The history of the Presbyterian Lay Committee

The Presbyterian Lay Committee Inc. is building on its tradition of calling Presbyterians to a Biblical faith

That has always been the case. The Presbyterian Lay Committee began in 1965 with elders who loved the Lord Jesus Christ. They loved the Presbyterian Church. They loved the Bible. They loved the Reformed heritage.

But in 1965 they were faced with one of the biggest issues ever confronted by Presbyterians in the United States: a new confession. There were noble reasons for the emerging declaration. The civil rights movement and the war in Vietnam were lessons that the Church must be involved in society and culture.

But many believed that the initial draft was seriously flawed. They feared that the theology of Augustine, Luther and Calvin was being eroded by a new social agenda, encapsulated in the new phraseology, “The Scriptures are nevertheless the words of men ....”

That phrase drew the battle line for the Presbyterian elders who first met in the office of George Champion, then president of Chase Manhattan Bank. They were shocked that the Bible was being reduced to everyday literature. At a time when “God-is-dead” theology was campus and seminary chic, the elders feared that the new confession would have a debilitating effect on the Presbyterian Church.

The first Lay Committee members were lay leaders of the church, people of means and action. Besides being leaders in their churches, they were leaders in corporate America. They believed that decency and fair play would help their cause. Thus, they respectfully requested that the denomination's leadership publicize their concern about the new confession. Their request was denied. They offered to buy space in denominational publications to publish their response. The denomination would not sell them space. Then they dug deep into their pockets and sponsored full-page advertisements in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post and other publications.

“The 1967 Confession does not ring true. It is so filled with ambiguities, undefined statements ... and obscure language that it becomes possible to rationalize almost any point of view the reader seeks to establish,” their ad said. They even advertised a product to sell (as a loss leader): $1 for a Book of Confessions.

The 1967 General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church rejected the Lay Committee's view and approved the Confession of `67. Many of the original members of the Lay Committee would see the predicted results: swift and massive loss of members, de-emphasis of evangelism and mission, an invasive biblical illiteracy.

But they did not take consolation in being prophetically correct. They would not stand by idly and watch the Presbyterian Church disintegrate. They believed God had required their faithfulness and commitment in whatever direction the denomination was heading.

In 1968, the Lay Committee dug deeper and began paying for a bold new strategy. The Layman was born. Today, The Layman is one of the largest religious periodicals in the world. It is mailed to 450,000 Presbyterian households in the USA and over 26 foreign countries. Its voice is strong and consistent. Critics who would reshape the denomination to reflect cultural and social values rather than biblical ethics have frequently lambasted The Layman's coverage and commentary. Former moderator Robert Bohl and other denominational leaders attempted in 1995 to have The Layman publicly censured by the delegates to the General Assembly. The vote was 517-20 against censuring The Layman.

The Layman has had some successes and some failures. But the victories are occurring more often as the newspaper gains respect from its critics. Just in the last few years, The Layman's coverage and leadership was influential in the following PCUSA decisions:

Ongoing Layman coverage of General Assembly Council activities, including funding for the World Council of Churches and the ReImagining Conference, has resulted in sharp reductions of unrestricted church gifts for projects controlled by the General Assembly Council. Mission giving has risen, but church sessions tend to designate (more than 70 percent) their contributions to ministries that are more in keeping with their understanding of what is biblical and pleasing to God.

The Lay Committee has worked closely with 16 other renewal organizations in the PCUSA and 30 in other Protestant denominations in the common cause of restoring our historic witness to Biblical faith.