Parker T. Williamson
editor-in-chief
Speaking for the Presbytery of Western North Carolina’s
Committee on Ministry, the Rev. J. Thomas Phillips asked why I would
wish to have my ministry validated by the Presbyterian Church (USA) “if
we are so hopelessly lost.”
That’s a fair question.
I owe much to faithful congregations in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
One of those congregations led me to Jesus Christ. Another taught me the
Scriptures and the Westminster Catechism. Another counseled with me when
I sensed God’s call to the ministry, and the session of that church
confirmed my call in prayer. Faithful seminary professors taught me to
think theologically and to discern truth from error, using the
benchmarks of Scripture and our Reformed standards. Colleagues in
ministry have encouraged and corrected me over the years. In many ways,
Christian communities that bear the name Presbyterian have blessed me.
I love the Church’s faith. Presbyterian congregations that rightly
preach God’s Word, administer the sacraments and exercise
Scriptural discipline are the Church. Conversely, an institution called
the Presbyterian Church (USA) is not the Church. It is an ecclesiastical
organization, a corporation chartered in the state of Pennsylvania. It
is the product of multiple mergers, an institutional entity that was
created by the congregations to carry out their ministries at home and
abroad. It is legitimate only as long as it expresses the Church’s
faith and life.
Therein lies the rub. Revisionists have overtaken the denomination’s
infrastructure and displaced Reformed faith with an inane ideology
called “inclusiveness.” Their propensity to encompass opposite
convictions is an offense to reason, for the first rule of logic is that
A and Non-A cannot both be true at the same time. But it is worse than
irrational; it is an offense to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
alone is the truth.
So why don’t I leave, as my Committee on Ministry suggests?
Because I cannot abandon the Church I love to institutional managers who
proclaim an alien faith. Scripture assures us that truth ultimately
trumps falsehood. The ideology that holds captive our denominational
structures today will not last.
Presbyterian congregations existed many years before there was a General
Assembly or the current plethora of ecclesiastical agencies. Faithful
Presbyterian congregations will thrive long after current structures
have crumbled. Cascading membership and red-ink budgets tell the tale.
The institution, as we know it today, will not survive.
I hope I live long enough to witness the rebirth of Reformed faith in
our midst. But whether this is my lot is of little importance, for this
contest is not – nor has it ever been – about me or the
ministry of the Presbyterian Lay Committee that I am honored to serve.
It is about the Lord’s Church, and His promise that the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it.
Parker T. Williamson is chief executive officer and editor in chief
of the Presbyterian Lay Committee’s publications.