If you want to kill your denomination in one easy move that move is to neglect General Assembly.   Those who helped bring in the very things that caused you to send your ruling elders to GA in the first place (Revoice/Side-B, CRT, female line- authority, etc.) are themselves going to be at General Assembly and they are waiting to reengage at the very first indication that our denomination has again attained a false sense of security.

It doesn’t take long to recognize one.  First, the crackly and poor audio. Then the sonar with the 5…4…3…2…1 countdown, brass and drum military band and the staccato words of the narrator. I am, of course, talking about those old World War II military training films that were shown to thousands of enlistees as the nation was looking to pump as many men as possible and as quickly as possible into foreign theaters of war.

Some were entitled, Combat: Kill or Be Killed, or Crack the Tank.  However, one particularly jarring title was, How to Get Killed in One Easy Lesson.  What was the gist of this lesson?  The answer, fall into false security and laziness and you will greatly increase your chances of getting killed in battle.

Mankind was made to work.  We naturally enjoy work and subduing creation. What we don’t like, however, is thorns and thistles.  It is our tendency to want to put programs in place and have those programs run themselves while we do other more pleasant things. Parents send their children off to school where the professionals are supposed to do the work of getting our children into a top college and a fulfilling career. Then we hire a slam-bang-up guy out of seminary to be the youth pastor and we trust that professional to do his magic of making our children into the spiritually mature and exemplary Christians that we want for them to be.

Life doesn’t work that way.  People who turn their attention away from their lawn will soon have an overgrown yard, and people who turn their attention from their children will soon have children whom they don’t recognize. The fact is sin is in the world and because of this everything that is not carefully looked after will devolve into destruction.

So, how does one kill a denomination in one easy move?  Same answers: false security and laziness.

Why do I write these things?  Because, I am beginning to get a sense that some confessionals in the PCA are considering taking the next General Assembly off.  Perhaps the successes of the past two or three General Assemblies and the exit of Memorial Presbyterian on top of the increased expenses to attend GA have caused some to believe that things can be put on autopilot again.  That is exactly the mindset that got the PCA into the situation that we find ourselves now:

• Good confessional pastors wanted to focus on their ministries, not church politics.
• Ruling elders and members wanted to focus resources on ministry, not on sending the pastor to expensive annual weeklong administrative meetings.
• Ruling elders didn’t want to spend their money and vacation time having to go to those boring weeklong meetings.

If you want to kill your denomination in one easy move that move is to neglect General Assembly. Those who helped bring in the very things that caused you to send your ruling elders to GA in the first place (Revoice/Side-B, CRT, female line- authority, etc.) are themselves going to be at General Assembly and they are waiting to reengage at the very first indication that our denomination has again attained a false sense of security.[1]

Ruling elders; would you dare leave your business on auto-pilot?  Members, would dare leave the church to clean itself and maintain its own property?  Of course not. How much more important is Christ’s bride than these things?

Therefore, watch over her and maintain her good health. Send your pastor to do the unpleasant work of maintaining the denomination that you love.  Ruling elders, take from your time and treasure to protect the denomination that you love.

Don’t regret to one day see your church lying lifeless on the field of battle, a casualty to your false security and casualness.

Jim Shaw is A Minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is Pastor of Redeemer PCA in Brunswick, GA

[1] See Memorial Pres., St. Louis letter to congregation Oct. 18, 2022, https://theaquilareport.com/memorial-presbyterian-church-session-calls-congregation-meeting/