The presenting issue, then, is whether the leadership of the church at all levels will respond prayerfully and with intentionality to the crisis of decline of the denomination.
Our problems cannot be solved if we leave the solutions only up to the elected or appointed representatives on important committees or to the General Assembly staff. Only widespread discussion, open debate and a commitment to rediscovering the truths of our own heritage and the reasons for the decline will prepare us to address these issues constructively.
Two issues have already been identified in the two previous columns in this series — the precipitous decline in numbers (more than 40 per cent in as many years), the answer to which lies primarily at the local level as individual congregations succeed or fail, and as presbyteries enact programs for evangelism and new church development.
The second issue involves a theological crisis in which an historic confessional church is perceived as failing to comprehend the basic importance of its own confessions. As a result, it is losing the ability to communicate its faith effectively to younger generations.
The final issue is the dispute in the areas of ethics, specifically, the challenge of new understandings of human sexuality that have attained dominance in the culture since the 1960s.
The persistent critical chopping away at the languages of our faith; the collapse of the commitments for evangelism; the failure of congregations to instill biblical and doctrinal knowledge among their members, and the ongoing disputes over the ethics of sexuality, however, indicate that we have actually lost the common ground of biblical literacy upon which we could have joined together with greater mutual understanding. We have only a shallow well. And a well of faith as low as ours is very easily poisoned by acrimony. Our failure to retain large numbers of our younger members is the sign of a church in distress.
Recent events indicate that the governing bodies of the PC(USA) have ruled decisively that the fidelity-and-chastity requirement for church officers shall stand, and that if this requirement is to change, “the great middle of the church” must be convinced of the need to do it on scriptural and confessional grounds.
Credit certainly is due to those among the ones proposing change in the current rule who have called on the minority to be subject to the brothers and sisters in the Lord, in conformity with the ordination vows of deacons, elders and ministers.
However, there are disturbing trends as the conflict moves from the constitutional to the judicial realm. There are those who are actively saying that the explicit words of the Constitution do not mean what they say, and that the explicit vows that church officers take do not mean what they say, that churches and presbyteries should proceed with illegal ordinations.
In a voluntary society such as the church, such a course of action can initially proceed pretty much with impunity because the church does not have the tools of the state to compel obedience. The long-term results, however, are another matter. Our life together is an extremely fragile web that can easily be destroyed.
Such destruction is also threatened by those on the side of upholding the standards when they resort to exaggerated charges and demean the motives of those with whom they disagree. Most Presbyterians find this puzzling if not offensive.
So the message to the extremes on both sides is: you are tearing up the body of Christ. If there is a sufficient number of angry voices to drown out the rest of us who favor sober, ongoing biblical and theological discussions over an extended period of time with no quick push to a resolution, these intemperate voices may cause irreparable damage. The fragile web of Christian unity must be respected.
We accept that the ordained leadership of the Presbyterian Church does not hold that we currently have a “constitutional crisis” relating to defiance of the Constitution and the rules of the church. On the other hand, if widespread disobedience occurs (announced or unannounced) there will be a crisis, and we can hardly expect to avoid a major split down the road. And the church is not helped by those who will never be satisfied that the Presbyterian Church is pure enough, no matter how often and how strongly the essential tenets of the Reformed (Christian) faith are enunciated with conviction.
The great middle of the church must realize the dangers posed by both extremes and stand together against the destruction of the Presbyterian Church as we know and love it. Such a stance will take courage as well as commitment to change directions. It will require, in some cases, openly disagreeing with friends and colleagues, but we are at such a time.
Send your comment on this editorial to The Outlook. Please give your hometown.
