PCA Conversations Sparks Respectful Debate
“What does a beautiful denomination look like?”
That’s the question that prompted pastor Sam Wheatley to launch a new Web site, www.pcaconversations.org, in October. The site, laid out in a blog post format, seeks to engage PCA pastors, active lay leaders, seminarians, and missionaries in a dialogue on a broad range of issues.
“We want to provide a way to do theological debate in a respectful, honest format,” said Wheatley, senior pastor of New Song Presbyterian Church in Salt Lake City, Utah. “And it’s not just about being truthful, but also wholesome, winsome, and beautiful. That becomes part of the apologetic as well—creating a beautiful expression of gospel reality.”
The PCA Conversations Web site is roughly modeled on the format of the blog commongrounds.com. Each week features a different topic, with Monday’s post offering on overview of a practical pastoral issue, Wednesday’s post providing a theological consideration of the issue, and Friday’s post spotlighting a ministry in the PCA or a personal profile of a pastor who is dealing with that issue.
“Hopefully, this structure will serve as a conversation-starter for many in the PCA,” said Wheatley. Two other PCA pastors help moderate the online discussions: Jamison Galt, assistant pastor of Park Slopes Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Giorgio Hiatt, pastor of Christ Central Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C.
Theology on the Ground
The real distinctive of the PCA Conversations site, Wheatley says, is its focus on ministry issues at the grass-roots level.
“There’s so much more that unites us as a denomination than divides us,” said Wheatley. “We all struggle with how to do ministry in our context—whether that context is New Orleans, Atlanta, or Salt Lake. We’re all dealing with a culture that doesn’t understand Christianity.”
He offers an example from his work in Salt Lake City. “I’m often asked how we share Christ in this culture, which is overwhelmingly Mormon. But it’s very basic, it starts with a dialogue, with getting to know our neighbors, asking questions about their lives, talking about the things we love—grace, peace, life.”
And it’s this everyday approach to ministry that he hopes will remain at the core of PCA Conversations. “I’d love for people in the PCA to have a positive, eager view of ministry—to see that it’s ordinary, down-to-earth, and available, not a professional skill.”
The PCA Conversations web site will focus on translating the larger issues of culture and theology into the everyday ways they affect ministry. So far, the site’s weekly topics have included the importance of place/geography in ministry, marriage counseling in the PCA, and ecclesiology.
“We want to do less talking about ministry in the abstract, and instead start at the bottom with pastoral ministry priorities,” Wheatley said. “In the end, is our theology marshaled into loving real people, or is it just about ideas?”
He also hopes the PCA Conversations Web site provides a positive forum for discussion within the denomination. “The tone in the PCA lately has been divisive,” said Wheatley. “We hope in some small way to say, ‘Look, we can disagree without labeling one another—without being disagreeable.’ In the end, we want people to be zealous for Christ.”
To learn more, visit the PCA Conversations Web site at www.pcaconversations.org
Comments
Leave a Comment
All Fields Are Required:
Allen Baldwin
Carriage Lane PCS, Peachtree City, GA