A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original article appears below. David Jennings is a lawyer in Vancouver and an elder at Fairview Presbyterian Church there.
Our denomination is in trouble. During the past General Assembly in June, Commissioners were reminded again and again of the problems: reduced numbers (attendance and finances), reduced commitment (to the world, to the National body, and to each other) and therefore reduced strength. Further concerns were voiced in speeches by the past Moderator, Earle Roberts and the Campaign Director of the Live the Vision Campaign, Harry Waite. In addition, several reports of the various arms of the National church indicated a loss of direction in the denomination. Indeed, Assembly Council was not even able to provide a budget for 1995.
Amid the various sounds of confusion and worry, perhaps Harry Waite’s voice was the most eloquent. Calling the Live the Vision campaign a failure, Mr. Waite refused to blame any one group or decision. Instead, he saw the indifference, fear and internal conflict of our membership as the root of our present difficulties. He concluded that:
a) the leadership of the church prefers to protect rather than challenge the people to greater faithfulness;
b) a pervasive, faith-denying fear runs rampant in our church;
c) there is a feeling of indifference, if not animosity, toward the superstructure and bureaucracy of our church;
d) conflict pervades every level of the church, from the local congregation to the national offices: conflict between minister and congregation, minister and session, session and presbytery, etc.
In good Presbyterian fashion, a special committee (composed of at least 50% lay people or ruling elders) was established to listen to our members “and to seek a consensus view of the priorities of the Church to help determine our objectives and strategies for our future.” That committee is to report its findings prior to the next General Assembly. I applaud its goals. I think such an examination is vital. The real involvement of the laity is necessary. I hope that the committee can provide the denomination with biblically-based objectives and strategies. However, it is imperative that the committee recognize that the identified “problems” are largely a symptom of something much worse. A review of the concerns and purpose of The Renewal Fellowship Within The Presbyterian Church in Canada (printed on the inside back cover of this issue of Channels) would be an excellent start for the committee.
The problem is not, as some Commissioners and reports concluded, whether the Church will survive. Scripture already assures us of the Church’s triumph. The concern should be whether the Presbyterian Church in Canada will fulfill or abandon its role in promoting the worldwide Church. If the Presbyterian Church in Canada is to be renewed, it must once again be a faithful bride to Christ and steward to the gifts with which it has been entrusted. Its members must recall Gods faithfulness, see the need for reconciliation and develop the courage to cast off the blinkers of fear and indifference.
And this is where the General Assembly offered much hope. As a microcosm of our denomination, the attendees revealed our weaknesses but also our strengths. Throughout the week of General Assembly meetings it was evident that the Holy Spirit was working in the Presbyterian Church through the Commissioners, national staff and others in attendance. In many sermons and discussions we were reminded how God had used our denomination in the past and in the present to further His purpose. Many of the decisions taken were courageous affirmations of our faith that require practical actions. True, as with any institution involving humans there was tension, conflict, some distrust and apathy, but there was also reconciliation that bound us together.
The Report on Human Sexuality was a fine example of the reconciling hand of the Holy Spirit at work. The Report had its strong supporters and detractors. It became clear from conversations with Commissioners early on that the Report would be accepted readily. The only question was what status the Report would have in our denomination. Having been immersed in the political process of secular government, I was surprised and glad to see so many Commissioners who strongly supported the Report nevertheless concerned with the views and feelings of the small but vocal minority who criticized the Report. Some may have felt that no compromise with detractors of the Report was necessary at General Assembly (I would have previously included myself in that camp), but the healing process which began with some of our members after the final vote could have been irreparably damaged as a result. At the prayer meeting hosted by the Renewal Fellowship the night before the final vote, an endless stream of prayers were said regarding the Report and the Commissioners who would be voting on its acceptance. At the end of the meeting, Clyde Ervine, the Convenor of the Church Doctrine Committee that submitted the Report, spoke to those present. He stated categorically that no Commissioner had a right to vote for the Report unless he or she was willing to embrace in love all those people who were affected by the Report. He reminded those present that the Law without Love is a repudiation of the gospel. Reconciliation, the joining of justice and grace, was expressed in those moving words of Clyde Ervine, was present in the Report, and experienced by many Commissioners at the time of the vote on the Report.
Are our problems too great to overcome? We had several ecumenical visitors who offered a refreshing perspective for those who were pessimistic about our future. Time and time again were heard of hardships suffered by those visitors and their denominations in the name of Christ, even death itself. Yet each speaker exuded the confidence that only God can provide: not a naive optimism for the future but the realization that God has conquered sin and death and will work for good with all those who love him. Our problems in Canada seemed minor when confronted with those experiences and that assurance.
So our Church is in trouble. It always has been. But it is up to us collectively to agree that we are to be an instrument of God’s grace in this fallen world. It means admitting to the sins identified by the Love the Vision committee and finding the grace and courage to address them. It means that we must, in the words of the Lord recorded in Isaiah (1:18-19), come and reason together with God, though our sins are like scarlet. If we are willing and obedient to God’s word, our sins shall be as white as snow. In its report to the Assembly Council that was distributed to Commissioners, the Live the Vision committee concluded with the following words: “The future will test our ability and will to trust God. In Christendom, trust is something we profess. In exile, trust becomes the essence of life itself.” Can we once again capture the trust in God needed to strengthen our denomination? Must we first experience another exile?