In what has sometimes been called the Church Militant — God’s commissioned force at work in the world — the individual disciple, anchored in baptism and profession of faith, is the representative of Jesus Christ in the world. Without this commissioned force, there can be no witness to Jesus Christ, there can be no mission to the ends of the Earth, there can be no fulfillment of the Great Commission.
The congregation, led by pastor and session, is the basic unit of the force, and if the denomination as a whole is to be effective for Christ in the world, then it must have the best leadership possible: commissioned and non-commissioned officers and the members.
Presbyterians have traditionally had the strongest officer cadre of any denomination. God through the Holy Spirit calls, but the church affirms calls, and those who accept commissions must be trained well and lead disciplined lives. In the American experience, Presbyterians have fought for and have been major agents in the task of educating all people both for citizenship and for responsible church membership. We have supported public schools, we have founded secondary and mission schools, we have established colleges and universities of our own and have actively promoted the creation of secular institutions, we have erected seminaries to train ministers of the Word and Sacrament, and others for church service.
During the middle decades of the 20th century, this complex of inter-related institutions reached the apogee of its effectiveness in recruiting, training and deploying a highly competent officer corps and providing spiritual support for the nurture of all Presbyterians.
In the last 40 years, however, the system has broken down with disastrous results — a looming deficit in the number and competence of ministers to lead our congregations and other talented persons in support positions with the consequent result that lay education has suffered a major decline.
A major aspect of Presbyterians renewing the covenant will be the reconnecting, if possible, of many of the institutions founded over the years by the church as the infrastructure of Presbyterianism and, perhaps, even necessary to found some new ones, or at least reorganize radically some remaining in place.
Presbyterians are very decentralized; hence the impetus for reconnecting will need to come from leaders close to the congregations and their members: institutions, presbyteries, congregations. No central plan can be developed. Rather, each area, each region should inventory its own assets, go deeper in understanding God’s mission and pastoral obligations of members and congregations, and then develop alliances and patterns of action best suited to achieve important objectives.
If the renewal of the covenant by churches, governing bodies and institutions does not take place close at hand where people know one another, and live and work together, then it’s hard to imagine how larger enterprises can be undertaken.
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