At a congregational meeting on Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, 92% of the congregation of Memorial Presbyterian Church of St. Louis voted to withdraw from the PCA as recommended by their session. Memorial’s pastor, Greg Johnson, has indicated that he will be leaving with the congregation.
When the session called the meeting, they informed the congregation that their recommendation was coming “with a mixture of sorrow and hope . . . after fifteen months spent fasting, praying, waiting, consulting and listening.” The reason for withdrawing, the session explained, was “continued attacks” from within the denomination which were distracting the church from its mission.
The attacks cited by the Memorial session relate to criticism Memorial and Johnson have received since hosting the controversial 2018 Revoice conference; Revoice is an organization created to support Christians who experience same-sex attraction while upholding the historic Christian teaching about marriage and sexuality. In the course of defending Revoice in several public settings, Johnson acknowledged his own struggles with same-sex attraction.
In addition to criticism of the conference itself, some statements Johnson made after the conference came under fire and led to his being investigated for four alleged offenses. Missouri Presbytery (MOP) found no “strong presumption” that he was guilty of any of these offenses, and last October the Standing Judicial Commission (SJC), the PCA’s “court of appeals”, found no clear error in MOP’s decision (for a more detailed review of this case, click here). Since that decisions was released, several presbyteries and sessions have brought new allegations against Johnson.
Despite their withdrawal from the PCA, Memorial’s leadership insists that they love the denomination. “There is no angry shaking of the dust off our feet,” Johnson says. “We will continue to support RUF in every way, continue to support our MTW missionaries and send our students to Covenant College.”