For me this summer has brought what summers should: relaxation, family time, and reunions with friends and family.   So it is with dismay and disappointment that the summer has also brought controversy within our denomination.  In June, the General Assembly pushed the denomination one step further down the road of utter irrelevance, self destruction, or both.   In particular, the 218th PCUSA General Assembly:

 

· Added a new AI (Authoritative Interpretation) of the PCUSA constitution that allows Sessions and Presbyteries to ordain individuals who declare that they will not abide by the constitutional standards for ordination.

· Removed an existing AI that prohibits homosexual practices for ordained leaders.

· Sent on to Presbyteries for ratification an amendment to the PCUSA constitution that would delete the “fidelity and chastity” standard that is presently a part of the constitution.

 

             The Session of Lycoming Centre is shocked and disheartened by the actions taken at this year’s GA.  It is inconceivable to us that those who have taken a vow before God to protect the peace, unity, and purity of the Church would ever arrive at such decisions. In light of these most recent events coupled with those over the past few years, I am more than ever certain of the following four convictions.

 

             First of all, we are a dying denomination. The Presbyterian bureaucracy seems oblivious, or is in denial over this very fact.  All in all, there continues to be very little emphasis or attention given to the fact that PCUSA churches are witnessing precious little conversions to Jesus Christ.  Since the PCUSA was formed in 1983 with over 3,100,000 members, membership losses through the 2008 projections will have totaled nearly a million members--- 992,999!  Since 1965, when the PCUSA and its predecessor denominations reached its peak membership of 4,254,597 members, more than two million members--- 2,126, 258 or 50 percent of the membership have left the PCUSA.  The bottom line is that we are a denomination badly in need of renewal.

 

             This leads me to the second conviction. In the face of so much trouble and decline, the proposed solutions to our collective denominational malaise are varied and dissonant. We are a deeply divided denomination over the proposed solutions for the many challenges we face.  Some argue with great energy and passion that the reason for our precipitous decline is a result of an inadequate social witness in the world, and believe a renewed and aggressive emphasis on diversity, inclusiveness, and social gospel activism is the way forward.

 

             I believe that such an emphasis is badly misguided.  In fact, I am convinced that the approach has caused much of the denomination’s decline. The solution, it seems to me, is one of gospel clarity and purpose.  The church needs more than ever to return to its one true treasure—the proclamation of the gospel: the life of Jesus Christ, His sacrificial, atoning death on behalf of sinners, and His miraculous resurrection from the dead that demonstrated once and for all His victory over death, sin, and evil forever. This is the material principle upon which the church either stands or falls. 

 

             I believe that our denomination needs a radical “gospel revolution.” This is something that will only begin to occur when we return to the “first things.” (Revelation 2:5)  As long as the denomination continues to fight over the appropriate use of language for God, sexuality standards for ordained office, and a thousand other pseudo-political causes, our denomination will languish.  It will continue to die a slow and painful death, because the most precious and powerful thing we have—the gospel—is being forgotten in the midst of our intense infighting and struggle.

 

             My final conviction is that our denomination continues to be in the midst of a crossroads moment.  It is clear to me that as a denomination the issues we face are far too many and far too controversial for us

                                                                                                        (Continued on page 7)

In the Midst of a Crossroads Moment

LYCOMING CENTRE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Centre news

August 2008

Volume 2008  Issue 8