Are We Getting Anywhere?
“I was tired; I was discouraged; and I no longer believed that my efforts could make a difference.” These are the words of a pastor to his congregation in October 2007, explaining why he supported his session’s decision to leave the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The power of these words is that they were written by a long-time participant in the renewal movement. Among churches voting to leave, quite often the primary message is that their long engagement in efforts to restore spiritual vitality and theological integrity were not productive.
We need to measure progress in order to stay committed to a long-term effort. Most “true believers” in a grand, difficult project are willing to spend an entire lifetime if they think that eventually they, or the next generation, will succeed.
Bailing Out
But how do you measure success in church renewal? The watchdog press has spent forty years pointing out numerical signs of decline in our denomination. The same press is eager to highlight evidence of faithless or heterodox statements among Presbyterians. Are we getting anywhere in bringing renewal to our denomination? The several dozen churches who have voted to leave have a unanimous answer. Simply. . . no.
The Bigger Picture
When the Presbyterians for Renewal board met in September, they spent some time reflecting on their place in the renewal movement and, like everyone else, looking for signs of progress. To broaden their perspective, they invited theology professor William Abraham to bring a historical and trans-denominational view. “The Western church is currently awash in a sea of renewal movements,” Abraham observes in the opening line of his book, The Logic of Renewal. After decades studying renewal movements across the world, Abraham wants us to see that there is widespread discontent within many denominations.
The very fact that voices for renewal are sounding far and wide should show us, Abraham believes, that God is stirring up the church for a return to spiritual health. Many blueprints for renewal have been offered in recent decades, some from liberal and some from conservative viewpoints.
Aside from the obvious point that these competing visions for rehabilitating the church cannot all be correct, it does appear that the energy and creativity going into these proposals exhibit a shared conviction that the church is not what it should be.
Can it be that the wide acknowledgment of deficiencies in the church is in itself a sign of the Holy Spirit promoting a holy restlessness? And if so, how can we give up in the middle of what appears to be a wholesale reordering of many denominations?
PFR’s conviction, reaffirmed emphatically by the board in September, is that we’re in the middle of a long-term process of God transforming the PC(USA). We’re going to ride this one out, confident that God has good plans for this branch of Christ’s body. We make this decision based on our theology of renewal and on the signs of transformation already evident.
Hopeful signs
Of great significance is the growing adoption of missional thinking in our day, which is leading to a better focus, not only for countless churches but for our denominational structures as well. PFR takes great encouragement in the realization, expressed in presbyteries and by General Assembly staff, that the missional movement is a gift from God to help us lay aside secondary ventures and give greater prominence to God’s saving mission in Christ to the world.
Collaboration by denominational staff with renewal groups in discovering together God’s plan for the PC(USA) reveals a readiness to quit propping up projects that have less kingdom value and together to seek to catch the Wind of God.
Connected with this search for a clearer focus are the many proposals for a leaner and more efficient structure. Everyone is engaged in this, it seems. Some congregations are exploring the single focus of missional thinking, and others the biblical paradigms of the Purpose Driven model. Presbyteries are experimenting with better ways to support the work of the churches and are setting aside useless bureaucratic activity.
On the national scale, the Wineskins movement started the discussion with a proposal for a simpler, more flexible structure. The Presbyterian Global Fellowship is adding its voice with a call to reorder our church life around our mission from and with Christ. The Presbyterian Coalition has penned “Recommendations for Reformation and Renewal at Every Level of the Church.” Not to be outdone, within the machinery of our system is an emerging plan for a new constitution designed to release the church to do its work less encumbered by regulation.
Of greater importance than structural considerations are the voices of spiritual dependance sounding throughout our church. Our current moderator tirelessly reminds us that we cannot hope to be fruitful in ministry apart from steadfast prayer. Because every renewal movement in history has been marked by concerted prayer, PFR takes this call to faithful dependance as a sign of God preparing us for our next chapter.
Finally, and perhaps ironically, one of the promising signs for our renewal as a church is the increasing permeability of all churches and denominations. Ease of communication means good ideas are being borrowed from everywhere. Several of the renewal groups in the PC(USA) are making a concerted effort to stay in touch with churches that are leaving. There is, after all, one savior, one mission and one church. Cross-fertilization means that the gains and discoveries in one corner of God’s church are accessible to others.
Bottom Line
Are we getting anywhere? Definitely, yes. The Western church is being transformed by God, and the PC(USA) is part of this exciting, sometimes unnerving change. Because our hope is in the living God and not in institutions, we are free to serve and witness where we are, participating in the advance of God’s kingdom and trusting that the Lord will bless, renew and mature the church along the way.
