“There are some attributes of a thing that can be altered without compromising its basic character. You could remove the stone cladding of Buckingham Palace to reveal the red brick underneath and it would still be Buckingham Palace. Yet if you painted the White House even a pale shade of yellow, you would make it something other than the White House.” Read more»
R. Scott Clark
R.Scott Clark is the President of the Heidelberg Reformation Association, the author and editor of, and contributor to several books and the author of many articles. He has taught church history and historical theology since 1997 at Westminster Seminary California. He has also taught at Wheaton College, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Concordia University. He has hosted the Heidelblog since 2007.
More by R. Scott Clark ›
If your strategic plan is about following Jesus – you will focus on repentance, faith, prayer, preaching, teaching, the sacraments, church discipline, and evangelism.
If your strategic plan is about organizational structures – you will focus on efficiency, centralization, numerical and financial growth, how the organization is perceived, and controlling the levers of power.
Addressing specific details in the PCA’s proposed strategic plan that one Elder or another objects to still leaves the denomination approaching Christ’s Church like a non-profit organization that simply needs to be managed better.
This is not to imply that the men involved in crafting the PCA’s proposed strategic plan have anything other than good motives. Furthermore, some of the problems that the report is wrestling with are very real problems for the PCA. What should be called into question is the very idea of grand strategic planning within the Church of Jesus Christ. We cannot manage-in the Kingdom of God.
Ditto.
Double Ditto
Triple Ditto