The old mother kirk of American Presbyterianism holds treasures of the mind and heart that few have ever seen. She has lived through a Revolution with England; divided over Black slavery only to be united again; welcomed seceding (Associate and United) Presbyterians into her bosom. Fought for truth. Fought for justice. Shaped the American experience in thought life, high culture, and even pop-culture. “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” because of Mr. Rogers’s worldview.

She has sent missionaries abroad, conquered nations through discipleship rather than the sword; she has changed hearts and minds.

She has also been on a century-plus decline. She has tripped, she has harmed her witness, and in many ways she has stumbled over her own candlestick causing not only offense… but its snuffing.
In the 1933 denominational magazine, The Presbyterian, J Gresham Machen wrote: “In foreign lands, as at home, what the modern Church offers is not Christ but a program. It is not Christianity, but a diluted substitute. If the Church desires to maintain a real missionary enterprise, it must first of all return to the faith.”
Earlier, in 1925, he wrote, “Christianity is a missionary religion. It cannot be kept to ourselves. We must tell the world—not about our ideals, but about the acts of God in history, culminating in the resurrection of Christ.” (What Is Faith?)
Machen was right.

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Nathan Eshelman | “Bid Adieu. Machen Was Right.” | April 22, 2025

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