On April 8, the PCA’s Administrative Committee (AC), comprised of 11 teaching and ruling elders, along with nine representatives from PCA committees and boards, unanimously approved the “PCA Strategic Plan” commissioned by the Cooperative Ministries Committee to evaluate slowed growth within the denomination and a shifting cultural landscape. Next, the Plan will be voted on at the General Assembly meeting in Nashville, Tenn., this summer.

ByFaith recently spoke about the Plan with a number of PCA leaders, including Ligon Duncan, senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Miss.; Bill Hay, senior pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Ala.; and Harry Reeder, senior pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Ala.

“One goal of the Plan is to promote places for peer-reviewed theological reflection,” said Ligon Duncan. “There has been a sense that the PCA is not a good place to do theological reflection, because you get in trouble if you ask questions, but I think the bigger problem is peer-reviewed theological reflection. With social media and the Internet, small communities end up having conversations among themselves, but if they had to stand the test, their ideas wouldn’t hold up.

“So the Plan proposes open forums at GA,” Duncan continues. “I think these could help dispel some of the attraction to bad ideas and promote good hard thinking in areas we need to grow in.”

A Focus on Funding

The Plan also proposes a number of other recommendations, including a change in the funding of the PCA’s Administrative Committee (AC). The Plan recommends an annual registration fee from teaching elders, presbyteries, and churches (averaging one-third of one percent of tithes and offerings) to fund the AC and take the place of the current General Assembly registration fee.

“I think the AC funding change is needed—the AC is absolutely essential for our denomination to function properly,” said Bill Hay. “I came out of the PCUSA 32 years ago and know how frustrating it is for your denomination’s administration to not represent your values.”

Hay believes the proposed funding change has the potential to increase denominational unity. “With our church’s size and budget, this proposed funding change is well worth it for what we get. We have to recognize that we’re part of this denomination and we have a responsibility to the different agencies and committees in it. When we took our ordination vows this was one of the things we were committing to—we need to take it seriously.”

Duncan agrees, noting that though PCA says it’s connectional, its current funding structure does not reflect that. “We like to emphasize that we are Presbyterian and connectional, but Southern Baptists require more connectionalism in support of the Cooperative Program than we do for the work of the PCA General Assembly (GA),” said Duncan. “More than half of our churches make no contribution to the work of the PCA GA and yet are allowed a voice and vote. If our American forefathers had a problem with taxation without representation, we have the opposite problem—representation without contribution. This funding change is a step in the right direction, in the direction of Presbyterianism.”

Harry Reeder is also in favor of the funding change: “The AC funding proposal seems appropriate to me and allows us to maintain our responsibility to ministry committees as well as providing proper support for the AC. It gives an opportunity for the PCA to participate together while maintaining our freedom to affirm individual committee commitments as the Lord leads each church.”

A Timely Task

At this juncture in the PCA’s history, Harry Reeder believes it is wise to take stock of denominational challenges and consider solutions for future cohesion and growth.
“It’s appropriate for a denomination at this benchmark to affirm its commitments to the Word, the gospel, the Great Commission, and to anticipate how to move forward to impact God’s world,” said Reeder. “The PCA is coming upon a crucial timeframe—its 40- to 80-year mark. The Scripture indicates and history affirms that any church or movement needs to be refreshed in its commitments, renewed in its zeal during this timeframe. History is littered with examples of churches and movements that begin to dissipate and lose their way at the 40-year mark. So this Strategic Plan is timely.”

Though he highly values the work of those who authored the Plan, Reeder says the implementation of the Plan is ultimately a matter of the heart. 

“It comes down to church leaders, pastors, and elders. We must reaffirm the biblical essentials of the church—what does it mean to stay on message, on mission? This can’t be done simply by strategic planning. It’s a matter of the heart that we maintain a commitment to being Christ-centered and gospel-driven. Wherever that happens, the members and churches and leaders of the PCA will find ways to reach people which will impact the culture as a result.”

Duncan agrees. “I think some of the best material of the Strategic Plan is the analysis of external and internal challenges. If churches, presbyteries, and GA committees would look hard and think about how these challenges impact ministry, fruitful discernment could flow out of that.”

The Cooperative Ministries Committee will submit the PCA Strategic Plan for approval at General Assembly, to be held June 29-July 2 in Nashville, Tenn. If it is approved, portions of the Plan that require Book of Church Order (BCO) amendment will go to the presbyteries for approval. 

To read the full version of the PCA Strategic Plan and view Dr. Bryan Chapell’s video presentation of the Plan, click here.