrine right, we would reclaim the voice of Gospel truth. If only we could make the world see a compelling witness for justice, people would flock to join our cause. If only we could find the right institutional framework, the Church would be liberated from its bureaucratic bondage and freed for missional enterprise. If only we could have the rightbi-partisan conversation the right way, unity would spring forth anew. If only everyone who walked in the doors of a church felt affirmed, surely they would embrace and follow Jesus Christ.
It’s not that simple. Consider just two pieces of anecdotal evidence. At a recent memorial service, I spoke with an elder from one of the Washington area’s most respected evangelical congregations. This church’s doctrine, and its internal and external moral stances are, by the standards of its peers, pure as the driven snow. They switched denominations long ago and thus have not been plagued by the PCUSA for decades. They also just trimmed 1,000 people from their rolls and are cutting major programs.
Lest any schadenfreude ensue, my presbytery is littered with the carcasses and dying remnants of congregations who have been standard bearers of progressive theology and politics for decades. They have marched and protested and lived out their values by quietly or not so quietly rendering their own authoritative interpretations of the Book of Order for years. And they are losing their voices, literally and figuratively.
Yet we serve a God who is fiercely alive, radically redemptive, powerfully present and rapidly building a vibrant global Church. Under present circumstances, I begrudge no one leaving the PCUSA to make a home in another part of that Church. The body of Christ is a big place.
11 Comments. Leave new
Indeed true, the Body of Christ, the Church, big “C” in a global sense is vibrant, alive, and doing the work of the Lord in amazing ways. The 10 largest single churches in terms of membership, are all located out of the United States. The 1st Baptist church of San Paulo Brazil, 40K members is larger than some American religious denominations. There are more people active in Christian churches in India, and China (300 million) as there are Americans. So yes, the death notices for the church has been greatly exaggerated. As the core and focus of global Christianity moves South and East, from the developed West, and far more will resemble people of color, as opposed to older white European types. For the globe this World Communion Sunday, America, the US, is the new mission field as we move into a period of agnostic, apathetic, humanist, disengagement from religion and faith.
Which being me to our sad little cul-de-sac of the PCUSA. An entity that has lost members in real numbers every year, every year, every year since 1979. And which ties into the recent discussion on the 1001 “new” faith communities initiative. From casual observation and experience it seems the PCUSA has doubled down on the idea or concept that one can take the odd mix of New Age, Native American, pre-Chritsain pagan nature, feminist power and victimization theologies, add a dash of 20th century social gospel, hit the blend cycle and you have a drink suitable to 21st century apathetic millennial, Gen X and older Boomer church drop out pallets. OK, how is that working so far? if folks do leave for the alphabet soups of PCA, ECO, EPC, etc. it is only because they are looking for a church, not so much the very thin and watery gruel served at the local branch of he PCUSA franchise.
although i tend to agree with what you say Peter, i think you give the old PCUSA types far too much credit. if you look at the statistics, something we can all agree about since numbers don’t lie, the majority of these folks don’t even attend church on a weekly basis, and based on what i’ve seen in my PCUSA family and so called friends, they are so far flung from anything remotely resembling religion they couldn’t possibly care less. putting a label on whatever it is assumes something above apathy.
Nat’l Pres has always had a strong Christian witness in DC, I’m guessing she was referring a presbyterian church in the DC area about the rolls, programs etc, well when Coral Ridge Pres updated it’s rolls after the death Dr. Kennedy, it put the PCA numbers at a loss for the first time in it’s history, well thats history too, and the PCA has grown every year and then some. I’m not PCA, however Coral Ridge is thriving and more to the point, why would you bother to get up and go church only to be told there you can do what want and anything goes. This article was just about nothing more than is what is wrong with the PCUSA.
” This article was just about nothing more than is what is wrong with the PCUSA.”
you bring up some good points. a while ago i did some research about the organization responsible for this website, it’s founders and origins. it’s been a while since i did this research, and it wasn’t a thorough job, but i definitely got the impression there was a link between the Coral Ridge Church, which i’ve attended many times while living in Fort Lauderdale, and this website. specifically, i got the impression this organization was set up first and foremost as a bashing device against the PCUSA, with the intent purpose of attracting members from there to PCA in Florida. all roads in this tangled web of Presbyterian infighting tend to lead to the Tropical Presbytery, hell on earth, IMHO.
guest ” i got the impression this organization was set up first and foremost as a bashing device against the PCUSA”
The PLC was founded before 1983………. say 1965.
i’ll try to do the research again, get my facts straight. frankly it’s not a priority, i consider this website to be almost on par with television at this point, amusing but not a productive use of time. from what little i recall one of the founders hailed from the southeast coast of florida, broward or dade county perhaps.
Rev. Marsh poses an interesting question – now that the PC(USA) has embraced gay marriage, will the PC(USA) attract more Gen-Xers and Millenials who are more supportive of gay marriage than their parents? History isn’t very promising. The PC(USA) ordained its first woman forty years ago this year and has been in sync with the women’s rights movement in the secular culture from day one. But that hasn’t prevented the PC(USA) from losing 60% of its membership during that period. Redeemer Presbyterian (PCA) in New York City, one of the most socially/politically liberal cities in the country, has Sunday attendance of 5,000 over eight services at three locations with a demographic which is much younger than most PC(USA) churches. I find that quite puzzling. Why would Gen-X and Millenial young urban professionals flock to a church which doesn’t ordain women? Does anyone have any ideas on that question?
not particularly difficult to figure out what’s going on there. i just took a quick tour of their website; it took about 10 minutes, or less, to get a pretty good read on it. i spent most of my working years in New York, about 25 years, plus or minus, in Manhattan. for anyone who knows the city, how it operates, this ‘church’ is simple to read. i wouldn’t waste too much time trying to analyze it, or copy it. if you invite a few million hungry aspiring attractive upwardly mobile young people to a college auditorium social gathering on a weekend followed by free coffee and donuts, it would be pretty tough not to be ‘successful’. young people in New York are typically focused on one of two things, (a) paying the rent, (b) finding someone to split the rent with if plan (a) doesn’t work out. what they’ve very cleverly done is provide a large meeting place and excuse to network/socialize for this huge untapped audience. what any of this has to do with Jesus, your guess is as good as mine.
guest:
If you’re sincerely interested in what goes on at Redeemer you’ll have to spend more than 10 minutes on the question because your observations couldn’t be more fallacious. Redeemer is completely faithful to the historic orthodoxy of Presbyterianism and couldn’t be more Christ centered. Check out senior pastor Tim Keller engaging all manner of secular folks with the gospel on youtube and you’ll see that, contrary to your claim that Redeemer is just a Christless social gathering, Redeemer is a church that exalts the Savior and introduces people to Jesus.
I hope some reader here will respond a little more insightfully here to my question as to how a church as theologically conservative as Redeemer attracts such large crowds in a liberal city like Manhattan and with a younger demographic than most PC(USA) churches.
This is the myth and lie of the PCUSA. That if you embrace feminist, liberation, LGBT narratives and metrologies that all disaffected, disenfranchised, church-drop out millennials, punked-out tattooed sub culture will all rise up on a random Sunday and say, “let’s all go to church today” because they got all their PC stuff in a row. As if they will drive past the Quakers, Unitarians, New Age worship centers, and find their way into a local PCUSA parking lot. They want Good News, they need healing and the living water of Jesus Christ that brings salvation. Not the political, ideological, watered down hash dished up at your local PCUSA franchise.
I agree Jim, and in listening to some of Keller’s sermons from the web site, I notice that they’re longer than the 15-20 minutes typical in most mainline churches. Again, not supportive of guest’s suggestion that people are there for a social occasion.