At the Presbyterian Global Fellowship Conference in Long Beach, CA, August 14-16, Michael Walker, former PFR Executive Director and current Theologian in Residence at Highland Park Presbyterian Church in Dallas, will speak about the way forward after the 218th General Assembly.

Taking up the topic, "Can We Be Faithful in the PC(USA)?," Michael's first session will consider major theological issues related to the state of the PC(USA) and evangelical discernment moving forward, and the second session will consider various practical proposals, especially the opportunity to "Reshape the PC(USA)" and its system of governing bodies in a way that could benefit the faith and witness of the PC(USA) into the future. Leadership from Presbyterians For Renewal, the Presbyterian Global Fellowship and the Presbyterian Coalition will be present and available for interaction.

We encourage you to attend the 2008 PGF Inside-Out Conference if you are able. For more information and to register, click here.

PFR will also be holding regional gatherings in various parts of the country in the coming months, in order to provide an opportunity for Presbyterians to gather in worship, share in discernment, and learn about what PFR is doing to help our congregations move forward faithfully. More information on dates and locations will be available soon on this site and the regular PFR site.

The Presbyterian Coalition will also be hosting Gathering XI at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, CA, October 13-15, 2008. When more information is available, you'll be able to find it here.

We recently made available the PFR One-Pager, a one-page overview of the 218th GA and PFR's response, which is available for you to download here. The text of the one-pager is below.

The 218th General Assembly of the PC(USA) made some major decisions that require prayer and thoughtful response. The most significant decisions are contrary to the very foundation of Christian faith and life, our calling to witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in and for the world.

To download a copy of this article for printing, click here. See also the PFR one-pager summarizing the GA's actions and our response.

The 218th General Assembly (GA) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) recently took numerous actions on important and controversial issues.   This article will outline several deeply troubling actions that require the prayerful and active response of those concerned for biblical faith and life in the PC(USA).

PFR strongly encourages all Presbyterian pastors and elders to stay informed on denominational issues and to lead their congregations faithfully while engaging in their presbyteries “to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).  To this end, PFR is committed to providing accurate and timely analysis on denominational issues.  We will also offer the church initiatives designed to address both the “big picture,” underlying challenges we face as a denomination and as a movement of Presbyterians for renewal, and initiatives aimed at the particular and immediate concerns before us.

(Note: See also "Contending for the Faith" and download PFR's One-Page Overview on GA .) 

The General Assembly last month certainly changed the conversation around the PFR table. For the last two years, we have been busy with the process of redefining our mission and vision. You may have already seen that we are about the mission of "mobilizing the leaders of congregations within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to be biblically faithful and missionally minded in their service to Jesus Christ." Delving into the political issues of the General Assembly may seem incongruent with our new mission statement. To the contrary, we have discovered that it is difficult to mobilize leaders and congregations for the service of Christ when the denomination is fractured and conflicted by the actions of a General Assembly. Nothing at this General Assembly has changed PFR's commitment to its mission, and to preserving a denominational context conducive to church renewal. 

(Note: see also the PFR One-Page Overview of GA.)

Although the most sigificant actions taken by the 218th General Assembly are deeply troubling, several important actions taken promote biblical faithulness.  PFR's analysis of the GA's actions on inter-faith relations, ordination standards and sexuality is available in a separate article, "Contending for the Faith: The Way Forward After General Assembly ."   Below is are several  important decisions that PFR supports:

To download a copy of this article for printing, click here. 

Sometimes it takes pain to make things clear.  While this General Assembly was not the first to bring pain to the church, its pain has been used by God to bring clarity to Presbyterians For Renewal.

For two decades Presbyterians For Renewal has worked with congregations to faithfully engage in God’s mission in the world.  Our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ and our commitment to the Presbyterian movement remain strong.

The faith and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has been a consistent concern both of our congregations and of PFR as a national organization.  As our North American culture has changed, our denomination has changed along with it.  Having lost sight of her clear, Christ-centered identity, the PC(USA) has continued to embrace our culture’s beliefs and morals.  

The actions of the 218th General Assembly have made it clear that the PC(USA)’s compromise of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has reached an unprecedented level. It is clear that the PC(USA)’s confession of the Lordship of Jesus Christ and commitment to our Reformed confessions has weakened to the point that we can no longer assume a common framework of conversation.  The pain of this realization has been used by God to clarify our next steps.  While PFR’s mission has not changed, our context has.  We are compelled to do the following:

• In order to faithfully witness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in and for the PC(USA), we will actively pursue a means of re-shaping the life of the denomination. For the sake of our witness to the Gospel, we believe it is necessary for the different visions of Christian faith and life in the PC(USA) to be expressed in formally distinct bodies without a formal split in the denomination.  Such possibilities have been discussed hypothetically under the rubrics of non-geographical or “missional” presbyteries and synods.  We will pursue the ideas and relationships necessary to make this a reality, and we call upon the whole church to think creatively about ways to achieve this end.  Perhaps revisions to the work of the Form of Government Task Force that will be brought to the next General Assembly are a way to advance this effort.
• We will no longer consider the debates over ordination standards and sexual ethics as a meaningful venue to seek resolution of our denominational malaise.  We acknowledge that we are simply talking past each other, and realize that this debate is merely a symptom of deeper divisions. These deeper divisions include our understandings of the authority of Jesus Christ as Head of the Church, and our calling to exhibit the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.  As we pursue a means to make these differences manifest in “missional” governing bodies, we hope that over the long-term God will re-unite the faith of the PC(USA) and enable a formal re-unification.
• While we pursue significant changes to our denomination’s polity, we will work to defeat the amendment to the “Fidelity and Chastity” standard for ordination, and to bring to the next General Assembly a new “Authoritative Interpretation” regarding homosexual practice. We will also work to improve the processes each presbytery uses to elect commissioners to General Assembly, so that the next GA is more representative of the faith and life of the PC(USA). We do not, however, believe such measures are an adequate response to the state of the PC(USA), and therefore will pursue the larger polity changes mentioned above.
• We will also pursue a revision of our constitution’s property provisions, which would allow those who cannot live with the church’s ordination standards to depart with their property.  In the providence of God this may at some point serve those who have advocated changing our traditional standards.  Regardless, we believe that the unavoidable lawsuits that proceed from our current property provisions are a disgrace to God’s mission in the world.
• While these polity actions take form, we will encourage our congregations to begin or continue redirecting their giving into missions and ministries that serve the Kingdom.  In the past we leapt through many hoops to keep our giving within denominational structures that we believed would be faithful.  While those ministries remain a viable option, we will no longer hesitate to direct our giving to ministries beyond the current forms of the PCUSA.
• We will also pursue missional partnerships within and beyond the PCUSA, including a means of confessing our faith in the Lordship of Jesus Christ with integrity, so that mission and ministry might proceed in good faith even while larger polity solutions are being worked out.