Cheers!
Posted on 02/17/2011 6:14:50 PM PST by Gamecock
An AP article was sent to my computer which many might find interesting. Sometimes my computer dates things incorrectly, but never before has an article appeared this early. You will of course note that the writer shows a typical secular reporter’s ignorance about the Reformed faith, but otherwise it seems to be fairly written, though poorly edited in parts. Also, it would have been strengthened by more direct quotes from the actual participants, but I guess we should be glad for any press.
Here is the AP story: July 1, 2020
Classical Protestant Resurgence: how the PCA got its mojo back Part 4 of the Series, “Religion in Post-Obama America” Associated Press, Atlanta
Ten years ago, many thought that the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) was at a crisis point. Years of stagnant growth and divisiveness had taken their toll. In an effort to stem the tide, many prominent men within the PCA urged it to change her tack or risk irrelevancy. An effort was made to broaden the PCA’s appeal by severing its ties with doctrinally similarly aligned, but smaller denominations in favor of cooperation with larger and growing movements.
However, a surprising thing happened. Unconvinced that such a change in tactics was called for, the denomination instead chose to reemphasize her distinctives -- doctrines such predestination of an “elect,” the baptizing of infants, and the necessity of churches being connected in regional bodies called presbyteries. Many feared that such a doctrinal approach would weaken the PCA and make it less appealing to the newer generations of Christians which appeared to be flocking to newer movements such as the so called “emergent” churches of the day and the Acts 29 Network (now on its third iteration as the Acts 31 network).
Perhaps a greater challenge to the PCA came from allies within the Southern Baptist Convention. A renewed interest in Calvinism among Baptists of various kinds – ironically fueled in part by the success of the PCA – stemmed some of the PCA’s momentum as many younger Calvinists chose to practice their faith in a Baptist context. The PCA was no longer the newest and coolest Calvinist kid on the block. It had lost its mojo.
It was understandable then that some of the PCA leaders, wishing to keep up a perceived momentum from its earlier decades of rapid growth (due in large part to whole churches transferring in from other denominations), pushed for the PCA to accommodate herself to changing demographic trends.
What could not have been foreseen was the growing cynicism of the newer generations towards the marketing which had been directed towards them by these newer movements. Many recognized that the “emerging” churches had essentially employed the same strategy of the much maligned Willow Creek “church growth” strategies popularized in the suburbs of the 1980s and 90s. Only this time, instead of syncretizing Christianity with the American suburban sub-culture, the emergents syncretized the Christian faith with the gentrification sub-culture of American cities. (See Part 2 of this Series: “How religion played a role in the re-segregating of the American urban landscape.”) As sociologists have since shown, both rounds of syncretism served to accommodate evangelical Christianity to the predominant relativism of American culture, to the extent that doctrinal distinctives were often played down in hopes of churches appearing more open minded and relevant to the issues of the day.
At the same time, many of these disillusioned younger Christians found themselves attracted to the bold Calvinism found among a variety of Baptist preachers of the time, men such as John Piper of Minneapolis, Mark Dever of Washington, D.C., and Marc Driscoll of Seattle. These ministers supported doctrines such as predestination and held to a strong view of the church, and yet rejected Presbyterian principles such as standing presbyteries and baptizing infants in favor of local church autonomy and baptizing only those who could recount some sort of credible conversion experience. And while these popular Baptist ministers cooperated with other denominations, they made no bones about their distinctive Baptist convictions. Such humble confidence in the midst of the emergent, relativist landscape proved attractive and successful.
Against this backdrop, the PCA held their annual General Assembly in late June of 2010. Leaders from across the denomination were urging a new direction and a renewed emphasis on numerical growth in order to “be part of what God is doing in the world.” After days of debate, the denominational rank and file rejected such an approach in favor of a return to their roots as a Calvinist denomination, including those convictions which distinguished them from both the emergent churches and their Calvinist Baptist allies.
At the same time, there was a renewed emphasis across the PCA on doing the simple things well – preaching from the Bible, emphasizing the doctrine of “justification by faith alone” as central to the Christian life, praying in small groups, and taking church discipline seriously (that members must uphold their vows to follow Christ or face correction from church leaders). An emphasis was placed on local ministry rather than embracing a one-size-fits-all national strategy.
But this counter-intuitive approach to church growth paid off. Younger Christians of all backgrounds were attracted to the authentic, simple approach to faith which did not overly concern itself with marketing or social trends. At the same time, they were drawn to the certainty and stability which the PCA presented, and increasingly convinced of the Biblical rationale for infant baptism and standing presbyteries, once the PCA began to aggressively promote its views. Of course, a fine line had to be walked, both not to alienate other Christian denominations and to ensure that its own members did not confuse secondary matters with more essential matters such as the divinity of Jesus. But somehow, they pulled it off, and have seen steady numerical growth 7 of the past 10 years.
With the precipitous decline of the historically larger PC(USA), the PCA now appears on the cusp of becoming the largest Presbyterian body in the United States, with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church not far behind.
The only thing untrue about Alex’s assertion is that it’s probably well above $3 billion now.
Or are you in denial about that?
Quite a bargain, for the KGB. /Gramscian seeding of homosexuals into the clergy>
Seriously, you pinged the horde for that?
Cheers!
Cheers!
Too bad Moses didn't try harder to reason with Pharaoh. It might have work instead of all those plagues.
Like most liberals, and many libertarians, he is apparently prepositionally-challenged:
he cannot distinguish between "from" and "of"...
Cheers!
Cheers!
So, this is your idea of sticking to theology?
>> So if the coloring books are supposed to work, what did it cost the Church to not produce abuse-avoidance coloring books until 2007? Answer: three billion dollars. >>
Call it satire (now) if you want. You wrote something which wasn’t true. And for the record, what I wrote was, “tell me you’re joking.”
But, as for the satire: what on Earth did the sex abuse scandals have to do with the issue at hand?
Shall we go see what’s going on with the lovely Baptists this week?
Citrus Heights pastor ordered to stand trial on molestation charges, TMCNews, 2/4/11 (Tommy Gene Daniels)
Rape trial of Bayside pastor on in March, YourNabe.com (NY), 1/28/11)(Phillip Joubert)
Youth minister arrested, Central Kentucky News-Journal, 1/27/11 (Drew A. Underwood)
Pierce’s family attends parole hearing for Benton sex offender, Benton Courier, 1/26/11 (David Pierce)
Ex-youth minister pleads guilty to sex abuse, LEX18 News (Lexington, KY), 1/25/11 (Jacob Allen Conder)
Ex-local pastor faces voyeurism charges in Texas, Bradenton Herald, 1/19/11 (Matthew Christopher Porter)
Five arrests for sexual abuse in one week. (Hey, progress! That’s down from seven the last time I checked around New Years.) Times 50 weeks in a year... that’s a rate of 250 per year. Now, the Catholic church is four times bigger than the Baptists, so that’d be like 1,000 Catholic abuse cases in one year.
So, what’s the difference between Baptists and Catholics on sexual abuse cases?
1. There’s a much higher rate of abuse among the Baptists.
2. The Catholics’ sexual abuse cases were mostly stopped by 1990, years before the media even caught whiff of a story. The Baptists are still raping away.
3. There’s no big money in the Baptists because the SBC disavows responsibilty.
4. To keep the claim of no responsibility, the Baptists refuse to do the simplest things to prevent sexual abuse, like withdrawing pastors’ credentials. They even refused to maintain a database of allegations they were offered.
"By their stripes, we are hee-hawed."
Cheers!
What is the liberals' mantra, again?
Oh, yeah, that one:
"It's for the children."TM
But somehow, those castigating the church never bother to attack the NEA, but only wax remorseful that there were no such skanky teachers when *they* were young...
Cheers!
>>Quite a bargain, for the KGB. <<
Hey do you know why the KGB never seeded homosexuals into the Protestant clergy?
THEY DIDN’T HAVE TO! The straight Protestants already in the clergy welcomed the KGB. The World Council of Churches was a KGB operation!
See, you really don’t want to go there.
You've inadvertantly left off the REST of the passage:
God's desire is indeed for us to turn from our wicked way. It is His desire that all men come to know the truth just as your verse in 1 Tim 2:4 points out. But as you can see from your verses in Ezekiel, man rallies against God.
The only reason any of us are saved is because God steps in and opens our eyes counter to our desires. This is no different then what happened to Paul on the Damascus Road. Anyone who tells you otherwise does not understand the grace of God.
yet somehow
NOT blasphemous
to functionally and linguistically make Mary a 4th person of the Trinity;
to declare that Salvation is possible only through her;
that only through her can God be approached;
that she is the QUEEN OF HEAVEN
that she rules hell
yada yada yada
what cheeky duplicitous hubris!
Sorry, HarleyD, but Ezekiel 33:19 says, “And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right, he shall live by this.” It doesn’t say, “And when God forces the wicked to turn from his wickedness to do what is right, he shall live by this.”
And what’s this line in 33:18 about the righteous turning away from righteousness to wickedness? How does that square with “once saved, always saved?” Given total depravity, how could the un-regenerated do righteousness? If regenerated, how could he turn away from righteousness into sin?
No, the prophet is able to rebuke Israel for saying “the Lord is unjust,” because the Lord is just.
LOL when did your idea about what "my idea" was become the topic of the thread?
Call it satire (now) if you want. You wrote something which wasn’t true. And for the record, what I wrote was, “tell me you’re joking.”
Does "joking" mean "lying" in your world? Is humor and truth mutually exclusive in Catholicism? It would certainly explain the dourness of most Catholics I know.
Shall we go see what’s going on with the lovely Baptists this week?
Why not? Is something stopping you? I look forward to seeing you personally posting any and all threads on the subject.
But two points to both or you for bringing this back to theology.
Calvin & Hobbes was one of my very favorite cartoon strips! One I remember was his mom walks in on him drawing right on the coffee table. “What are you doing?!”, she screamed. To which Calvin replied, “Is that a trick question?”
bb: I do believe you are making your posts to Metmom personal - which is against the rules.
No kidding with the way it's presented. It's hardly subtle.
But not unexpected.
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