The Presbyterian Layman – October 2001 Volume 34, Number 6 – Posted October 5, 2001

So, who’s causing schism? So, who’s causing schism? Some leaders of the Presbyterians are accusing evangelicals in the Presbyterian Church (USA) of being schismatic and trying to lay a guilt trip on the Presbyterian Lay Committee because its voice is so dominant. Sorry, that dog won’t hunt.   Confessing Church PCUSA Covenant, More Light Annual per-capita $937 $726 $821 Attrition rate (1989-99) 4.7 % 11.62 % 15.4 % Worship attendance 60.1 % 51.3 % 44.4 % What is being ignored in such accusations of “divisiveness” and “schism” is that the denomination and its leaders have been the instigators of schism and division for 36 years – and, regrettably, they have been unimaginably successful at chasing people away. Until 1965, the denominations that now make up the PCUSA had been growing steadily. The downward spiral began in 1966. From a high of 4.2 million members in 1965, the denomination now is down to 2.5 million. That’s a loss of 1.7 million members – the equivalent of padlocking a 130-member congregation every single day for 36 years. 40,000-member walkout The Presbyterian Church of America walked out in 1972 with 40,000 members – but that was less than 40 percent of the total exodus that year. The Evangelical Presbyterian Church later took off with 15,000, a wee flight. The big losses have come a family at a time – as moms and dads ask some serious questions about whether they want their children raised in a denomination that is unsure about Jesus Christ and willing to write off God’s moral decrees. Meanwhile, the Presbyterian Lay Committee stuck it out and urged others to do likewise. Nevertheless, liberal activists have been prone to blame the Presbyterian Lay Committee and The Layman for “distorting” the truth and causing people to jump ship. But the demographics provide an altogether different picture. We’ve compared the loss rate among the Confessing Churches and the rest of the denomination. Over the last 10 years, the congregations that identify themselves as Confessing Churches have had an attrition rate less than half the attrition rate of the rest of the denomination. Healthiest part of the body In fact, the evangelical wing of the Presbyterian Church is the healthiest limb on this part of the body of Christ just about any way you cut it – in membership, in giving, in worship attendance as a percentage of membership, and, most important, in commitment to Jesus Christ alone as the Lord and Savior of the world, not simply as a local-option deity. If the flight that is crippling the Presbyterian Church (USA) represented only evangelicals, one might give credence to argument that the Presbyterian Lay Committee instigates the decline with its straightforward reporting of such news as Moderator Jack B. Rogers’ statements that he wants the church to provide the “moral equivalent of marriage” for homosexual couples. But that’s simply not so. Reversing the calamity So how might Mr. Rogers et al. reverse the 36-year calamity? We have a simple answer. They can turn to the same realities that have enabled the Confessing Churches to ride out this storm and remain healthy: That Jesus Christ alone is Lord and Savior of all the world; that Scripture is God’s unfailing revelation to his Church (including the PCUSA) and that God’s standards of holiness have not been preempted by the American Psychiatric Association or any other secular inclination.

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