Growing up, I can remember being raised in the Presbyterian Church USA. While my parents were non-practicing Catholics, it was my mother’s friend who took me to worship services at her local PCUSA congregation in our small rural town in Western Pennsylvania. And it was the activities of Sunday school, after school programs, and various church camps that not only shaped my early relationship with God, but also helped me discern my call into ministry.
Today as a 28-year-old graduate student finishing a Masters in Divinity at San Francisco Theological Seminary, I like many of my classmates will soon be serving in a denomination that is greatly different than the denomination in which we were raised. For starters, we will be ministering in a country that is becoming more secularized and less religious. And for many of us, the task of trying to reach those who are ‘spiritual but not religious’ will be the focus of our ministry as we seek to make use of new technologies, different styles of worship, and create new ministries that seek to guide individuals in their faith journeys.
But what many future Presbyterian ministers such as myself will face is also a church and a denomination that has changed drastically. A change that not only happened since we were young children. But a change that happened even while we were in seminary.
It’s no secret that divisions over theological doctrines, biblical interpretations, and rules of ordination have led our denomination to become smaller and has created tension and pain as churches have left and are continuing to leave the PCUSA over these divisions. And while trying to explore different ways of doing ministry in the 21st century will be challenging enough, it will be finding ways to bring healing and dialogue with those not only in the PCUSA, but with those who left the PCUSA that will be even be harder.
As someone who believes that a person should not be excluded from answering God’s call into ministry despite of their sexual orientation, I understand there are a lot of Presbyterians who don’t agree with me. In fact, I have friends and classmates who I know don’t agree with me. Yet despite our differences, we still remain friends who nurture each other through our seminary journey. Yes, it was hard for me when I heard the congregation where I grew up is joining other congregations from my small town as they leave the PCUSA because of the denomination’s decision over gay ordination. But even though I may disagree with them, I still have respect and love for the church which raised me and introduced Jesus Christ into my life.
However, what saddens me about the divisions in our denomination beyond churches leaving the PCUSA is that we as Presbyterians and as Christians have become so polarized when it comes to our views of not only gay ordination, but our other political, theological, and biblical opinions. And while the political landscape in our country also reflects a culture which has become polarized on ideals and doctrines, our church much like our country, has divided itself along the lines of ‘liberal vs. conservative’ and ‘us vs. them.’
As I prepare to finish seminary, I know the church and the denomination which I will someday serve will be smaller and the challenges I will face in ministry will be very different than challenges faced by previous generations of Presbyterian ministers. But it’s my hope that through God’s grace, we as future Presbyterian ministers can start a dialogue with those who have left our denomination in an effort to bring healing, reconciliation, and maybe someday even a unification. It’s by having hope in this shared vision which will bring us to a day that we as Presbyterians will no longer identify our congregations and our seminaries as being liberal or conservative. But more so, it’s by having hope in this shared vision which will bring us to a day we as Presbyterians will identify each other simply as our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.
Christopher L. Schilling is a fourth-year student at San Francisco Theological Seminary.
