Can The PCA’s “Big Tent” Hold?

Which Way Will The Moderates Swing?

Is the PCA’s big tent capacious enough for “gay Christian” officers and Revoice doctrine? Adherents of a certain type of “missionalism” might consider Revoice-style contextualization and accommodation to be absolutely essential; thus they would make room in the tent. Moderate evangelicals in the PCA might appreciate the testimony of Greg Johnson and, though some aspects of Revoiceism might give them pause, they may find room for the movement…in moderate form. As usual, their votes will be decisive. Cultural conservatives and “confessionalists” have the biggest problem with these issues, and it is in these camps that unease is growing. Revoice/SSA issues are not the only stressors, but they are primary.

What will be the outcome? No one can predict the outcome of the judicial cases nor can the timeframe for their resolution be known, though resolution may come before the 2021 General Assembly. Presbyterian judicial process is notoriously slow and sometimes decisions don’t seem altogether decisive. Depending on the nature of the SJC decisions, presbyters troubled by Revoice/Side B doctrine and gay/SSA officers may not see results as quickly or as clearly as they would prefer. Uncertainty surrounding the 2021 General Assembly (to be held in St. Louis and hosted by Missouri Presbytery) adds to the strain. The date is not even certain yet. And there is fear that COVID-related travel issues and unforeseeable local restrictions may suppress attendance in a year where critical issues will be decided. The uncertainty of the date and conditions of the assembly, it is feared, may make it even harder than usual for ruling elders to attend.

All of this could amount to a perfect Presbyterian storm—a storm that could precipitate a division or portend years of conflict to come. Read more»

Brad Isbell, “Significant Issues Portend Vigorous Debates At the 2021 PCA General Assembly: The issue is simply this: Will the PCA have ‘gay Christian’ pastors and other church officers or not?” Aquila Report (April 1, 2021).

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24 comments

  1. It is my view as a long-time PCA member that the war is already over. It was over a year ago. To not address obvious sin, or to find ‘nuanced’ ways of accommodating the world while making Biblical charges difficult – this is defeat and just plain wrong. The fact that there are no pitchforks and torches by godly REs is evidence of defeat. Where are the Watchmen? Where are the brave Clergy standing for righteousness? Men of old endured loosing their pulpits, their livelihoods, their ears noses and lives, because they did not want a prayer book and to wear priestly garb. Would they say blasphemies in the PCA dragging on is okay, and the lengthy process is fine with them? Would they think their martyrdoms were worth it all, to make sure that the PCA is closely examining to see if sodomy might be okay with God? No. The Scriptures are clear and the testimonies of our forebears are strong: “… I saw under the alter the souls of them that were slain for THE WORD OF GOD and for THE TESTIMONY WHICH THEY HELD…” [capitalization added]. This is not a slight of B. Isabell RE. He’s doing a good work, but I wish he would wear a kilt and broadsword sometimes.

    • Randy,

      When it comes to this sort of question, to split or not, when, how etc? good people are going to differ. Pray for your REs and TEs. They have some difficult work to do.

      you should be especially thankful for men like Brad. He has been a leader in alerting PCA REs and laity to the emerging issues.

      Torches and broadswords are emotionally satisfying but they aren’t always the best weapons for a battle.

      A great lot of the PCA still does not understand what is happening.

    • It seems we need a post-mortem or it’s pointless to start a new denomination. The liberals use the same tactics every time. They say one thing to your face and another thing to their friends. They work through back channels. They co-op committees. They muster votes. Once they get power, their faces change. It seems to me this was the same thing that happened to the big mainline Protestant denominations 100 years ago. This is collapse is the same one, but in miniature. (Does anyone remember mini-Stonehedge from Spinal Tap? )

      If the point of conservative confessionalism is to maintain a church, it’s failing. If the point is exiting and building nice new denominations for liberals to invade and take-over every 100 years, it’s succeeding wildly.

      Can the sheep weather a societal collapse and another church collapse at the same time? If so, how? These are the questions before conservative elders in the PCA now, if they are willing to face it.

    • I thank God there are people who defend the true faith even when it doesn’t seem like the popular thing to do. Your points are well taken and as a ‘MERE SHEEP” I am appreciative of your comment.

    • Randall, I appreciate your frustration over the situation, but you are wrong that no stand has been taken by REs and TEs within the PCA. In fact, some TEs and REs within our denomination have taken the correct judicial steps to address this. Whether we will win the day or not is another issue, but it is simply wrong to imply nothing has been done. I personally know of men who risked their livelihoods to speak and vote on this issue at their presbyteries, and they were willing to do it multiple times to be sure that it was processed decently and in order. The fruit of their efforts is before the SJC. How that is decided is between the consciences of the men of the SJC and the Lord. But the men you were looking for exist, and they did what they were called on to do.

  2. Part of the problem is that our TE and RE representatives to the GA never let us know how they voted on these pressing issues. They don’t really see themselves as our representatives at the GA. They seem to believe they have a higher calling than to represent the interests of mere sheep. Their reports to the congregation about what happened at the GA amount to “a good time was had by all”. As a long-time PCA member I agree with Randall. We don’t need a bigger tent. It will just be that much harder to fold when it’s time.

    • I hope you’ve communicated your desire to know about the issues and the stance of your church to your session. My session gives a report after each GA describing the important votes and where our representatives stood on them (including those rare times we canceled each other out). What you’re asking for is not a big ask, and it is done in places.

    • Jeremiah: What does it say about a denomination that the laity has to continually try to drag their leadership at all levels kicking and screaming into orthodoxy; and with little success at that? I don’t have the energy anymore at my age.

      • Bob,

        It says that the PCA is a Southern denomination with a syndical culture. It means that they do things by phone calls, text, and behind the scenes. It’s not my culture but I’m not from the South. To be sure, this goes on in every federation, association, and denomination to some degree but as a southern denomination, it is a strong characteristic of the PCA. E.g., The PNW refused to discipline Leithart for advocating theonomy but, as I understand it, when he failed to follow protocol in moving to AL, he was forced to leave the PCA. It means that the PCA isn’t very good at addressing issues publicly and directly. It goes against the culture. We all have some kind of Christ and culture (nature and grace) problem. In the Dutch churches, it is the elevation of kin over Christ, blood over baptism. In the south it is politeness. It’s a very strong cultural imperative. The other imperative is the commitment to being a “truly national” Presbyterian church. As I’ve been saying, so long as that is a priority above confessional fidelity, the PCA will always face these sorts of challenges. The impulse to be a “truly national” Presbyterian church fosters a “live and let live” ethos, which, when combined with the syndical culture, discourages holding (especially) TEs accountable for their theology, piety, and practice.

  3. Jeremiah,

    If you have any hope in church courts I encourage you to read Dewey Roberts’ March 15 Facebook post. The presbytery courts are mostly there to bind consciences, not refute error.

    The SJC and the GA are dragging their feet. The time to address this was a decade ago.

    • Bryce,

      In P&R polity an assembly (or a court) is not an inquisition. It cannot simply take upon itself the job of finding error and prosecuting it. It must respond biblically and confessionally when a case it brought before it but it is up to (or, in the UK, down to) pastors and ruling elders to address moral, practical, and theological error when it arises in the church. The Johnson case was not present, at least not in the way it has become so during the Revoice controversy, ten years ago was it? Yes, there have been a series of issues facing the PCA for a decade but, in P&R polity, until those issues crystalize in a particular case, it is very difficult for a body to address.

      The FV, however, meets that test. Consider the Federal Vision controversy. In that case, it was in the PCA (there were PCA congregations that had been leaders in formulating and teaching the FV errors). A presbytery addressed the problem and that report came to GA. Then GA addressed by by receiving the report and approving nine affirmations against the FV. Still, as a judicial matter, very few Federal Visionists (I know of one case, in Illinois) where a Presbytery actually disciplined a Federal Visionist (before the movement was called FV). At least three Presbyteries have failed or refused to convict men for teaching the FV.

      The ruling and teaching elders, should they be allowed to meet this year, face very serious questions. The future of the PCA almost certainly hangs in the balance. We should pray for them to do what is right and for the Lord to preserve the peace and purity of the church in the PCA.

    • You have a decidedly different view of things than the sheep. I’m giving you the view from below. Dewey Roberts and Andy Webb can give numerous examples of threats of prosecution for 9th commandment violations. Ultimately, this is what prompted Roberts to leave. The same things are done to the laity. “Shut up!” is the elders’ frequent reply to the sheep.

      As far as ReVoice, Kellerite cultural relevance – including Side ‘B’ – has been spreading in the PCA for at least 10 years. Some of the speakers have been members in good standing and openly Side B for at least 20. I could name names. Some have attended your seminary.

      • Bryce,

        My school has over 1,000 graduates, not all of whom agreed with the confession of the school while they were here (we don’t have doctrinal standards for our students, only for our faculty) or after they graduated.

        Yes, I’m aware of the issues that Andy and Dewey have raised. I share their concerns. Remember, I’ve been part of two separating denominations, the RCUS, which stayed out of the E&R merger in the 1930s and the URCNA, which was formed by churches that left the CRC in ’96. The view from below isn’t that different from the view from above—nether Dewey nor Andy are laymen.

        Yes, the issues are of long standing. They do need to be addressed but there is a process by which they can be addressed. In my reply to Bob, I explained some of the cultural challenges the PCA faces.

        Bob complains that the laity are asked to do too much, i.e., to hold the officers accountable. That may be (for the reasons I gave and more) but it is probably the case that it will come down to the laity and the ruling elders to hold the PCA to its confession.

        Are you prepared to organize with other laity and to seek the peace and purity of the PCA?

    • My school has over 1,000 graduates, not all of whom agreed with the confession of the school while they were here (we don’t have doctrinal standards for our students, only for our faculty) or after they graduated.

      Fair enough, but let’s look at another issue as an example. Some of the big CRT accusers, including both laity and ministers, were given platforms to speak at WTSCal. Some of them have falsely accused ministers in the past several years. They have been emboldened. THeir allies over on Side B have been organizing and chipping away at it for the same period of time and have become emboldened, culminating in ReVoice. My point is that ReVoice is happening now because its organizers know they can get away with it because they’ve either not been discouraged from doing so or have been given platforms by prominent NAPARC institutions and ministers. We could’ve nipped this in the bud before it was too late, just as we could’ve with CRT, through informal discipline such as hallway conversations with offenders, discipleship, and discouragement of error. For example, someone with a Side B blog and tweets should be told to take them down. Ministers have spoken to me when I’ve slacked in some area of life, I heeded their warnings, and amended my ways. My deficiencies never needed to go to trial.

      Are you prepared to organize with other laity and to seek the peace and purity of the PCA?

      I’ve raised the issues with elders and gotten bemused, contemptuous stares in reply or gaslighting about how they approved the Nashville Statement so problem solved. Frankly, it’s too late. Half the laity support something like Side B anyway. I imagine the same half approve of CRT and the other legalisms, since they tend to be allies judging by their social media posts and networking. I’m doing what AO Hirschman called “Exit.”

      • Bryce,

        It’s not my job to defend my employer here. In fact, they’ve asked me not to do it. So, let me make a general comment about schools. They are not churches. A school that prepares pastors should intentionally expose those pastors to the best representatives of a variety of points of view, which they will face in the ministry. So, faculty invite speakers to classes so students can interact with these views, sometimes views which we disagree quite strongly. Sometimes, however, and I think it is the case in the instances to which you seem to be referring, campus speakers are invited by the student association, over which the school has no control. I understand how it looks to the outside world, that such distinctions aren’t apparent, but they exist. The students sometimes want to hear directly from provocative or even heterodox voices.

        To the best of my knowledge, Revoice is principally and issue in the PCA and there are overtures to address it. I understand that there is concern that the SJC may not but none of us knows yet what the SJC will do or what the GA will do.

        I understand your frustration but I doubt that “half the laity” support Side B. If that’s true, and I don’t know how anyone short of a thorough and careful survey could know, then it is too late for the PCA as constituted.

        I’m glad that you raised the issue with your elders but there is more to be done. The most important thing is prayer. The Spirit is more than able to reform the church. After that, if a session had opportunity to address and issue and refused, then that would be a proper subject for a complaint. The laity of the PCA, assuming that your guess is wrong, must learn a bit about the BCO and about how it works and then they must go to work actively seeking the peace and purity of the church or they will lose it.

        I’m not saying that it will be easy or pleasant but it is necessary.

    • Sometimes, however, and I think it is the case in the instances to which you seem to be referring, campus speakers are invited by the student association, over which the school has no control. I understand how it looks to the outside world, that such distinctions aren’t apparent, but they exist. The students sometimes want to hear directly from provocative or even heterodox voices.

      Understood, however the optics are quite terrible.

      To the best of my knowledge, Revoice is principally and issue in the PCA and there are overtures to address it. I understand that there is concern that the SJC may not but none of us knows yet what the SJC will do or what the GA will do.

      In the case of ReVoice, I think the perception is that Covenant College and seminary is Woke and feeding the denomination and laity with ministers friendly to it. Perhaps Covenant was better in the past and presbyteries asked fewer questions of new ministers from it, but for now I think presbyteries need to understand this equation: Covenant = Woke.

      I understand your frustration but I doubt that “half the laity” support Side B. If that’s true, and I don’t know how anyone short of a thorough and careful survey could know, then it is too late for the PCA as constituted.

      Use ctrl + F and search for homosexuality here. Their data on PCA members’ views of abortion are also shocking. Read it and weep (literally). Even if only half do not have Christian views on abortion and homosexuality, how does the other half have fellowship with them? This is not adiaphora.

      The most important thing is prayer. The Spirit is more than able to reform the church.

      This seems like the only thing we can do at this point.

      • Bryce,

        I had not seen that part of the survey. Some of those charts are disturbing, others did not seem very useful because of the way the question was worded. Still, some of those results are surprising. They don’t correlate with my experience in and around PCA congregations. Before I concluded that the Pew Study, which seems generally to do good work, I would like to see the results duplicated. I don’t see the “internals” of the poll anywhere. How large is the sample? The percentage of people who report not reading their Bible, attending worship, or praying is rather high in this study. That should alarm us too and if it’s accurate, there would seem to be a correlation with the other unhappy outcomes.

        I’m not going to comment on the denominational schools except to say that it history tells us that behooves folks with such denominational institutions to pay close attention to them and not to assume that everything is alright. My experience with a number of Covenant College graduates has been very positive. I’ve had less experience with CTS grads.

        It still seems far too early to throw in the towel and despair of Reformation. The medieval church was in far worse shape and Reformation happened. The laity and the ruling elders have not even begun to stir yet.

    • I had not seen that part of the survey. Some of those charts are disturbing, others did not seem very useful because of the way the question was worded. Still, some of those results are surprising. They don’t correlate with my experience in and around PCA congregations.

      They correlate with mine. I’ve always attended conservative PCA(s), but I’ve sought them out. Other parts of the PCA are much more woke based on the ones I’ve visited and the people I’ve talked to. Remember the old adage, “No one I know voted for Reagan?”

      The percentage of people who report not reading their Bible, attending worship, or praying is rather high in this study. That should alarm us too and if it’s accurate, there would seem to be a correlation with the other unhappy outcomes.

      It certainly explains why homosexuality and infanticide – things God’s people have always opposed except during times of apostasy – are now supported by a majority or large minority of the PCA. It explains why ReVoice knows they can succeed with their agenda now. Remember Greg Johnson’s tweet after GA approved the Nashville Statement? He was right. I don’t like the data any more than you, but the data correlate with the effects we are seeing.

      I’m not going to comment on the denominational schools except to say that it history tells us that behooves folks with such denominational institutions to pay close attention to them and not to assume that everything is alright.

      Absolutely. Look at what happened to Old Princeton. Now this is repeating 100 years later.

      It still seems far too early to throw in the towel and despair of Reformation. The medieval church was in far worse shape and Reformation happened. The laity and the ruling elders have not even begun to stir yet.

      Whatever the case, we’re certainly powerless to do it on our own.

    • PCA laity, REs, and ministers can pray and act, right?

      They can do both, but we’re going to need a big shift in mindset to act. There are frankly a lot of bad actors in the church and we’re giving them the benefit of the doubt and being “nice” to them despite their duplicity and all their actions proving they are not good people. The tendency of confessional conservatives is to punch hard to the right while giving the left the most generous readings and irenic, winsome responses. This has to stop. Fighting is unpleasant. Feelings get hurt. People say nasty things about you like they did about Paul and Jesus who did not pull punches with religious leaders. Do we want to be nice and lose or fight the good fight of faith and win? This is not a false dichotomy. Winning will mean kicking the unrepentant out, not just passing resolutions.

      Reading Dewey Roberts and Andy Webb and my own interactions with PCA members who are wrong about marriage and infanticide has convinced me that the PCA is too big of a territory to hold and its bureaucracy is designed to let “progressivism” progress.

    • Dr. Clark, as you know, I spent well over a decade fighting in the CRC over very similar issues to the current fight over homosexuality in the PCA. No, I don’t believe the PCA fight is lost. In some ways, the PCA is in a much better position than the CRC because it is far more evangelical today than the CRC was back in the 1980s and 1990s, but it is also far less Reformed than the CRC used to be three to four decades ago. Back in the 1980s, nearly all Christian Reformed adults, at least those who had gone to high school in the 1970s or earlier, had been catechized and had attended Christian schools that taught the Reformed faith. Those adults may have rejected what their church was supposed to believe, but at least they knew what the church officially taught, even if they didn’t believe it any more.

      That can’t be said about the PCA.

      When I lived in the north, I had a much better view of the PCA than I have today because I knew a number of good PCA ministers. I’ve now spent two decades living in the South and seeing the PCA up close and personal in a number of states, not just the ministers but also what lives in the churches. There are reasons I am not a PCA member. Sadly, I believe Bryce is right about how bad things are in far too many local PCA congregations.

      I’ve seen PCA churches in which I am confident that not one person in the congregation other than the minister (and perhaps his wife) even knew that the Westminster Standards existed. I’ve seen PCA churches in which elders were surprised when I mentioned the word “Calvinism.” They didn’t know what the word “Reformed” meant, but they did know what Calvinism meant, and were quite sure it was a belief that their church didn’t hold.

      And that’s among the BETTER things I’ve seen in the PCA. At least the churches like that were evangelical Bible-believing churches, even if they looked more or less like Southern Baptist or independent evangelical community churches, with the main difference being that the pastor was willing to baptize babies, if the parents wanted that.

      We are finding out that there are churches in the PCA that are not broadly evangelical, but actually teaching liberal positions that are close to if not identical to the positions that the PCA was founded to fight against back in the 1970s when the secession happened from the PC(US).

      The PCA simply is not a confessional denomination. Yes, it has confessional churches in it. I don’t dispute that there are presbyteries that actually insist not only that the ministers but also that the local elders be confessionally Reformed. I’m not saying such churches and presbyteries don’t exist. They do.

      What I am saying is that if the PCA’s fight over homosexuality is going to be won, it’s not going to be won because of the confessional churches and presbyteries. There are not enough of them. It’s going to be won because evangelicals get angry over denial of basic Bible teachings.

      That fight is winnable, I think.

      Once that fight is won (if it is won) there will be a very long and very difficult fight to explain to a lot of PCA members that they are not in a broadly evangelical church, but a confessionally Reformed church.

      That fight may not be winnable in the PCA.

  4. Why should the PCA be referred to as a “big tent”? That is a political term used by parties seeking to as attract as many disparate groups and views as possible to increase their share of the vote. Should that be the goal of a denomination? Shouldn’t the parameters of a denomination be determined by scripture? Why do “big tent” denominations seek to cater to the views and tastes of the goats at the expense of the sheep? This reminds me a lot of the philosophy of the Church Growth Movement.

    • Bob,

      I don’t think a confessional denomination can be a “big tent.” This is why I’ve been calling on PCA confessionalists to re-think the commitment to being a “truly national” Presbyterian church. I’ve been challenging that assumption since the publication of Recovering the Reformed Confession. Charles Hodge was wrong about that priority and so are those in the PCA who place it above confessional fidelity.

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