illustrations by Daniel Liévano
Next year the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) will celebrate 50 years of God’s faithfulness. We have much to be thankful for. Chief among those blessings is the leadership of those early men and women who met the moment of denominational drift towards liberalism within the PCUS and built a bridge to a new future denomination characterized by biblical orthodoxy, winsome Reformed conviction, and renewed commitment to the Great Commission. In the succeeding years, what began as a small, southern denomination has grown across the country into a beautiful diversity of Christ followers submitted to his Word.
Today that legacy of bridge-building work reverberates in our unofficial slogan: “faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission.” Inherent to each aspect of this slogan is the dynamic interplay of staying true to our conviction while stretching forward in hope. It is exciting to consider how living out these truths in the PCA has served as a gospel-bridge to reach and disciple many thousands of believers.
Over time, however, bridges require maintenance, and they are inherently vulnerable. If you know anything about warfare, when one side wants to damage the other, among their first targets are the bridges, and not just those that cross bodies of water. Communication centers that connect soldiers in the field are targeted as well. Generals know that without bridges armies can’t reinforce combatants, can’t coordinate movements, and can’t secure supply lines. In the war in Ukraine, there have been many examples of Ukrainian forces destroying their own bridges to hamper the advance of Russian forces. Whether the motive is to hinder or to protect, connections are lost when bridges are destroyed.
As we pause on this anniversary to consider our denomination as well as the world around us, how are our bridges faring? We are living in a tumultuous time—both in the wider culture and within the Presbyterian Church in America. This moment is characterized by increasing polarization, the breakdown of communication, and the loss of trust. People and institutions alike are experiencing a profound sense of dislocation. Bridges are burning.
Inside the church, pastors are experiencing the push and pull of this moment forcefully. Once-stable churches are dividing over differing views of political involvement, masks, or how we ought to engage matters of sexuality, race, and justice. It is no longer surprising when faithful pastors, not those who have failed in some way, share that they are considering resigning their posts. A recent Barna survey, confirms this trend, reporting that 38% of Protestant pastors have considered quitting full-time ministry in the past year. The collective organizational temperature is rising.
Part of the pressure on pastors relates to their often-lonely responsibility to serve as a bridge between opposing viewpoints and even sides within their congregations. Yet when fewer and fewer stand with these pastors, those points of connection become more and more fragile. William Butler Yeats was prophetic:
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Yeats penned those words in 1920 in the wake of tragedy flowing from the First World War and while a new wave of deaths resulting from the flu pandemic had just begun. Since then, these words have captured the imagination of legions who feel as though a predictable and safe world is slipping away. No wonder we feel their power once more.
No force may be more corrosive to maintaining healthy bridges than the rising levels of chronic anxiety associated with this cultural moment.
In the face of a world that’s dis-integrating, Jesus stirs our hope. He told his disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (Jn. 16:33). Though the image may seem cliché at times, Jesus is the bridge par excellence, for he alone has reconciled us to God by propitiating the wrath of God and paying the price for all our sins (Rom. 3:25, 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:19; Col. 1:20). Though he will come again in judgment, Jesus’ first mission was one of grace (Jn. 3:17). Through Jesus Christ, we have safe passage to an everlasting city and an everlasting peace.
That future hope, however, is not merely future. By virtue of God’s present grace and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, the “not yet” of the gospel has “already” begun. Our Savior has enlisted all Christians, but especially pastors, congregations, and dare I say, denominations like the PCA in this reconciling mission. “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18).
When I consider the next 50 years of ministry in the PCA, no purpose is higher than continuing to bear faithful witness to the reconciling mercies of our God in Jesus Christ. Fulfilling that mission, however, requires that we preserve “the bridges” across our denomination and to the surrounding culture that are under attack. We are better together than divided (1 Cor. 12:21-25).
No force may be more corrosive to maintaining healthy bridges than the rising levels of chronic anxiety associated with this cultural moment. According to the late rabbi and psychologist Edwin Friedman in his classic book A Failure of Nerve, these regressive tendencies come in many forms: intense anger, unfair criticism, herd mentality, quick-fix strategies, exaggerated blame, black-and-white thinking, triangulation, and cutting-off relationships. Friedman notes these forces persist unless more fundamental changes in emotional and behavioral patterns are implemented.
When families [or churches or companies] get fixed on their symptoms rather than on the emotional processes that keep those symptoms chronic, they will recycle their problems perpetually no matter what technical changes they make, how much advice they receive from experts, or how hard they try to understand their symptoms.
It’s our reactive responses, then, that sabotage our bridge-building and bridge-preserving work, no matter how noble our aspirations, confident our theological positions, or strategic our plans.
I’ve heard it more times than I can count that we in the PCA “keep having the same debates.” After 50 years, is it possible to conclude that the “answer” may not be total homogeneity on every point of exegesis, worship style, or evangelistic practice? This in no way takes away from the importance of debate, but rather highlights the Biblical principle that the manner in which we debate and how we regard one another may have more to do with our collective spiritual health than often recognized. If we focused more on the character of our relationships and the quality of our communication, perhaps, the bridge of gospel witness—both inside and outside the church—could be greatly strengthened.
This is the exactly the counsel given by the apostle Paul when he was encouraging the Philippians to work more harmoniously with each other.
So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant (Phil. 2:1-7).
We don’t have the space to give a full treatment to this important passage, but I’d like to draw out three practical implications that promote the health of creating and sustaining bridges for gospel communication.
- Trust.
At the top of the list is trust. Healthy churches are characterized by a high degree of mutual trust. We not only trust each other to speak and act in ways faithful to the Scriptures, but we recognize the dignity of each person standing behind those words. Of all people Christians ought to excel in this regard. As those who have a common identity in Christ, we already share in his love, are filled with the Spirit, and are shaped by the mind of our Savior. Our existing bonds mean that we have far more in common with each other than what differentiates us.
What is more, within the bounds of the PCA, we have taken vows that explicitly state how serious are these common bonds. I am grateful that every PCA officer can affirm the inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures, a systemic view of the Bible’s theology as expressed in the Westminster Standards, a Biblical view of morality, and a mutual submission to their fellow officers. In light of such views, we begin a high degree of trust upon which to build and share ministry.
How different might our interactions be if they were more informed by trust and an inherent regard for the dignity and worth of each person regardless of which side they represent?
2. Engage in dialogue.
Secondly, Paul calls us to do “nothing from selfish ambition or conceit.” The starting position for each of us is to regard our neighbor as more highly than ourselves, not demanding that we “win” or that our views come out on top. Leadership consultant Patrick Lencioni writes in The Advantage that such fruit comes from leaders who are willing “to abandon their pride and their fear, to sacrifice their egos for the collective good of the team.” Unfortunately, when dialogue breaks down, we can be certain the practice of humility stopped much earlier.
Yet, what would happen if we conducted our conversations with humble curiosity rather than accusation and hasty demands for change? Even if we do not come to full agreement, how much might we learn from each other in the process? At Covenant Seminary it is common to hear professors exhort students that they have not fairly represented a differing viewpoint until its proponent can recognize it as a faithful articulation. May we serve as their examples.
Among the most encouraging moments for me at General Assemblies are the stories of presbyters putting aside their agendas and working hard to understand one another’s point of view. Inevitably, new solutions that strengthen our bonds grow out of this humble dialogue. Yet without that dialogue and the safe space created by humility, those bridges cannot be sustained.
3. Appreciate differences.
Finally, Paul writes that we ought to look not only to our “own interests, but also the interests of others.” Clearly, there were differences in the church at Philippi that had to be navigated (Phil. 4:2-3). Paul calls the individual members of the congregation to respect those differences, which meant making room for them and not allowing them to be the cause of separation.
Without a doubt, there are reasons for congregations to divide when the truth and authority of God’s word and the clear proclamation of the gospel have been severely compromised. These deep convictions informed the formation of the PCA. Yet, as Francis Schaeffer warned the newly formed denomination, we can err on the other side too by becoming too censorious and harsh. In that first year, Schaeffer called the PCA to build and maintain bridges “toward those struggling for the same cause in other groups” through the practice of “observable love.” Perhaps he could not see it then, but the call to observable love is relevant not only to those outside our denomination but to those within her bounds as well, recognizing our diversity need not detract from but accentuates the impact of Kingdom service.
Though it shows my age, I’m a longtime fan of Crosby, Stills & Nash. My favorite song is The Southern Cross about a man processing lost love. The best line comes in the last stanza.
And we never failed to fail, it was the easiest thing to do.
Failing at our mission, no matter what it is, is always the easiest thing to do. Be as husbands and wives, sons and daughters, friends and co-workers, or deacons, elders, and pastors, in order to fail, all we have to do is follow our natural, self-serving tendencies. Inevitably, the bridges of connections get torn down.
Sometimes we can even fail at the very moment we think we’re being most faithful. In our zeal to be correct in our theology, morality, and worship, what do we do? We build barriers out of our positions and the attitudes we express that keep out the very ones Jesus sent us to reach.
In his book, The Second Mountain, social commentator David Brooks writes, “I was on a journey toward God, and I found out pretty quickly along the way that religious people and institutions sometimes built ramps that made it easier to continue my journey, or they built walls, making the journey harder.”
When I think of the next 50 years of ministry and life in the PCA, I want us to be a denomination ever faithful to the Savior, absolutely submitted to his living word, and characterized by lots of bridges and ramps. May these bridges strengthen our unity within Christ’s Church and may both bridges and ramps welcome a host of new believers into the worship of our triune God.
Tom Gibbs is the president of Covenant Theological Seminary.