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Salt and light

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The Layman – Volume 34, Number 7 – Posted November 30, 2001

Robert L. Howard
Robert L. Howard, Chairman
Presbyterian Lay Committee
More than 1,300 Presbyterians at Gathering VI in Orlando experienced joyous unity of purpose. Joy resounded in hymns of praise because they were unashamed to confess Christ as the way, the truth and the life – not merely for themselves, but for the whole world. Unity was evident in thunderous standing ovations calling for the defeat of Amendment A, supporting the Confessing Church Movement, and declaring that business as usual in the PCUSA was no longer acceptable.

Some believed the PCUSA has become hopelessly political, that endless debates over Scriptural standards and the loss of over 1.5 million members in 40 years are diagnostic of a dying institution beyond redemption. Others believed gracious separation was preferable to inevitable schism. But nearly all believed there must be a better way to be the church of Jesus Christ in the 21st Century.

The Coalition’s Vision for Transformation of the PCUSA reflects the nearly unanimous consensus of those gathered at First Church Orlando. I say nearly unanimous because a few in attendance did not share the joy and unity of that meeting. Continuing to criticize and demean the Confessing Church Movement and to demonize those who support it, the Moderator either just didn’t get it, or chooses to misconstrue the Coalition’s Vision Statement. He fails to hear it as a call for the PCUSA to be born again as a new wineskin, capable of containing and dispensing the potent power of the gospel in the 21st Century. He fails to see it as a call to be transformed by the renewing of our collective minds to find a more excellent way to be a connectional church in the 21st Century.

Confessing churches are not a threat to peace, purity and unity. They are not the seedbed of schism because they believe now is not the time to give up or give in. Now is not the time to leave or graciously separate. Now is not the time to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

Confessing churches remember that the church at Philadelphia was commended because it kept the command to persevere in the faith and honored Christ’s name. They are committed to being an authentic church of Biblical Christianity in this century.

Biblical Christianity is flourishing in the emerging two thirds world. Noted evangelical scholar Mark Noll currently observes that last Sunday more Presbyterians were in church in Ghana than in Scotland, and more were in church in the United Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa than in the United States. Unlike Biblical Christianity in the two thirds world, we have experienced massive membership decline because we have lost passion for the Gospel. We have lost our saltiness through cultural accommodation and endless wrangling over Scriptural standards.

The PCUSA has been in a dark tunnel of decline for 40 years. If we brush away the political and secular agendas that shut out the light of Biblical Christianity, we can see light at the end of the tunnel. It is the reflected glory of the One who said he is the light of the world. May God grant all of us the ears to hear his words and eyes to see that light.

Robert L. Howard of Wichita, Kan., is chairman of the Presbyterian Lay Committee.
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