Stay or Go?

on June 17, 2011

Alan Wisdom
June 17, 2011

Since May 10, when Twin Cities became the decisive 87th presbytery to ratify deletion of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s “fidelity and chastity” standard, I have heard among my PCUSA friends many discussions of the urgent question: “Should I stay or should I go” from the denomination?

As our May 11 press release made clear, we in the IRD lament the deletion of “fidelity and chastity” as a tragic mistake that will harm the church. But the institute takes no position on the “stay or go” question. With members ranging from Roman Catholics who couldn’t imagine being part of any other religious body, to congregational evangelicals who aren’t sure what the value of a denomination is, the IRD has no consensus on the matter.

The Anglicans among us, having experienced a similar crisis since 2003, have ended up in different ecclesiastical locations. Some Anglican IRD staff and board members have gone with their parishes out of the Episcopal Church and into the new Anglican Church in North America. Others continue their ministries inside the Episcopal Church. We are all still friends in Christ. We honor and support one another as some give their witness in their accustomed place and others in a new place.

I would like to suggest the possibility that my divergent Anglican/Episcopal colleagues may all be following the will of God. And we Presbyterian evangelicals may similarly find that there is more than one faithful course in our situation. God may not be calling all of us to continue in the PCUSA, nor all of us to leave. He may be calling some to stay and some to go. It all depends on the situation: our personal gifts and limitations and commitments, how things stand in our local church and presbytery, what the alternatives are.

 

No Single Answer

I do not see a single clear scriptural answer to how we should relate to a 21st century Protestant denomination that has ceased to uphold the biblical teaching on sexuality. There are some passages that seem to counsel separation from those who turn the Gospel into a license for sin (e.g., Ephesians 5:3-7). On the other hand, we have the example of the Apostle Paul, who never gave up on the Corinthian church even though it was plagued by all kinds of errant beliefs and behaviors. It is not so easy to take New Testament passages about the universal Church, the whole Body of Christ, and apply them directly to a modern invention—the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), established 1983—that has never been more than a sliver of the whole.

There are good reasons to remain in the PCUSA, and good reasons to leave. Those of us who are ministers, elders, or deacons freely took vows to be “governed by our church’s polity and … abide by its discipline.” When we took those vows, most of us knew that the PCUSA had serious problems. Can we now set those vows aside because the problems have grown worse?

The deletion of the “fidelity and chastity” standard from the Book of Order does not, so far, compel any of us to violate our conscience. If we believe that standard reflects the teaching of Scripture—a higher authority than the Book of Order—then we can and must continue to hold ourselves accountable to it. Nothing stops us from obeying it in our churches and presbyteries. Nothing forces us to call a minister or elect an elder involved in a non-marital sexual relationship. That situation may change in the future, as revisionists demand as a matter of “justice” that prospective ministers be willing to ordain and marry those in same-sex relationships. But we have not yet reached that pass.

In the meantime, the PCUSA provides a wide space for faithful believers to proclaim and live out the Gospel. The denomination’s Book of Confessions gives a strong witness to biblical teaching, including on sexuality. (“What does the seventh commandment teach us? That all unchastity is condemned by God, and that we should therefore detest it from the heart, and live chaste and disciplined lives, whether in holy wedlock or in single life.” Heidelberg Catechism, 4.108.) There are many sheep of the Master’s fold inside the PCUSA. Why should we desert those sheep?

The situation that we face in the PCUSA today is hardly unique in the history of the Church. Many times before, churches have been silent or timid in declaring a biblical teaching that ran contrary to the culture. (Recall the obsequiousness of bishops before absolute monarchs.) Many times before, churches have ordained persons who fell short of any standard of doctrine or character. God continued to work in and through those churches, despite their errors and corruptions.

God will not abandon us if we remain within the PCUSA. “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) The “anything else” that cannot loosen God’s grasp would seem to include misguided decisions by the General Assembly and presbyteries.

 

God is Faithful in Every Circumstance

By the same token, God will not abandon us if we leave the PCUSA. If God’s presence accompanies us to “the farthest limits of the sea,” surely his “right hand shall hold [us] fast” even in a new church body (Psalm 139:9-10).

The PCUSA constitution itself contemplates this possibility, as it makes provision for dismissing churches and transferring members from this denomination to another. If we are Protestants, we must allow for situations when departing one denomination and joining another is the proper thing to do.

Many of us—over the course of our lives, as we move around and our circumstances change and congregations change—will end up switching from a church of one denomination to a church of another. If we discovered that our children were being fed false teaching in a church’s youth group, we would not stick around. We would look for a different church with a more solidly grounded youth group. Few will dispute the necessity of such choices.

Our highest loyalty is not to the denomination, but to Christ and his universal Church. The denomination is simply a means of concretizing our connection to the one true Church. If the denomination distances itself from the universal Church, then we may have to distance ourselves from the denomination in order to stay true to the Church.

The Scots Confession lists three marks “by which the true kirk [church] shall be determined from the false.” These are “the true preaching of the Word of God,” “the right administration of the sacraments of Jesus Christ,” and “ecclesiastical discipline uprightly ministered, as God’s Word prescribes” (3.18).

How well does today’s PCUSA display these marks of the Church? The biblical Word of God is preached faithfully in many PCUSA congregations, while others often hear a different message of human self-affirmation. The sacraments are celebrated regularly, but not always with a focus on Christ. The third mark, ecclesiastical discipline, is almost entirely missing from today’s PCUSA (and most American churches). Deleting “fidelity and chastity” makes explicit the denomination’s refusal to hold even leaders accountable in the area of sexuality.

These failings are not new. No denomination is going to exhibit perfectly all three marks. But how far does the PCUSA have to fall short before it becomes necessary to look elsewhere for a better connection to the one true Church?

 

A Sense of God’s Calling

This is a difficult judgment call. The answer depends largely upon the circumstances of those making the call. Is the local congregation faithfully preaching the Gospel, celebrating the sacraments, and urging its members forward in the Christian life? Is the presbytery a help or a hindrance to pastors and elders who are committed to that biblical mission? Different PCUSA congregations and members face different realities, and so will give different answers.

Our answers should also reflect a sense of God’s calling. We may discern God’s calling as individuals, but that calling is never given to individuals in isolation. God always calls us to other people, with other people, and for the sake of other people. To whom, with whom, and for whom has God called each of us?

Our sense of calling may cut both ways on the “staying or leaving” question. Those of us who have taken vows as PCUSA officers have already accepted a calling to “watch over the people,” “serve the people,” and “be a friend among your colleagues in ministry.” If these people to whom we are called remain in the PCUSA, then our place is by their side. There are some people who may be found only within a PCUSA church. If we are to reach them, then we must be missionaries within the denomination. 

But not everyone is called to be a missionary. Sometimes we need to concentrate on guarding the flock that is in our care. If they are in spiritual danger, our duty may be to go with them to a safer location. That location may be outside the PCUSA.

Consider, for example, this scenario: A church has a pastor and session firmly committed to biblical teaching. Everything is fine for now. But the church is within a presbytery that is hostile to its understanding of the Gospel. If the pastor were to leave, the presbytery would impose ideological litmus tests to prevent that church from calling a new pastor with the same biblical convictions. In such a situation, protecting the flock might mean getting out from under the hostile presbytery and affiliating with another church body that would actually help the congregation find the pastoral leadership it required.

What matters most in these situations is not our personal preference or comfort, but the welfare of those to whom God has joined us. Inertia is not a sufficient reason to stay within the denomination. Nor is the desire to escape PCUSA conflicts a sufficient reason to leave. We must test our thinking and motives prayerfully.

 

The Majority Stays

My prediction is that the vast majority of evangelical, orthodox, conservative, traditional Presbyterians will remain in the PCUSA. It has been the IRD’s experience in other denominations—the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America—that the “stayers” far outnumber the “leavers.” The former may alter their relationship with the denomination, distancing themselves in some ways, but they do not make a clean break.

The reasons for this reluctance are complicated. Obviously, many people find the arguments for staying more persuasive than the arguments for leaving. But there are also practical considerations.

Taking an entire congregation out of one denomination and into another is an extremely difficult and stressful process. Family members can be divided against one another and never speak again. Pastors and elders who have worked long years together can turn against one another. Conflicts can erupt with the presbytery. Disputes over property can end up in secular courts, consuming the church’s resources and tarnishing its reputation.

If the process of leaving is to be anything other than catastrophic, there must be a strong super-majority in favor. The pastors and session must be virtually unanimous, and 90 percent or more of the membership must be supportive. Any sizeable or influential dissenting minority can make the process too painful to bear.

Most churches will contain a sizeable dissenting minority. Local congregations are not usually as homogenous as people imagine. Even a church self-labeled as “evangelical” will have many members who do not share an evangelical theology, who attend that church for non-theological reasons: family tradition, friendships with other members, fondness for a former pastor, attraction to the music program or Sunday school. These members will not necessarily support the “fidelity and chastity” standard, even if their pastors and elders mostly do. They will see no compelling reason to make a sudden break with the denomination. Many pastors and elders will balk at the high price of dragging such reluctant members out of the PCUSA.

 

Can We Still Bless One Another?

My personal calculus is this: I can envision no likely circumstances under which my theologically diverse congregation in Washington, DC, would leave the PCUSA. I have deep ties to that congregation, going back to my maternal grandmother, and I believe God has planted me there for his purposes. I have taken vows as a member, deacon, and elder within that congregation and the PCUSA. I see nothing that prevents me from fulfilling those vows, and carrying out the ministries to which God has called me, within that congregation. So I will be staying.

Yet others face a different personal calculus, and they will choose to leave the PCUSA. Can we still bless one another, as Esau and Jacob blessed one another in their maturity (Genesis 33)? Can we allow the possibility that God may be calling different ones among his servants to serve in different places?

The IRD is prepared to face that situation. We believe our resources—on issues like religious freedom, marriage, the Middle East, the environment—can be valuable to members inside the PCUSA, outside the PCUSA, and in a variety of church settings. We all confront many of the same issues in this culture and this world, and we all must give a Christian response. There is no denominational location that exempts us from these challenges. Let us address them together as brothers and sisters in Christ, whether we stay or whether we go from one particular denomination.

Related articles:

No comments yet

The work of IRD is made possible by your generous contributions.

Receive expert analysis in your inbox.