Moving Forward into a New Presbyterian Future - Part 2

Last week I looked at the possibility of a future in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) without synods and presbyteries. Yesterday I started giving my suggestions for how the PCUSA can move forward into a new present and future.

1. Repentance: On Monday’s blog…
2. Prayer and fasting: On Monday’s blog.
3. Move off of the sidelines: One major problem with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is that too many people sit on the “sidelines.” The tendency for the sidelines runs rampant at all levels of our denomination.
1. The local church: How many people sit on the “sidelines” at my/your church? Our churches have “members” who attend church less than once each month. The local Rotary club would never allow that kind of attendance by its members—and Rotary is JUST A CLUB!! The church is supposed to be the body of Christ and yet we set the participation “bar” lower than a local service club! There are “members” of the church I serve that are kept on the active roll because of the fear that other family members will leave the church if their loved one is place on the inactive roll. These “seldom attenders” are not the only ones on the sidelines. Our churches are filled with people who attend worship, and that’s it-- they are on the sidelines. We have faithful church attenders that never crack open their Bibles or pray—they are on the sidelines. We need to get off the sidelines. We need to get others off the congregational sidelines.
2. The presbytery: The sidelines of the presbytery are even more crowded than the sidelines of the local congregation. There are pastors that never/seldom attend presbytery meetings—with good reason. For the past year I have been in this category. I do not have the seven or eight hours to waste by attending a presbytery meeting. Presbytery will never attend until we all attend and DEMAND that things change! We have to stand up and say what we believe even if the “major players” in the presbytery will disagree with it. I/we need to get off of the sidelines. We have pastors who faithfully attend presbytery meetings and yet NEVER speak out or take a theological stand—they are on the sidelines. There are pastors in my presbytery that have never taken a theological stand on the floor of a presbytery meeting. How can they justify their silence to their elders who attend the meetings? We need to develop backbones that are Biblically grounded and theologically orthodox. We need to change the way delegates are selected for synod and GA. GET OFF THE SIDELINES!
3. The synod: It is time to “fish or cut bait” concerning the synod. If we are going to keep synods then they have to provide a NEEDED service to our presbyteries and local churches. The only way to do this is to have a serious discussion at each presbytery within our synod to talk about the future of our synod. There should be discussions between the various presbyteries in each synod to see what those discussions have yielded. If there is agreement that the synod is not providing needed services then a plan for fazing out the $$$ support should be developed. I would tell the synod that we will pay the synod per capita one more year and then they will not receive ONE ADDITIONAL PENNY! They would be free to try and raise funds by contacting local churches and if they receive sufficient funding then they will be able to keep their doors open. If the synod goes out of existence it would then be up to the presbyteries to build new partnerships for common ministry.
4. The General Assembly: I am aware of one church in our synod that has a committee that monitors the actions of the General Assembly. Needless to say, that church is informed about what is happening at the national level of our denomination and they have experienced righteous anger toward the PCUSA. We can no long keep our congregations in the dark about what is happening in the PCUSA. Our churches need to know that Louisville seminary was the site of a lesbian wedding – a wedding that our denomination says is sin. Our churches need to know what is published in “Horizons.” Our churches need to know when our Stated Clerk files “friend of the court” briefs in court cases. Our churches need to know that the PCUSA gives more per member support to the Natioinal Council of Churches than other denominations and they need to know what the National Council of Churches is doing. Our churches need to know that the Social Witness group is doing at the national level of our church. This denomination will not change until the people in the pews DEMAND that it changes. We need to change the ways that our presbyteries select delegates to General Assembly. As pastors, we need to begin attending General Assembly meetings and speaking at the committee meetings. We need to take elders to do the same. Most churches are working on their budgets for 2007. We need to ensure that those budgets have sufficient dollars set aside to send pastors and elders to important national and regional meetings (GA, GAC, Social Witness Policy, New Wineskins, etc.). We need to demand that all meetings of national groups are open meetings unless they are dealing with personnel issues. We can no longer allow the “few” at the national level drive this denomination to ruin. YOU AND I MUST GET OFF THE SIDELINES OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY!

Check back tomorrow for additional ideas on this important topic.