A searchable, downloadable PDF of the original article, with pictures from the Dallas Presbyterian Renewal Conference, appears below. See also the cover picture.
“To seek and do God’s will for our lives, empowered by His grace, and by faithful study of the Scriptures, constancy in prayer, and loving fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, knowing that God’s love enables us to reach out with care and compassion, not only unto fellow Christians within the parish churches to which we severally belong, but beyond them to serve Christ in the darkness and despair of human beings everywhere.”
It was described as the largest gathering of Presbyterians ever convened for such a reason. Call them “renewalists”, call them “concerned”, call them whatever you want, but they were there in Dallas in the thousands – estimates vary between six and seven. They were together pledged for one great enterprise: the renewal of the now reunited Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, the largest Presbyterian denomination in the world today. A church of tremendous dynamic, infinite opportunities, and over three million members. A church in which, by common consensus, there is a need for afresh infusion of the power of the Holy Spirit of God. A denomination divided and subdivided.
So the delegates pledged themselves in these stirring words for personal and corporate renewal. Over six thousand of them standing to pledge themselves, after three days in Dallas, to return to the fifty states from which they had come. Pledged to work for renewal. Pledged to serve Christ in their local parishes. Excited by the dynamic of the Holy Spirit of God as He had worked among them.
That closing evening featured Canada’s own contribution to the Presbyterian Congress on Renewal. It was Leighton Ford who climaxed and summarized the three days of meetings. He reminded the gathering of the responsibility that each one has to work for, pray towards, and be committed to, renewal within our lives, within our congregations, and within the Presbyterian Church.
Our Presbyterian Church. Brothers and sisters in Christ. United to serve a common Saviour. Jesus is Lord we profess together.
What does our unitedness within a pluralistic denomination mean? How can we serve each other? How can we work towards a common end? These were questions raised, and some answers attempted at Dallas. The most satisfying responses were provided in the seminars, where creativity and innovation at the local level was demonstrated in a variety of responses to problems that are endemic in our world today: problems of polarity between rich and poor, between those struggling with deep psychological wounds and others who are able to heal and help. Homosexuality and abortion remain the two key issues which the American Church is facing, according to the Rev. Matthew J. Welde, Executive Director of our sister organization, Presbyterians United For Biblical Concerns, when he spoke to a press conference. These and a host of other social issues confronting the American church and American society were helpfully addressed by the meetings.
What does Dallas have to say to those not American? Those who are Presbyterians but from a different culture and a different set of historical circumstances?
Dallas reminds us again of the tremendous dynamic of being a part of a national church. The richness of our shared lives together can be a source of strength, an opportunity for growth amid diversity. It also helps us to see the resilience of ‘mainline’ churches and their increasingly urgent, insistent and passionate desire for renewal. God is alive and well in the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, as He is also in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Dallas reminded me again of the vision and commitment of men and women in the pew for spiritual growth and renewal. We are strong in our people resources. The winds of the Spirit are blowing.
Dallas also reminded me of the tragedy of division and separation. Dr. Bruce Larson, of University Church, Seattle, spoke the opening night of the surprise felt by some delegates – as we will also be surprised in heaven! – by those who were there and those who weren’t. The American Church has been impoverished by the divisions of the past twenty years within its numbers. Pray God that we will remain within our Canadian Church, able to accommodate and tolerate one another, not out of weakness but with the resilience of strength and maturity.
And there was a word to us within the Renewal Fellowship within the Presbyterian Church in Canada. It was a word of congratulation on the part of those aware of our growth during these past three years of our existence. A word of appreciation for the excellence of Channels by a growing number of its enthusiastic readers south of the border. But also thanks by those who have come north and strengthened our work by sharing with us.
Four of our major speakers in 1984 and 1985 were there one morning in the Coffee Shop of the Dallas Sheraton. They reminisced, reflected, and shared what they had experienced in our renewal days, or what they anticipated they would be giving us. Bill Showalter who was in Cambridge this last fall. Dick Hutcheson who spoke so warmly of his time at Crieff last May. Jerry Kirk who will be coming to Toronto in October (18 and 19). And Don Williams of La Jolla, California, our Annual Meeting guest with his Assistant Mark Slomka.
Our Annual Meeting this year will be in St. Andrew’s Church, Islington, Toronto. The dates are March 1 and 2. It’s a congregation that more than many has felt, on a local and parish level, the influences of our shared experiences through the vortex that is the Renewal Fellowship within the Presbyterian Church in Canada.
Don Williams has, I believe after speaking with him in Dallas, been powerfully anointed by God the Holy Spirit to bring healing and restoration to our souls, to our relationships, and to our corporate lives together.
As he comes to us would you join in prayer for us during those Friday and Saturday sessions, March 1 and 2 – hopefully with us but if not, then in prayer as we reach out to one another at the throne of God’s grace – that “God the Holy Spirit will so renew and enflame my heart that by His sovereign grace I will be equipped to serve Him and my brothers and sisters within His church, in obedience to the Word of His truth, and to follow wherever that path may lead as I seek to put Jesus as Lord first in my life.”
The road to renewal is no easy ride. It is messy, taxing and not without cost. It demands all of what I am so that I – and my church – may be all that God wants us to be. For His glory. Because Jesus is Lord.
May that be the concern of each of us, as we are prepared by grace, to meet with Him this March 1 and 2.