Is there a good reason why Presbyterians in median sized congregations of about 200 members should have three to four times the representative power of Presbyterians who have happened to join 2,000 or 4,000 member congregations? Is it any wonder that these larger-membership churches would feel disenfranchised, and that some of their pastors would sign a letter expressing frustration?

Recently some evangelical pastors of many of the larger congregations in the Presbyterian Church (USA) signed a letter pointing out a crisis in the denomination and calling into question whether (given our recent history) our problems can be successfully addressed within our current framework or whether this may be an unwise use of energy that distracts us from the mission of the church. These signatories have received quite a bit of criticism, with which I do not agree.

However, my purpose in writing is to address a related issue I have not heard discussed. To me, it is like the elephant in the room or the emperor with no clothes.

This unaddressed issue is that when the pastors of some of our largest churches feel the need to write such a letter, we might well ask ourselves what in our system has caused them to have to try to communicate in this way. Far from seeing this letter as arrogant, or as having been written by an elite, I see it as being symptomatic of the fact that our largest congregations have been systematically disempowered and under-represented in the PCUSA.

Presbyterians who are members of large-membership congregations are extremely under-represented at presbyteries, synods and General Assembly. The median PCUSA congregation is now barely over 200 members. But many of our denomination’s members are in larger membership congregations.

Winfield Casey Jones is pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Pearland (Houston area), TX.
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